#9- Words, Words, Words...

Beers text Ch. 7: "Mastering the Art of Effective Vocabulary" by Janet Allen

Hinchman text, Ch. 7: "Active Engagement with Words" by Karen Bromley

Words have power. This thought is virtually uncontested fact in academia. Words can also be very hard, especially in the English language. 

 

According to Bromley, "Possessing large vocabularies : boosts comprehension...improves achievement...enhances thinking and communication...[and] promotes fluency" (121). Words are tools that aid in our understanding and communication. They are basic and crucial building blocks in education, yet also one of the most challenging to acquire and use.

In her Chapter of Adolescent Literacy (Beers), Janet Allen highlights the challenges of teaching vocabulary to high school students. This is something I thought about while reading Bromley's chapter, because it seems to me like vocabulary teaching and learning can become very tedious very easily and very quickly. In my high school, vocabulary took the form of looking up words, writing them down, turning them in, then reviewing the assignments on the day of the quiz by memorising key words in definition associated with each word. Two days after the unit quiz, no one could even remember what the vocab words had been, much less what they meant. However, I fully appreciate the fact that both Allen and Bromley focus on the fact that variety's the spice. They both name several teaching methods that can be used interchangeably. In the most extreme scenarios of variety, students in one classroom could choose one of two, three, or maybe even four different methods to learn or practice vocabulary words. I think that's a brilliant way to reach out to students and keep vocab lessons from getting too boring.

The Know - Want to Know - Learn (K-W-L) method that Bromley mentions in her chapter of Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy (Hinchman) mentions is actually something I'd never heard of before, but at the same time it put into words something I already understood. It's the kind of thing any experienced reader learns to do automatically, though sometimes on a larger scale than Bromley presents. The K-W-L activity is a fantastic opportunity for scaffolding with students while helping them develop strong reading strategies. She presents it as a way to aid word acquisition, but I think it would be a great system for any new reading or study topic.

#8 – Effective Instruction and Big Words

Texts:

Roy-Campbell and Chandler-Olcott. Chapter 18: “Differentiating Literacy Instruction for Adolescents,” from Best practices in adolescent literacy instruction (2^nd ed.), edited by Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas

Allington, Chapter 18: “Effective Teachers, Effective Instruction,” from Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice, edited by Beers, Probst, & Rief

Sometimes in the academic world, I’m afraid that if we make education too technical, then we might start seeing students less as individuals and people with potential and more as test scores and standards. Quite honestly, sometimes big words scare me. However, I also believe – as philosopher Martin Heidegger first dictated – that names have power, and the naming of things helps us to understand what they do and mean in our lives. In the same way, the big words of education help us understand better how students learn and how we as instructors can help them along that road. Today, I’m going to look at some of the big words from the reading and break them down to help us understand what they mean for both instructors and students.

In his chapter, Allington focuses on effective instruction within classrooms through the use of diversified methods of instruction. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word effective is chiefly an adjective that can mean “Powerful in effect; producing a notable effect… producing a striking or pleasing impression… Having the power of acting upon the thing designated… instrumental in producing a result” (Oed.com). Among other things, to be effective essentially means to produce a measureable effect. For teachers, it is imperative that they must be effective in teaching their students, all of their students.

This often designates the need for what Roy-Campbell and Chandler-Olcott refer to as differentiated instruction. Essentially, teacher adaptability on a student–to-student, moment-by-moment basis. Sounds exhausting. But it’s necessary. And probably not as difficult as it sounds.

The authors describe their concept of differentiated instruction as being standards-driven. They key is to provide “a variety of instructional strategies for the same specific objective” (Nunley, qtd. Roy-Campbell and Chandler-Olcott). They aim to do this using three key methods, as described below.

• Multiple Intelligences – concept of identifying students’ strengths and the ways they learn best, then providing them with instructional activities that incorporate those abilities. The idea of using multiple intelligences in instruction involves pairing perceptual learning styles (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic) with ways that students process information (verbal-linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, visual-spatial, musical, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential).
• Universal Design for Learning – “a framework enabling teachers to create instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments promoting high expectations for all learners” UDL draws on 3 primary brain networks: recognition (what), strategic (how), and affective (why). These three networks are intertwined with three key principles to create a customizable learning experience so that each student can find what works best for them: multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement.
• Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol – SIOP is a model for teaching English Language learners in a way that accommodate the language proficiency of students while improving language acquisition. The aim is to accomplish this through interaction between 8 components: lesson preparation, building background, comprehensible input, strategies, interaction, practice/application, lesson delivery, and review/assessment. The key is for teachers to “identify specific language needs required to meet the content objectives” that they create for every lesson.

