“Lingering Academic Gap Riles NAACP.”  from the
Washington Post 11-6-07, by Michael Alison Chandler. 

The NAACP wants the achievement gap to close between Hispanic/black and white students.  The performance at the high school has increased for all groups, but the gap has stayed the same.  This is a very rich Loudon county in VA.  Experts cite language barrier, poverty, lack of parental involvement as reasons.  The author does not buy this as the total explanation, but then goes on to detail a AA parent organization that focuses their children on college. They meet and evaluate progress once per week. I would call this high parental involvement. 

The NAACP suggests using test scores to rate teachers, which actually angers me.  The NCLB and NAACP are starting to sound the same which is ridiculous. As African American, (AA) officials, they should have a little bit deeper understanding of AA people. They also prescribe minority teachers which sometimes is a good idea, but these minority teachers are people who have navigated the public school system despite the difficulties it presents for their people in general. Many of them think that school is the way out, which for them it was, but it is not always for all the students.  Some really do a great job and elevate the students that they teach. Others, the students end up calling “Toms,” or the modern day equivalent slang term.  They don’t make much of a difference just because they look like a minority person.  They have changed, and the kids can see it in one minute. The NAACP also wants the teachers better trained in cultural competence with which I agree.  Teachers need to know how to speak and deal with the people they are teaching.  They need to be aware so they don’t inadvertently offend the students.  NAACP also wants teachers better trained in classroom management.   

The structure of the school is more of a problem than the competence of the teachers.  Class management is not the answer.  Schools changing to exciting curriculum for the AA students would be the best form of class management. The "incompetent teachers" are teaching the rich white kids just fine.  No statistic is available in this article for the poor white kids, but let’s guess.  They don’t do as well as the rich.  All these NAACP suggestions won’t work because first, they have been tried forty times before.  And second, the structure of the schools is what causes the gap.  For the minority teacher to come in and teach in way that would be relevant for the students of the same makeup, the school would have to allow it.  Ebonics, and rap in English class, may be allowed in movies and some schools, but across the board, never.  The tests that the NAACP wants to use to rate teachers are no good for rating students, so probably no good for rating teachers.  

Doctor Eison, who spoke last night is fighting for AA people to get out of the cycle of poverty.  He is depressed because he hears AA students say that education is “white,” so they are not doing it. The AA students are right. It is white.  If schools remain as they are now, the gap will remain also. Part of what the riot/demonstration was in 1964, was to make schools better for AA people.   

It was a powerful movie. You could feel the frustration of the AA people in the movie. Frustration that is worse now.  Racism kept us from fixing the problem back then when it would have been ten times easier to fix.  Did you notice how well the kids in the movie spoke, (perhaps that was intentional)? There were more jobs and less AA people back then.  Two neighborhoods has in 2007 turned into the whole City of Rochester.  The City school system is a black hole sucking in money, but not doing very well with students. Racism is still pervasive, it is just more subtle.  Warren Doremus was wrong. People know now not to vocalize their racism, but they still have it. The white people moved out of the city, and they have their own schools where the poor AA’s cannot attend for “economic reasons” 142 years after the civil war, it looks like slavery is still here. AA people are living in similar relative conditions, poor housing, food, and education.  The police hate them the same way the farm foreman used to hate them.  They live separate from the white people and don’t have equal access to jobs. It is a different box, but still slavery inside.

 Anstey and Bull

I didn’t realize that picture books were so interesting and useful.  I can’t wait to read some with my seven year old and teach him to recognize the structures and multiple meanings in the books.  He probably can already, but like me, may not realize all of what is there.  It seems that they could be used for older kids as a more efficient source of knowledge and understanding. They have less text, but a picture can be more effective sometimes (1000 words).  I also like in chapter five how they break down the literacies to enhance your understanding, and then, give the activities to give you a starting point for teaching it. 

Frankenstein Lecture

Frankenstein

Part of a lecture is the listener’s responsibility to listen. I took notes, writing down interesting points of which there were several. I enjoyed the denying of the student who kept answering the questions, who said Siamese (and even more the response of the class when I asked about it). I sat with a friend and made some comments on the material as it was presented. I forced myself to stay with it. My factory training helped. I used to often do the same repetitive job for eight to ten hours.

