Search results matching tags 'teaching' and 'reading'

Book Review: The Art of Slow Reading: Six Time-Honored Practices for Engagement

Anonymous — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:25:00 GMT

Title: The Art of Slow Reading: Six Time-Honored Practices for Engagement

Authors: Thomas Newkirk

Publisher:Heinemann

Date: 2011

ISBN: 978-0325037318

Pages: 224

Two dear teaching friends recommended this book to me. They have been completing a collaborative study of the book together and found a lot of “meaty” ideas in this book that have translated into their own teaching practice and then their articulation of practice. Using a reading workshop approach in their classes, these teachers have slowed down to read with their students and incorporated the six time-honored practices that Newkirk advocates. As I browsed through the table of contents, I can't say I was surprised by his suggestions of how to slow down and appreciate reading and learn more from reading, but like Burke's Reading Reminders and Writing Reminders, it is always good to be reminded of good habits!

Why slow down? The first part of the book makes the case for slowing down our reading to hear the author's voice, focus on single ideas, be in dialogue with the text/author and do more than just comprehend the text, but internalize and act on text. Newkirks traces the history of our current reading curriculum that values “fluency”, otherwise known as fast reading, over expressive and aesthetic reading. “To read a book . . . is an act of perseverance” (p. 36) in that the reader has to attend to the words, plot and context over time. Too often, we have a dueling consciousness – awareness of the time we are in while thinking about the time we are planning to be in. We have become so accustomed to the time pressures of school – timed tests, unit plans etc. - that we accept is as part of life along with the underlying ideologies that faster is better and the Bell Curve of ability. However, “being slow means that you control the rhythms of your own life” (p. 24 quoted from Carlo Petrini of the International Slow Food Movement) and it allows readers to get aesthetic appreciation and personal pleasure and connections from their reading, rather than a process of retrieval of information. Newkirk than re-animates six time-honored practices of slow reading.

Performance- Oral storytelling has been the foundational method of teaching and learning throughout the world and ages. Even with the advent of writing and the printing press, texts were still often read aloud and reading was a truly social event with essays, poetry, and readings being a highlight of any party. Silent reading is a relatively new phenomenon. O'Brien (1922) identified three types of readers – motor, who physically formed the words; auditory, who mentally imagined the formed words; and visual, who imagined the content of the words. The visual reader was more efficient, which began the movement to silence vocalization of reading. Efficiency was then linked to measurement (timed tests and DIBELS) and a belief the meaning is inherent in the text. However, Newkirk argues that it isn't the technical qualities of texts (like structure, thesis and transitions) that engage readers, it is the voice of the author. To slow down and focus on this voice, performance of reading needs to be re-introduced.

Memorization – Memorizing a passage or poem allows the reader to mediate on it and it becomes part of the reader. Most religious traditions take advantage of this method to help the novices think deeper about religious texts. Newkirk provides several examples of classroom lessons focusing on memorization through repetition by researching family proverbs/sayings or by encouraging students to learn and tell jokes. From my own experience, I would have to agree with Newkirk that there is value in memorizing texts that are personally meaningful. When I was in Army Basic Training, it shocked me how I was able to recall the things I memorized during childhood and this sustained and supported me through 10 mile hikes and 5 am PT runs.

Annotation– By annotating and marking up a text, the reader is taking responsibility for determining the meaning of the text. Writing is an intentional act with cues given in the title, openings, scenes, descriptions and subheadings. As readers, we need to pay attention to the cues. But, texts are not determinate – we will not get the exact intention of the writer, who may have had multiple intentions. Different readers find different patterns of significance (p. 117). Making the text your own by marking it up, allows the reader to have this dialogue with the writer. In educationese this is often called “active reading”.

Problematizing- “I am convinced that a crucial measure of intelligence – and by extension, reading – is the ability to work throughthis initial discomfort of situations that don't make sense, when our habitual patterns of understanding don't do the job” (pp. 119-120). When a reader gets to a difficult text, there are generally two choices – give up or struggle and find a solution. When a reader has learned to be helpless – ie the problem is a deficit in me, this deficit is unchangeable, and it is global – then, often the reader will give up. However, with a mind-set that intelligence is not something you have, but something you dothen difficulties are opportunities to stop, reassess, and employ strategies for making sense of the problem.

Reading like a Writer– “Writing is, after all, an act of slow reading” (p. 10). Writers tend to be slow readers, like Francine Prose and her wonderful book, ReadingLike a Writer. Writers will savor and then deconstruct a great text to find out what makes it work. Again, Newkirk gives a few classroom examples of lessons. For example, giving students a text full of voice and de-voicing it (making it ordinary) or re-writing but just changing the punctuation.

