Book Talks (2005 Archive)

Originally Written as a Speech for 2005 NHCTE Presentation

Last year I taught four lower-level freshman English classes and a study skills class. This year I work with small groups using reading strategies that range from phonemic awareness to advanced book discussions. One thing that has driven me as an educator, is that moment when you can really reach out to a student and see that “wow, I get it” face. My attraction has traditionally been to students who often deem themselves non-readers or poor readers, and helping them to gain necessary tools for learning.

My research is most strongly based on the connections I have made with students using varied texts that have brought them to that moment of lucidity where they “get it,” where they understand what they have read and can actually enjoy rather than fear reading. I chose to first research how to get students to just, read, and as I developed as a reading specialist, brought my knowledge of young adult literature to the mix to get students interested in attempting a book. From there, I am developing assessment methods to help see what is happening in a student’s head while they read so that I can use that information to make reading real and ultimately make the process more accessible to these students.

I. Introduction:

Books have always been my best friends. Growing up, I would sneak into my own world by tagging it along in my backpack, up the branches of the red-maple tree in my parents’ front yard. A tri-section of branches provided the perfect seat, while a stub-broken branch provided the coat-rack for my book-bag, allowing me to open it’s mouth and reach in for the contents of my childhood.

I out-read my parents by the time I reached middle school. My mother was, at the time, only functionally literate, having completed a middle-school education. My father moved here from Brazil at age fifteen and seemed not to realize that any book other than the Holy Bible existed. In spite of this, my parents always encouraged me to read, learning for themselves through the process, and were willing to overlook late-nights with Steven King to help me develop as a reader. I became an avid reader, and a pretty successful student. Somehow, I was one of those lucky people who got hooked on reading and have never let go of the lure.

It hit me while I was teaching as a learning specialist at a private school in CT that there were people who didn’t actually like reading. I’m not altogether naïve; I had several friends who had too much personal life to be bothered with reading a book for pleasure. I also knew a slew who were pleased to do only what homework would land them a passing grade and no more, but to dislike reading altogether? I guess I was naïve. At that point in my career, my focus was on teaching writing and writing strategies. The reading aspect came in more through tutoring and discussions based loosely around cultural literacy.

I made suggestions and handed out books to students. I got them so excited to find the romance behind Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818) and the mystery behind Kafka’s The Trial (1937). They could interact using sophisticated conversation, and naturally, I assumed they would respond positively with the “pleasure-reads” I afforded them.  No book I handed out at that school was returned nor discussed. It wasn’t until down the road that I realized how challenging the concepts and language in those books was for un-guided, struggling readers.

II. Baseline Research:

At this point, I began researching reading on a deeper level. My assumption that students would respond better to reading material of choice was taken to the next level as I composed an active research project with a study-skills class that ranged from freshman to seniors. I guided my research using state standards for reading comprehension through test results of our school’s IOWA and NHEIAP scores, as revealed to the faculty in an early-intervention meeting. The scores revealed a decline in reading comprehension. In response to this decline, I chose to actively pursue my idea that allowing students to choose their own literature would cause a student to read a book. My desired result was that an “at risk” population of students, who do not traditionally read, would read. The initial study was conducted over a one-month period to a classroom of seventeen students. Students were given free-range to choose their book, divide the reading using a calendar of one and a half months, and propose and develop two projects of their choice surrounding the reading (for example a poster and a test, or journals, etc.) Students were given both class time and assigned reading to complete it. The results included 12 of 17 students successfully reading a book in its entirety. Overall, the study revealed that students are more likely to read a book of their choosing than one chosen for them by their teacher, but that the reading must be monitored for more accurate assessment.

On a larger scale, the, “No Child Left Behind Act,” or NCLB, seeks to improve literacy by putting reading first, proclaiming that by third grade, children will be able to read using early child reading initiatives. Now, three years into the NCLB act, there is still concern regarding this trend of how America’s children are reading.  A current article published by the United States Department of Education states that, “Our students are not reading nearly well enough. As mentioned earlier, results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress on reading showed that only 32 percent of the nation's fourth-graders performed at or above the proficient achievement level, thus demonstrating solid academic performance. And, while scores for the highest-performing students have improved over time, those of America's lowest-performing students have declined” (National Assessment of Educational Progress 2001). Basically, the article explains that only thirty-two percent of the nation’s children are where they should be based on state reading assessments. Currently, our nation is facing a decline in reading comprehension that must be addressed nationwide.

Though many of these low-scoring students are coded and supported with an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP, it is not the case among all poor achievers. Though testing is just one measure of knowledge assessment, it is a clear indicator that something is not working well in the acquisition of reading skills.

Currently, The high school I work at is stressing reading throughout the curriculum. Some current initiatives include a Tovani-trained literacy team (I’ll discuss her methodology a bit later), as well as utilizing reading specialists for those students who are scoring below the 30th percentile nationally, who do not already have access to an Individualized Education Plan, or IEP. The hope through such initiatives is to increase reading comprehension throughout the disciplines, and to educate teachers to use reading strategies within the classroom to better facilitate the growing at-risk population of poor readers.

It is important that students know not only how to read literature, but to read and understand textbooks, reference materials, laboratory reports, articles, and other media so that they can learn to fully comprehend what they read now, and as they become more independent. This is important not only within their high school and possible college education, but is also applicable beyond structured educational settings. Although my current research is based on more literary-based reading, it is important to state that young adult literature is not enough, but instead a board from which students can begin their endeavor with reading. Students will be confronted with various media throughout their lives and are being taught the strategies and introduced to various ways to comprehend such media with the support of a structured educational system.

Cris Tovani, professional educator and author of I Read it but I don’t Get It (2000), uses a wonderful term called, “fake reading,” that addresses techniques that students use to get around reading, while still completing necessary work. Tovani, a high school reading specialist and English teacher, explains in an interview that she has also, “discovered that too many adolescent readers know how to fake read. They have become so good at playing the ‘game of school’ they have figured out how to get the grade without ‘getting the comprehension.’” Tovani goes on to explain her own techniques of “fake reading,” explaining that one can get by on decoding, regurgitating teacher and student comments, coining conversation as though they’re one’s own thoughts, and by using mild plagiarism techniques. By “fake reading,” students do not construct meaning for themselves, but instead rely on others for comprehension… a tool that is essential to becoming a life-long reader.

III. Action Research Study I: Choosing to Read

My initial study, conducted with one study skills class in the fall of 2004, consisted of admitted non-readers, fake-readers, and poor readers. I decided to conduct a study based on getting students to choose to read. In a classroom of seventeen students, only two of whom claimed to read rather than get around reading, I decided to offer free-range on a reading assignment of their own choosing and assessment that they would devise independently. My hope was that given the chance to choose their own readings, students would be more engaged with the printed text and therefore internalize more of the reading material. This would provide a baseline for acceptable reading curriculum.

