Classroom Blogging

Blogging with students is a method of writing and reading that incorporates new, online literacies. Blogging also connects students' means of communication outside of school, with academic means of communication inside of school. Without these advancements and connections, the work inside the literacy classroom may seem or be irrelevant to students' lives and to the future of writing, reading, and communicating. This article, by Lisa Zawilinski, provides a theoretical rationale for blogging: "The Internet is this generation's defining technology for literacy...Schools need to prepare students for these new literacies by integrating them into the curriculum, and blogs are an easy way to begin." Zawilinski also emphasizes the relationship between reading comprehension and writing on the internet:

"As online readers gather information to solve a problem, they frequently analyze

information, critically evaluate, synthesize across multiple texts and communicate with

others using instant messag- ing, e-mail, blogs, wikis, or other communication vehicles.

These essential new literacies of online reading com- prehension emphasize higher order

thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation and can be practiced through

blogging."

While subbing for the library teacher, 8th grade students and I read "Blogs vs. Term Papers," by Matt Richtel in the NYTimes. Richtel reviews points for and against both forms of writing, showing how blogging encourages thoughtful, creative writers to enter into a "public, interactive discourse." He writes:

"Why not replace a staid writing exercise with a medium that gives the writer the immediacy of an

audience, a feeling of relevancy, instant feedback from classmates or readers, and a practical

connection to contemporary communications? Pointedly, why punish with a paper when a blog is,

relatively, fun?"

On the other hand, the rigor, critical thought, and argumentation of the substantive term paper is still preferred by some.

It's an important debate for 21st century students and teachers. The 8th graders with whom I read this article by and large preferred blogging to paper-writing. They do some of each in their English Language Arts classroom. Among their arguments in favor of blogging they included, "My hand hurts when I write," "I like how other people comment on my writing," and "Papers are stupid." In more or less words, I think they're saying that typing on computers is the current mechanism for writing and that's not changing; that feedback and an immediate audience are important to them; and that blogging feels more relevant and authentic than term papers. I'm inclined to agree...but every time I write a term paper, I am amazed at how much I learn from the process. It is arduous and sometimes painful, but when I reflect on the process, I realize how much it forced me to think in ways I had not yet thought. Paper-writing forces me to make an argument that can be substantiated, a practice I don't think the 8th grade students have mastered or experienced yet.

I guess I'll promote both forms of writing. Maybe I'll even combine them in some cases. There is no reason why students can't post on a blog an entire paper with sources and all. But I see benefits to both, and especially for students who are college-bound, I think it remains essential that they learn to write shorter, reflective responses on blogs as well as longer, more substantiated, argumentative papers. And I think both of these forms of writing allow for the development of higher-order thinking skills.

Common Core State Standards & Pre-reading Strategies

In the following video, David Coleman (writer of the Common Core State Standards), encourages teachers to do away with pre-reading strategies: "We lavish so much attention on these strategies in the place of reading. I would urge us to instead read." Because we live in a state that is currently transitioning to the CCSS and because our class utilizes pre-reading strategies, I think this debate is relevant, interesting, and important. Here is the timeline for CT, indicating that we will have fully-adopted the CCSS by the 2013-2014 school year.

For more information on why David Coleman's claims about pre-reading strategies are controversial and potentially problematic, see this debate. [The video is a little long. I would encourage you to watch minutes 3:27-6:00.]

As a teacher-in-training, new to the theories and practices of reading strategies, I cannot yet say where I stand on this issue. My inclination, however, is to say that it depends. Arguing for or against reading strategies depends on who your students are, what texts you are reading, and what your goal is. For example, an AP English classroom of advanced, independent readers might feel underestimated by or bored with reading strategies. On the other hand, some reading strategies (i.e. dense questions, RAFT) are fruitful for students at many levels. Even our classroom of graduate students had a vibrant discussion in response to a RAFT prompt on The Hunger Games. Other strategies (i.e. story mapping) may be more appropriate for a classroom of dependent, struggling readers. To address Coleman's concern that time is wasted, particularly during pre-reading strategies, I must inquire who his students are. Many of the students I've worked with in the past months will not or cannot dive straight into a text, as Coleman urges. When faced with the risk of losing students' attention to a text altogether, I'd be willing to spend the time engaging them prior, during, and after reading.

