Engaging students in reading

Jeffrey D. Wilhelm provides many creative ways he has incorporated into his classroom with the goal of engaging his students in reading in chapters 3 and 4 of his book, "You Gotta BE the Book."

The ones I really liked and will tuck away for potential future lesson plans are Role-Playing, Postcards and Missing Scene Scripts.

Role-Playing is an active way to get students engaged with the characters and themes of the book, especially those who have difficulties becoming engaged. By becoming a character they can suddenly form that connection of reader-character, forming the start of a bond.

Kind of related to Role-Playing is the use of Missing Scene Scripts which Wilhelm (2008) described, "After identifying scenes that were suggested but left out of the text, students wrote and produced vignettes that filled these gaps, elaborated on story events, or explored alternate story possibilities," (p. 134).

What a great way to encourage students to actively participate in class and with the reading! They can even do this via a video project.

I also loved the Postcards idea. I'd have my students choose a scene that stuck out to them from a chapter and draw what they envisioned and then on the back state why they chose that scene. By doing that, I feel like I'd get a glimpse into what they, as readers, find important.

Here's a link to a video some high school students made for the book, "Of Mice and Men" that I thought was great. They created a trailer for the book--another great idea for a creative way to connect to the book and show their engagement as readers.

Reflection on Ch. 2 of "You Gotta BE the Book"

So far this has been an interesting and entertaining read, but mostly informative. I was the student who was "often in "trouble" for reading in class" (p. 39) like his students, Ron, Mandy and Lisa. It wasn't hard for me as a student to become engaged with a book or assigned reading, but many students are not like that.

Wilhelm (2008) states, "...a new role for the teacher as one who will help familiarize students with all kinds of stories in various forms and with various content, and who will validate the reading of these materials. An important goal will be for students to learn to find and select the sorts of materials throughout their lives that will speak to their current needs, desires, and concerns," (p. 47).

The above quote really stuck out to me because of how much I agree with Wilhelm about the importance of introducing students to the plethora of literature types and content and then help them find something they can connect to, and therefore hopefully growing as an individual.

During my teacher observation, Chris started off each class on Fridays with a 15 minute silent reading time (SSR). Each student pulled out a book of their choosing and those who after a few pages decided it wasn't for them, unabashedly approached Chris for suggestions. He seemed to know each student and was able to help them decide on a book more keen to their interests.

I found an interesting article by Cathy Puett Miller discussing SSR in the classroom.

Sustained Silent Reading in the Classroom

By Cathy Puett Miller

- See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/reading/ReadingCoach/ReadingCoach005.shtml#sthash.9xXMuxq9.dpuf

Teaching Grammar

I remember sitting in Mrs. Olsen's 6th grade language arts class, learning the parts of speech and other aspects of grammar. Put simply, it was boring.

To this day, I don't break sentences down or focus on having perfect grammar in a paper--what I care about is the substance. I want my thoughts to be noticed, not the mis-use of a comma.

Sure--I want my paper to read well and to make sense and I enjoy using semi-colons correctly when able, but grammar is not at the forefront of my mind when writing or even reading other peers papers.

I do think basic grammar skills are important--if a paper has too many issues with simple things like punctuation or proper capitalization then it can distract from the paper itself. That's where I agree with what Constance Weaver stated the following in her article, "Teaching Grammar in the Context of Writing": "teaching grammar in the context of writing might be much more effective than teaching grammar as a separate subject."

I also really agree with the 5-part "scope-not-sequence" chart she mentioned. Yes, it's important to possess basic grammar skills but teach those skills through actual writing--not through a stale lesson that doesn't incorporate those skills. Let the students see the grammar in action as they utilize them to improve their writing.

"In many cases the teacher drags out worksheets and instructs students to underline nouns and verbs or perform other tasks isolated from their own actual writing. These out-of-context exercises are not "writing" and, in fact, may even make writing worse," states Patricia Dunn in her blog post.

A student will be much more apt to understand a principle of grammar by actually applying it to their own writing--it's closer to home.

Grammar doesn't have to be boring--teachers can get creative and try to make it a fun learning experience. I found this link to 12 unique ways to teach grammar.

Reflections on "Clearing the Way"

It was very insightful reading this book by Tom Romano. He shared a lot of his experiences, not only with his students but also his teenage daughter, which was nice since I've wondered how it will be to help my future children with writing and school once they enter the adolescence stage.

"Truth replaced hocus-pocus. It is human beings who create those first words, false starts, scratched-out lines, and messy pages that eventually become polished writing published in books and magazines. And those human beings are not so unlike the freshmen in your final class of the day," (p. 41).

The above quote really stuck out to me out of the whole book. It reminds the reader that students are the future--some will become authors and poets and maybe even create the next great novel. Students are not just teenagers trying to survive high school, but they have the potential to be great.

I want to work with my future students to help them realize this as well.

School Climate

After reading this chapter and the two detailed, eye-opening stories, I feel extremely lucky to have gone to St. Joseph High School where our school climate was clean, safe and energized. The most drama we had was one or two fights over the course of a year. We had a plethora of extracurricular activities offered and a very supportive community.

I don't know if I could teach in a school like the two described in this chapter. Emotionally I would drain by the end of the week and beat myself up for not being able to be a superhero and help out the at-risk students more.

I applaud the teachers who are able, and actually care about their students, unlike some of the dead-beat teachers described in this chapter.

School culture

The high school I attended was very much like the school Rozema described in chapter 2 of "Early Career English Teachers in Action." Our school culture was primarily made up of middle and upper class students, supported by a very family-driven community and spirited faculty.

There was a lot of focus on our football team--we even pulled former U of M coach out from retirement. Lots of community support and money went towards a new stadium and football equipment.

As a student, I along with my peers saw the football players a step above us, but not in a bad way. They just seemed a bit more important.

I wonder what kind of school culture I'll teach in.

Student Behavior

Just finished reading chapter 6, "Student Behavior" in "Early Career English Teachers in Action."

It's hard to imagine that one day I'll be faced with difficult situations with individual students. I was lucky to grow up in a functional, supportive family and even though my family didn't have a lot of money, we always had food, clothing, and good health care. I had a happy childhood unmarred by divorce, abuse or financial struggle.

Reading the 4 stories teachers shared in this chapter made me realize I'm probably going to have certain students with behavior issues because of a number of reasons, many I never experienced myself growing up.

I'm a very empathetic person and have no worries that I'll be able to try to help the students, but will probably need input from fellow teachers who have more experience on how to best help the student, depending on their specific situation.