I think is also the responsibility of the lecturer to make the lecture audience friendly. She spoke slowly and underutilized the most attention grabbing part of the material she had. The case studies would have been great in more detail. Humor helps when talking for a long time. There was none of that. She did a pretty good job of interjecting some interesting points, but could have gone much farther. I expected a much more dynamic presentation with such a fantastic subject.

Reading Workshops

I like the whole idea behind this activity. Making time for non content activities that could spur the intrinsic desire to read and learn which could reward the teacher with better learning results in the long term. This could be ironic because most would think that spending time on this would make the final results decline. The final results being test scores on the final evaluative tests and the reason being the loss of direct content instruction time. The benefit to the student of learning to like reading is very strong. I agree with the author that grades would defeat the purpose of the RW. It would be reading and completing the activities for a reward instead of enjoying the act. If you are trying to promote pleasure in reading, pass/fail should be used, with fail being used only if the student does not participate in the activity.

Book Clubs also offer good reinforcement for lifelong learners. And, they can be used to reinforce content. Teachers don’t’ need to make the complete sacrifice of instruction time to use them. They do require time, but can be toward a content instructional goal as well as to make the class fundamentally better readers which, again, can make them do better at any task, finals included. Book clubs combine collaboration and independent reading (Daniels and Zemelman 2004, p201). The support and feedback of the group can lead to better understanding and future proficiency in reading analysis. Listening to the group discuss the book can be a very accurate assessment tool. Seeing the students learn to politely disagree and discuss the book would be very rewarding. I also liked the idea of the students creating the rubric for the book club. It is easier to follow something that you develop.

When I began to truly enjoy reading, I was about 36 years old. It resulted in me returning to school, obtaining a masters degree, (despite vowing never to return to school as a 22 year old), and having a better life. At 22, my philosopy of working was, “I don’t care what I do, as long as I get enough money to do what I like in my spare time.” It later changed. I want to like my job.

Reading skill is important. Love of reading is immeasurably important. I see a value in these activities that can change the lives any student as it did me. Even if it takes twenty years to kick in, it still is important. I will make the time for these activities in my classroom.

Washingtonpost.com

“Md. Approves Test-Free Option for Graduation”

By Nelson Hernandez 110107: A01

Maryland’s State Board of Education passed a law allowing students who have twice failed the standardized tests necessary for graduation to now complete projects instead of the tests. The plan was proposed by a superintendent of schools. Opponents of the measure wanted to delay the date of a previous law that said no graduation if the tests are failed from 2009 to 2010, but they were overruled. This is an example of how states could mediate the effects of the NCLB. The NCLB is not as damaging if the states, who are allowed to come up with their standardized assessments would make them less standardized as Maryland has.

Making the students fail twice to have the chance to create the projects is still a little crazy, as many may drop out after the second failure. But this is better than automatic failure with only the standardized test as the measuring device. The worst part of the NCLB is the type of test that the states use to determine proficiency. The multiple choice standardized tests are not fair to many who this law is trying to help. A performance type project with some type of proficiency standard would be better for everyone. This is a small step, but if the NCLB gets extended, maybe the states will fall in with this type of law to take the vampire fangs out of the assessments.

I read, “A High School Under the Hood,” by Corey Kilgannon in the NY-Times 10-24-07.  This school has a huge automotive repair school and also teaches courses necessary to get a high school diploma.

The principle is not a car fan, but is re-instituting the car program anyway because of the need for mechanics.  I can’t believe that there are not more schools like this.  What are they waiting for?  A car is one of the major objects in everyone’s life, at least monetarily.  This is an example of a public school actually offering something to kids besides the chance to go to college which is a forgone conclusion for many kids who can’t get through high school.  We need more schools like this.  What are the jobs that we cannot fill in the USA?   Each city should have a school that specializes in some of these fields.  Our formation of curriculum is ridiculous.  English and history are required, but if you are an English or history major in college, get in line when you want a job.  Our whole country is in debt and stupid with money, but the required Economics course is all theory and no consumer practices which could actually do all of the students some good.  I applaud this high school and hope others arise soon that can teach some practical skills to help the non-college bound students.  NCLB is preventing schools like this.  Interested students learn better.  The opportunity to work and learn about cars is helping many of these students to stick with school.  In the past, occupation ed. schools were exposed somewhat as not able to put the students in jobs directly.  If the school gives any kind of skill and keeps the student in school, it is better than a lot of what we have now.

