November - So Much to Look Forward To...

Earlier I posted about how I was excited for my first annual convention and the release of Notice and Note in November. Now I have two more reasons to be excited...

This week the July 2012 NCTE Council Chronicle with the annual convention preview arrived in my mailbox. As I was skimming through, there were plenty of reasons to know that it will be worth every penny. I loved this line from Sandy Hayes' welcome, "In reading through the mountain of session proposals, I realized that NCTE members share a kind of double vision with Bradbury's time traveler: we have the capacity to see things not only as they are but also as they could be. We aspire to change our world by embracing complexity, considering research, collaborating, working hard, and stretching toward an ideal" (p. 4). Right off the bat with the Preconvention Sessions the tough decisions will begin. All four sessions look amazing, but I will most likely either go to see Teaching: The Questions We Ask and the Answers We Find with Jim Burke, Penny Kittle, and Kelly Gallagher or Building Reading Communities Online and Off with Donalyn Miller, Sara Kajder, Teri Lesesne, and Franki Sibberson. See why it will be so hard to decide!

As if the regular components of the convention weren't enough for building anticipation, I decided that it would be worth it to stay the two extra days for the ALAN postconvention workshop. I have heard about all of the authors present and the box of books that comes along with it from one of my university professors. Originally I held back because of the additional expenses, but this week I decided that since this may be the only time I financially prioritize in order to go to the annual convention, I might as well get the full experience. Of course, as soon as I purchased it, I noticed the CEL Writing as Leadership postconvention with Penny Kittle, Tom Romano, Peg Tyre, Casey Olsen, Kelly Gallagher, and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels. So tempting, but alas, I can't attend both and have already signed up for ALAN. Like the Boothbay Literacy Retreat, this convention will be one of those dream PD opportunities.

When I was still buzzing with excitement over adding on the ALAN postconvention, I happened to stop by the Heinemann site again. Either this was just posted or I completely missed it last time, but an upcoming release for Penny Kittle is listed, Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers. And yes, just like Notice and Note, I automatically pre-ordered it and can't wait for its anticipated November release. Just seeing Penny Kittle's name on it is enough to prompt that though, but I am really excited for the topic as well. It aligns well with my dissertation research and my intended continual focus on engaging and sustaining adolescent readers.

In the midst of the school year, November will be something to look forward to. Two weeks from today I officially start the school year with teacher work days, but between now and then I will meet with K-5 colleagues to discuss how the first year of reading and writing workshop went as well as thoughts for the upcoming year. Then I will also get together with some colleagues for our August for fun book club. Once the school year gets started, the months will be moving in fast forward.

November will be a nice month. The convention will fall a few weeks into the second quarter. The whirl of events that come with parent teacher conferences and the first quarter report cards will be complete. I will head out mid-week and when I return we will be on Thanksgiving break. A nice chance to let ideas from the conference settle and to savor time with family after being away. Both the convention and the quick break immediately after will be a chance to recharge and savor what has happened so far in the year and glimpse ahead to the possibilities for the remainder of the year.

Who else is planning on going to NCTE?

What upcoming professional books are you looking forward to their releases?

Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards

When I saw that NCTE had a new series of books focusing on implementation of the Common Core State Standards at different grade levels, I could not wait to read the middle school edition. Tonya Perry with Rebecca Manery wrote Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards: English Language Arts Grade 6-8. I appreciated that the authors emphasized the language in the standards highlighting the intent for the CCSS to provide guidance in what to teach while educators can still determine how to teach it. In contrast to other resources that appear to be disseminating their ideas as the way to implement the standards, this book provided a range of scenarios and contexts.

In the introduction, series editor Anne Ruggles Gere stated, "Regardless of teacher responses, the CCSS are now part of the educational landscape. But these standards do not replace the principles that guide good teaching. Some things remain constant regardless of new mandates. [...] This book is designed to support you in meeting the challenges posed by the CCSS. It stands on the principle that standards do not mean standardization or a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching," (pp. 2-3). These thoughts encompass well what we cannot forget as CCSS implementation rolls out. We should all play a role in considering whether implementations closely examine individual contexts or whether they simply try to seek the answer in how to implement the standards.

Before highlighting implementation scenarios, the book starts with a chapter titled "Demystifying the Common Core State Standards." Last week I was sharing the book in one of my literacy classes because I read it as part of my final project. A colleague stated that a diagram provided was the best she had seen in order to illustrate the set-up of the ELA standards. The question/answer format of the chapter also appealed to her.