When I asked my study skills class why students might not read an assigned text, they responded by telling me that assigned reading was, “boring,” “pointless,” “stupid,” or “a waste of time.” When asked why, they drew a blank. When I asked how many of them actually read assigned reading, only two of seventeen responded in the affirmative. The rest of the class claimed that they could get the information from the teacher, combined with knowing enough from reading the back of the book, first and last couple of pages, chapter titles, and do some passive skimming to get by. By the end of the class discussion, I was completely convinced that a personal reading choice was a direction worth trying, in order to convince this class that reading can be a positive experience.

The project began as a free choice of reading, student choice assessment, and minor interactions on my part. Immediately, I learned that the project was absolutely too loose in its assessment form. Although students seemed to have a positive reading experience, there was no way for me to actively monitor their comprehension, or active participation in the project. At the end of the project, students were prompted to reflect on the reading experience, projects, grading, behavior, and the overall project. Student journals informed me that the reading experience was positive for most students. All students who read praised the reading experience as fun or interesting, one student going as far to say that it was great because he never reads, and reading in class gave him the opportunity to do so.

Although most enjoyed their reading experience, some issues I came across include the following. One student read the entire book in one night, another student chose a book that was too challenging for him and could not complete his goals, one student chose to read a book that she had read every year since the fifth grade, and one student was pressured into reading a book in which he later revealed through his journal that he had no interest in (the narcotics book… peer pressure and all).

This project proved a good baseline for further research. In future endeavors with the study, I would have to clarify my expectations. With this baseline, I should have made it clear that students do not necessarily have to choose to read the book from cover to cover, but may instead choose specific chapters applicable to their interest. This is especially important for those students who chose non-fiction. For example, the student who read a book on running seemed bombarded with information that did not apply directly to her. One student who met with success on a similar project, chose not to read a book cover to cover. He created a work-out exercise plan and chose to read specific areas of interest, re-reading the core chapter to begin and end the reading experience. I hope to use this student’s work as an example when presenting the layout of goal setting for reading in future endeavors. The project segment of the study proved the least structured, and hence, seemed to provide inadequate results. Students were given a full week of in-class time to work on their projects. I provided them necessary materials for art-related projects, and walked through the room to help students with any problems they were having with the acquisition of their projects. Only half of the class used the allotted time to work on their projects (ironically, only three of the students not actively pursuing their projects handed anything in for the final presentation). Three students preferred working on their projects at home, and chose to go to math lab or the library to complete unfinished homework for other classes. The remainder of the class talked with one and other. This was a clear indication that for the following project I must provide students with a clear rubric for what a project must consist of, given the genre of the project.


The third and most challenging aspect of the initial study was the assessment portion… it was pretty much in absentia. Surprisingly, student journals revealed that this excessive freedom was not desirable, and that they all craved more structure… the irony of it! One of the greatest variables in this study was student honesty. By preparing a goal breakdown that included percentages, I was allowed to grade students based on the percentages they had filled out. This clearly assumed that all students were honest and could easily be the largest flaw in need of remedy for the entire study. Although I would like to believe that all students who gave themselves an A fully deserved that A, I know that it was not the given for all situations. Those students who received 100% read the entire portion of the book they previously committed to, completed two projects, and made up in presentation what they lacked visually. Those who received grades in the 90% range, read the book, completed both projects, but did not necessarily put full work into creating an accurate portrayal of their book for the presentation. Those with lower grades either did not complete their goals, and/or had incomplete projects.

To gain a deeper understanding of the student’s response to the project, they were asked to write five paragraphs on the experience. From these remarks, I learned that most enjoyed the reading aspect of the project, one was angry that he never changed his book after realizing he was not interested in the subject, one did not do the project, but thought it was an ok idea, and two did not write a journal reflection. Students saw the projects as a good idea, but were unclear as to what they were supposed to do specifically.

The vote on class behavior was an even split. Half of the class thought that the behavior was great. They enjoyed the relaxed environment and felt more comfortable creating in a talkative atmosphere. The other half responded with disgust at the lack of respect students showed toward both the teacher and fellow students. Those students also commented on how the behavior worked against the overall productivity. Results for the grading were much the same as those responding to the behavior. Half of the students loved the grading process, because they could get away with a good grade, in spite of doing minimal work. Other students liked that they had a say in their own project, and did not address the overall experience. Many of those who were repulsed by the behavior, thought the grading was unfair, in that they did much more work toward their projects than other students who received the same grade that they did, clearly, peer critiquing without teacher override was not the best of ideas.

The last paragraph students wrote was an overall reflection of the initial project. This was perhaps my favorite portion to read. Although some students revisited their anger toward behavior and the grading process, several reiterated what a great reading experience they had, revealing personal connections to their chosen book, as well as to the overall opportunity to read. My initial theory that students would opt to read a book in its entirety, given freedom in choosing the book, assessing their work, and completing their goals, was correct. Given the opportunity to choose their own reading, my baseline research revealed that high school students will completely read a book. This hypothesis proved statistically correct, with a mean of 88.375% accuracy. Of seventeen high school students, almost all completed 100% of their goals and assessments. The study was successful and informative. I was successful in reaching my ultimate goal of whether students will choose to read a book.

So what was the problem? There is no way to fit that handful in a word: behavior, assessment, commitment; basically, I was lucky I stuck to one goal for the base-line study. My voracious students attempted to eat me alive, and complained when I didn’t taste good. Although there are implications that these students may opt to read a book for the sake of reading, follow-up research proved to be its own necessity.

In a middle-class suburban high school setting with a variety of literature and other humanities classes offered, it appears that students are still choosing not to read. Carol Ann Petuch, (2004) writer for the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, faced this problem of students hating to read so frequently, that she created a study in which she implements, “high-interest young adult novels to be read as a class, in small groups, or during free reading periods.” She provides literary choices with a brief summary of the book, and provides activities that can assist with the comprehension process and interactive process of reading.

I missed this mark with my first attempt of the study. While one student read a five hundred-page fantasy novel, another chose a book worthy of any coming-of-age fifth-grader, and yet another student choice was about the legal issues evolving around narcotics. Some better reading choices included a book about weight training, a book about the Vikings, and an Idiot’s Guide to Running (2003). Those more in tune with what is considered, “young adult literature” according to more recent publications, read books such as, The Torn Skirt (2002) and Go Ask Alice (1971). When re-conducting this research with another study skills class and four freshman lower-level English classes, I took this lesson in stride. When re-creating the project, I opted for small-group discussion, used only books that I, or a colleague had read, signed up for some reading publications, did a lot more reading and curriculum development, and went to a few young adult literature workshops to get a better grasp on age-appropriate high school level reading.

