One School's New Focus on Literacy

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On December 14th I was looking forward to the weekend and the opportunity to write about my full week of literacy team planning with one of our middle schools in the district, but in the immediate aftermath of the Newtown tragedy my reflections on our literacy work didn't matter that weekend.   More pressing issues were on the minds of everyone.  Several education bloggers I follow posted thoughtful responses and reflections.

In a twitter exchange, one teacher shared  with me that he processes through writing, and so do I, usually.  For the past two weeks my thoughts have come in fragments typed into my phone or on my iPad, whichever I had available at the moment the thoughts arrived.  Two weeks is longer than I've ever waited to pull those fragments together into one cohesive unit for a blog post.

While adults across the United States argue about much needed gun control, I am hopeful for the kids at the middle school where I worked the week of December 14th because their new literacy leadership team is celebrating the work ahead with reading, writing, discussing, learning new vocabulary, and creating remixed poems.  In a thank you email, the principal of the school where I spent my week leading to December 14th, sent a modified version of 'twas the night before Christmas.  She and her staff (known as staffulty) wrote it and read it to students on the last day of the semester before they left for winter break.

The best part about my time spent in this school is that under new leadership they are focused on literacy and student success not just band-aid fixes to improve test scores.  They are changing their culture and making it cool to read and succeed.  Check out a few lines from their poem--

He was dressed in maroon, and white you can see.
With this LMS attire, a Charger he must be.

A bundle of books he had pulled from his case.
He handed them out and picked up his pace.

His eyes—how serious, His demeanor, how humble
His expression had everyone ready to crumble.

He started his speech about vocabulary and reading,
Things Chargers must do, to be succeeding.

...and a few of my favorite lines are here--


Specifically he spoke about the reading left to do,
By everyone there—students, staffulty, and administrators too.

The reading and vocabulary I will definitely support,
And I will see great results as I analyze reports.
To hear these sweet words, how they caused such delight.
LMS  students read and achieve, with all of their might!

But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight.
Merry Christmas to all and read every night!

What a fabulous way the leaders of this middle school ended the semester--reminding everyone to read over winter break.

 Peace~Joy~Love~Hope

Thoughts on Being an Educator and a Mom

 Since before he could read fluently, my now nine year old son, Isaac, has been interested in writing.  He keeps journals, writes lists, creates stories with his Lego characters, and creates scenarios to share with me in conversation.

Unfortunately, with increasing pressure for students to perform well on standardized assessments, and with Kentucky’s abolishment of writing portfolios as part of the assessment and accountability system, writing is often demoted to worksheets, quizzes on the computer during writing time, practice for the state’s On-Demand Writing assessment, contrived personal narratives, and writing sentences for each spelling word.   

Experiences for our children can be much more than this though, if we are thoughtful with our approaches and we continue to use our voices to emphasize the importance of creativity in education.  At the 2012 National Council for Teachers of English Annual Convention, I had the joy of hearing Sir Ken Robinson speak on the importance of creativity.  He went as far to say “creativity is as important as literacy.”  I believe this statement and think we should use our voices as parents and as educators to remind our community members and policymakers that we need to promote creativity by letting students study and explore topics that interest them.  We need to allow more time for creating, performing, dreaming, and thinking.

Thankfully, Isaac has a teacher this year who is interested in helping students develop as better writers and thinkers.  It’s a hard job as a public school teacher, and I speak from experience, but I also know the importance of encouraging students to write about topics which interest them.   To encourage this interest, I recently arranged for Isaac’s class to Skype with a nine year old author (Eva) from Bismarck, North Dakota.  

Below is a video clip from Isaac’s experience Skyping with Eva.  In the interest of my personal blog showing only my own child and Eva, the video has been edited.  We enter the video after Eva asked the class if there were any writers, artists, or dancers in the class.  (Side note--I love her focus on the arts as a whole—fits perfectly with promoting the importance of kids performing, creating, and dreaming)   Isaac is answering her question by describing the way he creates stories with his Lego characters.  Eva confidently affirms his approach to writing and proceeds to answer questions from Isaac and his classmates. 

It’s my hope that creative experiences such as this will become more a regular part of all classes, not just for my own children but for all children.  Eva's mom, Gwyn Ridenhour, has this same hope, and she uses her expertise and experience to promote more creative opportunities for children in North Dakota.  By collaborating with others, listening to children, and using our voices, our hope will be realized.

Ready for NCTE 2012

The final week of preparations before NCTE 2012 brought a flurry of activity in an already busy season of the election, upcoming holidays and near end to fall semester. Only about twelve hours ago the reality of the fact that I’m heading to Las Vegas today hit me. I do not take the opportunity to participate in the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Convention lightly. As thousands of literacy educators join forces over the next few days, even thousands more will continue the important work in schools.