In his play Henry V, Shakespeare writes:

“That many things, having full referenceTo one consent, may work contrariously;As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;As many lines close in the dial’s centre;So may a thousand actions, once afoot,End in one purpose, and be all well borneWithout defeat.”

This is the aim of differentiated instruction: to improve the effectiveness of educational instruction through the use of diverse teaching methods. Or, to eliminate those pesky Big Words, the point is to treat each student as his or her own person and help them learn in their own way, so that both our actions and theirs will be well borne, and without defeat.

#2 - Adaptable Literacy

[I think I accidentally saved this post as a draft instead of publishing. I promise it was written a while back & just not posted! =P ]


Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice.

Chapter 10: “Teaching English Language Arts in a ‘Flat’ World” by Jim Burke

Key Points of the Chapter:

Necessity of Adaptability in the Face of Change (p. 150)—students need to learn not only how to be literate adults, but to understand how, why, and when to adjust their methods of communication, whether this is in the intake of information through reading or in their own communication with other people, either in the personal or private sectors.

Variety of Necessary Literacy Skills (p. 151)

Information and Communication Skills— relationship of information and media and their roles in society; connection between forms of communication and understanding their uses in carious contexts

Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills— connections between logic/reason and creativity; capability to recognize, analyze, and solve problems

Interpersonal and Self-Directional Skills— teamwork and leadership capabilities; recognizing cross-contextual information; exercising personal responsibility; setting personal standards; communal responsibility

Different Kinds of People (pp. 152-160)

Collaborators and Orchestrators —are skilled in the organization of people and resources, often recognizing and utilizing relationships between the two.

Synthesizers — are capable of recognizing connections between pieces of information and using them to adapt the same information to different disciplines.

Explainers —often assist others in understanding presented information. In the business world this often takes the form of training and informational seminars.

Leveragers —are capable of gauging and managing, and adapting their own skill levels by having a thorough understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses in a given circumstance.

Adapters — have the capacity to adapt to the ever-changing workplace through the acquisition of new skills, abilities, and information. They understand the necessity of general and basic skills that can be adjusted for various situations.

Green People —use their surrounding environment to determine what skills or knowledge apply in a certain circumstance. They observe carefully and grasp opportunities that apply to their skill set or can adapt their skill set based on the environment.

Personalizers —can take a basic service or skill and adjust it to meet a need in a particular context or community.

Localizers —utilize global resources on a local scale. This requires the ability to look for resources outside the local context and adapt them to a smaller scale.

My Response:

One of the key words that I noticed throughout the chapter is adapt. It did not always appear in the same manner—words such as adjust, alter, change, manipulate, expand, and several others were often used, but they all suggest the same theme. Both in school and in the working world, a certain flexibility is required in order to be capable of both standing out as a unique, creative individual and fitting in with the particular group of people that you are working with. As far as literacy is concerned, one might say that a student has to be multilingual, so as to be capable of adapting in various scenarios.

In the classroom, these skills are not easy to teach if they do not come naturally to a student. The best way is to simply provide students with opportunities to branch out and learn as many basic skills as they can, they create situations in which those skills need to be applied in various combinations. Like many things in life, the simple answer is potentially the most difficult: practice, practice, practice.

#7 - No Man is an Island: Doing Education Together

Text:

“Chapter 8: Building Academic Success with Underachieving Adolescents,” by Jackson and Cooper, from Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice, edited by Beers, Probst, & Rief

In this post I am going to focus on the Beers textbook and look at it through the lens of relationships. While reading the chapter, I was impressed with the authors’ focus on the relationships between teachers and students to aid student motivation. It made me think of a son called “No Man is an Island” by Tenth Avenue North. The entire song is totally awesome, but the chorus says, “No man is an island, we can be found, no man is an island, let your guard down. You don’t have to fight me, I am for you. We’re not meant to live this life alone.” The artists are a Christian band, so they intend for the lyrics to point the listener toward the community of God’s church, but at the same time it has meaning outside of that. The point of the song is that if we want this world to be a better place, we need to be less selfish and focus on working together to make it through life (click here to see the music video for “No Man is an Island,” or click here to see lead singer Mike Donehey’s video journal about the meaning he finds behind the song lyrics). 

In their chapter of Adolescent Literacy, Jackson and Cooper, who are part of the National Urban Alliance (NUA), highlight the idea of making connections between students and teachers as the key to engaging students with what they are learning. They also focus largely on the equation L: (U+M) (C₁+C₂). To explain what this means, I’ll keep things simple and use their description:

“For learning and literacy to develop, students have to understand what they are expected to learn (L). There is voluminous brain research that supports an inseparable connection between understanding and motivation (U+M). Additionally, competence (C1) and confidence (C2) significantly affect motivation. Using this symbolic representation as the basis for planning literacy instruction keeps the focus on adolescent learners, engaging them in their own development” (249).