In the section sharing how different schools have started to discuss and integrate the standards into their classrooms, the examples are coupled with questions/exercises to prompt other educators/schools to interpret the CCSS and consider their own contexts.

An excerpt from the final section of the book, Building, illustrates once again the emphasis of the text, "[...] building with the CCSS in mind does not mean checking boxes for individual standards; it means integrating a careful examination of the CCSS with the contexts and practices of our classrooms, always putting students at the center," (p. 68).

I thoroughly enjoyed the voice and tone of this book and would be excited to read the others in the series.

Adolescent Literacy at Risk?

I originally checked Rebecca Bowers Sipe's Adolescent Literacy at Risk? The Impact of Standards out from the library, in an attempt to not spend as much money on books; however, I quickly realized that I would want my own copy. I already have others in the NCTE Principles in Practice Adolescent Literacy series, and similar to those I already had, this book was thought-provoking and an important voice to add to the discussion on the current context of adolescent literacy.

When one of my professors saw the title, he was worried that the book might be too skewed against standards, rather than a balanced view. I explained to him that it actually was not. Far from it, Sipe provided a knowledgeable voice sharing her rich experiences with and historical information about the standards movement. While she discusses a range of standards, one large focus in the book outlined her experiences co-authoring Michigan's English standards and then seeing implementation into classrooms.

While reading the book, I thought about how standards in and of themselves are not necessarily good or bad, but rather the process involved with implementation is vital. This will be key to keep in mind with the Common Core State Standards. As educators we need to advocate for dialogues about how to implement the standards into our contexts with a close eye on our students needs, rather than seeking one-size-fits-all solutions.

Here are some quotes that stood out to me from the text:

"As standards came to represent high expectations, it became increasingly clear that for higher standards to succeed, we could never entertain notions of standardization in our interpretation or delivery of them," (p. 11).

"The movement to more finite descriptions was intended to offer teachers of definition of what should be considered across a program of study, not a prescription for what had to happen in a particular unit of instruction. This is an important distinction, and one we felt strongly about. Standards, not standardization, drove our work," (p. 32).

"To our frustration, the message that was so central to our work--local development of curriculum based in these inclusive standards--has gotten somewhat lost along the way," (p. 33).

"Standards provide a definition of what is possible, but standards are not curriculum documents," (p. 41).

"If standards are to achieve even a portion of their early promise--and I still believe this is possible--educators everywhere must consider carefully the role of standards in curricular planning, and collectively we must avoid being bogged down in an assembly line approach to covering expectations that fails to fully account for organic and fluid instruction that good teaching represents," (p. 43).

These are just a handful of excerpts that caught my attention while reading that are even more powerful when read in context of the whole book. Throughout the text Sipe emphasized the need for dialogue.

We can all ask ourselves:

What am I doing to influence the way in which Common Core State Standards are implemented at my school/in my community?

Thinking About Standards

Standards have been on my mind a lot lately, as I am sure they have been a topic of consideration for many educators. I started my teaching career shortly after NCLB was enacted, so my whole career has been during the context of standards-based reform. When I first saw the CCSS document for English Language Arts, I was not that concerned because of the emphasis of the standards providing what to teach, without dictating how to teach it. I could see how they could still align with the workshop philosophy, as well as appreciating the shift toward an emphasis on higher levels of critical thinking. I could also recognize advantages of collaboration among states.

Yet, I started to hear diverse perspectives on the Common Core and questions of whether or not it was really a step in the right direction. I also heard criticisms of professional organizations such as NCTE for accepting the standards too quickly without putting up a fight against them. One person in particular was a   name that I have known since my undergraduate ESL/bilingual education courses, someone who was regarded as one of the "big names" and who I highly respect, so it gave me even more pause and careful consideration.

However, over time I have realized that I tend to agree with NCTE's rebuttal that they recognize the standards are not going away completely and that as an organization one of their roles is to support teachers with the transition. I appreciate that they are prompting dialogue and considering how teachers can participate in the process of thinking about implementation. I also recognize that they have played a role in voicing concerns, both through the process to provide feedback and through their recent Resolution on Challenging Current Education Policy and Affirming Literacy Educators' Expertise.

Recently, I read two NCTE books related to standards, Adolescent Literacy at Risk?: The Impact of Standards and Supporting Students in a Time of Common Core Standards: English Language Arts Grades 6-8. I will post about both of them separately soon, but one of the main aspects that stood out about them was the dedication to treating teachers as professionals, just as the resolution mentioned above also highlights.

Fresh Takes on Teaching Literary Elements

Since a lot of my educational reading this year has been for my doctoral classes, I have not been able to read (and consequently post) about professional books for pleasure. Right now I am at various stages with about four other books, but Fresh Takes on Teaching Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View, and Theme by Michael W. Smith and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm was the first book that I have read through completely lately.