Writing on the Writing

 I found the paper difficult to put onto three pages.  We have learned a lot of strategies and theories. I taught a lesson on the Dred Scott decision to 11th graders today and used some written text.  It is now second nature for me to review the vocabulary before the reading and to give the students some background on the text concerning the frustration of Scott and the importance of the decision to ignite their interest a little.  It worked to some extent.  I can see myself getting better at it.  I feel much better equipped to teach and to interview for a job from taking this course and the class management course also.  They have really helped to refresh things that I learned in the past and to add some practical knowledge to the very very theoretical knowledge that I received at the UR.  Poor John Wills would roll over in his sociological cocoon to hear this, but I could have really used these courses then, or rather this material.  It was my weak spot.  It could have made things smoother for me. We are not all Dan Delahanty.

“Reaction is Cautious to Teacher Bonus Plan”  NY Times 101907 by Elissa Gootman It is proposed to give poor schools where teachers are able to exceed standard achievement additional money for doing so.  The plan is lure good teachers to poor schools, to keep teachers at poor schools and to motivate teachers in poor schools to perform better themselves or to help other teachers in their school perform better.  It does not look like it will lure anyone, because it is not that much money.  Another effect could be that teachers could turn against teachers who are not doing so well instead of helping to improve them as the plan hopes.   I don’t think that suburban teachers will come rushing into the city for $3000.  I think the teachers remediating weaker teachers within the schools in order to get the extra money would be great, but difficult to achieve.  Older teachers would be resistant to others especially younger teachers suggesting changes to their methods, no matter how bad they may be.  I do like, however, that they are finally talking about paying teachers more money.  More money almost certainly brings better people.  If the schools banded together to improve all teachers, that would be great.  I do believe that the money will keep some teachers who are good in the poorer schools, if they are already there.  The effect will be gradual as more good teachers develop and do not leave.Some school district may as well try paying more money because what we are doing now does not work very well.   

Writing on Writing Unlike some, I hate the process of writing.  It is like pulling my own teeth.  I have to brace myself and then pull really hard to get things out.  This is very unlike my constant verbal barrage, which could go on for days with no effort or loss of energy.  For more on this, tune in next week.  I haven’t written the piece yet.  

My article this week from the Washington Post “To help students, school throws the book at them.”  October 11, 2007 by Nelson Hernandez.

There is a program called America’s Choice.  They sell books, but that is not all.  In the schools, they do activities schoolwide that reinforce and help students to read with more interest.  For a book called “Bringing Rain to the Kaditi Plain,” students put soil and seeds without water in one pot and the same with water in another.  The science project enforced the reading and created interest.  This program, which has been used with sucess in Rochester, since 1998, creates interest and gives reinforcement to the reading in the way we have been learning in class.  It is reported to close the gap between black-hispanic and white-asian achievement.  In Rochester, the participants in the program made significantly higher gains, whatever that means than the non-participants.

In Suitland, more than 60% of the students receive free lunch.  Despite this, they did well in meeting federal standards for academic achievement.  Under the program, the school focuses on a different book each month.  They have a goal to read 25 books per year.  It seems to be working, but the reporting of results in very vague in this article.  I would like to believe it because it matches my opinion, but I can only do so to a point.

I Stand Here Ironing

This was an article about how some parents don’t have an answer for a teacher about what to do with their child.  By hardship not by choice, the mom knew that she was shorting her daughter on attention and love, but she could not help it.  She had other children and she needed to work.  The oldest daughter, who is described in this article had a hard life.

Teachers need to know that sometimes parents cannot help.  Also, kids have a chance to end up as fiunctional adults despite hardships in their youth.  Parents and teachers must do what they can and the rest is up to chance, sometimes.

