BEST Change: ADDING a DIFFERENT 12 grade LA Core Curriculum!

Good Day, All,

Yesterday I reprinted some questions generated by Carol Booth Olson, and the first and most crucial one is this:What is missing from adolescent writing instruction? As I thought about this question, I realized my original answer is no longer a factor - at least in our state. 

Until a few months ago, I would have said that technical writing is missing, but thanks to a number of individuals from several districts and colleges, Utah twelfth-graders can opt to enroll in Technical and Professional Communication: "Real Writing for the Real World." 

For nearly a year, district language arts consultants and specialists researched various programs at universities and community colleges. After meeting with these instructors and professors, the group created a NEW core curriculum focused upon writing for the real world. And what does that mean? It means a VERY DIFFERENT set of standards and objectives.

• Biggest difference - the Tech Communication class will NOT be literature based. That means teachers will NOT try to create a technical writing assignment connected to Pride and Prejudice. (ex. Write a memo from Bingley to Mr. Darcy informing him that he has covered Wickham's expenses for the past 3 months.)
• The Tech Communication class will be "case-study based," meaning that students will read, review, and analyze this different genre to identify the problems and work out the best solutions. 
• Teachers who facilitate these classes MUST complete the training as designed by the higher ed instructors. Educators from Jordan's four high schools joined with other teachers from throughout the state at the initial training on January 8 and 9. Depending upon enrollment, future trainings will be scheduled. 

In addition to receiving an overview of the curriculum, participants were introduced to the Tech Writing blog where teachers will find resources, post lesson plans, and collaborate in furthering the vision.


Attending teachers are enthusiastic about this cutting-edge opportunity to provide an alternative to the traditional language arts class. For those students whose interests and talents lie in the direction of technology-based learning, this change is a welcome one. It will be exciting to see how it all unfolds. 


Till Later,
Renae

BEST WRITING Practices

Happy MLK Day,

It's foggy out this morning, but at least we don't HAVE to drive in it, do we? YaY! I hope you are sleeping in or doing something wonderful on your day off! I'm heading for the gym and my beloved treadmill in a few minutes, but I want to leave a short post for day 18 before I take off.

I've written a lot about reading over the past 17 days, so I want to shift the focus to writing today. I received an email from The English Companion, a social network for language arts educators, asking for input on questions about writing in the secondary classroom. The purpose for the questions was to inform Carol Booth Olson, NCTE President, about educators' thoughts about this topic. These are the questions posed.

Most important question:

What is missing from adolescent writing instruction?

Other questions of concern:

1. What are proven and effective writing practices that should be in operation?
2. What should students be able to do at the end of middle school in terms of writing?
3. What should students be able to do at the end of high school in terms ofwriting?

As happy as I am to pass on my thoughts, I would LOVE to hear your comments concerning these issues. I am thinking about creating a short answer survey to pass onto all of you since I received such a great response from the reading-aloud survey.

In the meantime, I encourage you to visit Carol Booth Olson's Reading/Writing Connection site. Carol is best known for her research in this area and has published a best-seller on the topic. The aforementioned website includes resources from her book, and I have turned to it many times.

Additionally, we just learned that she will be a featured speaker at next fall's UCTE Conference in October.

Signing off for NOW,
Renae

Good-bye AND Thank You to One of the BEST!

Good Morning, Friends,

It's Sunday morning - midway through the Martin Luther King weekend. I realized as I sat down at the computer to enter this post that I had only thought of these 3 days as a break from my professional work. (There is no break on the household front; wash waits for no one!)

I reprimanded myself for forgetting the purpose for this commemoration, but my subconscious did not fail me. After reading of Miep Gies' death Tuesday, January 12, 2010, I decided I wanted to write about her contribution to history and to the literary world. And it's only appropriate that I write about her when Americans pause to honor a man who fought for human rights just as Miep protected the rights of a Jewish family during the Holocaust.

Ask any eighth-grade English teacher who Miep Gies is, and he will know. The dramatization of Anne Frank's diary has long been included in anthologies for that age group, and so most middle school students also know of Anne's protector.

Miep's place in history is not only secured because she cared for the Frank family and others hidden in the annex, but because she saved Anne's diary. Amazon describes the journal as "a modern classic, the living testimony of a Jewish girl caught in the nightmare horror of Hitler's Final Solution. Her extraordinary story can be read in over 50 languages, and millions of copies are in print in various editions throughout the world."

