Multiple Intelligences in the Literacy Classroom

Howard Gardner's theory on Multiple Intelligences has sparked a mini-revolution in certain areas of public education. Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory rejects the notions of learning simply as a linear, reasoning and conceptualization, process. The implications that arise from MI theory include individual learning styles and students taking control of their own learning.

There are some great article in Edutopia magazine about MI theory (I highly recommend this magazine to educators all across the world, it's one of the best there is), and a good starting point would be with the article The Multiple Intelligences Redefine Smart. I don't want to get caught up defining the theory here and all of its details, so check out that link for more information on that. What I did want to discuss very briefly here are the uses in the classrooms.

There have been schools, especially over the last 13 years or so, that have made full use of MI theory and have created MI schools. Most of the schools that have implemented this program only were able to last anywhere from 3-5 years. So I'm thinking more practical, for classroom teachers to implement this, specifically in literacy.

I have managed to embrace parts of the Guided Reading Model of reading instruction into my intermediate grade level classroom. Using guided reading in a limited capacity (45 minutes per day the way I did it) gives students a chance to work individually, or in small groups, on projects over an extended period of time, and it offers them more choice in their reading as well.

It seems that multiple intelligences fits well into this model. By giving students choices that fit along the lines of the intelligences (i.e. art projects that are book based for those Visual-Spatial learners) and letting them use their group time to work on projects that fit their intelligences or their likes at that moment would give students choice, would be allowing them the chance to work in an area of strength, and would be fitting the guided reading model (something I'm required to do in my school district) all at once.

I have every intention of doing this in my classroom, and as I get some more solid ideas, I'll pass them along here on this blog. For now, a good starting point would be to find out what your intelligences are. You can also have your students take this quiz and get a look at their own learning styles. CLICK HERE to take the quiz on Edutopia. Here is what your results will look like (this is my profile):

Managing the End of the Fall Semester

Courses at NMSU end officially today, and everyone there is surely ready for the break, I'm ready for a break from the rigors of grad school. Now, it's down to 4 and a half days of teaching until the break. It can't get here soon enough.

Teachers always sit around and joke about how the last week before Christmas... er, "Winter" (must be PC), break, is a throw away week, a week of fun activities and mostly just messing around. I can tell you, from experience, that this is in fact mostly true.

There are a few reasons for this, but mainly, the kids are hyper, burned out, and looking ahead to the breaks. The teachers, well, they're also those things. I've never really been one of those teachers who does tons of decorations and plays Christmas music and stuff like that. We do have a party, we do a gift exchange, we're reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson, which, I'll admit, might not be the greatest Christmas book out there, but it's short, funny, and most of my 5th graders end up enjoying it, so I go with it.

I'm sure there are better Christmas books out there than The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, but at 80 pages, you really can't go wrong. Most of the story does take place in a protestant church, and Jesus is mentioned quite often, although mostly just as part of the story, it's not real preachy, and, like I said, it's short, we started it last Monday and will have it done by next Thursday, no problem.

So anyways, I turned my little personal post into a book review (figures). Let the last week before the break be what it is, a time to wrap things up, a time to celebrate the semester, and a time to embrace your hyper students and let them have a chance to kick back a little. It just goes with saying that school isn't all about getting every little thing out of every single second in terms of learning. You can kick back and enjoy the end of the semester, you earned it, and you're probably burned out, because that's how it works.

Teacher Selected and Student Selected Literary Choices

I thought about using the title "Teacher Selected vs. Student Selected Literary Choice," but I realized that they don't stand in opposition to one another, they must work together to form the literary experience for any student in any classroom. That being said, let's get into today's topic.

Teacher selected literature, sometimes referred to as read aloud, shared reading, or teacher led reading (although even in those alternate definitions, there are different approaches to the method), serves purposes that self selected, self read books cannot. First of all, the shared reading experience is in large part about the teacher modeling good reading, something I've talked about time and again in this blog. Here are some ideas/focuses of what teacher selected reading should be about:

• The book you choose should ideally be above the reading level of the majority of your class, but not to an extreme point above their level. There should be opportunities for new vocabulary, more in depth story telling, and you should have opportunities for many questions, predictions, etc.


• Know your class, don't just choose a book because you like it. I cannot stress this enough, if your students find the book boring and/or tedious, they're going to tune it out. Your selection should have many points for class discussion, journal work, and other extensions.


• The book should be something that you are familiar with. Too many times in my short career I have seen teachers pick a book because they've "heard it's good," or "my kid read it," or something else along those lines. I've also heard too many teachers say that they don't have time to read the books beforehand. Well, that's nothing short of laziness and a cop out. How are you going to lead discussions and ask probing questions if you're experiencing it for the first time as well? It's important, imperative, to know your content.


• Vary how the book is read. This depends upon whether or not the students hold a copy and are reading along, or if you have the only copy. It's ok to have the only copy, I do this often, and my students enjoy those books equally. But sometimes it is important that they read along and get chances to read together. This can be done through round robin, popcorn (where they read and choose someone else based upon pre-set rules, boy chooses a girl, etc.), partner reading, small group, and anything else that I failed to list here.