Rigor + Support = Success

Avid seems to get amazing results, and it proves that it is not impossible to teach poor or very poor children. The program sending 70% of their students to college is unbelievable.  The college success and the awards won by students in the school for film that they produced must be a great confidence builder for the rest of the younger students in the school.  Many times in a condensed poverty area, there is no one for children to look at and say, “that person is like me and they went to college and are very smart.”  It gives hope to see a place where the teachers are able to help the students to buy into their education, and put in the time and effort to help make it happen for the kids.

Third Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research

Darling-Hammond makes many good commons sense points about education in the
US.  She blames the NCLB law for putting too much value on the multiple choice tests that dominate the country now.  She also points out that our children are being taught superficial knowledge and are not able to think critically and problem solve as well as students in higher achieving countries.  She mentions the inequity of money spent on the rich and poor in our country and how if money is evened out for teachers and materials, kids seem to learn better.  Many people feel that in our country now, equal educational opportunity exists, and the poor are too dumb to take advantage.  This is just not true.  It is obvious to anyone who takes a closer look that less is spent on the poor and many times don’t have nearly equal opportunities in their schools. The US soon will spend more money on prisons than on education.  Our country will go down the tubes as the workforce is able to do less and less work.  She likend it to the fall of the Roman Empire.  We are playing our fiddles with Education.

She points out that in many of the high achieving countries provide pre-school, and health care.  The government also controls educational spending and the neediest areas get additional money.  Teachers are more heavily invested in and teach longer and better.  It is interesting why our country came up with NCLB instead of just mimicking what these successful countries are doing.  It is not patented. We couuld copy them. I hope that we act fast and in the right direction to fix our educational philosophy and utilization of schools.  One problem that I foresee that will prevent this is that government spending on pre schoold, health care and school budgets sounds like “Socialism,” which people in our country think would make them all become like Dr. Zhivago.  The future is not promising.

McCourt 55-110 Blog

McCourt thinks that teaching is very difficult and underpaid.  He believes that the administrators and parents undermine education and that the students and teacher should be a team against them.  One parent beat up his kid in the classroom and threatened the whole class, (p91) because McCourt called home to say his son was misbehaving.  He thinks that teachers are unsupported in their endeavors and that the structure of the school is not for children and demeaning to them.  He could not wield the power over the kids as many of the other teachers in the school did, because of the power wielded over him when he was in school in Ireland.  He went to school living in fear.  He tried to have a classroom where the kids could be treated like human beings.  (A student once asked him why teachers could not treat the students as human beings? p69)

He believes that the students should be treated better and allowed to do things that interest them so he told his life stories to them, forsaking the classic instruction.  He found an avenue to educate by having them write excuse notes.  He received many excuse for absence, lateness, and undone homework from the kids on behalf of their parents.  The students were forging them.  He could tell the student notes from the parents because the parents notes were boring.  The kids writing had imagination and way more information than their parents.  They actually enjoyed this activity.  It was exciting to them and they wrote willingly, which was rare for them. The quality was good also.  It was a good idea.

McCourt does not value himself. His childhood of poverty and frustration have embedded in him a feeling of insecurity.  It seems to prevent him from happiness, and I am sure affects his teaching, but not as negatively as it does himself.  He is had respect for others, just not himself.

Kozol Brown Podcast

Kozol and Brown had similar feelings about education.  They feel that the instruction should include exciting planning of content put forth in a way that interests the students. They feel the interest is crucial for performance, performance should not be measured by standardized tests.  They both mentioned examples of poetry and difficult readings handled by young poor children, who supposedly can’t handle high level reading and thinking.  Examples of where the students were engaged by the teacher and the activity.

Kozol more vehemently argued against the No Child Left  Behind Act (NCLB) which he and Brown feel inhibit the schools of the poor instead of help them which is the published intent of the law.  Kozol also said that the law was a shaming ritual meant to pave the way for a voucher law after it most assuredly, in his opinion, fails. Kozol calls the effects in instruction brought on by NCLB “Drill and Kill”  brown brought up and example of his wife’s experience where after the test in March several students stopped doing their homework.  when questioned about it, they said, “the test is over. I am done.”  Brown feels the money used to sponsor the testing and recording of results could better be used in decreasing class size and purchasing materials for the poor schools.  I really agree with him on the class size.  It is much easier to give more attention per student. Many private schools, as pointed out by Kozol, have small class sizes, Phillips Exeter was mentioned specifically.  Both Bush presidents went to that school where the class size is twelve maximum.  Kozol also mentioned more than once that the NCLB makes good teachers leave teaching in the poor schools that need them the most because it is restrictive, frustrates them, and prevents them from actually teaching.

