Back at it...

A new semester has started and I have been busy with my new classes and my return to my old school as Department Head there.  I am happy to be back at Holy Names, where the students still laugh at my jokes...

So, I am finally back online, preparing my digital classroom for the new year. 

My tech guru, my sensei of the virtual word, Doug, recommended that I switch my class wiki from Wetpaint to Google Sites.  He also showed me how to use hot spots (which are pretty decent, I must say).  If you are looking for a guru or sensei, check out Doug Sadler's blog & wiki.

It has been a very easy transition and I think the new digital classroom looks much better than the old wiki.  I guess my students will have to use it and decide if it is easy to use.  I think that will take some trial and error, just as my Wetpaint site did.  

I don't yet have an accessible network drop in my classroom, so I am going to have to put my goal of using an RSS feed or Twitter to provide frequent updates about my classes on hold.  I hope to have that resolved soon, so I can get on with my next steps into the brave new world of integrating Web 2.0 (or is it 3.0 now?) into the classroom.

My next goal is to get back in touch with my friends and family - so if you are reading, hang on... I will call soon.

If you are looking for something to read, find a copy of  a long way gone: memoirs of a child soldier.  It is a compelling read and I am just starting it with my ENG 4C1 class. 

Oh, and I just learned how add soundbites...

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills sound bite  Zoolander sound bites

Things can change in an instant

It is amazing how quickly things can change.  With life's worries and responsibilities, we forget how our world can change for the better in just a few days. 

This fall, after years of trying, my sister and her husband had my nephew Shane.  Suddenly, like a miracle, their lives were changed.  After years of making art, my husband got both gallery representation and won Best in Show at the LaCloche Art Show (big show in my hometown) in the span of a few weeks.  Lately, things are going pretty well for me too.

But, there were times over the past few years when it seemed like the bad changes outweighed the good.  So, I am writing it down so I don't forget the good stuff when things are bad.  I know it is true for me and I know it will be true for my friends that are living the bad: things can change in an instant... you just have to pack your boxes and wait for the good.

A year of literacy support: how it looks at the end of the ride

Well, I am new to the "literacy game" and thankfully, this is my first, last and only year as Literacy Support Teacher. The process has been a challenging one, a discouraging one.

The preliminary scores are in, so it seems like a good time to begin to organize my thoughts about my role in the process. The results are confidential at this point, but I don't think I am giving too much away to say that not every student passed.

What does this mean to me, or more importantly, about me? It means that there were students that I was not able to help. They were not successful so, was I?

Maybe all kids can't pass? I know they can't. But, I hate the fact.

Maybe the idea that we can fix literacy deficiencies in Grade 10 is ludicrous?

Maybe teaching to the test without the building underlying literacy skills is a waste? (I think our board and school plan addresses both test preparation and literacy building but what the hell do I know?)

Maybe this shows my own inadequacies? It feels like it does.

A lot of maybes and one discouraged teacher.

Are standardized tests killing reading? A review of Readicide by Kelly Gallagher

I am just finishing a year as the Literacy Support Teacher at my school, so I have been steeped in literacy for months. That makes it the perfect time to do some professional reading about the role of an teacher in a world full of standardized tests.

The book I am reading is Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher.  Gallagher has been writing about reading for years and I have an earlier book of his, Deeper Reading, on my summer reading list.

In Readicide, Gallagher contends that educators are killing the love of reading.  The most immediately relevant to my role as LST is Gallagher's well-reasoned argument that the emphasis on developing test-takers over lifelong readers is contributing to the death of reading.

The emphasis on the results of the OSSLT is bad.  I think it can be misleading to publishing them like they define a school which, in my opinion, ignores the real use of the test.  The test should be used to identify students' weaknesses so we can offer them direct help (in the wise words of a fellow LST).  But, I also know the pressure on the students and LSTs in the weeks leading up to the test, to cover every angle, close every gap, know every trick.  So the question I have been struggling with, I mean really struggling, is how to help students prepare for the literacy test without losing sight of the real goal, true and lifelong literacy. 