I read most of Reading Don't Fix No Chevys this summer and I have heard a lot about one of the authors because he is a professor at the university where I am getting my Ed.D., so I was familiar with the authors and interested to see their latest book. When I saw them talking about transferring learning on the Amazon preview, I could not resist purchasing it right away. I could tell that their philosophy aligned with the well-known workshop, "Read like writers and write like readers." 

For my cognition class this semester, I had been thinking of doing my research project on whether or not writing to learn journals seem to have an impact on helping students facilitate what they notice as readers into their own writing vs. solely discussing what they notice. When I got the book, I realized that there were many mentions of cognition and it actually pointed me toward investigating situated cognition further. I always love it when a book aligns even more closely with a current focal area than I had anticipated. 

Aside from the cognition and transfer aspects, in general I just loved the book. Toward the end of last year I was realizing that students were getting comprehension strategies that I had focused on a lot over the last couple of years but that they were not prompting students to deeply analyze texts, so I began considering how to scaffold students' abilities to move toward analysis. This book has many ideas on how to work toward that goal. 

Most of all, one of my favorite aspects was the frequent mentions of the value of studying literature as a means to help students develop a stronger understanding of themselves and their worlds which leads to a positive impact on their overall long-term success. A key component of achieving this is through inquiry units. I started out the year intending to have inquiry focal questions all year long but it has not happened. The book was a good reminder to layer that essential component in for the remainder of the second half of the year. 

The book provided me with plenty to consider with cognition, analysis, and inquiry, so I look forward to trying out some of their ideas and then revisiting the book again later in order to remind myself of other aspects that I will not be able to immediately implement. 

First Crossing

I just did a post reflecting on the book that Donald R. Gallo edited, First Crossing: Stories of Teen Immigrants on my YA book review blog. The book is rich with possibilities for links to other YA books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as themed units that I mentioned in more detail on the other post. I can't wait for next fall when I can talk this book up to my students.

When I bought this book I had never heard of Donald R. Gallo before, but lately I have been seeing his name everywhere. He wrote or is mentioned in a lot of the articles for my YA Literature Class and he also just wrote an article in the latest issue of NCTE's Voices from the Middle. In the last couple of weeks I have come to notice that he is a big name in the YA lit field.

Adolescents and Digital Literacies

Because I am interested in technology and literacy, I was very excited when I heard about Sara Kajder's new book Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students. Not only did I recently read the book, but I also participated in two of the three on-line discussion groups hosted by NCTE and loved the opportunity to talk about digital literacies with others in the field. While I was sad to miss the last session, I was glad that it and the first two are available on NCTE's Ning.

In the beginning of the book Kajder explains the purpose of it, "This book is less about 'translating' these new technology terms (which will be outdated and obsolete before this book appears in print) and more about how we work as English teachers to navigate a changing landscape--and how we lead our students to do the same. [...] It isn't about the tools. It is about reading, writing, communicating, and pedagogy" (3). A recurring theme throughout the book was examining the types of literacies that students do outside of school, and reexamining the type of literacies that we, as English teachers, value (10).

The book begins with a copy of NCTE's Adolescent Literacy brief, and Kajder links back to the brief often throughout the book. Each chapter of the book begins with quote(s) about technology, and there were so many that I loved. For example, I could not help but smile when I read Alan Kay's quote, "Technology is only technology for people who are born before it was invented" (13). In addition, there are many examples from different classrooms about integrating different technologies into classrooms. I appreciated that the classrooms were from diverse backgrounds with different levels of access to technology.

Once again, this is one more reason to be excited for Heinemann's Boothbay Literacy Retreat! My final thought (for now about the book) is an excerpt that I underlined and starred with the comment, "excellent point" in the margin. Kajder's comment embodies why I integrating technology is so fascinating and vital, "what keeps me firmly rooted in valuing and learning new literacy practices is that I want all of my students to be literate in the dominant media of their time" (37).

Proud New Member of NCTE

I just decided to join the National Council of Teachers of English. Earlier this spring I had been debating whether to renew my membership to the International Reading Association or to switch over to NCTE. I have been a member of IRA for the last three years, and have really enjoyed their publication, Reading Today. However, I had also been hearing a lot about NCTE. Eventually I would like to have a membership to both, but for this year with tight budgets I decided to choose between the two. Prior to IRA I was a member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. There are so many great professional organizations out there that it is hard to decide which to join.

Which organizations are you a member of?