Doug Mesecar was a guest on the show in favor of the NCLB.  He pointed out increased test scores in the fourth grade that justify the law is working and is a good thing.  Brown, when disagreeing with Mesecar was careful to acknowledge any point with which he could agree, and then, mentioning points with which he disagreed.  Mesecar also was very polite in his disagreement withe the two authors.  He would mention the good points of the NCLB as neutrally as possible which made his cited statistics seem more credible than if he got defensive, which he didn’t.  He cited that behaviors of  specific schools to comply with the NCLB law which seemed to diminish education such as the elimination of music, art, and physical education are not specified in the law, but decisions of individual administrators. Both authors thought that the law forced many to act in this way, despite it not being an explicit part of the law. Kozol was not as civil as Brown and Mesecar.  He is very passionate about his beliefs.  He was not out of control, but more confrontational than the other two.

In my listening, I noticed several things.  When I close my eyes, I can listen better because I am not processing what my eyes are taking in which is irrelevant to the dialogue.  I also notice that I was looking for things to write about in my blog, the observations that were assigned.  What I noticed toward the end, though, was that I listen for any of the participants to say something that agrees with the way that I think and that I value those comments more that the ones with which I disagree.  This is normal, but not useful for objective listening.  At the end, I was able to be more impartial.  My mind was not changed, but I can see where this is such a hard issue to measure in any way to know how to act in the best interest of the students.  Everyone thinks that they are right.  That is not good news.  It is possible that the law will be extended.

Washington Post, October 8,2007  by Valerie Strauss/ Charting New Courses to Make Subjects Click.

This article talks about interesting courses designed by college professors and how they are popular and engage students in the learning process better.  There are more than before, but still not enough.  Many of the “Better Universities”  don’t bother trying as don’t other professors who don’t really know how to design a course and are not pressured to come up with interesting courses by their institutions.  The people who do have students fighting for seats because the courses are fun.  They may or may not realize that when you are haveing fun, you are also learning more.  All schools seem to need more of this kind of course.  It is moving in that direction, but not quickly.

Math Scored Rise, but Reading is Mixed.  (NYTimes)

by Sam Dillon 9-26-2007

As the president and others are trying to pass the No Child  law again.  It is really interesting to hear the interpretation of the results.  Bush called them “outstanding, ” but others say that they have made no difference or have had a negative effect.  The gaps between black/Hispanic and white students is as wide as it was in 1990.  Closing the gap is what the main intent of the law is supposed to be.

 The results released Tuesday show public school students doing better in math, but only marginally better in reading.  Eighth grade students actually declined in math, this year.

Education is so complex, it baffles me that people think that you can make one standard that will work for all students.  There are socio-cultural differences that make a standard, different, to the different students.  Allowing each state to come up with their own standard test, destandardizes the results.  If you are going to measure, use the same measuring device.  It seems foolish and impossible to try to measure everyone by one standard, however.  People are too different.

The American Federation of Teachers noted that many scored were rising faster before the law was enacted.  Fair Test, an anti-testing group replied similarly.  There is something to think about.  I believe that this could be true, but do these two groups have proof of this?  Probably not, or it would make more impact than it seems to be doing now.

In New York, the percentage of eighth graders who reach proficiency has dropped from 32 to 30%.  The state education commissioner points out that New York has been better than the national average in raising the achievement of Black and Hispanic children.  Does he realize that White students are doing worse?  Or, is the plan to close the gap by making the white kids achieve at a lower level?

The Congress should pass a law that educational law passers and test designers need to take six hours of literacy and child development courses.  They would then have a much better chance of coming up with a broad reaching and more flexible law.  This law is floundering in performance and has almost no effect except to make students with low learning ability or disabilities fail a test that they have no chance to pass and frustrating teachers who may feel that they have no chance at success for their students.

