Reluctant Reader as Author

Literacy specialist, Pat Martin,  authored this guest blog on one of publishing projects.
Pat Martin last guest blogged about the Parents’ Literacy Publishing Project

Img_0182_2Cuyler, a winsome first grader, has published his first book.  The experience encouraged him to exclaim, “I’m going to publish more than 1000 books. I have so much more to say.”

Mid-way through his second year of formal schooling, Cuyler should be reading about level 9/10 (guided reading text level as described by Pinnell and Fountas).  He’s not.  However, after reading a text created by MaryAnn McAlpin, a retired Reading Recovery teacher, for her grandson, Cuyler was motivated to create his own text using that model.

“I’m going to publish more than 1000 books. I have so much more to say.” ~ Cuyler, a 1st grader

Writing his personal text benefits Cuyler in so many ways.  His extensive daily vocabulary is supported by actual printed text.  His interests, vehicles of every description and outdoor life, become the basis of his text which further stimulates his daily effort to acquire reading skill.  As such noted advocates for boy literacy as Ralph Fletcher and Michael Gurian note, primary texts and writing prompts seldom deal with the world that interests boys.  There is scant opportunity to connect with the texts, to bring personal experience into the reading/writing or to interact with the text content.

Img_0193_2 Capturing Cuyler’s explanations and descriptions as a book’s text mimics interactive writing or the daily journal writing in the reading Recovery lesson.  And what child wouldn’t read and reread a book of their pictures and writing?  What better way to achieve fluency?  Certainly a more exciting, engaging and authentic method than grappling through Cuyler’s four inch thick stack of Dolch sight words – a practice he he finds less than engaging. Cuyler now sees himself as a literate individual.  He is excited about the growing up as a reader and writer rather than defeated by the challenges that text holds. 

By providing text that supports him as a reader and validates him as a writer, Cuyler is on the path of literacy.  And he is an excited traveler who wants to know “how many days until we go back to that learning lab so I can publish books.”Img_0192_2

For sometime now I’ve been an advocate of new print on demand technologies to give students a chance to publish their learning for an authentic audience and purpose. I’ve partnered with Pat Martin, a literacy specialist and Suzanne Suor, an educational technology consultant, to open a Educational Publishing Learning Lab in Rochester NY. We offer a variety of training packages to assist teachers and districts in taking advantage of the new opportunities in digital publishing. The lab is located at ColorCentric digital publishers, so participants can not only learn how to publish, but tour the facility to see books being made. For more information on how you and your students can publish your own books visit our website Read > Think > Write > Publish

Summer Academies that Support Ninth Grade Transition

A recent issue of Education Week featured a ninth grade transition program that combats the drop-out problem associated with movement from middle to high school – see “Pittsburgh Building ‘Nation’ of 9th Graders.” Education Week, August 29, 2007

The idea was to target not just the teenagers’ heads, but also their hearts. A week of getting used to their new schools, befriending their classmates and teachers, and undertaking adventures together was designed to forge what district officials are calling a “9th Grade Nation”—a freshman class that moves through high school feeling supported and confident.  Read 9grade-Nation (98KB pdf)

Reading about this program reminded me of a summer program that I designed and served as founding director from 1999-2000. The "Summer Prep Program" targeted students exiting 5th – 8th grade who were academically at-risk.  Elementary, middle and high school teachers (and a dedicated school nurse) delivered a specially designed three-week curriculum designed to engage students in their learning and foster a positive attitude towards school. A dozen high school and college interns assisted in the program, serving as positive role models and establishing friendships that will extend into the school year.  Summer Prep produced excellent results with nearly one-half of our students improving their grades in three or four of their core courses.

Specially trained teams of teachers provide daily instruction in English, math, technology, library research, learning and organizational skills. Each grade was divided into small sections. Classes were held from 8 AM – 11 AM, Monday – Thursday. Preprocks Each Friday was reserved for an activity day – indoor wall climbing, ropes, obstacle courses, kayaking, and even a juggling workshop.  As one parent wrote about the program "The Summer Prep School was the best thing that could have happened to my daughter this summer. She struggled throughout the school year – and with the frustration of struggling, she lost confidence and enthusiasm for school in general. However, this excellent program spurred in her a renewed interest in learning. Every day as I picked her up, she had a fun and exciting anecdote to tell me about. She absolutely loved her writing class – believe it showed as I am leafing through her folder tonight at Open House. I would like to thank Mr. Pappas for his extreme enthusiasm and support of our daughter at a very difficult personal as well as scholastic juncture in her life."