I love the way that Jackson, Cooper, and their colleagues at the NUA use this equation to connect the dots. In my experience, teachers rarely focus on the social aspect of school and the interactions needed by students that serve as motivation in their education. Through their equation, the NUA pulls together several elements – social, psychological, cognitive, emotional – needed in the lives of young scholars to succeed in their education. 

Key Words from the Chapter:

Engagement – comes through relationships with their teachers that 1) allow students believe that teachers appreciate their identity and honor them as individuals, 2) are built on genuine dialogue in which the teachers and students communicate what is relevant and meaningful to both sides, and 3) allow teachers to demonstrate their belief in the potential of their students by making the necessary information more accessible to students (please note that this does NOT in any way mean dumbing down the material).

High expectations – Jackson and Cooper often refer to their Pedagogy of Confidence, based on “the fearless expectation that all students will learn” (247). The goal of this pedagogy is for students and teachers both to truly believe in the possibility of the student’s success.

Literacy – defined as “an individual’s ability to construct, create, and communicate meaning in many forms” (248). This moves beyond simple reading, and even beyond basic comprehension. The idea of literacy as used here focuses on the reader’s ability to manipulate ideas presented to them, synthesize their own thoughts based on what they have read, and communicate those ideas to a wider audience.

Culturally relevant teaching – This is what happens when teachers can successfully “situate learning in the lives of their students, utilizing the culture of the students as a bridge between the content to be taught and what is real for them” (250-51). The idea is to engage students by making information relevant to them and the culture they inhabit. This adds a deeper layer of meaning and makes taught material important for something more than just a test.

Mediation – The focus here is once again on creating a teacher-student mentorship. Mediation is “an interactive process that bonds the teacher and the student in a nurturing relationship…The goal of mediation is to elicit from the students a personal motivation of learning” (251). Through this relationship, the student can realize that the teacher is genuinely vying for their success and is invested in their education.

“Codes of power” – This refers to the language of the classroom. Education often has a unique vocabulary that is not used in any other environment. Jackson and Cooper recommend the use of Thinking Maps® in the classroom to help students “develop both the critical thinking and language…needed to strengthen [their] ability to construct meaning from text and to communicate their learning” (252).

#6 - “Can You Hear Me Now?” Comprehension in the Classroom

READINGS FOR TODAY:

“Chapter 8: Comprehension in Secondary Schools,” by Fisher & Fry, from Best practices in adolescent literacy instruction (2^nd ed.), Edited by Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas

“Chapter 4: The Essence of Understanding,” by Keene, from Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice, edited by Beers, Probst, & Rief

How many times have you re-read a passage of text multiple times just to figure out what the heck the person is trying to tell you?

Sometimes it’s too boring and you mentally check out; your eyes scan over the words but your brain doesn't take in a single thing.

Sometimes it’s too difficult and you don’t understand; you might even put the book down and distract yourself with something else. Maybe it’s a television or your phone. Oh my goodness, that laughing baby video on Youtube is just the cutest thing ever.

Sound familiar? Yeah, me too.

Funny thing is – though maybe not quite as funny as that laughing baby – that this is possibly a habit you have been nurturing since elementary and middle school. Many students complain that they don’t understand their lessons or homework. They get discouraged, and by the time they reach high school, some have given up altogether.

So how do we get kids engaged and increase students’ comprehension of the things they read? How can we make it so they remember information even after they've taken the test on it? Good questions. I’m so glad you asked. In fact, that’s what I’ll talk about today: questions and, by extension, discussion.

The big thing that I noticed authors from both texts agree on is the need for what I’m going to call integrated study. Allow me to explain. The way I see it, integrated study in secondary school, or really at any level, involves the integration of multiple teaching tools in the classroom at the same time, so that students have a toolbox of information to pull from at any time. 

I have seen elementary teachers use what are called anchor charts (check out the link for examples). As they move through the process involved for a particular lesson – whether it’s steps to solving a particular math problem, a history timeline, the scientific method, or tips to understanding the setting of a story, the anchor chart is made by the teacher with suggestions from the students and posted on the classroom wall for students to refer to when needed. 

Student-made notecard glossaries can be added to their toolbox as well. Have students write a word at the top of the notecard, write the book definition under that, and then write the definition in their own words. They can use their definitions to teach classmates. Variations could be made for various disciplines as well if that doesn't quite fit. As students accumulate more vocabulary words, they simply need more notecards and they can refer back to the stack whenever they need to.