IV: Action Research Study II:

Using YAL to Monitor Comprehension

I conducted my follow-up study with four lower-level Freshman English classes and one study skills class. Fortunately, there is a ton of literature out there to help me with the comprehensive portion of my research. Ian Esquivel, a high school teacher, (2002) stresses the importance of making connections to create a concrete reading experience.

Research shows that students need to connect to what they read. Although factors like learning disabilities, emotional handicaps, etc. may have an affect on this desire to read, students confronted with no coded learning difficulty are also choosing not to read. As my students admitted, students are savvy enough to know how to get answers from a teacher, and what to read in order to, “get by” with their reading. However, they lack the strategies, and worse, lack the desire, to make anything meaningful from their reading. It is as though they believe that there is such a thing as a passive reading experience, and have made a student career confirming the myth without making meaning for themselves.

Students, especially those at the high school level, should be reading but are not doing so. When they actually do read, but do not comprehend what they have read, there is a clear problem. Students must read, and they must understand what they are reading in order to actively engage and truly make meaning from text. Without having the practice, ability, or desire, students will be unable to complete simple, daily reading tasks that they are confronted with, and lose out on the opportunity to think critically about their reading. Students must learn to think critically in order to have the foundation for higher order thinking – a necessary tool for decision-making and other necessary functions of daily life.

Introducing these strategies through a chosen reading experience is the perfect opportunity to access these tools. By utilizing an independent, group, or outside reading that the student chooses, half of the difficulty is already overcome; students are more willing to read something that they choose. If students are unwilling or unable to do this at the high school level where they have a support system of teachers and other students, they will miss out on what may be for many, their final opportunity of learning. Students must read, really read, and understand that reading, so that they can succeed with future endeavors that require concrete and abstract reading comprehension skills. The first step is to initiate a desire to read. From there, teachers can teach reading-comprehension strategies giving students the advantage of true educational direction and desire.

The purpose of the initial study was to learn whether allowing students who verbally admitted to not reading assigned text, nor reading for pleasure, would read a book when given the option to choose that book. This study is a direct response to Cris Tovani’s, I Read it but I don’t Get It. In this book, Tovani looks at her population of a reading workshop and gets down to the bones of where comprehension skills are lacking, providing context to student reading through various methods of modeling, thinking aloud, questioning, etc. Her book breaks down the teaching of reading into easy to relate to/challenging to apply methods that work when done correctly. In response to Tovani’s book, my study addresses the problem of fake reading, looking at the option of giving students the choice of reading material as one way to get students to choose to fully read, rather than “fake read,” an assigned text. My hypothesis is that if students are allowed to choose their own reading material as well as create assessment of their invention, that they will have more desire to read, and truly read a book in full, driving to the ultimate goal of better comprehension that is initiated by that reading relationship. From this point, strategies to enrich comprehension may be introduced, revealing the knowledge that students can acquire when this comprehension takes place.

This is not an easy goal. Reading across the curriculum has become one initiative to better prepare students for reading experiences. Students, who may enjoy reading a book for leisurely purposes, could lack the tools necessary to understand a mathematical word problem, current events article, scientific report, or even the conventional text book. By instilling value on reading in all, rather than select areas of education, a student may learn comprehension skills that may be used across the curriculum, and therefore learn the reading skills necessary to develop higher order thinking that is so necessary once out of the high school reading support system. Allowing them to choose their reading is a great starting point for some of these students.

Before we can teach strategies to aide in reading comprehension, we must first motivate a student’s desire to read. Several books, including Mueller’s, Lifers (2001), Zimmerman and Oliver Keen’s, Mosaic of Thought (1997), Cris Tovani’s, I Read it but I don’t Get It (2000), explain that many students who once had a love for reading, often because of positive reading experiences, lost that desire along the way when met with failure. According to these authors, failure in this sense of the word accounts for slower academic success that results in being pulled out of class during free-choice activities to compensate where there is an educational lack at a young age. Psychologically, this affects the student’s learning by internalizing the idea that they are “slow” learners, discouraging students by removing free-choice learning, and creating work from an activity that was once viewed as enjoyable (Mueller 2001, Zimmerman & Oliver Keene 1997). For many students, poor reading performance at a young age, combined with the loss of the idea that reading can be fun, has become the foundation for academic failure. When met with little or no success, student outcome showed less desire to participate in the learning process.

In Lifers, Mueller references several students who have long given up on reading. She reveals several stories of crushed reading experiences. It is in response to the reality of these negative experiences that we as educators, parents, and members of a community, need to help direct the value of reading.[1] Zimmerman and Oliver Keene (1997) explain that, “learning to read depends on two critical factors: the teacher’s thorough understanding of the reading process itself, and his or her determination to understand to each child’s needs as a reader” (xiv). A teacher can be one of many individuals. The overall message is clear; students are lacking a desire to read, and we need to make reading accessible to them.

I began the follow-up study by presenting about twenty young adult literature books to my students. I took a day to give a basic lesson on pre-reading, and modeled this strategy to them. By the end of the class period, students were required to pre-read three books that they expressed interest in, and complete a handout that prompted specifics such as the title, author, what attracted them to the book, and a summary of why they were interested in it. At the end of the period, I put those choices on paper and listed the students who expressed interest. I blocked off students in groups of four and five, depending on student interest and book availability.

For my study skills class, which still consisted of a mixed group grade and level wise, I presented similarly, but allowed each student to read a separate book, monitoring their reading level by implementing a rubric created by Barbara R. Schirmer and Alison Schirmer Lockman (2001) that determines a book’s readability. This one-page handout analyses vocabulary, sentences, topic, concepts, and other means of assessment to break down whether a book is too easy, appropriately challenging, or too difficult for the given reader.

Once age and level-appropriate literature was divvied up between the five classes, students were to work with their group (or alone in the study skills class) and divide the reading into about ten or twelve chunks that would be due for class discussions on Mondays and Thursdays (in journal form for study skills students). Wednesdays were allotted for silent reading. Unfortunately, this portion proved quite difficult in that students had no idea how to divide their book into realistic chunks. To remedy this in the future, I plan to disperse a calendar that will indicate a basic math problem where they take the total number of pages, divide it by however many readings they are given, take that number, write it down, add it to itself for the second number etc. and to look about five pages before and after the page for readable breaks such as chapters, journal entries, etc. This calendar took an entire period to create. I then gave the students a day of silent reading to ensure their interest in the book they chose.

