This weeks readings started with chapters 3-4 discussing literacy and reading. I found the debate interesting and one I could relate to. I have had a conversation with 1st grade teachers about forcing kids to check out books that are at their reading level. I see middle school students each week and constantly look for new ways to keep them engaged or get them hooked. The one interesting thing I kind of felt was missing from this section of reading was the middle grades (3rd -5th). This is the age that is typically referenced when discussing the drop off in reading for boys or the time when we begin to see kids not like reading or call themselves non-readers. That age groups is one of my biggest challenges as a librarian. I feel like I have to work twice as hard to keep them all engaged. I was disappointed that the text didn't address this group as their own chapter as they did with the MS students in chapter 4. I would love to hear what those of you that work with 3rd -5th grade do to keep this group engaged. I am always looking for new ideas to try or something out of the ordinary to hook the reluctant readers in the group.
As I read chapters 5-6 I had to laugh. It was like reliving the curriculum mapping at work! The discussion in chapter 6 about teachers giving up the "sacred cows" was just like being at school. The problem we had is that even though they were to give some up, many still have not. Our mapping process was also flawed in that people were not always mapping what was actually being taught but instead the scope and sequence of the text or what they thought they should be teaching instead of what they actually were teaching. You can see how that would be problematic. In the end, we have a new superintendent now and he has bigger fish to fry so I think our mapping process will just fade away next year. I am torn on this. I think that the need for the maps are great. I think that they serve a great purpose and can provide great insight that the teachers and students will benefit from but only if done correctly and with the proper training. Teachers need to buy into the process. If they don't, you end up with the mess we have at my school. I would like to see how other schools sold the concept better than we did in order to get a good product and good buy in from the staff.
Interesting readings. Lots to ponder.
I had a very similar experience to yours when reading chapters five and six. We spent several years in my district working on curriculum maps and now they sit in binders. The concept is good, but frankly, we just got tired of it after a few years. We never actually used them, so our enthusiasm for creating them fizzled. Looking back, I can see how they helped us to revise our science curriculum, but other than that, we didn't see any changes come about because of them.
ReplyDeleteOur school is working on an "in house" project on writing that is basically curriculum mapping, only nobody calls it that because otherwise everyone groans!
I understand about the middle school drop in reading for boys and read a good article called "Media and Literacy: What's Good?" by Thomas Newkirk. The article was very useful as I begin to think about how to best serve reluctant readers, especially boys, in the library. Newkirk makes an excellent argument on how educators can best serve boys who view themselves as “non-readers, non-writers –indeed, as non-students” (63). As a former high school English teacher, I remember trying to get boys to read for my class. I would take them to the library weekly, provide them with silent reading time in class, allow them to read whatever they wanted, and I always had popular magazines and extra books for those who “accidently” forgot their reading material at home. Many times, I would glance up from my own reading and find the boys doodling, looking out the window, or flipping through pages. Their disinterest in reading made me feel sad and helpless because I kept thinking about all the great stories that they were missing and would continue to miss if they did not learn to love reading.
ReplyDeleteAs I read Newkirk’s article, I began to see my own biases about “visually mediated narratives” such as film and video games. I always thought that these medias were a waste of time and that they probably hindered student learning. However, after reading Newkirk’s article and learning that video games require “a persistence that we wouldn’t dream of demanding in schools” and that eliminating “literacy learning from students’ media-immersed lives makes school an alien and unappealing place (64), I am not so sure anymore. I do agree with Newkirk that we have to use what works with students in order to reach them and I think that as educators we have to be more open about how to use a variety of medias to promote and enhance literacy for our students. Moving forward, I think that I will try some of the suggestions that Newkirk provides in his article with my male students. I believe that role playing, and recreating or re-scripting movies as a writing activity may motivate students to sample other medias such as books and magazines. Perhaps, as librarians, we can use film and video games to introduce reluctant readers to graphic novels, mysteries, and fantasy, horror, and adventure books.