Writing about Text- “We rarely simply comprehend, a word with root meanings of “grasp” or “hold. We act on it in some way – we explain it, teach it, quote it, perform it, evaluate it, analyze it, allow it to call up associated experiences and ideas. We create alongside the writer” (p. 170). Writing in response to reading fills in the white space between the words – that empty space that is filled with what the reader brings to the text. Newkirk evokes Johnston's (Choice Words,2004) prompts that extend thinking:

Alternative thinking – What else? What other ways?
Empathizing – How do you think she/he felt?
Causation – Why?
Hypothesizing/speculating – I wonder … What if?
Comparing – It's like …

When it comes down to it, we read for pleasure and meaning. Everything else - testing, career or global competitiveness etc. - is tangential. However, when those other things become the focus, the meaning and pleasure of reading is discarded. Which results in a situation where, “If we teach a child to read, yet develop not the taste for reading, all of our teaching is for naught. We shall have produced a nation of ‘illiterate literates’–those who know how to read but do not read” (Huck, 1973, p.305).

Five Ways to Get Cheap Books For Your Classroom Library

Anonymous — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:26:57 GMT

So, you’ve thought about creating a really nice library for your classroom, but you’re short on cash? Here are five places you can get books on the cheap!

1. Craigslist

Craigslist is a great place to get good deals. I’ve bought lots of books on Craigslist – one time was from a retired teacher who was selling all of her books in great condition for 10 cents each! Of course, in most cases this entails you driving to the seller’s house, so make sure you are careful, take a friend along with you and if the place you are going looks seedy, just turn around and go home.

2. Garage sales

I cannot tell you how many times my sister (who is a school librarian) and I have been to garage or yard sales where we have found incredible deals on nearly-new books. Some of the books didn’t even look like they had ever been opened, and they were all going for 50 cents a book. Check your newspaper, neighborhood flyer, or Craigslist to locate upcoming garage sales near you. The best garage sales are the neighborhood-wide garage sales because you can hit several houses at one time.

Also remember that a lot of sellers are cool with haggling over prices – if you see a book and want to offer a lower price to buy it, or want to buy a group of books together for a discounted price, it couldn’t hurt to ask.

3. Used book stores

Sometimes you can find great deals at used book stores… but sometimes not. It’s definitely worth a shot. Also, sometimes used book stores have sales of up to 50% off their entire stock… those times especially are when I’ve found some amazing deals.

4. eBay

eBay doesn’t seem to seem to have as good prices as it once did, but if you look hard you can still find the occasional bargain. Be on the lookout for books sold in ‘lots’. Those have the best deals overall.

5. Friends, family and neighbors

You might be surprised at how many books I’ve received free simply because I let my friends know that I was in the market for hand-me-down books. When they gave me the books I even informed them that they could take them to the half-off bookstore to sell them or sell them at the neighborhood garage sale, but for them, it was far kinder and less stressful to simply give them to me for my students. Giving away books gives people the chance to clean out their house a bit – books can be bulky! – and I got free books out of the deal, so it’s a win-win situation. Also along these lines, you can have a book swap with some friends or other teachers with children or students of their own. Give them books you no longer need in your school library and get books that would fit in perfectly with your grade level. Again a win-win situation! Plus, refreshing your library gives your students a chance to read some new – to them – literature.

Do you have any other creative ideas about how to get cheap books for your class library? Leave a comment and tell us all about them!

Five Ways to Promote Reading in the Classroom

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:48:18 GMT

Reading is a crucial part of a child’s educational foundation. Once children learn to read fluidly and are able to retain concepts, a whole new wonderful world is opened up to them. From that point on, they can start to learn about anything they want! Here are five ways that you can promote reading in your school classroom.

1. Share Your Favorite Story Day

Once a month or so, ask your students to bring their favorite books to class. These can come from their own homes, from the school library, or on a Kindle, Nook or another type of eReader, depending on the grade level of your students. You can give each child a chance to stand up in front of the class and explain the things they love about their favorite book. Encourage the other students to jot down the names of the books that sound interesting to them so that they can find them and check them out from the library as well – or keep a list of each child’s favorite book on the wall of your classroom that your children can refer to when they’re off on a trip to the library. You can even add a colorful chart or graph to show which books are the most popular books in your particular classroom.

