No More "I'm Done!"

When reflecting on Catching Readers Before They Fall, I mentioned how being a parent has prompted me to want to explore more about the earlier phases of literacy. Now that we are about five weeks into the school year, I am relieved that I decided to have my daughter stay in her mainstream classroom, rather than adding pull-out special education services. She continues to progress well and to have a high level of enthusiasm about school. It is a testament to the importance of listening to what teachers and parents know about a student in combination with formal test results, rather than over-relying on standardized tests alone. It has felt great to leave work earlier this year and to spend extra time with my girls as well.

When I was reading Catching Readers Before They Fall, I could not wait to read Jennifer Jacobson's No More "I'm Done!": Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades. It seemed like a perfect companion text to Catching Readers. Since writing and reading are so closely connected, both texts alluded to the two areas, but reading both, each with a main focus on either reading or writing, provided a fuller picture. Both texts are great introductory texts for teachers without a lot of background on providing support for readers and writers in the primary grades or as a quick review for experienced teachers to prompt reflection on current practices.

No More "I'm Done!" starts with a rationale for writer's workshop rather than teacher-directed writing before outlining how teachers can create an environment that values student choices as writers and allows students to flourish as independent writers. Through description and pictures Jacobson gives us glimpses into her classroom - its set-up, its routines, and her role as a teacher and a writer. After giving foundational information chapter five gives ideas for a year of mini-lessons, something that I have always appreciated in other books when the content is still new.

I was going to say that chapter five was the most important/helpful chapter in the book, but then I thought about how the foundational chapters are also essential. I had the same urge to say that chapter six was the best chapter because it has great reflective questions for teachers to ask themselves as they get going in order to continually improve through continual assessing and reassessing, as well as a question and answer of common concerns/issues with workshop teaching. I realized that it would not be possible to choose a favorite section - each provides an important piece, and together they form an excellent, comprehensive introductory text for primary teachers wanting to incorporate workshop into their classroom.

I see this book as an overview to help teachers get their feet wet and begin fine-tuning workshop; however, they would also want to supplement it with other books about workshop and talk to other teachers implementing workshop as part of their continual professional development. I am excited to add this book to my growing collection of literacy resources to use as a parent, colleague, and teacher.

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher

Researcher Reflexivity #2

This week I continued to think about the roles of researchers. The same questions that I was pondering last Sunday were some of the key discussion points brought up in class by others, and it was interesting to hear others' opinions, as well as our professors thoughts on the topic. One suggestion from my professor was for researchers to remember their purpose at the onset of the research. A potential scenario is that researchers often notice multiple trends, some negative, others positive. The researcher can decide to not pursue the negative aspects, especially if the negative aspects were not the initial purpose for the research. I loved this idea, and with each discussion I have a better sense of ethical issues.

Yet, I know that there is still so much to consider about these ethical research questions that come up, and our classroom discussion was not enough to answer every scenario. As I was doing the readings for this week, Shulman (1990) was questioning who her "clients" were when pondering where her loyalties should lie - whether it was the research participants or consumers of research.

Then at the end of Friday Night Lights, a book that I chose as one of our novel options, H.G. Bissinger also broached the subject of the controversy surrounding the way he represented the community of Odessa in relation to football in his book. He said, "When I first arrived in Odessa, I anticipated a book very much in the tradition of the film, Hoosiers, a portrait of the way in which high school sports can bring a community together. There were elements of that bond in Odessa, and they were reflected in the book. But along the way some other things happened--the most ugly racism I have ever encountered, utterly misplaced educational priorities, a town that wasn't bad or evil but had lost any ability to judge itself. It would have been a journalistic disgrace to ignore these elements" (pp. 353-354). It would not have been the same book if Bissinger only showed the glowing aspects of Odessa football. Instead he showed various angles.

Again and again, throughout my readings and reflections this week I have been going back to my professor's comment in class about the importance of keeping purpose in sharp focus. Based on the first weeks of class it is apparent the questions that have been at the forefront of my mind will not be easily answered. I will continue to pay attention to how researchers deal with this through course readings, class discussions, and interactions with researchers.

Bissinger, H.G. (1990). Friday night lights. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.

Shulman, J.H. (1990). Now you see them, now you don't: Anonymity versus visibility in case studies of teachers. Educational Researcher, 19(6), 11-15.

Researcher Reflexivity Introduction and Entry 1

Reflexivity Introduction:
For my qualitative research course we have an optional assignment of keeping a researcher reflexivity journal. I decided to start recording my emerging thoughts about myself as a researcher as blog posts. One of our first assignments was to reflect on who we are as researchers, and as far as formal research goes, I am a novice. My master's program focused on a literature review, rather than conducting research. In my undergraduate I did a few projects that incorporated research, but I had not had research courses, so they would not be considered up to standard. In my classroom, I constantly have an itch (or typically itches) that I am scratching. My blog has been an integral part in the last couple of years of teaching to record my thoughts and reflect. That is why I thought it would be appropriate to consider thinking about this new phase in my professional development here.