 Subjects Matter Chapter 4

The realization that I don’t know what the C squared is of the theory of relativity was quite a shock.  I know it has something to do with speed or movement, but, alas, I don’t know.  I feel deprived.  I am getting the Bodanis audiobook from the Library.  The sixteen fence-posts of history is a good idea.  Too bad the standards people get so carried away with quantity.  It would really be easier to go into depth with sixteen principles instead of four hundred.

I really like how the SM book gives concrete examples of readings and how to use them.  It helps to make me think in that vein.  I have read many of the books for pleasure that are listed in chapter 4  and agree that they are interesting and informative.  I look forward to making my class library.  The point about most avid readers starting off with the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew is a good point toward realizing that giving books that are more fun and simple to read can hook a person into reading more difficult text later.  If they already like reading, more difficult text will become challenging instead of grueling. 

 Chapter 7

The statistics given between learning levels of high support and low supported students are not surprising. I know that I performed better in classes where the teacher liked me.  It also makes sense that those students would be more respectful to each other.  If the environment is respectful, people have an easier time behaving that way. 

Daniels and Zemelman also recommend class meetings which I have learned about from “Positive Discipline,” Nelson et al. The class meetings seem like a good idea, if you can implement them the right way.  With some classes, it may be very difficult.  A lot of prior animosity between single or groups of students would sabotage class meetings, at least in the beginning.  That is one of my anxieties about this.  Also, my possible inability to have the patience, which sounds like a common theme.

 The “Job” of having one student who just received an explanation from the teacher answering the same question to the next questioner is a good technique.  I end up doing this all the time in math and science classes where I am subbing, except for the me first explaining part.  I ask for someone who knows how and ask them to explain to the student who needs help.  I never thought about doing it when I know the answer.

The technique on the Abolitionist definition activity on page 176 was clever.  The kids switching papers and then changing their ideas because of something someone else thought of is a useful practice.  Many people “vote” for their opinions.  Since they thought of it, they feel that they must promote it.  Getting used to changing your opinion as new information comes to light can lead to a more open-minded society.

Subjects Matter is a useful book because it provides examples of implementation which enable the transition from theory to practice to be smoother than if readers needed to come up with an implementation plan by themselves.  I will probably read this book several times in the coming years.

Tovani

A really good point made in the beginning of the (p25) piece was how trades people can read technical directions.  For some reason, probably because trades people are not usually “well educated.”  society does not recognize this as important.  They do however pay a lot of money to have tradespeople do things for them, so it is doubly curious.  It is interesting because of how badly students read directions in class.  Tovani also pointed out (p25) that often students jump into a project without reading the directions, which I see as a big problem to the students.  It may be a good project for the students to bring in and assemble some kind of holiday gift after the material holidays in winter and see how they do.  Being a former property manager and doing maintenance in a factory for fifteen years, I am able to put most items together easily, but not when I was younger.  Reading directions for understanding is a definite practical skill that could also show the importance of reading test directions, rubrics, syllabi, etc.  and teach them the skill.  It would be a great thing to give to students.

 di tri berrese was a cool activity and as we found in class, it made you realize, by going slowly, what we do exactly to get comprehension from reading.  It was also fun.  It could be used in any class over fourth grade to demonstrate reading methods.

The strategy narrated in Tovani, to make students stick to a boring text were interesting also.   Giving students the most exciting pages, to show that some actually exist in the reading and making the list of questions to be answered after reading are good ways to interest them and brace them against the boring part or parts. 

The anecdotal form of this article makes it easier to envision putting these theories into practice. The examples make sense as usable techniques that I look forward to trying.

NY Times

Education and Schools Are a Focus for Edwards

Jonathan Edwards has a plan for education that sounds very promising for the poor.  He wants preschool available to all future students starting with the poorest.  Edwards wants to have a national teacher university to make the caliber of teachers better, and get rid of the “cheap standardized tests” that the “No Child Left Behind Act,” is using to track progress.  He also wants to pay teachers who teach in high poverty area schools up to 15000.00 more per year and also help states to retain young teachers, many of whom leave teaching after a few years.

