RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING

“Once I called Miami City Hall a “bribe factory,” and another time described Tallahassee as a “festival of whores.” Too subtle? Possibly.” – Carl Hiaasen

 

An interesting event occurred Last Friday, MNPS announced its new literacy initiative, Literacy Re-imagined. A more appropriate title would have been, Literacy Rebranded. Rest assured there was nothing here that constituted a re-imagining, in fact, almost everything covered was a retread of past efforts.

The timing of the event was equally suspect.

The event took place at a time that is typically referred to as the “Friday news dump”. Politicians use Friday afternoons to drop information that they don’t feel like talking about. The thinking being that on Fridays people’s minds are already focused on the weekend. Meaning pass over their head unnoticed. Also, most of the staff is out of the office, so any follow-up questions will have to wait until Monday. The hope being, that by then people will have lost interest or something of greater interest came along. Holiday weekends are even more helpful for this tactic.

I would argue that 12:30 on a Friday before Spring Break is not the ideal time to announce the beginning of a “brand new era” unless you didn’t want a whole bunch of people heralding that moment. This school year has been the hardest one in my memory. For parents, teachers, and CONTINUE READING: RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

I write every day, publishing here and in other forums like Medium, Edutopia, and other places, not to mention my two books. Yesterday, I wrote a post that might be considered a bit dismissive of writing, but please don't let that make you think that I don't value the written word. I'm a product of it, as are you, but it has its limitations, severe ones, in that one can never really say what one wants to say, only come as close as possible.

Like everyone who writes, which is most of us at one time or another, I sometimes write to convey information, persuade, entertain, or preserve something, but the primary reason I strive to put things into words is so that I can know what I think. This, of course, is the opposite of how we "teach" children to write. They are taught to start with a thesis, build their case, then end with a pre-determined conclusion. In other words, they are to think before they write, which, as the old woman quoted by E.M. Forester in his book Aspects of the Novel, "Good gracious! What rubbish! How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?"

For me, the process of writing is, in many ways, my process of thinking and that is what usually happens here on this blog. Sure, I try to go back and tidy things up a bit to make it presentable before hitting the "Publish" button, and I can't CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: In the End the Goal is Not Literacy, It's Understanding

Teacher Tom: Leaving Our Children Illiterate in Body and Spirit

Teacher Tom: Leaving Our Children Illiterate in Body and Spirit

Leaving Our Children Illiterate in Body and Spirit

I prioritize reading books. Growing up, our daughter got to know me as a father who read books in the morning and in the afternoon. My wife and daughter are book readers as well. Our homes have always had book-lined walls. I also read a lot as a young boy. I remember keeping a stack of the books I'd completed at the foot of my bed as if they were trophies. I obsessively read every Hardy Boys Mystery, then every one of the books of Oz. Sometimes I would just hold those books in my hands and meditate on the memory of the experience of reading it. I read fiction for pleasure, but among the side effects is a sense that I'm getting to know other human beings from the inside out, rather than the more distant outside in way of getting to know characters in a play or a movie. I read non-fiction to excite my thoughts, but among the side effects is a sense that I'm a part of the great conversation that humans have been having since there have been humans.

It may sound like I'm boasting, at least a little. I mean, reading books is generally held up as one of the few worthy, perhaps even noble, past times. Smart people read books, educated people read books, if only more people would read CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Leaving Our Children Illiterate in Body and Spirit

Russ on Reading: Ten Roles of the Instructional Leader in Literacy

Russ on Reading: Ten Roles of the Instructional Leader in Literacy

Ten Roles of the Instructional Leader in Literacy

I currently teach a graduate course at Rider University for prospective reading specialists. While the course focuses on the theory and research behind sound reading instruction, an underlying goal of the course is to prepare students to be literacy instruction leaders. Toward that end, here are the roles I think a successful instructional leader fills in that critical position. These insights were gained over my several decades long experience as a teacher, reading specialist, supervisor of instruction and director of curriculum.

Listener

One good way to understand what instructional needs a particular teacher or group of teachers has is to listen to them. We all come into these leadership positions with preconceived notions about what good literacy instruction looks like, but in order to lead we must first understand the needs, desires, understandings, and concerns that the teachers have. Sitting down in small groups and with individuals to talk about literacy instruction from the teacher's perspective is a place to start.

Non-Evaluative Observer

The role of leader often involves observations that end with formal evaluations. In order to understand where teachers are in their literacy CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Ten Roles of the Instructional Leader in Literacy

Russ on Reading: When Best Practice Meets Questionable Methods in Literacy Instruction

Russ on Reading: When Best Practice Meets Questionable Methods in Literacy Instruction

When Best Practice Meets Questionable Methods in Literacy Instruction

All of us try to provide best practice instruction to our students. Sometimes, though, in our enthusiasm to provide the children the instruction they need, we end up using some instructional methods that work against our goals. Here are a few things we know work in literacy instruction, some ways we can turn those good practices into unproductive ones, and then some things we can do instead.


Best Practice: Regular Reading - Kids who read a lot tend to get better at reading, so it is a good idea to get kids to read as much as possible.

Questionable Method: Reading Logs - Research has long shown us that external controls have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation. Reading logs, rigidly employed, can turn the pleasurable act of reading into a chore. Other extrinsic motivators like pizza parties and other non-reading related awards should also be avoided.

What to do instead: Trust in the power of books and focus on student engagement in those books. If we want children to read we need to have many books readily available (classroom library), to provide the opportunity to read them (independent reading), to give children some choice in what they read, and to make sure they are able to read them (just right book). We CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: When Best Practice Meets Questionable Methods in Literacy Instruction

Critical Literacy, Not Nonsense Literacy – radical eyes for equity

Critical Literacy, Not Nonsense Literacy – radical eyes for equity

Critical Literacy, Not Nonsense Literacy

At 59 with almost 40 years experience as an educator (focusing on literacy) and writer, I remain someone who struggles with spelling.

And when I come across an unfamiliar word, I ask around until I find someone who can pronounce it aloud for me; I have never really tried to “sound it out”—even though I have intuited a huge amount of letter/sound patterns in the English language.

Also, as a Southerner, my common pronunciation of many words doesn’t quite align with the so-called “proper” pronunciation of many words; I can make one-syllable words two syllables, and choke two-syllable words into one.

“Hell” is one of my better versions of the former.

More like “hey-uhl.”

None the less, I am a highly literate person with a reading and writing background that outpaces most people in sheer volume significantly. I also love language and the history of the English language.

After fumbling my way earnestly through a decade or more of teaching high school English and honing my craft as a writer, I discovered critical pedagogy and critical literacy in my 30s during my doctoral program. That “discovery” CONTINUE READING: Critical Literacy, Not Nonsense Literacy – radical eyes for equity