Photosynthesis

Book Definition: A chemical process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy, normally from the Sun, into chemical energy that can be later released to fuel the organisms' activities.

My Definition: The way plants absorb energy from the sun and use it for energy, the same way I use cheeseburgers and french fries.

Simile

Definition: A comparison of two things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’

Examples:

Suzie is as pretty as a picture.

Carlos is as loud as a lion.

Lee’s smile shines like the sun.

More than these reference tools, though, questions and discussion are important tools for helping students understand the lessons we are trying to teach them. One of my favorite ways to get students talking is to have them annotate. This was something big that Fisher and Fry suggested. I wish with all my heart that I had learned about annotating in fourth or fifth grade rather than high school. Better yet, I wish I could have seen other people’s annotations. It took me most of college to figure out my own style of annotations that works well for me, and the best thing that happened on the way was a few instances where I borrowed notes or textbooks from classmates. 

Maybe these are some ideas someone else has already come up with. Maybe that someone else is even smarter than me (there are a lot of people like that in this world!) and they’ve got modified versions of these ideas that work even better than mine. Either way, I enjoyed this little brainstorming opportunity to figure out ways to get students engaged. 

#5 - Comparing Apples and Oranges

Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction, edited by Hinchman & Sheridan-Thomas

Chapter 6: Text Complexity and Deliberate Practice, Munger & Murray

Standards & Testing as a Measuring Stick

[This is kind of a mash-up of things Munger and Murray

mention in the chapter and my own thoughts on the matter]

Students’ education cannot be measured like their bodies. Growth is often sporadic and unpredictable, and teachers sometimes have to back-track and re-teach material. Because of this, a variety of measuring tools need to be used in tandem. No single method will be completely foolproof for measuring how appropriate a particular text is for a particular audience of readers. The authors particularly point out 3 main components for judging texts.

3 Components for Measuring Text Complexity 

Quantitative Measures: The complexity of texts should increase in a stair-step fashion, based on the criteria of word repetition, word and sentence length, vocabulary, and syntax. [I do appreciate their mentioning the fact that quantitative measures in this field are rarely exact. All other factors aside, we are working with humans, who are possibly the most notoriously variant of all species on earth.] Overall, it seems that Quantitative measures alone can only measure so much. If we rely too heavily on the numbers, then many factors that cannot be measured - such as the maturity level of the content, rather than the difficulty level of the syntax and word choice, can easily be overlooked or misjudged. Despite the fact that quantitative judging of texts is possibly the easiest method of judgment, it is not the only one that should be relied upon.

Taken from p.105 of Best Practices in Adolescent Literacy Instruction

 Qualitative Measures: These measures of text complexity examine deeper topics that are based more on judging the maturity of the readers, rather than their skill level. This method is based on examining levels of meaning, text structure, language conventionality/clarity, and knowledge demands of the text. [These aspects are definitely all good things to consider, but they must be a real pain to figure out for teachers, because they’re all so highly subjective. The internet must be a wonderful resource for teachers with this kind of a topic, because they can look at other teacher blogs, or form their own, and share their thoughts and tricks for particular books, or even certain themes or genres]

Reader and Task Considerations: This section focuses more on the reader rather than the text itself. It takes into consideration factors such as student motivation, stamina, verbal reasoning, general reading ability, English language proficiency, or prior knowledge; these are factors that require thinking deeply about readers when selecting and using complex texts. The authors point out that “[d]etermining the complexity of texts is important, but only to the extent that they are combined with effective instruction to support thinking and learning” (106). [Like the qualitative measures, this is a much more subjective category that requires teachers really knowing and understanding the abilities of their students. In the last chapter that I read, from Doug Beuhl's Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, he included an outline for scaffolding instruction that moves from I-do/You-watch -> I-do/You-help -> You-do/I-help -> You-do/I-watch that allows students to slowly develop the skills they need to conquer texts of higher and higher levels of complexity. That is a technique that relates to this through the relationship between students and teachers that allows the teacher to properly guide the student in their development of diverse reading skills.] 

Drawing Conclusions- Stick Figures Allowed

My favorite thing about studying the topics discussed in this chapter is, quite honestly, the fact that I don't have to worry about some of them as thoroughly as my future-teacher classmates will. I love knowing and understanding this, don’t get me wrong, but it is my hope that as a librarian – basically, as a third-party member who is not a part of the official education system – that I would have the ability to approach and/or work with students struggling with reading in school and help them learn more about themselves and what they can handle. I prefer this one-on-one relationship better because I can focus more on the individual student’s needs.