Much of this sounds good.  the standardized tests as a measure of progress are ridiculous.  They cheat the poor out of grade results because of their use of texts not in the repertoire of the very people that they are supposed to be helping.  Getting rid of them would be welcomed. The national teacher university is kind of scary.  Who will be hiring the professors?  What would be the philosophy of one university for all teachers? It would need to be pretty damned big!  Preschool for everyone is a great idea.  It would cost more money at first site, but probably save money later as more students did not repeat grades and became better educated citizens who could pay more tax later as higher earning adults.  It could be a hard sell however to people who want to see what their tax dollars are doing at this moment. 

Which brings me to the sad  part of the article. Edwards did not address how he would pay for his plan which had lots of money mentioned in many of the points he presented.  Probably more empty campaign promises.

 Daniels and Zemelman chapters 3+6

It seems that textbooks are a big problem for students.  They are designed with the whole country in mind, and for many schools, the only source of information.  The saddest part of the chapter was when they said that the books are not designed to teach the kids, but to appeal to the administrators and teachers who decide to buy them.  they are designed to be bland like politicians to appeal to the largest market.  If a person wrote a better form of textbook, however, it probably would not survive in the market.  Just like politics, offending someone is much worse than making no impact and might  make many people reject the better book.  It was also interesting about how Texas and California are the biggest markets and so all books make sure that they are attractive to these two states.  There seem to be many factors that cause the books to be superficial and bland.  The biggest being that they need to show that the book contains everything that everyone needs.  That is a tremendous amount, so there is not much depth in the content portrayal.  Chapter 3 was depressing, because it will be very difficult to change textbook style.

I will fight the curse of coverage (p145).  One of my adjuncts at the UR said that he did what he wanted for the whole year and reviewed for the regents in the six weeks at the end.  I thought that was a good strategy.  It will be interesting to see if I have the guts to do that, especially before tenure.

I was encouraged by the methods of better utilizing and supplemting a textbook in chapter 6.  I have used jigsawing, but by reading the chapter, I can see that I did not train the students in jigsawing enough for it to be used effectively.  By taking some time in the beginning of the year to train, time will actually be saved as the year goes on.  The practical examples like the role sheet and the jigsaw form give a better clue of how to get started using these techniques than just explaing the method theoretically.  This book gets me thinking.  I really like the role sheets.  The jobs are fairly equal in difficulty which would help with the group all participating and not relying on one or two students.  I really liked the idea of writing your own history and having it be much shorter than the text.  Other sources can provide informational reading in a more friendly format.  The anticipatory work is important also.  I can remember a personal example.  When I went for my real estate licensing course, I had been a landlord for about five years.  there were a lot of terms that I had heard of but was not sure of the meaning.  I really wanted to know what they meant, and when they were taught to me in the class, they were instantly remembered.  It was easy.  These ideas are really simple, but I can see the power of them.

We discussed some of the readings.  A student brought up the “Cricket Example” of prior knowledge.  We were given an excerpt from some text and without the information that they were talking about Cricket, the sport, it was difficult to comprehend.  Once you were told “Cricket,” it was much easier to understand. Another point brought up was how literacy changes with technology.  How we communicate changes with new devices invented.

We sympathized with the biology teacher who got no response from the students because they read their books, but did not comprehend.  He could have done some kind of anticipatory or explanatory activity before the reading to get a better result in that case.  As in the Cricket example, a little preface, even one word, can help.

We talked about the importance of Literacy ID and how it affects the comprehension of the user of a text. Each person has their own which is based on culture, location and other factors.  Some kind of activation using the Literacy ID usually is necessary to achieve comprehension.  Mature students usually possess the ability to link up previous experience to help with context in understanding, but kids are not specifically taught how in school.  They have skills and knowledge that they could use to help, (Literacy ID) they just need practice with using it to help them understand.

 We analyzed the McInnis piece using three colors to ID definitions, examples, and confusing or strange parts.  A pattern was found in the writing.  This would be a good activity for any age student on any printed text, to teach them how to find patterns and to do close reading for understanding.

In a discussion of language, putting oral stories into print was discussed and how language might need to be added to make up for body language, voice intonation and gestures.  Also, that you can judge but not test text.  Each person gets their own meaning so they can render an opinion.  It would, however, be difficult to test on meaning because meaning can differ to individuals depending on their literacy ID.