Now that I've discussed a little bit about teacher selected reading, let's discuss student selection. Self selection is something that I am a very big fan of, and believe is a cornerstone of a well run reading class. Self selection takes time and effort on the part of the teacher, and requires a few things. Here are a few of those requirements:

• An understanding of the reading level of the student and the ability to find them appropriate books. If you teach 6th grade, you might have a student who reads on a kindergarten level and wants to read Harry Potter. There's a difference between letting them "give it a shot," and knowing that there is 0% chance of them succeeding with a given book. Set parameters, or if you're lucky enough to have a school program like Accelerated Reader or something, teach students to look at book levels. If you don't have that option, you can see my post on How to Determine the Reading Level of a Book at a Glance for some clues on how to do this on the run.


• Have clear expectations. Are you going to have students do a reading log, book reports, or some other kind of progress monitoring? How are you going to know that they're reading and comprehending their book? These are important questions that you must have the answers to.


• Have your students read at home. Have them read at home for 30 minutes each night. I send home a calendar, and the students must put how many minutes they read that night, and have a parent sign off for that night. Remember, the only way to become a better reader is to read, it can't be done through worksheets, snazzy presentations, or tests, it's all about practice, the more the better. If you find students balking at this idea, help them find books that interest them, work relentlessly to get that perfect book in their hands.

So, there's some ideas that should get you started. I tried to stay pretty well on the surface with this whole discussion, it can get deep into theoretical models and approaches to methodology, but I wanted this to be a resource. Let me know if there's anything else you need help with or have any other questions (or want to add to this in any way). We (teachers) learn from each other, and take ideas from each other, that's the only way to improve ourselves.

The Validity and Quality of Teacher Education Programs

Coming out of the teacher education program that provided me with my Bachelor Degree as well as the necessary credentials to be a teacher, I didn't know for sure if I was prepared for what was in front of me. Walking into the classroom that first year, I found that I was shamefully unprepared to teach, discipline, and deal with the daily struggles of being a teacher. These are things that I fully take for granted now, it has become second nature. There were times during my first year that I considered leaving, it was tough.

Like many other new teachers, I entered a situation where I was "dumped on." A veteran teacher dropped every special education and behavioral problem in my lap, which made it even worse. Coming out of college, I had dealt with some good courses and some bad. Unfortunately for me, I was coming through right when the literacy department had a major shake up. So, to make a long story short, my literacy methods classes prepared me for next to nothing, and boy did it show.

I just picked up the basal reader and ran with it, I didn't know what else to do. I was also teaching the "low" group (they ability grouped students at the time), and that made the job all the more difficult. Looking back, I was probably one of the worst reading teachers of all time that first year. My students weren't learning, their test scores were in consistent free fall all year, and I didn't know what to do to stop it. So I decided to get my masters in literacy, I decided to do something about it. To make that long story short, literacy is "kind of my thing" now, and my students are doing very well in every measure. My methods and theoretical understanding are outlined in some form or another in the pages of this blog.

I have to wonder about other teachers though. All too often, the teacher education experience slants to one extreme, usually straight method with some theoretical understanding. Occasionally you get a professor that teachers "constructively" by assigning each student to teach a chapter, something that always draws the ire of students (and is a way that I DO NOT learn anything, and that many of my co-workers have admitted doesn't work). It's one thing to assign group work and things like that to students learning math, but to teachers learning to teach, it needs to be more intensive, it's not the same learning process with scaffolded outcomes.

When my student teacher enters my classroom after Christmas, I want to make sure that he gets chances to take risks with literacy, and understand the right choices. As important as college education is, in the field of education, the popular held belief is that you learn more in student teaching than you do in four years of college. I am entering the field of higher education as we speak, and getting deeper and deeper as each semester passes. One of my long term goals is to improve the quality and preparation of teacher education programs. I'm not saying it's dismal, I am saying there's room for improvement. This is a discussion that should be happening all over the field right now and should always be ongoing, but seems to be oddly silent right now.

Are there any comments from any of you out there? Any stories, suggestions, or critiques of programs around the country. I'd love to hear them.

When A Problem Comes Along, You Must FIX IT

It's hard to argue against the fact that education is failing in the United States. This is a muli-dimensional argument that can run the from school funding to high stakes testing to curriculum choices to the attitudes of students and teachers, among many others. In the face of failure, many have started focusing in different directions, wanting school to be fun or kids to feel good about themselves. The reality is, we should take responsibility for the out dated system we have, stop making excuses and pointing fingers, and fix the problems in front of us. Why can't kids feel good about themselves because they achieved something, and why can't teachers expect more regardless of where they work and the population of their students?

Well, these issues are not easy to resolve, because it does matter what population of students you work with. But saying "if they come every day, my job is done," should be reason for a teacher to lose their job. You are there to teach, you're not a baby sitter, do your job. There, that's about as up front as I can say it. People put their children in private schools (which, in my opinion, are actually no better than public school, they just have a more involved population of parents and a higher socio-economic population as well), and home school their children, because they look at public education and say "I don't want my child there."

Now, we can either sit back and blame those people for leaving the system, or we can fix the system. Are private schools and home schools better than public schools? The answer is yes and no, but this post isn't about them, it's about public schools.

Teachers, first of all, are the professionals in the field of education, they're the ones who actually do the job. Forget the superintendents, leave them to their budgets, forget the "specialists" who have never spent a second with classroom teachers, and forget everything you learned from Dr. Wong's books, it's time for teachers to refocus themselves.