I am so thankful that Miep had the forsight to save Anne's writings, and I am also grateful that the Nazis failed to take the treasure with them. I wouldn't doubt if they perused it, however, and completely overlooked its value. Oh, if they had only known the impact those reflections would have on the world!

Miep was 100 years old when she passed away, and although she shunned attention earlier in her life, claiming she didn't do all that much, she became an active voice against intolerance for the past 20 years. The tiny hero was especially important to Erin Gruell and her Freedom Writers, as they brought Mies to California to meet and honor her. She was important to all who value human rights and tolerance.

We are fortunate that Miep was so long among us, and now it's our duty to immortalize her further by respecting and exemplifying what she stood for. I often wonder what I would have done had I lived in a similar setting. Would I have had the courage to risk my life to help others. I don't have to do that today, but am I willing to inconvenience myself in order to promote tolerance and extend charity?

We have the opportunity to do that very thing as we look to Haiti and her many many needs. And once food, water, and shelter are provided, will help disappear, or are we willing to rebuild the people as well as houses and buildings?

Like Miep, we can't do it all, but we can do something.

BEST Responses! Reading Aloud to Secondary Students!

Good evening, Friends,

Last Thursday morning I sent out a request for Language Arts teachers to complete a quick online survey about whether or not secondary educators read to their classes. This was in response to a request from KSL Radio host Mary Richards who wanted to chat about that topic. Since I had just written about that very subject, Carolyn directed her request to me, and I sent out the survey.

I want to thank the 70 teachers who took time to answer the 5 questions. I predicted the results would demonstrate that a majority of teachers read aloud to their students, but the numbers quite surprised me! I didn't expect the majority to be so significant.

I thought you would like to check out the numbers, too, and read over some of the comments as well. They are insightful! (Click HERE to view the summary.) Ms. Richards also appreciated the survey, and you can listen to her story - all 35 seconds of it - EARLY Tuesday morning or click onto ksl.com later that day.

Again, I thank you!
Renae

BEST Response to "Did I MISS Anything?"

Hello Friends,

It's 5:00 P.M. on Friday, and I've composed 15, yes 15, posts. I'm a little tired, so I'm closing out this work week with one of my favorite "teacher" poems. It lists a number of responses to that age-old question, "Did I Miss Anything?" Enjoy.

Did I miss anything?


Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours


Everything. I gave an exam worth
40 percent of the grade for this term
and assigned some reading due today
on which I'm about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent.


Nothing. None of the content of this course
has value or meaning
Take as many days off as you like:
any activities we undertake as a class
I assure you will not matter either to you or me
and are without purpose


Everything. A few minutes after we began last time
a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
or other heavenly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wisdom in this life and
the hereafter
This is the last time the class will meet
before we disperse to bring the good news to all people
on earth


Nothing. When you are not present
how could something significant occur?


Everything. Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human experience
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered
but it was one place
And you weren't here.

by Tom Wayman, Poetry 180. Billy Collins Ed. Random House 2003

BEST Ideas: FUN with FLUENCY!

Dear Friends,

Today I think I was the lone secondary educator in the Tech Atrium at Copper Hills High - until Carolyn arrived, anyway. I was SURROUNDED by elementary teachers, literacy facilitators, principals, and assistant principals.

Holding tight to a microphone, Dr. Tim Rasinski belted out, "You're a grand old flag; you're a high-flyin' flag ...". From the JumboScreen, the song's lyrics shone down upon the rows of educators, and by the 3rd line, many voices joined in singing - including mine. At the end of the song, the volume had increased, and I couldn't help but applaud and holler, "Whoot, WhOOt, WHOOT!"

Even in a room full of elementary folk, I was the only one thus inspired to cheer, and so I hastily slumped down into the plastic chair. As I thought about the incident, I realized it wasn't just the spontaneous community sing that stirred up my enthusiasm; it was interacting with a passionate, knowledgeable, AND entertaining educator/researcher! (A researcher ENTERTAINING? Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?)

Dr. Rasinski is a literacy ROCK STAR who sings the REAL, REAL oldies, and who is BEST known for his work in fluency and word work. Because of the correlation between both areas to comprehension, I was especially interested to attend the meeting arranged by JSD's Kathy Wittke and Scholastic, Inc.

Peppering his presentation with the perfect balance of research information and great ideas, Dr. R. shared instructional tools that support students in building fluency AND vocabulary. Among these are singing, choral readings and poetry recitations, readers theater, word building, and word ladders.

Back in the day, teachers required students to memorize poetry . I always thought the purpose was to scare the heck out of kids, but it was probably meant to help us appreciate poetry. I don't know if another purpose was to build fluency, but it also achieves that goal!