Teachers must also make thoughtful decisions about how to teach strategies and skills that make sense with the text(s) our classes are reading. If plot isn't central to the literature we're reading, story frames would be an ineffective choice. If the characters lack complexity or richness, character maps would be unnecessary. No matter how independent our students are, if the text's language is particularly difficult or unfamiliar, some pre-reading strategies that activate prior knowledge can help students overcome some of these challenges. With other texts, the words themselves may seize students' attention and interest. In this case, I agree with Coleman: "I would urge us to instead read."

Lastly, teachers must discern and articulate their goals and objectives behind the strategies. These are inextricably linked to students' backgrounds. If students have yet to master an important skill, then a reading strategy may be a method to assist students in this process. For example, if the goal is to help students visualize as they read, graphic organizers can be an invaluable tool for students at many reading levels.

There is not one answer to teaching ELA. There is not one method that will cause students to engage in meaningful reading and meaningful learning. Instead, teachers must carefully observe and assess their students, texts, and goals in order to identify creative and effective instructional strategies. In certain times and places, for certain students and purposes, Coleman's advice is shrewd. In other times and places, for other students and purposes, reading strategies are effective tools to deepen comprehension.

Happy Digital Learning Day

I’m encouraged by the National Writer’s Project Digital Learning Day blogs, because they reveal teachers who care deeply about connecting with their 21^st century students. The few blogs I read were from teachers who go to great lengths to relate to their students as they are and to adapt the daily classroom activities to the skills and interests that students already have. This teacher lets students use multiple forms of media—computers, cell phones, e-readers—to achieve classroom objectives, instead of blindly criticizing students’ desire to use technology. Another teacher asked students to choose one of the essential questions from a three-month unit and respond to it in written and artistic forms. Students combined technological and tangible methods to create posters of themselves “interacting” with the essential question. The content of this project engaged students’ search for identity, while the method of achieving it engaged students’ technologically-advanced capabilities. Lastly, a third teacher calls for immediate change within the educational system. She exposes some of the downfalls of the current system—namely, that many schools consider students’ use of technology (i.e. cell phones) a shortcoming instead of an asset. She encourages us—teachers and districts—to accept the “chance to show our students how much we do respect and admire their skills by stepping out of our comfort zones to learn from them” (Bence).

These are the teachers from whom I want to learn. These are the positive perspectives that view students as human beings, with skills, assets, cultural and technological capital that they bring with them into the classroom.

Works Cited

Bence, Janelle. "Digital Learning Day: A Call to Action." National Writing Project. 1 February 2012. Web. 3 February 2012.

Inference Ideas from Colleagues

Many of my colleagues have come up with wonderful ideas to engage students in the act of inferencing in the classroom. Here are just a few of them:

• After studying inferences (or other grammar or reading strategies), students could write and record song lyrics to explain or use the strategy. Thank you, Jen, for this example of lyric-writing in our content area.

• Movie trailers. Thank you, Lindsey:

"A good introductory activity could be showing students movie trailers and having them describe what they think the movie will be about. By using a visual representation it is much less intimidating than a text but it still gets the point across. The teacher can first model what they want the students to do by showing a trailer and then scripting her thoughts, her inferences, about the movie. Then they can try it on their own. Students will infer who will be the main characters, the setting, the plot, etc. All of these things can be derived from a novel or portion of text as well."

• Drawing pictures of books or articles and having students infer the time, place, and characters. Thank you, Lindsay.

• Tweets. Thank you, Denise, for your ideas:

"So, how do we as teachers help students understand what an inference is and how important this strategy is for them? We tell them that they are already masters at it! Kids infer everyday while reading texts and tweets.

For example take this tweet Lil’ Wayne sent out to his followers the other day:

So amped about my new klothing line “TRUKFIT”!!!!! Kant wait to get to Denver and shred ice maaaannnnn!!! I am a very happy kamper.thkGOD

Turning a blind eye to the really bad spelling errors, I would show this to students and ask them what this tweet means. Most likely they will say, “shred ice means snowboarding!” and I would say, “Ahhh, you're making an inference!” Kids infer meanings every single day through their texts and tweets, so making inferences when reading should come natural to them. We infer that Lil’ Wayne is excited about his clothing line, he is going snowboarding in Denver, he is a very happy person and he believes in God."