Good teaching comes from having a deep understanding of how to teach and why to teach it, which come from being taught in theory and method. Teachers should never dive into something because it's there. Are textbooks the best choice? How do you know? If you've never experienced anything else, how can you be sure? Why did you choose that book? Is there a better one? Are you sure your students enjoyed it or learned from it? How are you sure?

That's just a few questions teachers should be asking. Because after all, we can't worry about the attitudes of students if we don't take care of our business first and know our stuff. We can't worry about the parents who pull their kids out of our schools for whatever reason, because we've already failed them (or they just want to home school or pay for a school that is better for their child, which is every parents right, and no teacher should ever take that personally).

This post was mostly just speculation on this topic. I hope to post more in depth on this soon, including possible pathways to fix it.

Retain in the Membrane

The actual research figures are all over the place regarding student learning retention rates, but one thing is agreed upon by all. And that is the fact that students will not remember everything, not even half, of what they learn in school. I'm not talking about skills, like addition, subtraction, and critical thinking skills, I'm talking about the lesson of that day, that one thing you taught that was so important at the time yet two weeks later only two students remembered what you talked about.

Retention rates in written language are very much the same as they are for spoken language, sometimes even less. I couldn't tell you one single fact about any of the textbooks I worked out of while I was in school, and I graduated high school less than 10 years ago. This isn't a failure of schooling entirely (although I would wager to say that the set up of the traditional classroom doesn't help). The process of information moving from short term memory to long term memory in the brain is complicated, and considering that this mechanism isn't fully functional in children yet doesn't help matters.

This doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do about it, but it is important to keep a few things in mind:

• First, understand that every day doesn't have to be about drill and kill, textbook and respond, worksheet worksheet worksheet, and sit quietly and don't talk. These things can actually hurt retention over the long term. Talking is ok, it's good actually. The more students are allowed to reflect on and engage in what they've learned by discussing it, the better the chances are that it will make the journey from short term to long term memory. Interaction is key. Take an idea, and play around with it. Let them get curious, this ongoing play with the idea helps it stay in the brain.
• Don't test to death. You don't become a doctor by taking tests over and over again. The test is simply a measure to determine that the skills have been learned over the short term, and again later over long term. Even on my master's degree exam, I wasn't expected to quote things verbatim and remember every single thing that was taught. I was expected to hit on general ideas, and have a detailed understanding of large concepts, that's the way it is. You learn to specialize later, no one specializes in everything. Use your tests sparingly.
• Remember that everyday is unique, but you don't have to account for every second. It's ok to have fun in the class sometimes. Tell stories, allow students to revisit prior concepts, and by all means let it get loud as long as it doesn't get crazy. If you don't remember to make the ultimate use of those 15 minutes of instructional time, guess what will happen? Nothing.

If your students are reading something that they don't feel interested in, aren't connected to in some way, or don't understand altogether, they won't remember it for very long. If it's something that they are interested in, for whatever reason, they'll contemplate it, dig deeper, ask questions, and in the long run, remember more. You can't expect them to remember specifics, like character names, dates (unless you drill them), specific situations down to the very detail, and things like this. Heck, most adults can't do it in the long term.

Long term retention, especially in literary practice, is a difficult thing. The key is to not consider it an obstacle, just realize that this is part of the equation. Long term memory has to develop, and even then, it's not everything it's cracked up to be (I have a terrible memory, but am actually a very intelligent person, or so I'd like to think).

Reading An Entire Book: Implications on Language & Literacy: with ideas for improving classroom literacy practices

I was watching The Simpsons the other day, and Bart said something in response to Lisa talking about a book she had read. Bart said "you've read a WHOLE book before?" Bart is more real than some of us would believe in this respect. I've already had numerous students enter the 5th grade claiming they've never completed, completely individually, an entire book before that wasn't a leveled reader, picture book, or textbook based story.

To me this is quite alarming. I'm not going to fall back on the argument that "this would never have happened 50 years ago, before internet and TV and blah blah blah..." That argument doesn't hold, especially for me (I posted about digital literacy two days ago in an article titled iPod Literacy). This is alarming because the act of reading has been replaced by... well, I'm not sure exactly, but not another literacy activity. Reading has by-and-large not been replaced by reading things on the internet, it's been replaced by watching TV, playing video games, and texting. While I've argued in the past that these activities have some merit and can be utilized in the classroom, they become a hindrance when the student basically stops interacting with the written word outside of "T2L, BRB, ROFL." There's a great article out there from Newsweek titled The Death of English (LOL): In an experiment, the more adept children were at text messaging, the better they did at spelling and writing, which tries to strike a balance to the text messaging debate better than I can say it here, because I tend to be biased against cell phones for many reasons, most of them out of stubbornness.

What really bothers me is, I've met college students who claim that they've never read a book and wear it like a badge of honor. This behavior is bewildering to me, and I have to wonder where it stems from. Is it a backlash against the world we once knew? Is it due to a lack of attention? Or is it an outright failure of public education, with its never ending, rigid focus on standardized testing? I think the answer to all of these questions is YES.

Now, I've stated some of the problems, and have even briefly brought up a few questions for further research and discussion. I'm going to discuss ways for teachers to combat the failure to read phenomenon in the classroom (or at home if you're a parent).