V: Research-Based Assessment

The next day, I presented to my classes what was truly an overload of assessment. By this, I mean I handed out every handout that they would need for their unit so that they had access to that in their binders when they needed it. This was a huge mistake in that the assessment required one comprehension packet per reading called a, “QUICK,” (which I will address shortly), several writing assignments with point values attached, and their final project rubric. The books that students chose suddenly developed teeth, and immediately began to gnaw into their fears of reading. Needless to say that by the end when collecting these QUICKs, many blank pages stared me back in the face.

The first group meeting went smoothly. Students were asked to react to the book for the first ten minutes in discussion, and proceed to their first-reading, “QUICK” packet. This QUICK reading summary sheet required that students ask three comprehension questions, indicating the page number they asked the question on, requested that they connect their reading to another text, to the world, and to a personal experience, give an overall summary of the reading, monitor their comprehension by indicating two areas that they stopped understanding the text and when the text came back together for them (indicating the page numbers of both areas), and finally making a prediction on what would happen next in the story. In addition to this portion of the QUICK, students had to track at least three characters from their story, two scenes, and find five quotes as they read to be later interpreted. You can find all of this on my website.

Now, can anyone repeat that list for me? It turned out to be a bit too much to expect of lower-level readers, too. Their questions were predictable, their connections were un-founded, for example: (blank stare) “Harry Potter.” Or more successfully, (blank stare) “this part of the book reminded me of Harry Potter.” Summaries were a complete sentence, if I was lucky, and all students had a perfect understanding of the reading, so no one needed to monitor their comprehension, and decided to leave that portion blank. There is nothing more predictable in life than the predictions I got about the books they were reading.

The worst part about this assessment was that I floated for book discussion and didn’t collect these QUICK packets until the end of the entire UNIT! Needless to say I was extremely accommodating and generous in my grading due to my huge oversight of student comprehension and responsibility. Although we had gone over questioning text, making connections, etc. several times throughout that and the previous semester, students had not grasped the concept when asked to do so on their own. In my next attempt, I plan to re-vamp the QUICK, and have stronger lessons in questioning and connecting, implementing more comprehension constructors and reading strategies. I will be collecting QUICK summaries each time one is expected to be completed so that students will have immediate feedback and learn where my expectations lie.

One handout that has been invaluable, has been an inner-voice sheet created by a colleague of mine, Crystal Maynard, using ideologies that I have also come across in Tovani, Harvey, Goudvis, Zimmerman, and Keene. Rather than to present a question as such, ask students to ask three, “I wonder” questions. Similarly, when making connections, adding the text, “so what” tends to ask that students defend their answer more in-depth. Instead of asking students what they stopped understanding, rephrase the section to read, “I don’t understand why…” so that they monitor their understanding for depth rather than content. Revamping this format should also lead to more developed book discussion.

Book discussions as they were, turned into a frustrated teacher doing all of the work for the students by summarizing and answering questions rather than using the independent reading as a tool for them to become the reading detectives who needed to make sense out of their text. I shamefully spoon-fed them key ideas from the text and asked them questions that I had just given them the answer to.

Perhaps my desire for them to enjoy the story was overshadowed by the fact that half of the group members did not keep up with their reading and the desire for those who did read to be given the opportunity to speak. For future group endeavors, there needs to be some sort of group leader and a specific assignment that they need to do as a group rather than to expect that they will have done the reading, completed the QUICK, and be ready to go over the areas they struggled with.

Although the QUICK is a great means for assessment for at-home reading, group activity should also be monitored in order to assess what the group accomplishes during the period on book-discussion days. This would put the ownership on group members, and allow for peer pressure to have a positive affect so that group members would hold one and other responsible for the work. One suggestion for this approach is to elect a group leader who directs the conversation, a group scribe to keep track of what students accomplish during the given period through discussion, and monitoring active participation in the group either through verbal or written ideas.

With more advanced students, an alternative to the QUICK study guides would be to ask students for a specific number of sticky notes that ask questions, monitor understanding, make inferences and connections, etc. given a set number of pages. Students could then use specific examples with referenced page numbers to drive group-discussion and group work.

In addition to QUICKS, journal summaries and responses (set up as a double entry journal) allow students to interact with their reading. By first summarizing for a minimum of five to ten sentences, followed by a reaction to the reading of similar breadth, students learn that there is a difference between summary and reaction, while offering both their understanding and interpretation to the teacher as they read along. Teachers can interact with this DEJ to monitor mis-understandings of text using student-based interpretation. These journals can be either added to the QUICK or collected separately. Again, these regular assignments need to be collected frequently and corrected quickly so that student interaction and understanding with text can be monitored, and so that those students who are struggling to get through the book can be attended to rather than left in the dust due to slow reading rate. It also helps to monitor who is doing the reading and what kind of work is being put into it. Group responses should be photocopied so that each group member has access to the sheet as a reference and reading guide.

VI: Assessment Overview

Clearly, my focus in this research has been assessment of the reading process. To review these assessments before moving on,

· The QUICK and sticky-note strategies are geared toward asking questions (I wonder), understanding where student comprehension breaks down, asking larger philosophical questions, making inferences and predictions, connecting what students have read to themselves, the world, and other text, as well as monitoring for plot and character.

· Journals are helpful reading assessment to get a student’s re-telling of the story, as well as their reaction to what they have read in order to get a more clear understanding of their interpretation.

· Group work helps students to take ownership of their ideas and build off of one and other’s knowledge to enhance the learning process.

Although reading assessment is the core of my research using independent books, I usually like to incorporate a written and creative assessment to enhance the project. Some ideas I have used regarding written assessment include:

· A letter either to or from a character

· Having students write reviews for the book (you can use online book reviews or NY Times weekend editions to provide examples),

· Character analyses

· Thematic approaches, (ex: Meaning of life/ Tuesdays with Morrie, (1997))

· Thesis/ research papers, etc.

By adding the written component, students are asked to take the book a step further and show what they can do with the knowledge they have accrued from their reading.

There are also several successful creative assessments that I have attempted, my favorite being a compilation of artistic and written work in the form of a dust-jacket. Adapted from something I came across during a Kathleen Odean seminar on Young Adult Literature, I use this project to tie together the unit using completed student work. My rubric requires that the cover be an original drawing using a student’s individualized interpretation of the book, along with the title, author, and publication information. On the inside left of the cover, students choose five quotations from the reading and interpret what those quotations signify to the book itself (this is adapted from part of the QUICK). The inside right cover is a concise letter to or from a character, and the back cover is a collection of peer reviews on the book that the group-members have written, along with a photocopy/print-out of the original dust-jacket. Students then present individually, and I request donations to advertise the book as part of the pre-reading experience. Students are more likely to take peer suggestions over teacher suggestions for reading.