We brainstormed on the nature of literacy and will write a hard copy of it by Tuesday. 

 This broader definition of literacy is very helpful.  I was just in an English class today and the teacher had the students read a Graham Greene short story to practice the elements of plot.  She just had them read the story and only her and I laughed.  She did not preface the story with an account of Britis prep schools that many of the students have probably seen in movies.  She also did not talk of ironic or irreverant humor and what makes it.  The piece did not make sense to the readers because it was  not put in context.  Before the second class, I made a suggestion to her before the second class, and she didn’t seem to understand.  She tried but could not make them see the humor. It is so obvious now from only the three classes and readings that we have had, how important context is.  Unfortunately, not to the English teacher.

Purcell Gates

Summary

Purcell and Gates  talk about theories of literacy development.  Much of the development is based in the knowledge, experience and cognitive level of the person.

Letter and word recognition are important facets of learning to read. After reading becomes effortless, comprehension can begin.  They call the effortlessness automaticity.  Some researchers believe that letter and word recognition do not need to be taught first, but that whole text learning for comprehension can be taught instead.  Other researchers have a balanced approach.

They conclude by recommending that teachers pick their beliefs of how literacy develops, and then choose materials, procedures and assessments that will help their students achieve it.  One key strategy for the teacher and the students is to use the prior knowledge of the students to help put the text in perspective.  I learned how important that was first hand.

I was just in an English class today, (Monday),  and the teacher had the students read a Graham Greene short story to practice the elements of plot.  She just had them read the story, and only she and I laughed.  She did not preface the story with an account of British prep schools that many of the students have probably seen in movies.  She also did not talk of ironic or irreverent humor and what makes it.  The piece did not make sense to the readers because it was  not put in context.  Before the second class, I made a suggestion to her to talk about irreverant humor, and she didn’t seem to understand.  She tried but could not make them see the humor. It is so obvious now from only the three classes and readings that we have had, how important context is to understanding. 

The reading speed article was informative in showing that all three of the tested factors contribute to reading speed.  This information can also be useful to a teacher developing reading strategies.  Reading speed does not necessarily mean comprehension is involved, however.

Pahland Rowsell

Some points I agree with:

Literacy is linked to cultural background.  If school literacy were patterned after the entire community democratically, it could lead to social emancipation. 

Also, many of the practices of good teachers don’t seem to be recorded.  There is a need to see these as well as theories.

Bryce-Heath told of the blacks and working class white students who came to school in Maintown.  The students from the town were the children of the teachers.  They spoke and understood the speech of their parents, the teachers.  The others were strangers to this form of literacy andthere was a disjuncture between the school and their homes.   Pahland Rowsellrecommend that teachers link home and school literacy learning practices so that all students have a chance to learn.

Literacy practices are patterned by social institutions and power relations. 

Most of these articles are supporting each-other as far as valuing students cultural  literacy and not separating home and school literacies.  Accepting all forms of literacy and linking them, seems to be the right direction for education to go.  After seeing very “school literacy” savvy students in Pittsford bewildered this morning by Graham Greene, it is clearer to me what happens in schools to many of the students.

One law which is what I chose from the NY Times this week is the “no child left behind act.”  It is a very misguided law that businesses have pushed to provide more literate workers to large companies.  It make all students and teachers accountable to the same standards, throughout the country.  This seems the most ridiculous “solution” possible after all  the reading and discussion we have had as to how different students are in different cultural groups and locations.  This totally discounts many students.  Who makes the test and the standards that all the students must pass?  Who could make one test fair for all people?  It doesn’t seem possible to make a sweeping law like this for such a sensitive subject as education. 

Lawmakers have also suggested that teachers who don’t get their students to the standard, will not get paid as much.  That would lead to many good teachers leaving poor schools and going to rich, because it is mainly the students who get the grades despite what teachers would like to think.  A rich school gets better average grades, because they value and feel comfortable in a place designed by society for them. 

This law has been rough on poor and rich schools both, and I hope it fails.  If they want to reform schools, why not have educators draft the law instead of businessmen.  What do businessmen know about education?