2. A comfy cozy book nook

For me, the only better thing than reading a good book is reading a good book curled up in my warm bed! While can’t very well create cozy bedrooms in our classrooms, with some effort we can create a comfortable environment for our students to curl up and read books. You can spread out little shag carpets (samples from a local carpet store could be utilized here), plush bean bags (my favorite as a child!), or huge fluffy pillows that you might be able to find at a discount store. Students can be allowed to read in the classroom library as a reward for being “fast finishers”, while working at a learning center, or for any other good reasons you might be able to come up with.

3. A chartable reward system

Children love working towards a challenging goal, with rewards for hard work and dedication. You can create a chartable reward system where if they read a certain number of books, they earn a reward of some sort. The reward can be as simple as a sticker, extra recess time, library time, or a special bookmark.

Having a chart on the wall tracking the number of books each child has read can create both a sense of competition and a sense of togetherness if your students are working toward reaching a common reading goal. Make sure, however, that you stage your reward system in such a way that rewards are available for all students – those students that are not the fastest of readers and therefore won’t be reading the most books in the class should also be encouraged to participate and earn rewards.

4. Pair story retelling time

My children love giving me the details of the various books they have read. Although it would be time-consuming to let every child get up in front of the classroom and go into great detail about the books they have read, you can pair up the students in your class and have them tell each other information about the various books they read during that particular week. Move kids around from week to week so that they have a chance to chat with a variety of other children about their favorite books.

5. Facilitate a book exchange

Ask students to bring in copies of books they have read and have an exchange program where your students can swap books and read each others’ books. This probably won’t be “for keepsies” so make sure that students write their names inside the front covers of their books before facilitating the exchange. Our students are encouraged to keep library books or books belonging to other people in their backpacks whenever they’re not being read so that they won’t accidentally leave them lying around the house when they’re needed in the classroom.

I hope that that these ideas help to promote a fun and stimulating reading environment for your students! Please feel free to leave comments below about any other ways that you have discovered that help to promote reading in your own classroom.

Limitation of eReaders

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:41:15 GMT

Welcome to the age of electronic books infestation. You would think that book publishers are shaking in their boots by their threat. In my humble opinion, I believe that they pose a significant threat to the publishing industry. However, children picture books will remain “king” in the traditional paper form. Can you imagine being in […]

Reading closely takes a long time

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:17:02 GMT

My passion — and my nemesis — is teaching reading. I think reading is the most important thing to teach. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how yet. Reading closely takes a long time, even for skilled readers. To really read something — to look at a text, annotate it, think about it, and reflect on [...]

Reading closely takes a long time

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:17:02 GMT

Getting ready for online book discussions

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:05:59 GMT

My students struggled with Beloved. It was a tough book: intense, confusing, long. I found out that my students have trouble tackling 100 pages at a time on their own. They need more support. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how best to help them. I could threaten them with pop quizzes. [...]

Getting ready for online book discussions

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:05:59 GMT

Halloween Teaching Resources

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:30:36 GMT

I’m not a great fan of “festivals” teaching in general, but this year my timetable has more young learner classes than usual and halloween is almost upon us, so here’s what I managed to find to help you cook up some devilish lessons for your learners…

ESL-Galaxy has it’s usual great selection of flashcards, crosswords, wordsearches here: http://www.esl-galaxy.com/holiday.html.

Weird and wacky fun (usually involving carved pumpkins) pictures can be found here: http://www.funnyhalloweenpictures.com/ - though it should be stressed not all the pictures are classroom safe – teachers will need to select carefully beforehand!

Bogglesworld has absolutely masses of halloween related stuff here http://bogglesworldesl.com/halloween_worksheets.htm - almost too much to go through! But I think the one I’ll be using from here is the “Are you a werewolf, witch or vampire?“

LearnEnglishKids from the British Council has some great resources, including fun computer games, quizzes, short stories and a story maker http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/halloween.

Katie, posting on teflogue.com has a scary urban legends reading race that might be suitable for higher / older levels.

People who are already registered with TES will know they have a huge range of halloween related resources - people who aren’t might want to register! Remember though, that not everything is designed with EFL in mind.

Spotted yesterday on efl-resource – a link to some fantastic online young learner halloween resources: monster creation, spooky stories and halloween e-cards: say “Boo” to Ozge Karaoglu’s blog!

Finally, Sean Banville has a Breaking News English lesson plan on the news that the world population is set to hit seven billion on halloween: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1110/111025-world_population.html - which also links back to my post of the other day: Global Population – 7 billion people and you.

Have fun!

Reality has set in. The honeymoon is over.

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:02:59 GMT

It’s Week 10 in my AP English class, and reality has finally set in. The honeymoon is over. My students are tired. They’ve been working hard, most notably on their writing, which has grown markedly. But with college applications, the stress of senior year, and other APs competing for my students’ attention, I’m finding that [...]