• SELF CHOICE: You need to help students choose their own books. This is a process that should involve both student and teacher in order for it to be effective. You can refer to some guidelines I set out in yesterday's post titled How To Determine the Reading Level of A Book At A Glance to help you choose the right book, level wise, for that child. It's then up to the child, with your guidance, to find a book that will hold their interest, be on a topic that they enjoy reading about, and will have literary elements that have worked for that child in the past. You would be surprised how many students do not have the ability to self search for a book, they need to be taught (and since you're a teacher, this is your job).


• FREEDOM TO EXPERIMENT: Yes, I've had students who read on a first grade level want to read Harry Potter. At first, I let them make this choice, because it never works. This is where you have to suspend your teacher instinct, at least at the beginning of the year, to let students try to find it themselves. You also need to give them some freedom to abandon a few books. I have some students who, still, here at November, will read a few pages of a book, put it back, and get another one. My policy is that they should be trying the book for at least 3 chapters, then, when we return from Winter Break, they're going to choose and read without abandoning.


• CHOOSE SOMETHING FAMILIAR: If you teach like me, you do a lot of read alouds. I save some of the best books ever to read aloud. In fact, some of the books I discuss on this very website are the book that I read aloud to my class. Occasionally, a student will want to re-read the book I read aloud. Believe it or not, this is a great practice, especially for students who aren't quite ready to take some risks when self-reading. Let them do it.

Those ideas are more along the lines of helping students come into their own as readers. There are some great strategies in terms of classroom management and assignments to keep students focused, but to also be able to pull grades and have it basically fit into your instruction. I send home a calendar for the month, and students are supposed to read for a minimum of 30 minutes every evening. I usually don't send home homework outside of this, so I don't get complaints. After reading, the parent must sign that date on the calendar.

Twice per week, I have students complete a reading log assignment in which they respond to a few prompts about their book. This helps them reflect on their reading. I don't do it daily to avoid students burning out, just on Monday nights and Thursday nights.

These two activities, together, can be a valuable addition to the classroom. Some classroom practices you should include to encourage good reading habits are:

• Read aloud to your students every single day. Only read books that you are familiar with (no pulling things off the shelf you've never experienced yourself. When you're reading aloud, think aloud, ask questions, answer questions, take predictions, make it a whole group experience.
• Give students time, every day, to read silently. They enjoy this quiet time to themselves. It's your job to make sure they are reading and aren't just wasting time. If your school allows it, let students bring a pillow or bean bag and lay around while they read. It should be a comfortable experience, this reinforces the habit and also makes it enjoyable.
• Have some way for students to share their reading experience. Whether it's a Goodreads.com account for each student in your classroom, simple book reports that are shared, or a separate shelf where students can put favorite books for others to check out, let them share the valuable experiences in some way. They could also make book advertisements, make commercials for the book, or vote on their favorite books to keep those titles out there.
• Make it interesting. Fluency and comprehension checks are important, but use them sparingly. The tendency to over test, especially with chapter tests and things like that, can ruin the literary experience. Do you give yourself chapter tests when you read for pleasure at home? Then stop doing it at school (at least stop doing it so much).
• Have goals. If you have 25 students, make a goal for each to read 4 books during the semester. Put up a large bar graph in the classroom, and color in one each time a student reads a book and passes some sort of comprehension test at the end (AR, a book report, etc) to prove they read the entire thing. If your class can hit the goal, in this case, 100 books read, then have some MAJOR party or some kind of reward for them.

I hope this post can be of service to you. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to hear about.

iPod Literacy

My fifth grade students take the advanced technological age they live in for granted, that's for certain. And why shouldn't they? These kids have grown up in the age of iPod, wireless high speed internet, and on demand TV that you can pause. Any of these things would have made my head explode when I was ten-years-old, but it's all just common stuff now.

I've made some funny observations in my short, four year career as an educator that falls along these lines. Recently a primary teacher came down looking for me to find a tape player to use in a first grade classroom to play some tapes and do some recordings. She came to me because I'm one of the requisite "keepers of tech" in my school, and I was a good person to ask.

I told her that I hadn't seen a tape player or a tape in about seven years, we laughed, and off she went. The funny thing is, I wasn't really kidding. Tape player? Do they still make those?

The point here is that teachers sometimes are trapped in the past. I still have seen many, MANY, the vast majority, of teachers out there not be able to proficiently use a computer. Blogging in the classroom, online communities of learners, webquests? Forget about all of these things if the teacher can't even login and do the basics. I've had kids enter my classroom with a wealth of technological knowledge, none of it learned at school. Luckily my school has a computer lab with a full time technology teacher, but that's beside the point here, not all schools have this.

In terms of literacy, the fact that 90% of all kids carry and iPod, a cell phone, or both in one (yeah, they do that now, crazy huh?) should have forced a reaction by now in the classroom setting, but it hasn't budged teachers from the traditional techniques of reaching kids. Textbooks and short films were old news when I was a fifth grader, back in 1992, and that's literally a billion years ago in terms of technology, and kids today are in a different existence.

How can we embrace these things in order to further literacy practice? I recently told my class to bring in the lyrics and a copy of their favorite song (no profanity/racial/sexual lyrics was my only rule). First of all, I didn't tell them how to get me their song, and what I got was interesting. I had songs on jump drives, a few e-mailed to me, a couple burned on CD's, and a few iPods come in the class. So, I took that opportunity to install iTunes on the machines in my classroom.