When I taught The Outsiders, I assigned students to memorize and recite "Nothing Gold Can Stay." What I did NOT emphasize was reciting the poem with expression or prosody (a fancy "learning-to-read" word for "reading with expression.") I didn't stress that part of the assignment because I didn't realize how repeated/practiced reading and expressive recitation could help build fluency. AND I didn't know about the correlation between fluency and comprehension.

Another reason I didn't push reciting with expression is because of the students who would rather die than recite poetry in front of their peers. So what do you do?

• Assign students to work and present in pairs to other pairs or small groups that include the teacher.
• Turn the poem or even the TEXT BOOK PASSAGE into a CHORAL READING just by having all or groups of students recite the words in unison - either formally or informally. (Dr. Rasinksi recommends content area teachers do this, too. Primary documents, biographies of great scientists, etc. can turn into some dynamic oral presentations.)
• Opt for readers theater instead or in addition. These are popular with students, BUT one cold read is the same as round robin reading. AND you know how heartily I DON'T recommend THAT! 
• To review how Dr. R. develops these lessons, click HERE! 

Before the month is out, I will write about the word work ideas Dr. Rasinski shared. I CHEERED again when he plugged the importance of learning Greek and Latin roots, pre- and suffixes. Such study is REALLY a BARGAIN: students learn about 30 words for EACH root! So cool.

I don't want to leave without sharing a link to "From Phonics to Fluency: Effective and Engaging Instruction to Two Critical Areas of the Reading Curriculum." Please don't let the word PHONICS scare you away. Yes, there are pages that definitely target the elementary teacher audience, but Dr. Rasinski works with middle school teachers and students, too, so peruse the pages, and you will be rewarded with lots of very helpful and engaging ideas!

In the meantime, HAVE A TERRIFIC DAY today and EVERY day!
Renae

BEST Instruction, More Ways to Get at the HEART of the Core Curriculum

Dear Friends,

 As we are discussing Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), the heart of the curriculum, I want to share a few more specifics about motivating students. Because we want our students to have a greater appreciation for literacy and all it entails, we need to constantly work on motivating them to develop that attitude, and not with EXtrinsic motivators as they only work for a minute.

The previous post suggested that teachers' attitudes about students, teaching, and the content are main ingredients in promoting the value of learning. Indeed, a teacher's attitude lays the groundwork. I remember that if I was the happy mom at home, hubby and kids were happy. But if I was grouchy, hubby was cantankerous, and the boys were down right vile!! I soon learned that the same situation, time 5, existed at school. That's why I fought to hang on to even a thread of a good mood - at home and school. I didn't want a bad day to get worse if I could help it.

There are, however, several specific suggestions that we can follow to motivate students. Dr. Reutzel quoted Turner and Paris' article "How Literacy Tasks Influence Children's Motivation for Literacy" in The Reading Teacher (1995) to review six components related to motivating students to read and write. Let's take a closer look at these and reflect upon whether or not the 6 Cs are part of our instruction.

1. CHOICE ~ Do we promote choice in reading and writing topics in our classes?
1. Is EVERYTHING prescribed?
2. "Students, you must read a book that is at least 250 pages; it must be on this topic; and you MUST create a diorama that has at least 50 of the 60 requirements listed on the rubric." THAT makes me love reading!
2. CHALLENGE ~ Are students allowed to "modify tasks so the difficulty and interest levels are challenging?"  
1. "Ms. Needlenose, may I FILM a scene from the book?"
2. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Just do what the assignment says and DRAW it, okay?"
3. CONTROL ~ Do you "show students how they can control their own learning?"
1. That usually means modeling first, guiding them next, working with them until you can release the controls over to them.
2. The "I do it; WE do it, WE do it, WE do it, WE do it; YOU do it!" model!
4. COLLABORATION ~ Do you allow students to collaborate ...
1. ... in groups of 2, 3, or 4?
2. ... through flexible grouping?
5. CONSTRUCTING MEANING ~ Do you give students the tools they need to construct meaning from text?
1. Comprehension strategies
2. Metacognitive strategies
3. Writing to learn strategies
6. CONSEQUENCES of the TASK ~ Do you include consequences to build "responsibility, ownership, and self regulation?"
1. If you do ... "rockets' red glare will burst through the air!!!"
2. If you don't ... "the world will end as we know it."

As I read about motivating students, I see most if not all of these components, or a variation of them, listed over and over. There are more - environment, relevance of material, understandable examples, etc - but these 6 consistently make a difference.

Take care!
Renae