· Other interesting projects may include a group newspaper where students monitor occurrences from the book and put it together to present to the class.

· Some students who enjoy music can develop a CD of songs that would be the “soundtrack” for the book. With this option, it would be important that students explain how each song connects to specific portions of the book using either excerpts or summary with a handout for the presentation.

· Many students who enjoy video production might opt to re-create a scene from the book as a group, and perhaps explain the significance of the scene during a presentation or as part of the video itself.

· Students who are interested in web-design might choose to create a web page for the book using criteria similar to the dust-jacket project.

· Art-based projects such as paintings, posters, sculptures, photographs, etc. can be extremely effective as well, however, such projects also require a strong presentation with handouts to explain the significance thereof to give context to the project as it relates to the book. (Creating the Tree Carcass from Speak).

VII: Conclusion:

As professional educators, it is our job to not only convey knowledge, but to show students how to obtain knowledge. In order to do so successfully, we must begin by cultivating and supporting a desire for reading, and by that I mean the combination of decoding and interacting with text, modeling material, using think alouds, sharing strategies, and giving students the learning tools that can steer them toward independent thinking. By doing this and slowly giving them less direct assistance combined with more independent opportunities, students can gain what is necessary to obtain knowledge on their own. Though there is no guarantee that students will remember what they learn in a class, nor that they will necessarily apply strategies they learn in a class or unit across the curriculum, it is important to share with students that there are ways to gain knowledge, and that there is a purpose to their learning. This broad claim seems obvious, but a key question remains: how do we invoke the desire to learn when a student seems so opposed and resistant to learning in spite of large efforts? My idea is to start with reading, start with something that a student might find of interest, and help that student to the best of your ability given your resources. My start is through independent books, but the overall goal is to help foster learning in each and every child. I have a lot to learn and am gladly pursuing ongoing knowledge. Thank you for sharing your time with me and giving me the opportunity to share my ideas with you. .




Works Cited

Albom, Mitch. (1997). Tuesdays With Morrie. NY: Doubleday.

Anonymous. (1971). Go Ask Alice. NY: Simon and Schuster.

Esquivel, I. (2002). Reading matters: Texts are at the center of success. Electric Language: A Journal of English, Language Arts and Media Education from The English Language Arts Network (Ontario, Canada). Retrieved November 18, 2004, from

http://www.elan.on.ca/jfolder/esquivel%20reading%20matters.htm

Godfrey, R. (2002). The Torn Skirt. NY: Harper.

Goudvis, A. and Harvey, S. (2000). Strategies that Work: Taching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding. ME: Stenhouse.

Kafka, F. (1937). The Trial. NY: Schocken.

Maynard, C. (2005). Inner Voice Sheet.

Mueller, P.N. (2001). Lifers: Learning from at-risk adolescent readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

NCA CASI e-News. (2003) Working to help you leave no child behind in reading. 1 (4) Retrieved September 23, 2004, from

http://www.ncacasi.org/enews/enewsmarch03

New Hampshire State Standards. (2004) Retrieved December 16, 2004 from

http://www.edgateteam.net/Matrixsummary/nh.htm

No Child Left Behind (2000). Retrieved December 16, 2004 from

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/no-child-left-behind.html

Odean, K. (2004). “What’s New In Young Adult Literature.” BEHR.

Oliver Keene, E. & Zimmerman, S. (1997). Mosaic of thought: Teaching comprehension in a reader’s workshop. NH: Heinemann.

Petuch, A. (2004). I hate to read! An assortment of young adult literature. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved November 18, 2004, from

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1980/1/80.01.06.x.html

Rogers, B. and Scott, S. (2003). The Idiots Guide to Running. NY: Alpha

Schirmer, B.R. & Shirmer Lockman, A. (2003). How do I find a book to read: Middle and high school students us a rubric for self-selecting material for independent reading. Teaching Exceptional Children. (36-42).

Shelly, M. (1818). Frankenstein. NY:Bantam.

Tovani, C. (2000). I Read it, but I don’t get it. ME: Stenhouse P.

… (2004). Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? ME: Stenhouse P.

US Department of Education. (2001). What's the current situation--how well are America's children reading? Retrieved November 12, 2005 from http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/reading.html




[1] It is not ironic that a similar study conducted over a 20 year period on literary reading by the NEA reports a steady decline in literary reading for adults, ages 18 and up.

Grammar Godesses

Ehrenworth, Mary and Vicki Vinton. The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language. NH: Heineman, 2005.

I have always loved teaching writing. The catch, though, is that I loathed teaching grammar. I know -shameful admittance for an English Teacher/ Reading Specialist –but it was true. Teaching grammar lessons to high-school students became a methodological chore that I think I dreaded more than my students. I’d have constant flashbacks to diagramming sentences that turned into doodles of my eighth grade teacher’s facial expressions and passion for a subject that I knew at twelve, would never be a source of enjoyment for me. For a long time, I avoided it like the plague or danced around its structurally abhorrent box of entrapment and rules.

I finally swallowed my fear and challenged myself at the 2005 NCTE conference in Pittsburgh, PA conference and sat in for an hour of what I assumed would be a masochistic means of proving to myself that I could beat this nasty fear. The program was called something ridiculous like, “The Love of Grammar.” Okay Mesdames Ehrenworth and Vinton –prove it. I sat back, sarcastically clutching my notebook and pen, doubting there was anything worthwhile to diagram… then Mary started to do something strange. She started to talk about stealing a shirt when she was a kid.

I listened as she began reading her own experiences from the overhead. Wait a minute –was this a grammar lesson or a writing class? Assuming I hit the wrong venue, I loosened the grip of my pen, listened to this writing presentation, and was mesmerized as I slowly realized that it was, in fact, a grammar lesson. Using her own writing, Mary showed teachers how to teach grammar through student writing, using her work to pick apart so as to not put students on the spot… teaching paragraphing and punctuation as choice and not a rule. Wait a minute. Until then, I thought of writing as choice and grammar as rules. I loved writing and hated grammar. Throughout the hour, the two women blurred the polar divide through ideas of apprenticeship and ownership, freedom and choice. Needless to say, I was actually turned on to grammar.