I think Gallagher sums it up:  "... if students are taught to read and write well, they will do fine on mandated reading tests.  But if they are only taught to be test-takers, they will never learn to read and write well." (26)

As I finish my stint as LST and return to the English classroom, I now see my role more clearly.  I am going to go back to teaching kids to read and write well (I am a better reader than writer).  And, I am going to use Gallagher's suggestions to do so.  I will let you know how it goes.

Kindling a love of reading: I'm on fire

I have been reading like mad lately. It was sparked by the Kindle I got for Christmas. I think I had read 9 books before the Christmas break was over. I love that little electronic reader. It fits in my purse. It is light. It stores hundreds of books.

I also think that working with students who are weak or reluctant readers has fueled the fire. I can't believe there are so many people who don't read for pleasure. I guess I never asked the people around me if they liked to read until I started the Literacy Support position this year. So many colleagues say that they stopped enjoying reading in grade school and don't really read for pleasure. So many students struggle with reading and will do anything to avoid it.

Suddenly, reading feels like a gift.

It has always been my escape. If I am happy, I read. If I have free time, I read. If I want to reward myself, I buy a new book and read. If I am lonely or sad, I read.

My inner landscape is populated by the characters from books. When I am at a loss for words, their words come to me. Some books feel like friends.

If I have taken anything away from this past year, it is that I have to try harder to pass the gift of reading along and that as an English teacher, reading for enjoyment is the greatest gift I can give to my students.

So, I am reading every young adult book on the "Best Of" lists. I am reading "Books with Buzz". I am reading fantasy, non-fiction, literary fiction, historical pastoral, pastoral comical... oh, there is the voice of Polonius - see - they are all in there, talking away (see my last post about sanity - is this a bad sign?).

My Dad's words are in there too: "Could you leave me alone for a minute? I only have 20 pages left in my book".

Hoarders on A&E: I am drawn like a moth to a flame...

I am watching Hoarder on A & E. It is one of those shows that I am both fascinated by and terrified by. Why do I watch this? I always start out shaking my head at the clutter and then, as they reveal the hoarder's psychology, I start to worry that I am not as sane as I think I am.

It is the hoarder's certainty that scares me. What if my certainty about my own sanity is as false as theirs? I never fail to laughingly ask my husband that question.

They are doing an update and it looks like many people just slip back into the mess. Yikes.

Does anyone else feel like cleaning the bathroom after they watch this show?

My summer professional reading list

As June is only a breath away, I am looking forward to our summer break. I love the first week of summer, when I spend days reading for pleasure. We are often at our camp in the Bay of Islands for the July 1 weekend. The camp is the best place on earth to do some reading (at least partially because there is not much else to do but clean up the island and swim). My sister and mother are both "English Majors" like me, so there are always great books sitting around the cabins.

I usually start hording books for this reading frenzy just after March Break, but this year, I have done a great deal of reading for pleasure. I have some theories as to why I have already finished much of the cache of books intended for the summer, but that is the subject of another post. I can tell you that the reason is, sadly, not a bunch of free time...

So, to fill the gap, I recently ordered a number of books to do some professional reading. I have finished one book already (I said I was reading a lot). I thought I would share what I have chosen, and then note a bit about each one as I finished them - more as a record for me than anything else.

So here they are. I am feeling unusually optimistic that I have a few good titles.

1. Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it by Kelly Gallagher
2. Attention, Please! How to make speaking in class presentable, enjoyable, and memorable for all by Kathleen Gould Lundy
3. Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom by Rick Wormeli
4. Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4-12 by Kelly Gallagher
5. Grammarama! by Les Parsons
6. The Writing Circle by Sylvia Gunnery
7. Pulling Together: Integrating inquiry, assessment, and instruction in today's English classroom by Schnellert, Datoo, Ediger & Panas

I welcome any suggestions and I will let you know how it goes.