Teachers of Significance

A post about the significance of response writing: http://tomakeaprairie.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/writing-meaningfully-about-meaningful-reading-part-1-a-look-at-low-stakes-writing/

Read 4000 Read 4000 is an attempt to capture the simple idea that in order to grow in reading achievement, starting at 4 th grade, children need to read about 800,000 words per year. That’s just to keep up with the 50 th %ile of reading achievement. Students in the top 10% of reading achievement are reading on average 2.3 million words per year. For a point of reference the complete series of 7 Harry Potter books contains about 1 million words. A Simple Number Trying to communicate reading volume in terms of words per year doesn’t go well. Most people have resorted to setting goals based on a number of books per year. The Southern Regional Education Board, Making Middle Grades Work, and High Schools that Work recommend setting a goal of 25 books per year. Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild , recommends 40 books per year. In all cases they recommend finding a way to allow/account for longer books, short boo

Art and Controversy (in AP English Language).   Students learn best when constructive controversy is engaged (Johnson and Johnson, 2009), and the art of Barbara Kruger gets us to rethink assumptions by introducing controversy. Here, a floating hand holds up an ID-card sized sign that offers a disturbing message, and  Kruger gets viewers to stand outside of their typical understandings.  In formulating these ideas and in making these juxtapositions, Kruger destabilizes accepted connotations of certain words such as "friend" or "belong," or in this case, a philosophical phrase.  Literacy researcher Rebecca Trites calls this "critical literacy" ( Disturbing the Universe, 2004), and it is the type of read-think-write move that causes us to question and push back against ideologies and patterns that form our assumptions.   It's important to incorporate texts, images, ideas that set the stage for students to question in a substantial way. Enjoy th

I try to use reflection in math class, especially with problems that are challenging or complex.  Here are some questions to ask: Cognitive Skills type (questions or stems) What is priority #1 in this problem? Which symbol do you want to ask about? My first step will be to ... How many steps will there be for completion of this problem? This problem LOOKS difficult because... Write a question about this problem for the teacher, or a partner, or the author... Affective   type Which problem did you enjoy more?   If you were offered a "life-line" for one problem, which would you choose and why? Which did you like better: the problem with fractions or the problem with square roots? Why? If your partner was stuck, what could you do or say to help them? Were you and your partner successful on the problems?  What did you do together that enabled you to be successful? What did you feel was the most difficult part of this problem?  Does your partner agree/disagree?  Why

Humanizing Reading through the study of Point of View POV in literature .  From Faulkner's  As I Lay Dying  to contemporary young adult fiction such as 13 Reasons Why , understanding varying points of view and vectors of experience can be enlightening for all readers.  For teens, whose world views are in flux and formation, it is a critical democratic insight to understand and value perspectives that vary from ours.  Literature can provide a key means of growth in this aspect of truth because authors choose to craft literature from a particular--or even multiple!--points of view, and this gives the reader much to consider.   Thus, the maxim:  the teller of of the story IS the story .  Beauty.   I think this line of study is really a beautiful thing.  It guards against solipsism and a narcissistic view of the world, and it creates empathy for others.  It causes one to refine his or her view by considering how it might be different from an other's view.  Finally, as it perta

Constructive Controversy     I want to draw my students into a supportive classroom environment that normalizes struggle and controversy. Argument does not have to be a winner-take-call debate or (on the other extreme) a series of head nods to a commonly agreed-upon platitude.  Democracy takes  more work than that.  The empathy and rationality of rich humanism requires greater depth and search, as well.   Even after 21 years of teaching, I am still learning so much about how to set the stage for respectful and engaged discussion.  What about you? Praise, Pressure, and Performance This short unit focuses on setting the norms of inquiry and engagement that will lead to constructive controversy.  Please check out any of the lessons, or the whole unit!  I taught this in the 2013-14 school year in grade 9, but it could easily run in grades 8-11.   This topic is so compelling, I think, because it will help students to become more reflective on how they receive feedback fro

I was a high school English and Reading teacher. I got thrown into teaching reading classes in a new job based on coming from a school district that had a reputation for providing “Content Area Reading” training. I taught reading classes for nine years. I was a high school reading specialist whose job was to provide job-embedded professional development to teachers who were trying to increase the effectiveness of their literacy instruction. Now I am a PK-12 curriculum coordinator working in a school district that is gradually implementing a reading workshop approach in middle and high school. If you have read Mosaic of Thought , In the Middle,    The Book Whisperer , or Book Love and if you have already implemented reading / writing workshop in your middle and high school class this blog-post might be a simplistic rehash of what much more experience teachers have to say. Or it might validate your thinking. If you are skeptical or curious about independent reading for secondary

Sample Exit Slips Here are three areas to draw from, with a range of samples to stir your thinking!  I use exits slips 2-3 times per week at the high school level of teaching. Examples of Cognitive-Skills Type Exit Slips: Task Analysis What are the three most important details in this chapter, task, lab, activity? Predict What do you predict will happen when we … mix the compounds together.. find out about Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks…learn about carcinogens…? Ask! Write a question about an aspect of the material that confuses you. Write a question about the material that you think would be a good short answer/essay question on tomorrow’s test. Write a question about the material/lab/activity in how it relates to your life? Picture It! Draw a diagram or picture of the reading/lab/activity.  Make the important aspects or details more prominent. Examples of Affective-Type Exit Slips: Enjoyment How well d