The next day, I bought their book and talked with the dynamic duo, running through some minor ideas and my own trepidation. They gave me some suggestions and told me about other places I might look to refresh my outlook on teaching grammar. I read the book, tweaked and taught some lessons, and actually began to revamp my lessons to incorporate grammar rather than to compartmentalize it as a foreign entity. Their ideas on writing apprenticeship has helped me to teach parts of speech, their reminder of the importance of modeling teacher writing samples has inspired me to become more vulnerable with my own writing, and their concept of taking a different approach has inspired my teaching beyond the grammatical gridlines. They have truly taught me to embrace grammar as a friend, and gotten me past an age-old phobia.

(Originally published in NHCTE in April, 2007)

Just a Minute ...

Linda Rief read to me. It was pretty amazing. I’d read most of the books she read from, but I hadn’t had them read to me. It was like hearing from an old friend. Small selections interjected with a small activity and a supplemental sample of student writing made for one of the most comfortable venues I had been to. I didn’t remember how good it felt –to have someone read to me. It was amazing how much emotion and connection can be conjured in a short time.

Shortly after this conference, I began reading a beautiful book I had previously come across – Better than Life, by Daniel Pennae and David Hommel. The message I got from it was simple: Read Out Loud. Paired with Linda’s conference, the book reminded me of how wonderful it was to be read to. It helped me realize that there is value in reading to students for the purpose of pleasure alone.

But there are so many other reasons to read out loud. Reading text aloud while students look on in their own books helps them to improve their fluency- their ability to read using punctuation to guide their voice. Reading a piece out loud more than once helps initiate rhythms and stress key words that students may overlook when reading on their own or with a single reading. Even television commercials remind us to read to our children for fifteen minutes a day. Doing is an effective way to improve literacy –at any age!

So, I gave it a try. I thought about who was in my classes and chose a young adult literature book that appeared to suit them and just… read. I didn’t read for long; perhaps for a five-minute chapter, begun immediately after the bell rang.

It settled them in.

It quieted them down.

It set the tone for the rest of the class.

They listened.

They enjoyed.

Now my students catch me if I am in a whirlwind. They have no problem reminding me that it is time to read, time to slow down, and time to enjoy a good story. The trend works beyond my classroom. I don’t know how many times I’ve caught teachers reading a current events article that caught their interest as I pass their classroom –how many teachers insist on a poem a day. I’m glad I didn’t miss the lesson. I’m glad I’ve learned to read out loud to my students for the sake of their listening enjoyment. They deserve to know what is available to them, and that someone values them enough to read to them –even for just a few minutes each day.

Works Cited:

Pennae, Daniel and David Hommel. Better than Life. NY: Stenhouse, 1999.
Rief, Linda. 100 Quickwrites. NY: Scholastic, 2003.

Some Great Read-Alouds:
Acampora, Paul. Defining Dulcie. NY: Scholastic 2006.
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. NY: Vintage 1984.
Lupica, Mike. Heat. NY: Scholastic, 2006.
Peck, Richard. The Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts. NY: Scholastic, 2004.
Sonnenblick, Jordan. Notes from the Midnight Driver. NY: Scholastic, 2006.
Spinelli, Jerri. Stargirl. NY: Knopf, 2000.
Van Draanen, Wendelin. Flipped. NY: Knopf, 2001.

Speaking: The Third Facet of Literacy (Professional Level)

When reading aloud in my college German class, I stumbled over vowel rules my dyslexia couldn't get a handle on. I can’t begin to describe how embarrassing it is to pronounce Deutsch (Doitsch) as Dootsh, especially when it’s an uttered accident and not a stale attempt at class clown. Had I been in high school, I may have played it cool by letting it pass over as an intended joke rather than a sincere problem. What the experience did, even at the young adult level, was make me dread being called on to read aloud; the long term effect? I never quite felt that I was as good at reading German as the other students and was delayed in my oral proficiency in the language –thus initially deterring me from continuing with that language study.

Although not all reading problems stem from learning disabilities and unfamiliarity with the language, lack of practice and appropriate training can make reading aloud a challenge for many students –even as late as high school. When students pause after two words or stumble over punctuation, letting them continue to read without correction will not be enough to help them become fluent readers. The oral reading challenge of the student must be broken down and addressed to bring struggling readers to oral fluency. Without oral fluency, there is no guarantee that there is an activated voice that can both decode and interact with text when reading silently.

On the simplest level, fluency is the ability to read words in the proper order correctly. Oral fluency incorporates prosodic and paralinguistic features such as speed, accuracy, stress, and tonality. So what can we do to mediate and improve on oral reading fluency? Some tricks I’ve used through mini-lessons focus on speed, pausing, accenting, intonation, and visualizing. Although there is much more to be offered in the study of fluency, these mini-lessons immediately address the most common mistakes associated with oral fluency.

Speed:

When a reader reads too slow, s/he may need to slow down. Sound strange? When a reader both previews and reads at the same time, not much information is processed. Although decoding work is being done, reading comprehension tends to lack. It is important when looking to improve a student’s speed to allow her to preview the reading and monitor herself for decoding issues before she reads aloud. This gives the student the ability to assess the reading before “performing.” Oral reading is more fluent when the student previews the reading before reading aloud.

A five-finger assessment is perhaps the easiest way to assess whether the problem is with the “performance” of reading aloud or if it is a textual problem. The general rule of thumb for readability is that if a student does not recognize (either by decoding or vocabulary) five or more words in five fingers, she is most likely reading below the level presented by the text. This assessment can be done quickly and is effective when deciding on what texts to use or how to break them down.

Another speed-enhancer is tracking the number of words a student reads per minute. There are several resources available to track and practice oral fluency through reading records, usually designed around paired or small group readings. Once the reader is appropriately paired with text, a partner times one minute, subtracts any miscues (added, deleted, mis-read words) and measures the student’s total correct words per minute. The readers switch positions, re-read a previous endeavor, and exchange suggestions related to the reading. If you want to avoid the purchase of fluency drills, you can check the student’s reading level by the state-wide assessments, and check the readability of your text using the Flesch/Kincaid readability scale. To do this, type in a few sentences and using the tools/grammar and spelling/ options/ readability. For example, this article is written at a 9.9 grade reading level.

Pausing:

When a student is staccato and/or reads straight through punctuation, she may have issues understanding where to pause appropriately.

To teach pausing, practice having students read simple, short sentences and clap once for a comma, twice for a period, and three times for a paragraph. Though students would never be expected to read with such dramatic pauses, clapping forces them to become aware that punctuation is there for a reason. It also allows students to be silly, which tends to make them more willing to cooperate as a group. The kinesthetic action of reproducing sound through beats and rests sets the tone.

To further this mini-lesson into written practice, one could provide exercises in sentence-combining and dissection. This will reify the student’s strength as a writer by helping perform the conventions associated with sentence structure.