The cooperation and teamwork of parent, student and teacher is essential to success. Parents’ workshops were offered to support and inform the parents with practical activities and techniques in communications, discipline, academic support and problem solving.

As one parent wrote about the parenting workshops "Over the last 4 weeks – my relationship with my daughter has grown by leaps and bounds!! This program has helped me to identify the behaviors she exhibits that trigger me to get upset. The whole family has had benefits, especially with improvements in communications. More concrete boundaries and expectations have been established and our family life had been more relaxed, peaceful, and less stressful. Thank you for offering our expertise. I have looked forward to Tuesday evenings this summer."

Visit an archived version of the Summer Prep School website and read more about the program in the SAANYS Journal. Find out more about Summer Prep and Ninth Grade Academies at Small Learning Academies that Work.

NCLB Narrows the Curriculum?

nclb logo
nclb logo

Periodically I think about the ironies of NCLB. Today, coincidence put a face on it. It started when I read an article from the Contra Costa Times, a SF Bay-area newspaper. “Schools Pile On English, Math Classes” details how NCLB can impact the curriculum. Middle and high school students pulled out of social studies, science, art, music, and electives to make room for additional classes in remedial reading and math. I understand that literacy and numeracy are necessary foundations, but shouldn’t they be imbedded into content of the very courses that are being cut? (For more on that point visit my website Content Reading Strategies That Work )

As the article noted,

Jason Ebner used to teach history at Antioch Middle School. That was before it became a thing of the past. Six years ago, he said, the campus began requiring two math classes for low-performing students. The following year they doubled up English courses. Social studies and science fell by the wayside. The practice has come back to haunt Ebner, who now teaches sophomore world history at Antioch High School. His students, robbed of history in junior high, increasingly come in without knowledge of the Renaissance period.  more

Today I also received a invitation from a local art-house cinema. One of my former high school students would be visiting Rochester for a special screening of his Sundance-award-winning film. I was one of three teachers he wanted to invite as “special guests who he felt contributed to his film-making career.”  I had lost track of him after graduation, but with some Googling I found that he was now working as a Brooklyn-based writer / director and teaching a class in the Dramatic Writing program at SUNY Purchase. If my memory serves me right, back in the late 70’s he was a student in my Media Studies class – a high school social studies elective that focused on the impact of the media on society – remember Marshall McLuhan?

I put the newspaper article and the invitation together and wondered about the direction some schools may take to reach NCLB’s goal of 100% proficiency by 2014. Will NCLB force a generation of students into the routine world of test prep? Will scores of innovative teachers will drop out of the profession?

While NCLB began with the admirable goal of narrowing demographic performance gaps and putting an end to sorting kids on the “bell curve,”  it may be doing just the opposite. Many low performing students are now banished from courses they might actually look forward to and sent to 90-minute blocks of remediation.  Ironically these low performing student tend to be from the very demographic groups that were falling behind in the performance gap. As if it isn’t enough of challenge to be poor, now you’re also shut out of art and music classes.

The “remediated” students may someday be “proficient” on standardized tests, but must that improvement come from the sacrifice of “soft skills” like teamwork, presentation and problem solving that they could have developed in project-based learning? As more courses are eliminated, will teachers be pushed aside in favor of computerized tutorial programs? Who’s going into education these days? My guess is – fewer creative teachers and more corporate service providers.

I wonder if someday a teacher will be thanked by a former student for helping their school to achieve “adequate yearly progress?”

Jordan – Educational Reform for the Knowledge Economy

I’m writing this post from Amman Jordan, where I’ve been visiting family and seeing the sights. In addition, I took some time for professional contacts to learn more about education in this part of the world.

My visit coincided with the 4th Annual Arab Forum on Education held in Amman. Many speakers saw educational reform as important factor in addressing the high (15 – 20%) unemployment rates in Arab countries. Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit noted that “improving the quality of education requires … clear evaluation standards, adopting self-learning and creative programs instead of rote learning methods.” Jordanian Prince Hassan said that “democracy and development could only succeed with a foundation in modern learning and the encouragement of creative thought.” He added that “schools should be more than mere teaching factories – supportive environments catering for the needs of individual students.” Jordanian Times 4.25.07

While traditional instruction in Jordan had been largely confined to teacher-centered lectures, the country has now embraced a new direction with its “ERfKE Initiative” – Educational Reform for the Knowledge Economy.  Jordan’s Ministry of Education is making a major commitment to reform their schools to support student development in critical thinking, problem-solving and the “soft skills” needed for success in the new information economy. It seems Jordan is moving in a different direction than the US, where NCLB dictates that the routine drudgery of test prep is more important than fostering student innovation through project-based learning.