Transactional Reading: Making Inferences

For students who struggle to read, textual inferences may present a real challenge. I’d like to begin teaching students to draw inferences visually, starting with a game of charades. Students will watch their classmates act out a word or concept and try to decipher the answer. After the correct word or concept is guessed, I will ask students to list many reasons why they came to that conclusion. I explain that their ability to connect what they saw their classmate act out with their thoughts in order to “create an educated guess” is an inference, made visually.

The second "hook" activity I would use to draw students into a lesson on inferences is asking students to cut one piece or image out of a magazine photograph or advertisement. Students will have to guess what piece of the picture is missing. After inferring the correct answer, students will discuss the different clues that helped them to discern the missing image.

After engaging them visually, I would transition into making textual inferences. One genre of texts that requires making inferences is song lyrics, a genre my students are especially enamored by. Whenever students in my school get the chance, they “secretly” and excitedly draw an earbud out of their collared uniform shirt. You can see their bodies relax and their thoughts travel to a distant place. While music often functions as a way for students to “check out,” I’d like to use their favorite songs as an entry point into making inferences. I will ask each student to bring in the lyrics for one song. We will practice making inferences with the lyrics together by discussing things we already know about the text. Then, we’ll circle pronouns, places, and events to imagine who, where, and what the song might be about. After working together as a class, students would transition into small-group work, using copies of other song lyrics to make connections between the text, the world, and themselves.

Finally, when students begin to feel comfortable with the concept and practice of making inferences, I would play this well-known, hilarious clip of two characters who simply cannot infer what the other is saying: Abbott and Costello.

"Explicit Instruction in Comprehension"

"How will you teach an 8th grader who struggles to read?" On the first day of my internship, my principal began our meeting with this question. I stumbled through a response, citing a short litany of possible activities or lessons that could pique students' interest and develop their skills. In my head, however, I was thinking, "How will I teach an 8th grader who struggles to read?!"

In Kylene Beers' chapter, "Explicit Instruction in Comprehension," she offers a gracious, yet challenging response to new teachers like me. She validates my bewilderment by citing Edmund Huey's description of reading as "'the most intricate workings of the human mind...the tangled story of the most remarkable specific performance that civilization has learned in all its history'" (Beers, 2003, p. 59). And she offers clear, effective methods of teaching strategies for reading comprehension. Almost all of these strategies are new to me--since teaching how to read is new to me--and I am grateful to grow my tool kit of techniques and strategies. Beers' chapter helped me to reflect on some of my experiences with struggling readers, imagining how I could be of more service to them byimplementing strategies for comprehension.

The most useful information to me is her step-by-step explanation of teaching comprehension strategies explicitly. I'll briefly summarize: 1) Planning which strategy and when you'll teach it makes for a more meaningful lesson. 2) Clearly introduce the strategy you will model to your students. Explain that you will stop periodically to implement the strategy as you read. 3) Model the strategy: "This is the time when your thinking (which is normally invisible) becomes visible for them" (Beers, 2003, p. 43). 4) Give readers many opportunities to practice these strategies, with, and then without, your guidance. 5) Repeat when needed and with new texts or genres.

While Beers' approach may seem formulaic, I appreciate the way that it clearly articulates the process of scaffolding and Vygotzsky's Zone of Proximal Development. Beers provides an example of the kind of structure and support struggling readers need in order to gain independence. She gives the new teacher a tactile technique for teaching strategies--one that is quickly and successfully adopted by the student teacher she cites. And she gives the seasoned teacher a way to reflect on his or her instruction, by modeling her own reflection after years of experience. In this way, her approach functions as a scaffold for me, and my use of her approach will function as a scaffold for students.