Accenting:

Intonation takes the prosatic feature of accenting to a different level. A great resource can be found on page 322 of The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists. By writing a short, simple sentence with basic punctuation and stressing a different word, you can show students how placing accent on a word in a sentence can change the meaning entirely; for example: “I asked you to turn on the computer,” when stressed in different ways, can mean:

I asked you to turn on the computer. Indicating who you asked

Vs.

I asked you to turn on the computer. Indicating s/he turned on the wrong machine

Vs.

I asked you to turn on the computer. Indicating s/he turned off the computer

When applied to a writing exercise, students learn to own tonality. By placing accent on different words using conventions such as italics, students become aware of how writers write with power and purpose. They learn that the entire meaning of the sentence has changed based on the shift in convention through one word.

Intonation:

Often, students have a monotonous voice when reading highly effective pieces. They pass by the excitement of an exclamation mark, drone out a question without lifting their voice, and pay no attention to the facial expressions that almost naturally occur when a good reader reads out loud. Although some students will never speak with intonation, some strategies can be taught.

In addition to pausing for a comma, period, hyphen, etc. students do not necessarily understand that an exclamation point makes them read faster; sometimes even louder. They need to know that a question mark might mean more than “I want to know the answer to something.” A question mark might be insecurity in a voice, or disbelief depending on the oral expression of the reader.

These are tools that need to be taught. For a proficient reader, intonation happens naturally. For one learning to use voice as text activation, the skill of intonation is a must. Perhaps the most effective way to teach punctuation is to go to the source of the greatest readers that students recognize and respect: Actors.

The cone-heads[1] might be a starting point for a demonstration of monotonous speaking. From there, a question mark could be taught as inquiry, but also as insecurity or character development. There is hardly a Meg Ryan movie where the female character speaks in anything other than question-marks. Her characters, for example, often become empowered by the end of the film and tend to change the tonality of voice as the plot is driven forward. The question becomes a statement, and the character has changed.

Saturday Night Live episodes provide a wealth of exclamation points. Although scant in libraries and movie rental locations, these skits come in handy given the short length of a skit and the flow incorporated through humor. You Tube, although sometimes limited by firewalls, provides snippets of television shows that might make for an excellent project to demonstrate speaking patterns and the affect of punctuation. Students should be encouraged to recognize intonation –specifically how it relates to punctuation, and learn not only what it sounds like, but also how to imitate that sentence.

One way to practice the art of fluid intonation is to provide a paragraph that is overpopulated by punctuation marks in ridiculously inappropriate places. By explaining what a voice does when it comes across a piece of punctuation, and adding ungrammatical punctuation to a paragraph, a competition of who can read the furthest without messing up becomes a game-like exercise in fluency.

To conduct this activity, mark each participant with a different color pen/marker and mark where s/he stumbles. Allow the next student to begin at the beginning attempting the same. Each student continues at her own (previous) stumbling block. The first student to read all the way through the paragraph wins. This makes for an excellent small group activity, and allows the winner of each group to compete using the teacher as referee.

By teaching and practicing intonation, students not only take risks with something that may be uncomfortable, but they begin to stick voices in their heads beyond their own. Students should be encouraged as well, to vary punctuation in their writing, and be aware of the purpose behind their punctuation usage. By hearing, speaking, and writing intonation using punctuation, the sense of ownership gives voice to the monotony and accelerates written and reading proficiency.

Visualizing:

Many students have difficulty discerning when dialogue between multiple characters takes place, and are therefore unable to vary the voice when reading aloud. The visual component that I’ve found works best to aide students who are challenged by multiple characters is to begin by providing a short selection with a large amount of dialogue. Highlight several copies in various colors so that each color represents a different student. This reader’s theatre allows students to see where dialogue picks up and drops off. This exercise works best when repeated and students are allowed to reflect on what they could do better after the dry-read is completed.

To follow up, it is important that students understand how quotations are used appropriately. It is surprising how many students overlook and misinterpret because of this misunderstanding.

Conclusion:

Although there are several ways that students can learn to read aloud more effectively, we must recognize that some students don’t have the natural flow of voice in their head. If they can’t re-create their voice in their head fluently, their reading will stumble and comprehension will lack. Fluency, in its most simple flow, must be addressed. Without. It we can. Hardly expect our. Students to read any. Differently than when. They readaloud.

These activities can be incorporated into any classroom. My suggestion would be to always provide a student the opportunity to pre-read what will be read aloud in class so that the reading speed assists in comprehension rather than just decoding. I would introduce pausing immediately, so that students become metacognitive about their voice at the moment of conception, so to speak.

These lessons could also blend with a simple side-line lesson (my term for those unintended lessons that act as a ten second review) about punctuation. This triadic literacy model of reading, writing, and speaking can provide an enriched grammar lesson that works in tandem with the current model of learning grammar through writing. Some of my favorite punctuation-based grammar lessons stem from Mary Ehrenworth and Vicki Vinton’s book, The Power of Grammar. In this book, students learn to punctuate with power and intention. By teaching students to incorporate what they read into their writing and speaking, students truly become empowered literary individuals.

The time for accenting becomes key when students perform a dramatic read. Because of the need for students to become actors when reading Shakespeare, Miller, etc. the most natural place to teach intonation and character intent is when introducing a play. These would provide advanced fluency lessons that a student could practice for competitive reading, or over dramatic comedy. Performance shows mastery of a text.

We need to provide students with the tools that come naturally to good readers. By providing them with lessons in fluency, we give them the confidence to read aloud and to read well. We reiterate this by ensuring that speaking and reading are tied to writing. Unless the student is able to express his/her understanding of the practice, there is no proof of ownership. Students must express what they take in, and this must happen both verbally and through written media so that the triadic literacy model meets completion.

Resources:

Ehrenworth, Mary and Vicki Vinton. The Power of Grammar: Unconventional Approaches to the Conventions of Language. NH: Heineman, 2005.

Fry, Edward B and Jacqueline E. Kress Eds. The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists. Ed. 5. CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.

Johns, Jerry L. and Roberta L. Berglund Eds. Fluency: Strategies & Assessments. Ed 3. DE: Kendall/Hunt PC, 2002.

Amanda Klimowicz Cabeza is a Reading Specialist at Londonderry High School in Londonderry, NH. She writes regularly for NHCTE and is a state representative for ALAN (Assembly of Literature for Adolescents), an NCTE affiliate. The article was originally submitted to CEL (Conference on Educational Leadership) in March of 2009.

[1] Saturday Night Live Skit in the 1970s

Checklist for Interacting with an Article (Middle-School Level)

1. _____ Before reading, chunk the article into ten parts.

