Earlier this spring I read Kelly Gallagher's Readicide. One of the ideas that really made sense to me was his thoughts on how it is essential that we have consistent support for students to build awareness of the world around them and world events so that they can develop into productive citizens. He discussed his article of the week where he assigns an article every Monday that students turn in Friday. They need to demonstrate that they thought deeply about the article. I have already been thinking about how I will integrate this into my curriculum as I develop how my language arts/social studies block of time will look next year.
Today I just found out via the Stenhouse blog that there is currently a conversation between Kelly Gallagher and Sarah Cooper about current events. It could not have come at a more perfect time to give me food for though in order to process and plan for 09-10. The format of the interaction, voice thread, is something new for me. I was just mentioning how blogging has opened up a great professional development opportunity for me, and I am thrilled that Stenhouse is offering such a unique experience for free and allowing others to jump into the conversation.
Even though it is just getting started, I have already got a lot of ideas. Gallagher's comments either reminded me of what I had agreed with so much from his book or helped give me a clearer picture of how he formats his class. I am excited that Cooper is coming from a middle school background. Here is what has been most helpful for me so far:
*I love Sarah's idea of having students present every Friday on a rotating, individual basis. She said 2-3 students present each Friday ending up to having 3-4 total presentations in a year. Since this is a formal presentation, not only are students learning about current events and developing valuable background knowledge for deeper reading comprehension as Gallagher mentions, but they are also learning to be good speakers. In addition, they learn to discuss current events with their class. Students are actively engaged and the teacher only steps into the conversation for clarifications when needed. I can find so many best practices in this seemingly ordinary classroom routine. We used to do current events in high school, and I never realized just all that it could do for me.
*Kelly mentioned that the math department at school is coming on board by doing a graph of the week. Students are reading every week through a math lens. I can't wait to mention this to my new teaching partner who will be responsible for science and math.
*It was great to have a summary of article of the week again. While it was one of the main ideas that stood out in the book, it was a good reminder of exactly what the main purpose was and what it looks like. I was reminded that I love that he focuses on who the intended audience is and what the author's main purpose is. This links back to not only good reading skills but also to being aware of their intended audience when they are writing.
*I will be checking out a site that Gallagher mentioned using as an article resource (izzit.org/events), keeping in mind that he gathers his articles from multiple sources.
Both Gallagher and Cooper have excellent ideas of ways to integrate current events on a regular basis. Their ideas span across many curricular areas to scaffold student growth and awareness in reading, writing, social studies, and speech. I can't wait to see the rest of the conversation. I am definitely intersted in Gallagher's new DVD Article of the Week that will be released mid-May and Cooper's Making History Mine. Because I can see a lot of value in what both educators are doing, I will be thinking about how I can incorporate their ideas into my curriculum.
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