One such school includes my son's elementary school in Lexington Kentucky. Before I left town I arranged for my son's class to Skype with 9 year old author, Eva Ridenhour, who lives in Bismarck, North Dakota. I'll write more about this exciting learning experience in a future post. At this very moment, he's having this experience while I sit at the airport writing this post from my phone and waiting for my flight. Without the educators who are still at school today, this experience would not be happening. The teacher learned how to use Skype this week. The librarian and principal supported the teacher's willingness to learn and to try something new for the kids. My dedicated colleague agreed to visit the school and capture photos for our adolescent literacy blog.

In addition to all the prep work for my presentation at NCTE and my husband's continued work on his dissertation, he and I worked tirelessly each evening to help our son draft his first research paper. We met with his teachers yesterday to confirm our happiness with his success in middle school so far. At that middle school in Lexington, my 11 year old son is today handing in his first ever research paper because a dedicated science teacher understands the importance of having kids write in science class too.

Let's just say the past ten days in our household have been extra busy. In addition to my duties as a mom, I was extra busy on the job, too. I coordinated and facilitated three days of Literacy Design Collaborative Training for science, social studies, and English teachers, most of whom are in their schools today carrying on with the important work of providing an education for students in Lexington. Amazing teachers and a colleague co-facilitated the training days. So, no. I cannot take the luxury of leaving for NCTE today for granted.

I am grateful.
I am excited!
I am ready to learn, share, and collaborate at NCTE 2012.

Fired up about the Idea of a Writing Revolution

Peg Tyre’s article captured my interest when I saw The Atlantic link in my twitter feed.  I read it quickly, feeling fired up and knowing it would lead to a blog post later when I had some time.  Coincidentally, within a few days, seven different friends, acquaintances, and colleagues from various walks of my life sent the link to me and asked for my thoughts. 

If you’ve read Tyre’s article, you will know that she argues for a return to writing instruction circa 1950.  My first reaction was one of alarm because all I could think of was moving backward at the same time we are trying to propel literacy instruction forward for the next generation of students.  But as I continued to read and continued to receive the link in my inbox, on my Facebook page, and again in my twitter feed, I began to consider more carefully exactly what Tyre suggests—teaching the fundamentals. 

And then, Arthur Applebee published a response that read like some of the thoughts which had been floating in my mind.  On most accounts, I agree with Applebee, so here I will provide the link to both pieces and share some thoughts about how, pragmatically speaking, a writing revolution could happen in classrooms and schools if we remember a few important points.

Although the fundamentals may need to be reintroduced or reemphasized, they also need to be updated to meet the demands of communications in the 21^st century and beyond.  So instead of bringing back the 1950s with its “rigid unswerving formula” we should think about what we can learn from the 50s—good analytic writing, drawing evidence from text, being able to think critically and express that thinking in lucid thought.  It’s not about a secret recipe, but it is about effective tools to provide the explicit instruction and layered skills instruction our students need.

It’s about balance, not rigid formulas memorized for the sake of formula.  For example, my son was taught the basic five paragraph essay in the fourth grade, perhaps appropriate given his general lack of interest in writing.  In fifth grade he again wrote a basic five paragraph essay over a trite topic.  However, now (in 6^th grade) that he’s mastered this formula, he should be taught to move beyond the basic five paragraphs and encouraged to explore his real interests in understanding how the world works, the scientific process and ancient history.  A discovery approach like this makes more sense than requiring him write yet another five paragraph essay convincing us we should buy him a dog or arguing that dogs in the city should be kept on leashes.   Consider Applebee’s fourth point in his essay about what effective writing programs do/provide—“there was a recognition that writing is tied closely to thinking about new material, and requires tools and strategies that can and should be taught…"

While the Common Core does require more expository and argumentative texts be written, we should balance our explicit instruction of writing skills within the context of the ideas being explored.  To do this requires a delicate balance by thoughtful and reflective teachers who are themselves consistently honing their own skills.   My eleven years in the classroom affirms my understanding of the importance of the right tools balanced carefully with the right approach to writing instruction. 

 

We need to remember

•  to convey purpose in instruction
• to utilize essential questions that make students think
• to teach students to ask questions
• to encourage students to discuss and explore topics which interest them
• to teach writing skills, not just assign writing via a prompt

• to study language with our students
• to utilize writing as a way to improve reading comprehension
• to make writing an important  focus of instruction throughout our schools

 

Befittingly, I’ll end with my favorite quote from Applebee—“ the most effective writing programs are able to embed what is required by high stakes tests and then move beyond to a much richer vision of curriculum and instruction.”

Thinking about Academic Knowledge and Discipline Literacy

I am currently participating in a preview to the Kentucky Reading Association Annual Conference through an online book discussion group using the Thinkfinity platform.  Our discussion facilitator posts thoughts and questions for each chapter of Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines by Doug Buehl, and each of the book discussion group participants responds to the chapter.  Since our discussion facilitator also happens to be the state literacy coordinator, she presented us each with a challenge, of sorts, as we read this week's chapter stating “the examples Buehl gives in the rest of the chapter, organized by content areas…we just need to get the information into the right hands. I hope each of you will be the vehicle for that!”