This project we did involved students breaking down the lyrics of their song, trying to find the underlying layers of meaning in the song. They also looked at the melody itself and researched the source of that. What took place in the class was nothing short of amazing. It was a classroom full of students learning about jazz, the poetry of Robert Frost, and the philosophy of the Creole through the lyrics and melody of Kanye West, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers, and Rihanna.

The end result of this was a classroom full of students who were shown a way to look at the basic world around them in a new way.

This is simply a small example of how to incorporate what I call 'iPod Literacy' into the classroom. Imagine the depth of knowledge one can gain from podcasts (I'm hooked actually, I can learn Spanish, the word of the day, and catch all the stuff on ESPN I missed through daily podcasts).

Imagine what could become of education if teachers would put down the textbooks, worksheets, and token activities and take a look at the world of today's tech savvy student.

The Depths of Literacy Education

I'm sitting here on the verge of Thanksgiving vacation, wondering about the state of affairs in public education. Soon, it will be Christmas vacation, and then, upon our return for the Spring semester, it will be time to start that push towards the standardized testing that will commence in April (in New Mexico, the date varies by state).

Much of what happens in terms of literacy education mandates happen in response to standardized testing, it is the driving force behind what districts, states, and the fed mandates for teachers to do in the classroom.

Where does this leave you, the classroom teacher? For one, it leaves you caught in the crossfire. Teachers are the one who know the best way to teach their students. It's teachers who have access to those valuable resources that kids can use to further their own learning. At the same time, it's those teachers who have no power outside of the classroom to decide what to do in the classroom.

Yes, it's hard, and frustrating. But there are things you can do in order to take control of your classroom. First of all, you need to know your stuff. Know what you're doing, know that it's the right way to teach according to standards, the needs of your students, and according to research. I've heard many teachers say that it's too difficult to keep up with the current trends in education, that they just have to 'go with the flow' and work based on what's in front of them. That is a start, but without a grounding in theory, there is really no praxis so to speak, it's straight method based on some vague understandings that are based on misunderstandings.

Literacy is so much deeper than a few stories in a few textbooks. It's so much deeper than worksheets, post-tests, and the occasional diorama or project. Literacy is an intricate, multi-leveled process in which students learn to interact with the world, and it's deeper than the words on the page. Literacy instruction, if it's practiced effectively, opens students to different ideas, it gives them a new outlet for creativity and exploration, and ultimately teaches them more than any teacher ever will.

I know that this post is more of a rant than anything else, but I do want to explore this topic more deeply in the near future. Let's just hope that I don't disappear for another three months! If you have anything you'd like to add to the discussion, please let me know, I'm open to comments or even to a guest author.

The Reading Class: A How To

I recently realized something as I was teaching my 5th graders during reading class. I realized that my class structure has become truly unique. I realized that my structure no longer follows the district guidelines (although it is still within what the district wants, it is not a clone), it no longer follows traditional thought, and it no longer follows what anyone else in the building does.

The teaching of reading in elementary school is basically broken into three components: teacher led reading (read aloud, shared, or modeled reading depending on the jargon where you work), group reading, and individual reading. Activities that are done in reading fall within one of these three areas.

My students enjoy teacher led reading immensely, they beg for more. The reason for this is the lack of textbooks, more often than not called "basal readers," which are books of story excerpts. Some of the excerpts are from great stories, so early in my career, I began to question this by saying that if the story was so good, shouldn't we read the whole thing? Isn't that part of the experience? My quest for the authentic literacy experience led me to where I am now.

For the first 30 minutes of each reading class (which run for 90 minutes, within my currently self contained classroom), I read to my students. I read to them from books that are basically above the reading level of 75% of the class, but not substantially above their level. I have read books like "The Castle in the Attic," "The City of Ember," "Coraline," and "The Giver," all books that I have read personally and consider to be masterpieces of children's literature. It is important that the teacher is familiar with the books before reading them out loud, don't just pick one because I or somebody else recommended it and start reading it. I am comfortable reading "The Giver," but somebody else might find it outside of their comfort zone, so be knowledgeable first.

After that 30 minutes is over, students work in groups for 30 minutes, reading a book that they selected together, or working on a project that I have given them. This block is where students are actually ability grouped and rotate between "stations," this is in following the Guided Reading model that my school district has mandated. This is another rule of reading. If your school district tells you to do something, do it, but make it work. Don't just say "I'm not doing that." In their groups, one of the big things I have going on is computer work. Students complete various projects on the computers during group.

At the end of group, there is 30 minutes of individual work. The activity most often done and preferred in individual time is sustained silent reading. Students love self choice, they love the joy that comes with a good book, and they love the time to themselves after a long day of lectures, group work, discussion, experimenting, and everything else that makes the school day so great. I guess I should say that my reading is taught at the end of the day (not my choice, but that's the way it goes).

So that's just a quick overview. I'll be back during the week with more book reviews, more ideas, and more discussion. Please check back soon.

100,000,000 Authors, Will You Read?

There used to be a time when reading involved picking up a book and, you know, reading it. The library was the place to get information, and people planned their entire lives around their proximity to one (especially college students). In fact, just as recent as the mid '90s, when my dad was working on his master's degree from Eastern New Mexico University, a three or so hour drive from our then home in Carlsbad, he would literally have to go there to do research and things of that sort. In fact, it finally led to him having to relocate to dorm life for one summer in order to complete his degree.

