Week 3: Finding the Sweet Spot of Instruction

[Kelly Gallagher]

I have three more days of school. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

As we head into our last week of this book club, we have over 250 participants and I would like to thank all who have contributed to a very rich discussion.

I propose that we begin this section by discussing any or all of the following:

• In reading academic text, do students get enough close reading experience? How do you give your students 2nd and 3rd draft reading experiences?

• In Chapter Four, I make the assertion that there is no such thing as a lousy classic. If a book has remained in the canon, there is a reason for that. Our job is to help our students see that reason. Agree? Disagree?

• I am concerned about the teaching of metacognitive strategies. I am afraid that some schools do not teach them at all (they teach the reading; they do not teach the reader). On the other hand, I am concerned that some schools over-teach metacognitive strategies, which may become moot is students aren’t reading enough to build the proper prior knowledge needed for comprehension.

• In an attempt to raise score, are we sacrificing creativity? What are the long-term implications? Are we “fixing” the wrong things?

• So where do we go from here? If we believe these practices are killing the love of reading, how do we effect change? How do we end readicide?


Kelly

[Gary Anderson]

That PLC blog can be very helpful. Please share the link if/when it launches. Thanks.

(Our PLC format is much more rigid and would never allow for something this useful.)

[James Miscavish]

Our school uses yammer which is really, really helpful. It's *mostly* free if you don't get the premium plan (which you won't need).

Our school also has a ning that the PLC uses. It's pretty dead now during the summer, but it's proven helpful.

Not to completely derail the discussion, but I sort of understand not requiring students to use tech tools (only sort of), but why not adults? I'd say 100% of your staff has internet access and computers...

[Whitney Lee Svensson]

The long term implications of teaching to standardized tests is ominous. I feel like chapter 5 makes a great point about America's 'secret weapon'--creativity--slowly slipping away. We are losing our edge over other countries and drill-and-kill instruction is the main perpetrator. Instead, teachers need to get on board with Finland's style of pedagody and steer clear of bubbling answer sheets and linear thinking. I like the idea of teachers as entrepeneurs because being an entrepeneur requires a lot of innitiative and risk. To manage a class like an enterprise underscores just how important creativity is in order to succeed. Thus, like in Finland, teachers need to accept the responsibility of teaching kids to think, rather than teaching them tests.

[Linda Reed]

My principal, bless his heart, is reading Readicide, an end of the year gift from me to him. He called yesterday to say how much he is enjoying it. He also mentioned that his personal reading consists of about 95% nonfiction. Fiction is just not his thing, though a few times a year one of us will suggest a great book that he will read and enjoy. This, combined with the concern raised in the book that "kids these days" are not very aware of worldly affairs, has prompted me to think about titles I could add for my struggling tenth grade readers. I'm very excited about teaching An Ordinary Man, or A Long Way Home and making connections with those books to The Pearl, Farewell to Manzanar, or Lord of the Flies. One way to effect change is by never being afraid to change. We don't have all the answers, but it's been a joy to try to find and share new ones here. I am thankful to have a job that is never, ever boring.

[Kelly Gallagher]

I am going to start a new strand.