I’d like to thank my two primary contacts who both took time to meet with me – Khitam Ahmad Al-Utaibi, the Youth, Technology and Careers Operation Manager for ESP (the ERfKE Support Project) and Maha AlShaer, Project Management Specialist / Education from the US Agency for International Development.

Einjaloot_2 I feel most fortunate to have been able to visit the Ein Jaloot Secondary School for Girls. (Click photo to enlarge.) I would like to thank headmistress, Thamar Yousef AlSoudi, for being a gracious host. Her school of about 700 high school students is one of the pilot sites for Jordan’s new “major” in Management of Information Stream (MIS). With USAID and corporate support, the Jordanian Ministry of Education has developed an online curriculum and web portal called EduWave. I got to see it in action in a class held in a computer lab. It was rather crowded by US standards – average classes are 40-45 girls in a room that was about 20′ x 30′. The teacher projected the online material via LCD. Flash files were used to illustrate the sectors of the Jordanian economy. As the teacher posed questions, every student seemed to be ready with an answer. I asked Maha if the girls where giving back “canned’ responses. She assured me that they were answering “in their own words” and that many of the comments were “personal opinion.” I was pleased to see the teacher wasn‘t just playing “guess what I’m thinking?”

Next, small groups of students took turns in role-play exercises. One scenario involved the owner of small shop explaining aspects of inventory management to a new employee. A second featured an unemployed engineering grad that started a computer repair business. I queried the teacher about the girl’s preparation for the role play. She assured me that while she provided the scenarios, the students had to research and develop their roles and dialogue.

What happened next was a welcomed surprise. Students broke into pairs and were asked to reflect on what they learned from the lesson and role-play exercises. They worked online in the EduWave portal, recording their comments in their network profiles. I was told that EduWave provides full suite of student, teacher and administrative tools including a portfolio builder, online assessments, and access for student and parents from home. Since it’s in Arabic, I couldn’t evaluate the material or interface.

My visit is far too brief to pass judgment on the education reform in Jordan. But I was pleased to see the direction in which it is moving. The teacher I met told me about how pleased she was to be able to be part of this new program. Instead of teaching a rather dull keyboarding class she was now utilizing new technologies alongside her students in a more dynamic learning environment.  Ironically too many of her teaching peers in the US no longer find their careers as rewarding. Once a beacon of innovative instruction, we are stifling American teachers as we chase an illusive “adequate yearly progress.”

Jordan is a country surrounded by turmoil and conflict. Nonetheless the educational leadership appears to be sincere in their efforts to modernize and prepare there students to be productive members of the new global economy. But one observation brought home the challenges of reform in a tradition-steeped culture. As Maha translated the girls’ dialogue during the role-playing, she repeated used the word “he.” Finally, I asked her if girls were role playing as men. She smiled and admitted all the parts the girls had taken were male. As she put it, girls would find it “awkward” to participate in a role play “as themselves.”

Rigor and Relevance in Amman

I’m writing this post from Amman Jordan, where I’ve been visiting family and seeing the sights. In addition, I took some time for professional contacts to learn more about education in Jordan.

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to visit the American Community School in Amman. I’d like to thank my hosts – Brian Lahan, School Superintendent and Brien McCall, Curriculum Coordinator.

Behind an impressive security perimeter (it’s the US Embassy “school”) I found ACS to be an engaging pre-K-12 learning community. I began the day by touring the school and classrooms. During the brief walk-throughs, I saw small sections, with students actively engaged in their learning. The student body is very diverse with a sizable Jordanian population. Not surprising, Arabic is taught at all levels of the program.

My visit coincided with an early release day for students and professional development in the afternoon. Brien McCall and I had worked in advance to arrange for me to give a 2-hour presentation on “Rigor and Relevance.” I’ve gotten so hooked on my TurningPoint audience response system, that I brought it to Amman. But I’m glad I did. It was the first time most faculty had seen one in action, and as always, it fostered great discussion. The workshop was an opportunity for me to work with a talented group of teachers in a unique setting. Their evaluations suggest they found it equally rewarding. Here are a few teacher comments:

"I really loved how you synthesized the many best teacher practices that we have tried to initiate at ACS. There are so many things we do, do well, want try to improve on.  Your information is practical and will bring results."

"Today’s workshop reinforces the need for students to create, and think more on their own".

"I am currently using writing prompts in my science class and have systematically worked to give more control of learning over to my students. Your workshop confirms this approach and provided valuable ideas for me to continue in this direction."