Now, I could do my degree entirely from here at home, where I write this. All of the information, research and otherwise, is literally at my fingertips, brought to me at lightning speeds. Yes, the internet has changed our existence. I will be able to do a Ph.D. with ease unimagined just 15 years ago (I'm not saying it will be easy, but definitely easier than it was before the internet become widespread). Just thinking about the internet boggles the mind. This web of information continues to grow by the second. Anyone with a connection can participate, for free, and throw information to the world.

With all of this participation by humanity, we have a different literary experience than our parents and grandparents did (heck, even than WE did). Yes, books are out there, and they're being published and printed with greater speed than ever before in the history of humanity. Over 3,000 new and unique books are published in this world every single day. On top of that, over 800,000 videos are uploaded to Youtube every day, over 4,000,000 blog posts are made every day, and if all of the internet users were put together to form a country, it would be the biggest in the world, even bigger than China.

This is a lot of talking (probably too much, congratulations if you're still with me). What does all this mean then? It means that this isn't 1965, it isn't 1985, and it isn't even yesterday. This world is dynamic, and it's changing. Thanks to the internet, change is instantaneous and world wide. The world is so small we can see it all at once through the windows that are our computer screens. If schools don't adapt, we will die, and we'll drag our students to the depths with us. The time has come and passed, put down those textbooks, pick up those computers, and start preparing your students for the future, as crazy as it will be.

Did You Know That Literacy Technology Is Necessary?

I am facilitating a group of teachers learning science content this week, and today, while I was presenting, I was actually a little surprised at my passion when discussion the usage of technology and innovative, or at least interesting, techniques in teaching literacy (science as well, but I went off on a tangent). I actually went as far as to tell the group of elementary school teachers I was presenting to that they need to stop teaching out of textbooks, they need to stop using worksheets, and they need to pick up the innovation, even if that means more work for them in terms of preparation and set up time.

The actual words I used were "stop doing those things, just stop it, or it's time to retire." I actually got some head nods and thumbs up. These teachers knew that I wasn't criticizing their methods, but I was reacting to the need for innovative methods to reach innovative minds.

I could actually go on here for a long time, but I think the need is obvious. We have students that will be living and working in a world that doesn't exist, even in theory, right now. I am in the late stages of the creation of a reading program for my class that integrates technology and authentic literature (books, graphic novels, magazines, newspapers, NOT textbooks, NOT basals, NOT those little lame made up books, NOT worksheets). I will explain my program in full once I'm done with it, and I'll update the readers of this blog on its progress once school starts. Of course, I'll throw that out there for free, I'm not trying to make money, I'm trying to teach kids they way they deserve to be taught, and hopefully others out there are doing the same.

In the meantime, here is the video that I was actually reacting to today when I had this discussion at this conference. It's called Did You Know?, and is rapidly making the rounds in the field of education. Enjoy.

The Adult Literacy Experience in the High School Classroom

When I say adult literacy, I guess I could also be talking about college level literacy, because often times, the literature used is more on the adult edge than anything else (although I encountered a number of books that I now consider to be young adult literature in undergraduate level courses).

The most enjoyable college literature courses for me were always the special topics courses. The way I believe it works at NMSU is there is a course called ENGL 211, which is basically books across a topic chosen by the instructor. When I took it, we read science fiction by female authors (you know, Frankenstein and stuff like that). I like the idea of forming a class around a genre, or a very specific topic, and moving forward from there.

For example, I have been a fan of dystopia (the opposite of utopia) themed literature. Books like 1984, A Brave New World, and even down into children's books like The Giver and The City of Ember. Imagine in a high school lit/comp class, instead of reading books like Wuthering Heights and Lord of the Flies (both classics in their own rights, but ultimately books I never felt a connection with as a 17 year old high school student), surveying the class (or even making the decision yourself, as a teacher), and reading books across that specific theme that's chosen. I would have been reading day and night if my senior English class was themed around zombie literature (OK, too much of a stretch?) or even historic fiction out of a certain period, say the Civil War or World War II.

Basically, look at it this way. As a teacher, what are your interests? You'd be surprised how just showing what you're interested in, letting your passion for that subject come to the surface, and sharing your knowledge can change the way students think about that topic. I'm quite interested in World War II and am passionate about some of the books I choose to read to my 5th graders, and many, if not most of my students end up sharing that passion and interest. It's just a continuing step in taking back the field of education, throwing down the test preparation materials, and doing what we should have been doing all along, teaching with passion and interest, teaching students to really learn about the world instead of teaching them to fill in bubbles on a test sheet.

Why I've Decided That the DRA Just Isn't Good

Maybe the title of this post could have been differently worded, but it's not. I think that the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), compared to other diagnostics, is decent (not worth something like $250 per kit), but is ultimately just another stupid diagnostic. Why have I come to this decision? It's rather simple actually.

I like to read. Reading is great, there is nothing better than a good book. I don't really care if it's a popular book, a bargain bin book, a book for kids, whatever, it's all good. Some I'll hate, but most are at least somewhat enjoyable.

Now, what the DRA is all about is this little books that are at reading levels. You have this box full of these 16 page books for students to read and respond to. The DRA instructions basically say that for the teacher to fully understand the results, that they should have read the book as well.