Reference

Beers, K. (2003). When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

creating a culture of reading in the classroom

Upon asking students what kind of environment would make them enjoy reading, they replied: "Give me money and then I'll read," "Candy might work," "I hate these chairs," "Having good book choices, like Our America." One student summed up the challenges of creating a culture of reading in the classroom, saying, "Bad books. Bad teachers. Not our fault." He has a point: providing books that cater to students' interests, reading level, and lives is crucial for building a collective sense of positivity around reading; as teachers we must always challenge ourselves to engage students through books that address themes, issues, challenges, and joys of an authentic human (adolescent) experience; and "not our fault" reveals students who lack a sense of ownership, responsibility, and eagerness about their reading. Based on my students' responses, I hope to create a culture of reading in my future classroom by (1) improving access to a greater variety and quantity of good books; (2) improving the instructional quality of discussions and authentic projects in response to reading; and (3) heightening students' sense of involvement, choice, and ownership of their reading.

1. Make a great variety and quantity of good books accessible:

Teachers and schools should utilize programs like New Haven Reads, which distributes used

and new books to children and schools. Teachers should develop a diverse classroom library, picking out specific books for specific students' interests, thoughts, and experiences. In a humorous and quirky, yet heartwarming excerpt from David Brooks' Social Animal, he describes an English teacher's role of pairing books with students: "She decided it was her role in life to look deep into her students' souls, diagnose their core longing, and then match that person with the piece of middlebrow literature that would uniquely change his life...She saw books as a way to escape isolation and feel communion with Those Who Feel. 'This book saved my life,' she would tell her students, one by one, in hushed whispers after class."

2. Implement quality discussions and authentic projects in response to readings:

Perhaps students will adopt a culture of reading if discussions and projects have some

impact or something at stake for their lives. One idea might be to ask students to

brainstorm a list of problems or issues in their school or community. Students could read a

variety of literature--fiction and non-fiction--on these topics and complete a cross-content project to contribute to or solve one of these issues. A task that has a sense of eagerness and authenticity could show students the importance of reading for real problem solving.

3. Heightening students' sense of involvement, choice, and ownership of their reading:

In my conversations with students, I was struck by the comment about hating these chairs

for reading. I asked students if they would enjoy reading more around tables covered with

tablecloths, with baked goods for all. They agreed that this would create a more welcoming

and comfortable reading atmosphere. I'd like to see students creating this environment

themselves by arranging desks and chairs in a particular way, writing grants for comfortable

chairs (as the ELA teacher at my school did this year), signing up to share snacks, and setting

up groups to read and discuss their choice of books. Their involvement in the reading setup

could encourage them to take ownership over the culture of reading in the classroom.

Students being liable for the environment and the pages and books read in their groups

would hopefully heighten their level of responsibility in the process, addressing the "not my fault," disconnected attitude often found in students.

On hearing and listening

Kylene Beers’ (2003) careful observations of students who struggle to read began by differentiating between hearing her students’ challenges and listening to the myriad questions implicit in phrases such as, “I don’t get it” (p. 8). She began to realize that students’ process revealed more to her than their final result. This process, towards independent reading, was far more complex than sounding out words and comprehending meaning. Rather, reading independently involves students’ minds, emotions, and commitment. And it takes a teacher who is devoted to listening to students’ cognitive, emotional, social, and textual confidence levels.

Subbing in Read 180 classes, I’ve observed small pieces of this process. I’ve heard Jamie* try to read a few sentences aloud to me, only to slam the book shut in frustration. He primarily struggled with what Beers calls “cognitive confidence,” insecure about how to say words and how to make meaning from these words (Beers, 2003, p. 18). While Jamie is highly engaged when read aloud to—potential for strong “social an d emotional confidence”—he shuts down when he attempts to comprehend words and sentences (Beers, 2003, p. 18). In the same classroom, Stefani* struggles primarily with “text confidence;” she needs the “stamina to find a text or complete a text” (Beers, 2003, p. 17). Texts Stefani has read before were enjoyable, but she hasn’t been given the tools to find a genre she’s interested in or to stick with a book that causes her to struggle initially.

Cognitive, social-emotional, and text confidence are deeply interconnected. When one is strengthened, all aspects of independent reading benefit. I appreciate Beers’ attention to the hopes and challenges of teaching struggling readers. She writes: “…making mistakes and growing from them…the most important thing I do as a teacher” (Beers, 2003, p. 22).

*Names changed for anonymity.