*** Read these and take them with a grain of salt. I am a new teacher (less than 2 months experience) ***
I listened to a podcast about closing the literacy achievement gap through culturally responsive instruction tonight. The podcast was by Kathy Au and it was fairly interesting, but made me think of more questions than it answered. How can we, as teachers, recognize the many different cultures in our classroom and then alter the lessons to work with these many cultures in a timely manner. It seems to me that by the time you really get to know your students, the year is over and you get another group of kids. I guess we just do the best that we can and hope that we don't mess up a kid too badly.
I'm taking a class on Teaching of Reading in the Content Areas (that's what this blog is for) and the reading we have done so far is interesting, but I'm still having a difficult time figuring out how to teach reading in a 6th grade math class. The most the kids read is a 2 or 3 sentence word problem and some of them are having a hard time doing that. I've tried to tell them to draw pictures after they read to help them understand the problems but most of them ignore the advice and miss the problems because they can't understand what they are reading. I am going to try to think of more ways to incorporate more reading into my class and any suggestions would be appreciated.
Once a week my school gives the kids 30 minutes to read a book in class. They have to read an approved library book and take a test at the end of each book. This is supposed to be their 'pleasure reading'. I do not agree with this at all. When kids are told what to read, they do not enjoy the experience and I think it sours them on reading at an early age. One of our books talks about letting kids decide what to read. Let them read comic books, joke books, magazines, or newspapers. Let kids learn the joy of reading by letting them read something they enjoy for 30 minutes a week. That's my 'if I were King' speech for today.
One of our books talks about grouping students for peer learning. It talks about grouping kids with diverse abilities and skills into groups with each other and changing groups often for different activities so that the groups don't become stale. Okay, I'm going to say something now and I'll probably take a lot of grief for it, but....I agree with the concept of tracking. I don't think that kids should be completely segregated by ability, but I think that it is easier for the teacher to tailor lesson plans if a class is composed of students with abilities that are similar. Okay, I said it, let the beatings begin (just remember that I am a new teacher and my opinions change daily). I do like the idea of grouping kids of different cultural backgrounds and skills together in groups. I think that it promotes awareness and acceptance of differences. I do run into problems with the same kids in a group doing all of the work. Even if I assign roles for the group, it seems like the 'smart kid' in the group ends up with more input and more responsibility for the final product of the group.
One of our books talks about reflective teaching. I try to practice reflective teaching every day. I teach the same lesson to 4 very diverse classes throughout the day and after every day, and every class, I think about how effective I was and what changes I can make to get the point across better to my next class. I am a new teacher and I am constantly thinking about what I've done and how I could have done it better.
Okay, I think that's all for tonight. I have 102 papers to grade before tomorrow (quick feedback for the students) and it's getting late. Feel free to respond, but be gentle. Remember, I'm new at this and I need all the help I can get. Thanks.
Kenny-
ReplyDeleteI found your blog post to be very introspective and thought provoking. I am not yet a full time teacher, so your comments definitly gave me food for thought for my future teaching and classroom. It is clear you have a great deal of passion for teaching because you find ways to help your students learn. For example, your suggestion to students that they draw pictures to visually help them understand a word problem is a great idea. I'm sure it helps the students understand the word problems better. Definitly keep that up if it is working well. You also mentioned that when you assign group work, sometimes only part of the group really contributes to the finished product. Perhaps you can consider giving a group grade and an individual grade for group assignments and group projects. One of my field placement host teachers used that approach for a group assignment and it gave all the students in each group incentive to equally participate in the group project. With regard to reflective teaching, I am sure you are benefitting from participating in reflection each day, especially given your diverse classes. Reflection is a healthy habit for teachers, and I am sure it is even more helpful when you modify/improve/change your teaching strategies based on your reflection. It is beneficial that you have started reflecting so early in your teaching career. You have inspired me to make a more valiant effort to reflect on teaching. Thank you for sharing your blog post and allowing me to make these comments. See you in class.
This blog was great!! I am a Marketing teacher in high school and I am in my second year of teaching and have observed and experienced mush of what you are referring to. I have a very optimistic outlook when it comes to student achievement. I believe all students can and must learn. There is one problem with that – reality. I find myself faced with the first point of your post – teaching literacy in none English classes. I attempt to evaluate the individual students ability to read. I have discovered that although he students are in high school and on track for graduation they still lack the ability to read and comprehend. I am also a proponent of separating students based on ability. I know the data says we can close the achievement gap by mixing student ability. Again this was a great blog. Stay optimistic and keep trucking.
ReplyDeleteHow to get students to want to read? I think one problem is stated in your blog. They read and then take a test. That is forced reading and not pleasure reading. Why not have them read some thing they enjoy and then share it with other students or a book club? It would be interesting to have them do a skit or write a newspaper article or a letter to someone in another country to tell them about this book. There are so many different ways to assess knowledge other than a test. I think as teachers, our biggest problem is to be creative and to network with other teachers and share strategies.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments, they were great.
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