 I take this challenge seriously because it speaks to my interests and goals in my new position. After spending six of my first eleven days on the new job with teachers, I must say I am very pleased with my decision to accept this district level position.   I’m now serving at the Secondary English/Language Arts Specialist for the second largest district in Kentucky.  The title is slightly erroneous, given that I am doing more work of literacy specialist than just English/language arts, but I don’t care about the title as much as I care about the work I’m doing and the challenge ahead for helping discipline area literacy be a focus for improving student achievement in Lexington’s schools.

 While I’ll do my part, I can’t do this work alone, so I’m thankful for a team of colleagues who are also committed to discipline area literacy.  Yesterday, several of these colleagues witnessed my passion for literacy & education for the first time.  I was heated up as I talked with them about Buehl’s book and my online discussion group.  We are planning ways to bring the contents of this book into regular conversations with educators around the district whenever we are able.  Meetings with principals?  Discuss discipline literacy.  Meetings with teachers?  Discuss discipline literacy.  Meetings with instructional coaches?  Discuss discipline literacy.  What will we share?  We will always share the impact discipline literacy has on student achievement and the importance of bridging the academic gap, but other specifics will vary depending upon our audience.  Thankfully, Buehl offers many specifics in his book, providing us research, theories, and practical examples which often speak to educators.

 Two of my favorite quotes so far come from chapter three about bridging academic knowledge gaps.  This very rich chapter has thus far brought the most in-depth conversation in our online discussion, too.   Buehl writes about disciplinary learning and students’ lives and worlds, stating— “students will be at risk for feeling marginalized, becoming disconnected from academic tasks and texts, and be resistant to developing identities that area compatible with reading, writing, and thinking through different disciplinary lenses… the persistence of achievement gaps is one result (p.91).”

My second favorite quote so far became my favorite as another discussion ensued among my new colleagues.  Our boss sent us a link to a story by USA today and commented that the approach hi to teaching history  highlighted in the story might be more relevant for students.  He then asked us what we thought.  Well, since I was already fired up from my online discussion with the KRA preview group and had already shared my excitement with others in the content specialists’ office, I decided to send my favorite quotes from Buehl’s book to our department and our boss to encourage everyone to join me in reading the book. 

 “A major issue of teaching social science is generational knowledge, in which our students are immersed and which is highly motivational, can be hooked into the specific disciplinary goals for the social studies curriculum  (p.93).”    Buehl goes on to discuss the need to narrow history curriculum to get at the most important parts of history by using events of today to connect to the past and to make it relevant for students who are likely asking—“so what?”  

Rewards and Challenges of Working for the State Department of Education

When I left the classroom for a position as a state literacy consultant with the department of education, a mentor advised me to pay attention, to listen, to learn, and to reflect.  And, that’s exactly what I've been doing for the last 3 ½ years.  Monday is my last day at the state department of education, so I thought it appropriate to share my musings here at Learning to Muse, the blog I started to encourage myself to continue reflecting on teaching, learning, literacy, life, and public education. 

Rewards

Working for the state certainly does not bring monetary rewards of any sort, so it’s a good thing I entered the position with a teacher mentality of being willing to learn and give of myself.   The professional learning opportunities were my biggest reward; they were job embedded, ongoing and collaborative.

Washington, D.C December 2010

Working in a collaborative setting was a highlight for me.  We had a rocking literacy branch led by a literacy leader known for her work nationally.  We contributed to the writing of grants for literacy work, developed models for adolescent literacy intervention, presented at state and national conferences, delivered webinars, met with nationally known literacy researchers, developed a state literacy plan,  updated a literacy effectiveness review system, collaborated with the Kentucky Writing Project network, interacted with the Bread Loaf Teacher Network, supported speaking and listening programs through forensics, encouraged multi-modal literacies to be taught in Kentucky schools, facilitated content leadership networks, collaborated with faculty in higher education, facilitated cross-disciplinary workgroups to develop units of study aligned to the CCSS for Literacy in content areas, provided input on the review of items for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), provided content consultation for Kentucky’s new assessment system which assesses the Common Core State Standards, provided feedback and representation at national assessment convenings (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers PARCC), contributed to the best practices applications for work with the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, collaborated with other states at the SCASS groups and probably more that I’m not even remembering.

Whew!  We accomplished much in 3 ½ years, and I am grateful for the opportunities to learn, to lead, and to contribute to public education.

Challenges

Even with all the accomplishments of our office, there were also challenges in working for the state department of education.  Challenges I faced included: representing the agency not myself or my own professional expertise, adhering to the strict rules and procedures in state government, accepting decisions which were not always congruent with my professional judgment , not getting to interact regularly with schools, teachers & students, and listening to people complain about the state department being out of touch and unrealistic. 

It’s not a perfect system by any means, but what I’d like others to know about the state department of education is that there are competent, intelligent, and committed people toiling to improve public education for students in our state.