I enjoyed these chapters a good deal. I think they would create an intriguing faculty discussion if used for professional development or a summer reading “assignment.” I’m struck by the strong tone of “democracy in a classroom” and how some might read that as anarchy. The deep seated beliefs we each hold about students and education would shape our vision, as always. After watching the movie, The Class, my British friend commented on how it was “so French,” and that English schools would never be so “democratic.” It struck me then and strikes me now as I think about that description, how it is interpreted in an educational setting, and whether all would aspire to it even in the U.S. While I have joked that football coaches were the last true bastions of dictatorial power, I suspect some definite authoritarian currents run through many teachers and administrators. In two recent conversations with colleagues, I’ve been struck by how each of them seemed to desire a more hierarchical approach and “top-down” decision-making as opposed to a more decentralized approach.
A few other items that struck me included the mention of SSR (which I think stands for Sustained Silent Reading), the importance of predictability for students (which strikes me as a new parent thinking about feeding and sleeping times), the power of choice for all learners, the criticism of textbooks as curriculum tools, and finally, the importance of teaching teachers within the same principles that we teach students. As I’m often surprised at in-services that espouse educational beliefs not demonstrated by the presentation (mismatch of content and delivery), I find we can often fail to model the very sort of learning environment with our teachers that we want for our students. Giving learners choice, as we’ve found to be a powerful key to our more successful faculty retreats, creates greater ownership and meets various people in various places. Finally, I’m curious about SSR and whether it’s used. I remember hearing about it years ago, haven’t recently, and wonder where it stands at various schools. As an avid reader, I love the idea, but not sure how it works in practice and what the experience has been for others.
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I've been in schools where sustained silent reading has been an integral part of the daily timetable. Teachers and students sat down with a book and that was all anyone did in the time allocated to it. From memory, it was a ten-minute time allocation each day, but it could have been fifteen minutes. I thought it was good from the point of view that everyone in the whole school was engaged in the same activity at the same time, and it was settling for the students as it was usually held immediately after morning recess. The activity would probably be enhanced if one minute was taken at the end of each session for one person to share what was being read and what was one point they especially remembered from the reading.
ReplyDeleteI think democracy in the classroom needs to be considered in terms of the needs of the teacher and the subject as well as the needs of the student. I haven't really seen 'democracy' implemented in a tertiary classroom, and I'm not sure that the benefits would be greater than the negatives in a secondary school situation.
Gary--you'd be interested to see how we approach reading at DMA and you're always welcome to come observe! Our middle school teachers use the Lucy Calkins' method (mentioned in the text) very effectively and it includes both interactive read-aloud and independent reading with individual conferences with the teacher which include goal-setting and ensure good accountability for the student. Across the board, the expectation is that our students are reading 30 minutes IN school and 30 minutes at home daily. Of course . .. then there's reality!
ReplyDeleteYour comment about hierarchical approaches made me giggle. I was facilitating faculty discussion around our family life unit this afternoon and one of the teachers said, "I'll teach it any way you want me to teach it." It wasn't a cynical or sycophant response--it was genuine. I can't imagine myself as a teacher ever responding that way to an administrator---too much Irish pride! It did remind me yet again how some of our teacher are looking for direction. I remember as a first-year teacher having the total trust and confidence of my principal, but I was hungry for a bit more direction/dialogue/guidance!
P.S. I saw THE CLASS on Palm Sunday. Would love to get your take on it . . . I wanted to reach INTO the movie screen in a couple of instances to stop the train wreck! Exhibit A: when the teacher confronted the students on the playground about their turning him in!!!!
Gary- I thought it was quite perfect that I started with your blog discussing silent reading. I have decided that in response to all these readings and other books I have picked up, May will be my experimental period on this whole reading and writing workshop/anarchy thing... :) In second grade we did silent reading as a class for fifteen minutes each day. I know that the kids actually appreciated the quiet time to some extent. i also let them go wherever they wanted in the classroom. Every day thought I was challenged with the kids who wanted to talk to each other about the books they were reading because I thought it had to be silent... I have come to wonder why was I fighting kids about wanting to share their books or what they were reading with each other. I am learning that they get so much more out of it when they work on a book together. For this last month I have stopped reading groups and work with half the class at a time helping them find books in the library and having them read on their own, read with a partner, or sit with me and read. I think there is value in both silent reading and shared reading and the added bonus of getting one on one attention from the teacher. I am just scraping the surface in 1st grade so I am not quite sure what that might look like in high school, but I hear they are the same students just bigger bodies. Already I have seen a great change in my students excitement about reading. There is also that idea of choice and ownership as well. I have already seen some of my lowest readers begin to shine a little more when they get to read a star wars book instead See Spot Run.
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