16 pages don't sound like much, but trust me, it's beyond brutal. I've always maintained more than a touch of selective ADD, when stuff doesn't interest me, I just shut down. I can't read these DRA books, it's impossible. I honestly don't know how my students get through them. They're poorly written, there's little to no attention to actual, you know, story telling.

So when your school district adopts the DRA, and hands you your first kit, try to read those books. You are truly a champion if you can pull it off, because they're not good. It goes against everything I believe about literacy instruction, basically, that it should be interesting to read. Think about it.

Enjoy That Summer, YOU Earned It (So Did I)

A lot of my summer posts have taken on a bit of summer flair. Instead of getting down to business, I've been keeping things pretty level and on the surface as far as issues in the field of literacy goes as well as literature reviews themselves. That will be changing soon, because I finally have felt rejuvenated enough to start reading again. I should have a few new reviews very soon.

But you know, it's ok to "veg out" during the summer months if you're a teacher, don't feel guilty about it. Don't pay attention to those people around you working long hours during the dog days of summer, you earned your vacation, now enjoy it.

I know that a lot of times, I'll go to get together with some family, or friends, or friends of family (which sometimes isn't as fun as it sounds) here in the area that I live, and a lot of times, the conversation goes something like this:

ME: So, how's life?

OTHER PERSON: Oh, you know, just working 60 hours a week. I got caught in a traffic jam yesterday and didn't get home until 8:00. My boss made me work on Saturday, and I need to go to the doctor because of stress, you?

ME: Well I've been on vacation since late May, so I've just been hanging out.

OTHER PERSON: That's really nice (at this point, other person is hiding secret contempt for me, and the conversation is ruined).

So yeah, I get it why a lot of people loathe teachers for the vacations we get. Yes, I do get it, but that doesn't mean we don't deserve it. Our job is more difficult than almost any other job you can imagine, and our job is nearly impossible to do year around without a break in the middle, it's too hard on us and the students. So the next time other person starts problems with you, just remember that your job is harder than theirs, then go home, set up the Slip 'N Slide, and break your arm!

Time To Put the Dinosaurs To Rest

I remember getting in trouble a few times in high school because I was simply bored. My dad was a teacher at the high school, so sometimes he'd let me take some of those daily attendance pads. Well, I'd sit in the back of my boring social studies or literature class and turn the pad into a stick man animation. I'll tell you, it was the best of times. I'd draw epic cartoons on the corners of those pads and pass them around the classroom for everyone to see. I never told my dad this, but I would sometimes sell those for a few bucks so I could tell the teacher I was going to the restroom and go buy a coke at one of the coke machines on campus.

The point here is, school can really suck. Most of my memories of school aren't necessarily positive ones. I have many extended memories of being bored and disconnected in the classroom, where teachers knew nothing more than showing films and doing the textbooks chapter by chapter. Even when we would go beyond the textbook, nine times out of ten, it would be to do a project that was tedious and ultimately lame.

I graduated high school in 1999. That doesn't sound like a long time does it? Well let me tell you, it's an eternity. The year I graduated high school, iPods hadn't been invented yet, the internet was still 99% dial up connections, and cell phones were just beginning to enter wide use. Internet 2.0 hadn't really started up yet, because blogging wasn't mainstream, Google didn't exist, and internet video was still a pipe dream.

I will have my 10 year class reunion next year. Still doesn't sound like a very long time does it? Well, if you were teaching then, and are still teaching now, if you're still doing the same things, your students are as bored as I was to the tenth power. It's true. I grew up playing Nintendo (yes, THE Nintendo). I grew up with a DOS computer (pre-Windows), got the internet when I was in 8th grade, got a satellite dish in the house when I was in 8th grade, and used a cell phone for the first time when I was in 8th grade. I remember when the internet first hit, it's a strong memory of mine.

Students today take these things for granted. They don't really know what Nintendo was, they live in a world of instant information, photo realistic gaming, cell phones for the masses, and computers that are small enough to fit in your ear. It's time to change, that's for sure.

What does this have to do with literacy? EVERYTHING. Watch this video and decide if you are an effective teacher.

Doing A Disservice To the Profession: Put Down Those Textbooks

What is the most important subject in a student's elementary education (and no, I'm not talking about their ability to test)? What I mean is, which single subject is most important to that child's development as a lifelong learner, with the ultimate goal of them graduating high school and either landing a nice job or going off to college?

Different schools of though obviously exist, but there seem to be two sides primarily to this. On one side, we have the math/science, and on the other, liberal arts (social studies mostly)/literacy (reading/writing). Now, I know that these subjects can all be seamlessly interwoven by the master teacher, but I'm obviously not quite there yet, so I do see these two sides of the coin.

From what I have seen, I have to believe that literacy is primary at an early age. Yes, math is important, but without those reading and writing skills, students will struggle all around, with math too. The weak math student can be a good reader, heck, that basically sums me up, I've learned the math that I need to know (which is increasing now that I'm pushing myself into the upper realms of my own education), but it never came naturally to me.

So there's my side of things, which in part explains why this blog exists. I work in a department (grade level) that has four teachers. I teach one of the general ed classrooms, along with two other teachers, and we also have a bilingual teacher that has a dual language classroom. My general education counterparts are both very new to the elementary classroom, one just completed their first year of teaching, and the other their first year at the elementary level.

It was very encouraging, what I saw from the new teacher. This person underwent a similar undergraduate education that I did, although at a different university. This person understands student choice, critical thinking through authentic literacy, and the importance of teacher read aloud, student read aloud, and silent reading all taken together.