My summer research class focuses on the continuum of research methods. It was a great introduction, but within the first couple weeks of my class focusing solely on qualitative research, I realized that the summer course truly just scratched the surface. There is still so much to learn, and as with anything in education, I know that most of my in-depth understanding will come from practice. I am looking forward to an assignment that my two fall professors have collaborated on for our classes, where we meet with a superintendent for dinner on a Sunday evening and then visit the district's schools all day on Monday. We will have opportunities to observe and conduct interviews. Prior to that assignment we will conduct a practice interview with a university faculty member about their research. I already know who I am going to interview and have been having fun thinking of some questions.


Reflexivity Entry 1:
Right now I am most concerned with the topic of my research for these fall classes. Potential dissertation topics have also been flowing through my mind for quite some time as well. When I am reading different research examples I have learned to keep a pen close by in order to record my ideas. I started this back in the summer, and I have many writer's notebook entries about possibilities. I have discovered that it is easy to get me excited about potential areas to explore, yet I am still unsure of knowing when it is a "good" topic or not. The areas that interest me the most are language, literacy, technology, professional development for teachers, and teacher philosophies.

At our last class meeting, about two weeks ago (we had last week off since it was a holiday), our professor talked about how she likes to make sure that her participants benefit from the research that she conducts. I had never really thought about this before, thinking more about potential contributions to the field without really thinking about a direct impact on the participants. The reason why this had not occurred to me is because I always think about the researcher as trying to blend in and not interfere with what is happening in the context. However, I like the concept of participants benefiting, so I am paying attention to exactly how this happens.

With my readings for tomorrow's class, I was thinking about how this seems to mean that in order to benefit participants researchers must go in ready to learn from participants and highlight what is going well/the participants' expertise. I am really grappling with how it seems like in this scenario that it would be hard to point out deficiencies. Yet, research also needs to be honest. The researcher would need to be forthright about whatever observations he/she ends up having. It seems like this will be a delicate area that is personal to each researcher - trying to honor their participants, while also contributing to the field in a forthright manner. Ideally, the observations will point toward findings that portray the participant(s) in a glowing manner. That would be the easy part. On the other hand, it would be awkward if the practices observed point toward a lack of awareness or support in the area of research.

Since I will be reading like a writer as I plunge into this new genre, I will be paying attention to these two main areas that I have been wondering about - topic selection and researcher-participant relationships. In future posts I will continue to reflect on how these questions are clarified, as well as about some of the other components of qualitative research.

Etched in My Mind - Remembering September 11th

This year, more than any other year, the events of September 11th popped up in my life in so many different ways toward the end of August/early September. One of the assigned books for an Ed.D. class on Monday is Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11. I had started reading it, and then a couple of weekends ago my sister and I rented a movie to watch at my parents. She had already seen it and when we were deciding whether or not to get it, she said that it was good but that the ending caught her completely off guard. I won't mention the title because I can see what she meant about an unexpected ending that linked into the events of September 11th. We were both surprised that all the previews and talk about the movie had not let that link slip out. As if that was not enough, a copy of Megan McCafferty's Second Helpings that I had requested on interlibrary loan over a year ago magically arrived at the library. I started reading it without realizing that Jessica Darling would be grappling with the events of 9/11 during her senior year in high school.

I don't know that I had ever written in depth to reflect on my experiences of the September 11th attacks, but the day is etched in my mind. For my class there were different options to respond to Forever After, and one of them was a narrative of where I was that day, how it compared to the teachers in the book, and the implications of my experience and theirs on my teaching. I knew right when I read the assignment sheet that I would choose the narrative option. I started my narrative before beginning the book. Tomorrow I will go back and revise and add in the ideas related to the teachers in the book, as well as teaching implications.

I have often thought about proximity and how my view of September 11th was deeply impacted by being on exchange at the University of Rhode Island. I always sensed that had I experienced it from back in eastern Oregon that I never would have fully gotten it. Reading Forever After makes me realize that compared to the teachers in New York City sharing their stories, I still cannot fully fathom the impact. While writing my narrative, I realized that in some ways it is so clear in my mind, yet I know some of the details that I would like to include in my narrative are fuzzy. I wish I would have been journaling while on exchange, but like most of my college career, I didn't document my daily life.

Here is my narrative that is still a work in progress that still ends a bit abruptly:

            I sat in the computer lab checking my email in anticipation of any messages from home. It was still early on in my semester on exchange to the University of Rhode Island, and though I could hardly contain my excitement for the experience, it was also my first time living farther than a 15 mile radius from my parents – my whole family on the opposite side of the United States. It was too early for any instant messaging, they would all still be in bed, so my only hope was email. As I switched between homework assignments and Internet distractions while waiting for class to start, there was instantly an automatic buzz in the computer lab.

            I could tell that something major had happened, but I could not tell what, and I barely knew anybody at the whole university, let alone at that early of an hour in the lab. I picked up on bits and piece, “A plane hit one of the twin towers,” “Oh my gosh, now another plane hit the other tower!” My mind was trying to piece together the eerie feeling that had overcome the laboratory and to figure out what all this meant. Hitting one of the towers must have been a horrible, terrible accident, but how did two accidents of that scope just happen to occur that close together, I wondered.