2. _____ Skim the text and write a 1-4 word summary in the margin for each chunk

3. _____ Scan the text and Circle all unknown words and vocabulary terms

4. _____ Write down one question that you do not know the answer to

5. _____ Make one of each of the following kinds of connections/write it in the margin

          a. _____ Self to text connection

          b. _____ Text to text connection

          c. _____ World to text connection

Tercets to Drive Dialogue

I sometimes have my students approach dialogue by writing a tercet for each character... For example, if age were the platform, the character would say the line as a child, young adult, and elderly person. I also have them speak. If sentence fluency is lacking, the dialogue needs to go.

Originally published as a comment on:
http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2012/03/when-arguments-are-good-thing-conflict.html

The Young Adult Journal

I have a classroom full of Young Adult Literature (YAL); literally. I have collected thousands and thousands of books most often in sets of six purchased out of pocket from Scholastic, Orca, local library quarter baskets, collected from conferences, and begged for in pre-released form from anyone who will read the emails I send with the persistence of a stalker.

 

Sometimes my books go out and come back, sometimes they filter through students, and sometimes I find them in various bookrooms. The fact is if the books are out, it means they’re being read; so I’m as happy as can be! Although I have had some semblance of success keeping track of what goes in and out of my room, I seem to miss the mark when it comes to keeping track of what information goes in and out of my head.

 

When students ask me what I read or if a book is any good, I find that my active September mind has sadly seeped into the recesses on my February carpet or and that my memory of those books has evaporated into the flying pencil holes that don my ceiling.

 

To keep track of what I have read, I started keeping a YAL reading journal. Organization-wise, it helps me keep track of what I read as well as my immediate excitement or disappointment for the book.

I document using MLA referencing on the top margin, write the date I completed the reading on the top middle, and number the book in the order that I finished reading it. To keep track, I write a three part blurb.

• The first blurb is a photograph-esque summary so that I remember precisely which baseball book (for example) is which. I keep track of this much like one keeps track of Seinfeld episodes. “The one with the Soup Nazi,” so that when I remember the detail/ thought-shot, I can immediately reference the recesses of my mind.
• The second blurb gives me the lowdown on which students I predict will respond well to the book. Sometimes I’ll include first names of students, or specific situations that may be relevant to the book. That way I can quickly look at the title of the book and the middle blurb notes to figure out which student would respond most openly.
• The last blurb provides me a brief lesson-plan suggestion box. I come up with ways to apply a part or whole of the book and which curriculum it may work most strongly with.

Sometimes just exposing students to a part of a book with a read-aloud is enough to get them asking to borrow the book before the end of class; even reading as few as a few sentences aloud to a class provides enough information to make the book relevant; at that point a student just needs the hook!

 

To supplement this journal, I have also provided a student journal to the classroom that does not leave my room. Students can follow the documentation format, and write a quick summary/reaction so that others can use those opinions to judge if they might also be interested in reading the book.

 

Overall, keeping a YAL journal handy has provided me with a reference tool that has become invaluable to my library; and even more importantly, has become a tool that I can reference time and again to help them become lifelong readers.

 

Originally published by NHCTE: http://nhcte.org/files/35797211.pdf

The Guest Speaker Next Door

What is effective teaching? Enhanced learning? What are resources? When I speak the words, I think very rigidly as though trained by ink-blots to respond: organization… field trips… technology… But what about the field trip down the hall? Why is it that I have yet to ask an art teacher work with me on visualization to help with reading comprehension? A history teacher to prepare my class for piece of historical fiction? A music teacher to help me to create a “Gatsby” party mood for a writing prompt? It baffles me as much as my need for the parking spot closest to the entrance… at the gym.

Is it really a time or a planning thing? When we see a willing resource in the form of brilliant teacher in the faculty lounge, what is holding us back? The reality is that if we can get through the “nitty gritty” of planning, the results surpass anything any one teacher could do on his or her own. I have some amazing colleagues who worked together on a graphic novel project (an art teacher, special education case manager, and English teacher).

I was astounded with the results reported not only from the teacher’s perspective, but from those of the students as well! The project took much longer than initially planned, but with some collaboration, the teachers together helped hone the skills -thus saving valuable curriculum time and loosing nothing in the end.

So be bold! Ask another teacher about working together. You’ll probably be pleased not only with the result, but with the process and relationships that develop through the experience.

Originally published May, 2009 at: http://www.nhcte.org/Article%205.htm

Last Words (Book Review)

Francois Rabelais famous last words were: “Blessed are they who die wearing a cloak,” or “Blessed are they who die in the Lord,” (both of which are ways of translating the Latin, .Beati qui in Domino moriuntur.) or possibly they were, “I am greasing my boots for the last journey,” or maybe the one our protagonist lives by –“I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”

Miles Cavalry is obsessed with last words. He reads biography for one specific reason --to learn about the person by the last words they utter. When reading a biography about Francois Rabelais, he hangs on to the idea of finding his own way. He begins his journey by following in his father’s footsteps and attending a boarding school in Alabama, a stark contrast to his loser-ish life so far spent in Florida.

At Culver Creek, Miles is introduced to a new world. His roommate, the Colonel, immediately affixes his ironic take on life by changing the lanky Miles’ name to “Pudge” and showing him around the school, including all five payphones, and the beautiful Alaska’s room.

One cannot help but to become philosophical reading this adventure of love and loss. Like other Young Adult novels, this book reminds us of the triviality of making our first mistakes and carving our lives into the folds of our own biography. Though this book, one can re-learn the language of growing up- ultimately, the language that begs to be listened and attended to.

What struck me so sardonically about this book is the attention to last words and the idea of a, ”great perhaps.” We sometimes forget that, in spite of youthful attentions, the children we work with are biography in the making. It is shocking how terminal the course of a day can be for many of our students and how much more meaningful their own story truly is than we would ever imagine.

Looking for Alaska is wonderful coming-of-age book that can truly help students connect to literature on a personal .if not slightly dangerous level. If we can guide them into their own, “great perhaps” and teach them to improve upon their own decision-making, they can learn from the mistakes made by characters -possibly instead of trying them out on their own. Though there is no guarantee that literature shall save them all, as English teachers, we know that some voices interact; and if we can help to bring that connection home, we have succeeded in a bit of our own, “great perhaps.”

Work Cited: Green, John. Looking for Alaska. NY: Dutton. 2005, 221pp.

Originally Published in NHCTE Newsletter under the name Amanda Klimowicz-Cabeza: http://www.nhcte.org/Adobe%20Newsletter%20Archives/NHCTE%20NewsletterSummer%202008.pdf