The other teacher, the one with prior experience, but none at elementary, showcases a problem to me. This teacher went to college around 15 years ago, and teaches basically from textbooks all day every day. In fact, I gave this teacher each and every one of my reading textbooks, because I stay as far away as I possibly can from them. Textbooks symbolize a crutch to me in many ways. The material is there, just follow it, and you'll be fine.

That may largely be true, but are you truly doing your students justice by following a basal series? It was quite obvious that in the case of this teacher, no. Not only did various diagnostic data show much slower growth from that class as compared to mine, it was severely low in comparison, and I had the group of 'lower' readers.

I think I could go on for hours here, because I'm very passionate about what I do and have spoken out against the practices of my colleague and others who also teach this way. It's cheapening to the profession, if we wanted everyone to teach from textbooks, we could just hire some schmo from off the street and tell them to follow the script. I'm going to stop now, and just be happy that I got this out there.

What Accelerated Reader Had Right

Reading programs are being used all across the country. My school district currently is using three programs (yeah, that's it right, only three?), the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), which is more of a diagnostic, Guided Reading, which is the foundational model of our reading program, and some schools use Accelerated Reader (AR), a student driven read/test/reward computer based program that I have used in my school. The decision to use AR was up to individual schools, and those schools used either Title I money or other money to purchase the software and set up the school library.

AR does take a lot of work at the onset if you want to do it right. Our school library had to be set up around AR, so all the books in the library were labeled with the grade level, which reads showing the grade level, a decimal point, and then the month in that grade level the book would be considered "most appropriate." (example: 5.4 means 5th grade 4th month)

Students take books, read them, then get on the computer and take the test for that book, and get points. They then use the points to get prizes. Of course, that end of it is more teacher driven, the teacher would have to fill out the prize request and give it to the Title I lab in the building, at least in my building.

So to make a long story short, my school is finally doing away with AR, and as I explained in yesterday's post, this has caused me to invent my own student choice reading program, which is a good step. AR had some things right, but there's always room for improvement.

I have always had my students take the AR test, do reading journals (not daily, I have them do at minimum 2 for every 100 pages read), and a book report. This year, I'm going to push that more, and include technology (more on that later this summer).

For now, I just want to focus on what AR had right. I like the book levels that AR utilized. Students had a basic understanding of a book, either if it was going to be too easy or too difficult before sitting down with it. I will be using AR book leveling in my new made up program.

I also like the reward component of AR. Yes, students SHOULD read for fun, and should enjoy the process. I have found that in starting my own classroom library that more students are enjoying reading, and have found that to be a reward in itself. There is good in having them set goals and get rewarded when they meet them. This gives room for students who normally wouldn't read to take part, and for those awesome readers to get some validation, so I will be using a reward component as well.

Finally, AR encouraged students to read a wide variety of books across a wide variety of levels. I will encourage this also. AR is a good program that is still out there. If you have the time and the support of your entire building, I'd go for it, if not, there are pieces of it that you can use on your own.

The Textbook Manifesto

Textbooks are the devil, textbooks drive students away from true learning, and textbooks are a waste of money. Teachers use textbooks because they're already there, they're easy, they don't force the teacher to actually have the background knowledge, and they're usually standards based. Textbooks are a cop out, they make the job of a teacher easier, and if a teacher uses them they'll be considered a good teacher.

Textbooks are like a lot of other things the schools want teachers to use. Textbooks are ridiculous, out of touch, and are one of the main things that drive students away from learning. I still have yet to see a textbook that is effective in any way.

A textbook should be a tool for learning, a resource, much like an encyclopedia or wikipedia. It is not the curriculum, the sooner teachers realize that, the sooner children will actually start learning. Until then, it's long live the textbook culture, and the 50% dropout rate. Let's keep patting ourselves on the back and ignore the problem.

The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis, has been growing in popularity, not to mention banned book lists, since it was first published in 1995. This book is a great Civil Rights era story. It's the story of Kenny and the Watson family, and their experience living in Flint, Michigan in 1963. They're a fairly normal family, with problems common of the times, and that even parallel our lives today in many ways. Eventually they head off to Birmingham, Alabama, to return to the home of Kenny's mother.

They are in Birmingham when the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing took place on September 15, 1963 that killed four girls and injured many others. The great thing about this book is that it does what textbooks and worksheets can't, it injects emotion, a real story into the civil rights movement, and this means so much to pre-teen and teenage students alike. Pat R. Scales, author of Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers, said:

Students may learn about the Civil Rights Movement in social studies, but they experience the horror, the fear, and the devastation of this terrible time with the Watson family in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. Textbooks omit emotions. Novels don't. Knowing the facts is important, but making an emotional connection is the only way to truly walk in the shoes of others.

So, if you're looking for a great Civil Rights book that will leave a lasting impression on your students, this book is great. If you're interested in knowing why it has been challenged in the past and has ended up on banned book lists, it's basically because the book falls in line with a lot of pre-teen tales. The story is candid, words like 'hell' and 'ass' are said a few times, and the bombing of the church is definitely difficult to read. But shying kids away from stuff like this isn't doing them any favors, censorship in the case of this book is unnecessary and wrong, this book should be read, and I hope that if you're considering a unit on it, to consider it.