            As I left for class, the same sense of panic and frenzy was overtaking the campus. When I got to class I still felt like an outsider, not getting what happened, but luckily, I finally felt comfortable asking someone. Not long after our professor came in. The level of concern in the whole room was high. People were wondering about family members and friends who worked in or near the trade center. It was not long before our professor asked us whether we wanted to stay or go, including that she could not imagine conducting a class with this big of an event on everybody’s minds. Nobody protested leaving class, and the university president’s directive to continue on with classes as normal had not yet been announced.

            I made my way back to my dorm, emotions rising to the surface. By then I knew that it was not an accident, that it was a terrorist attack – something that was unfathomable to me. I always felt so secure growing up in rural Oregon. I instantly called my dad at work. As he said hello I could feel tears coming to my eyes and my voice cracked as I said, “Dad, have you seen the news?” In his brief response of a yes, I could also hear his voice crack. The vision of my dad cracking down raised my level of emotions even more. Next I called my mom, who was still sleeping and had not heard anything. She was not fully awake and even more confused than I had been in the lab, first thinking I was saying that there were terrorists at my school.

            The next call was to one of my college friends who was also on the east coast, continuing on for a Master’s program. The only thing I remember about our conversation was me saying, “I wanted to make sure that you were okay since you are in New York,” and she replied, “Mandy, you’re closer to it then I am.” Even though I knew I was close, in the frenzy of the day I had not thought about just how close I was. Thoughts started flashing through my mind, wondering if I should just go back home. After all, my university would not even start fall trimester until the end of the month. I could go back home and slide back into my old life, back to the familiar. However, as if my sense of insecurity were not high enough, my friend’s comment drove home just how vulnerable I was at that moment. My first time trying to go out into the big world, and all of a sudden realizing that even if I wanted to go home I could not because all public transportations were quickly shutting down – a scenario I had never considered when I flew away from everything that was comfortable to me.

            It took much longer for the impact of the events to sink in with me than it appeared to with my New England counterparts. Later that semester when I went on a day trip to New York City with my college for the first time I was in awe by all the skyscrapers. Images of the New York skyline with the Twin Towers were all over in various shops and stores, towering way over every other building. I could not fathom how that was even possible since even the “ordinary” buildings were breathtaking.

            Throughout that semester at Rhode Island I could not help but think that I would have had a completely different understanding of the events had I experienced it back in Oregon. Seeing pictures of New York City and images of the Twin Towers never really registered just what the scale was like, and being in Oregon would have distanced me from the panic that I sensed from the reaction of those concerned about family members.

Scholastic Book Clubs

I just took advantage of Scholastic's extra bonus point offers when placing my students' orders. I know that the first order of the year always seems to have the best promotions for additional bonus points, so I ordered more books to make it to the $200 mark for the TAB and Arrow orders to get the maximum additional points. I always love buying more books for my classroom library, and I also got some for my girls. I can use some others for holiday gifts as well.

Aside from being able to get more classroom library books from time to time throughout the year, the other main reason why I wanted to stock up on bonus points was because each year we have a school wide Día de los niños celebration in April, and we give each student a book as a gift. Since I am the language arts teachers for 6th-8th grade I coordinate all of our students' books. This year I have a little under 80 students, and I will get different books throughout the year to try to match books with appropriate reading and interest levels to each student. I am excited to see a big bonus points balance to start out the year in order to buy books from time to time.

When I went to place my order I was also excited to see the updates to their ordering site. It was much easier to place my orders, now that they allow to do as many different clubs on the same order. Last year it had a limit - I think around four or five. The process for making sure to take advantage of all special promotions was also a lot easier, clearly outlined at checkout.

Bring on the books!

Personal Narrative Genre Study Toughts

Today I started my third week of the school year, and yesterday was a great day to refocus and reevaluate my plans for the quarter. It is my second year teaching in a reading and writing workshop setting. Though I learned a lot from my experiences last year, there is still a lot more to learn. I found myself reflecting on some basic foundational steps that I forgot from the start of last year. Each year I have to remind myself to remember back to how 6th graders are at the start of the year, rather than my fresh memories at the end of the year. It has been a lot smoother with my 7th and 8th graders who have already been in my class for a year or two.

Many genre studies fall into the areas where I still want to improve a lot. This quarter we will be focusing on personal narrative. I have a lot of resources to draw from, and I am writing with my students. However, yesterday I felt myself getting frustrated by not having enough mentor texts in my classroom library. It was becoming very apparent that I do not have very much non-fiction, and out of that portion of my classroom library, there is even less first person narrative style non-fiction.

Then it hit me that my concept of personal narrative defined as non-fiction was too narrow. I thought of all the great first person narrative style writing in my fiction section, often filled with excellent examples of voice. Today I was reading Mark Overmeyer's Original Author Tip Tuesday on the Stenhouse blog and received some affirmation of this thought when he mentioned that Jeff Kinney's The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series are excellent to spark ideas for personal narrative.