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The fundamental philosophy of my course is based on the work of Dr. Stephen Krashen. His writings point very strongly to one simple yet counterintuitive conclusion: in order to build reading skills, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and even writing skills, there is no better method than what he calls "FVR" for Free Voluntary Reading. This point of view is based on an extensive review and analysis of all available research, and as his body of work goes back more than twenty years we are looking at the net result of a great many studies. This is why my students have free reading not only as a part of the overall middle school program, but also as a specific part of Humanities. Following the Readers Workshop model, the Readers Response Journals are in important part of this program, and serve as a check on how much the kids are reading on their own and what they are reading, how they are thinking about what they are reading, and also a way to get them to get each other excited about specific books. I have written responses back to the kids on each of their RRJ entries, and am succeeding in getting most all of them to think at a deeper level than just plot summaries. One of the 8th graders, for example, has begun looking at specific writing techniques, and wrote in her most recent RRJ entry "I like how Lemony Snicket writes using lots of analogies and using exotic words to explain things. I love how his books make kids want to read and how in each of his new books something new happens each time. I’ll keep you updated on the chapters to come and the whereabouts of The Sugar Bowl."
The kids told me directly in the early weeks of the year that they also wanted to spend more time discussing books "out loud," and this desire of theirs is also in fact supported by research. Beyond advocating for the reading of a wide diversity of texts in print, visual and electronic media, the National Council of Teachers of English also recommends that students have a chance for conversations and discussions. Moreover, the work of Dr. JoAnn Deak suggests that girls learn best when interacting with other people. Therefore, I stepped up the pace of discussions when the students began their second book. However, in order to achieve peak student interest and motivation and approximate Dr. Krashen's "FVR" concept even when holding whole-class discussions, I wanted the girls to have a say in what they read. This is why I took a series of surveys looking for common interests and choices, and when I passed out the sheet of paper announcing book groups through the end of the year, there was not a single complaint. There were, however, pumped fists, leaping for joy, shouts of "Yes! I get to read ****!" and the like. That is the kind of motivation I expect from all the girls, not just those who entered my classroom excited about reading, and I was delighted to feel I had achieved it.
A few more thoughts about reading. Through much of the fall term, students would bring in poetry to share with the class, and I would always offer them the opportunity to react to each poem (if it was one the girl herself had written, I would make sure she was comfortable before asking for reactions). Again, motivation was high - most of the girls brought in extra poems over the minimum required, and indeed would often beg to read additional poems on days which had not been assigned to them. However, my secret agenda in these discussions was to evaluate what reading strategies the girls were already able to use. One of the landmark texts in the profession, cited by the NCTE on their website as fundamental to the development of adolescent literacy, is Mosaic of Thought, a book whose authors carried out a comprehensive review of research to determine the common strategies used by all good readers. There are eight such strategies, and I was delighted to see that each strategy emerged spontaneously in the girls' discussions. As I discussed with Jennifer Chylack, who is the English Department Chair at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, my next step is to ensure that all the girls know how to use all these strategies. We are addressing five of them in our discussions on "A Midsummer Night's Dream," both in class and through the online bulletin Board we are sharing with two other classes: text-self connections, text-text connections, text-world connections, questioning and predicting. All of this will be reinforced and expanded as we go through the winter and spring terms in the hopes of achieving the goal of having all 10 girls be fully aware of how they think and how they use these strategies.
I'd now like to turn my attention to writing skills. Here, I am taking as my touchstone text In the Middle by Nancie Atwell, often cited as the number one reference text for teachers of writing. Ms. Atwell advocates a "Writer's Workshop" approach wherein students are encouraged to write in a variety of genres. Students work on the process of writing (drafting, revising, editing and publishing) through self-initiated pieces of writing, sharing their work with each other, having conferences with the teacher, and ultimately determining that a piece has reached final draft status. Thus far, the girls have written in the genres of poetry, letters to the editor, a choice of persuasive speech or persuasive essay, poetry criticism, and informational brochures. Over the rest of the year, I will also be assigning writing topics in the genres of essay, research article/memoir, and script. Beyond these assignments, each girl may use "free writing time" to accomplish additional work in any of these genres, or alternatively to broaden the range of genres in which she has written.
I want to touch on another concept which is also woven into my Humanities course. In several of the professional journals which I receive, notably from the National Middle School Association and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, I have learned that these organizations (among others) are acutely aware that the world in which these young people are living is very different from our own, and that the concept of literacy needs to be extended beyond just traditional reading and writing literacy. Students now need to be a home with a wide variety of forms of communication, and that is why the list of standards I compiled during the four months I spent researching the topic includes not just the printed word, but also speeches and debates, webpages, power points, the visual arts, and theater. I deeply believe it is in the best interest of our students to develop these multiple literacies, based on my own instincts as well as what I am reading in the field.
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It continues to fascinate me to what degree reflective writing can help my teaching - keep my focused, give me a reality check, help me move forward. The next entry here is going to touch on a recent conversation on MiddleWeb about teaching as manipulation, and my reflections on that topic.