Rethinking Narrative Writing and the Common Core

Narrative writing has taken a back-seat with the common core, and I admit that, at first, I had the attitude of “wait three years and it will make a comeback with renewed importance.”   I dismissed it at that.  Then, after listening to Kelly Gallagher, Ralph Fletcher, and my general fix of NPR commentaries, the realization struck me.  “Wait a minute!  We can’t ignore the narrative – it is part of our very being.” 

If we are teaching kids to utilize primary sources for the CCSS, what are they accessing?  They are reading journals and first person accounts; in other words, narratives.  Narratives of our lives at some point become our history.

Kelly Gallagher, Secondary teacher and author of several popular books on reading an writing, makes an interesting point when he speaks about David Coleman, the “lead architect” of the Common Core and  his call to de-emphasize the narrative for students’ writing requirements within the CCSS.  In stating his case for less narrative, David ironically uses just that – a story to make his point as to why narrative writing should be de-emphasized in a rigorous curriculum.

The CCSS are supposed to prepare students to be workplace ready.  Imagine a profession that does not use a narrative story to illustrate a point (leaders, teachers, doctors, salesmen, politicians, ministers…).  In telling a story in context of a presentation or speech, the narrative provides the listener with prior knowledge to increase understanding of the subject.

So I encourage David to do what we continually encourage students to do – revise.  Revise the CCSS.  The writers of the CCSS need to realize the value of the narrative in preparing secondary students to be workplace and college ready.    

The Cost of Testing

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says.

Where do I start?  Sometimes someone will say something to you that hits a nerve and you mentally react.  Every time I see this quote, or one similar, I think “what are we waiting for?”  For years we have been operating our public schools (which I support) under an agrarian system.  As a society, we look in the wrong places for results.  The idea that tests can measure student learning and teacher effectiveness alone is so far from reality.  We bore the students at the top with time spent teaching to the test and we drag along the kids at the bottom hoping they will respond and perform better on tests.  There is a time and place for tests and testing, but the testing in our public schools has gone too far. 

What can we do to bring those at the bottom of the class up in the education process?  We need to excite them.  We need to see what talents they possess and nurture those talents as we continue to teach them the basics of reading, writing and math.  We need to integrate these lessons into their skill set.  There are many individuals who have gone through Special Education, or been ranked near the lower end of their class, who had to wait until they were out of the school system to succeed with their  talents.  This should not be.

At the other end of the class we have students bored with school.  School time for them is a time to socialize, and learning equates to going through the motions to please a particular teacher in a particular class.   It is when these kids get home that they start to learn, focusing on their interests be it computer, art, or work.  One could argue that these students could not do what they do outside of school if it were not for what they had learned in school, but what if these kids were encouraged to learn more in school not just prove they can do well on a test.  

Race to the Top and the Common Core have people and educators thinking of how to push students to strive harder, and increase their expectations of themselves and what  they can accomplish  in school, but we are still falling back on expensive testing and not funding the very programs that would allow these students to achieve more in the public schools.  As a nation we are too fast to blame the teachers and students for lack of achievement.  What we need to do as citizens is to take a greater interest in our public schools and look for results in our community, not in test scores.  

For those who follow the testing debate, I encourage you to check out the following websites.

Last fall ,the following two sites were brought to my attention again:  Fairtest.org and Timeoutfromtesting.org.  The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial. You may also want to follow Harvard's Graduate Education Studies Newsletter where one can find recent articles on the subject of testing, (http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/548).  

Individualized Instruction is not a replacement for Gifted and Talented Programs

Many great thinkers have been self taught from books and, in this digital age, we have more resources for an individual who is self driven to expand their knowledge.  That, however, is only one type of learner, and to say that all Gifted and Talented (G&T) learners are self motivated is a grave misnomer.

There is a relatively new self-published book on Individualized Instruction by Schwahn and McGarvey titled Inevitable:  Mass Customized Learning in the Age of Empowerment.  This is a good book on laying out the foundations of individualized instruction and acknowledging the training that needs to be done for this type of instruction to be successful.  This is also a good book for book study groups, but I think we also need to balance this book with the concepts of, perhaps, Copeland’s book, Socratic Circles, particularly the thoughts presented on page 47.  Why?  Because learners need to think beyond their own mind.  It can be argued that when we share, collaborate and listen to other ideas, we learn the respect needed to work in the 21st century workplace as educators, scientists, business people and even politicians.  Imagine - what is Social Studies without expressing opinions?  What is Science without challenging hypotheses? What is Language Arts without discussions about literature, or having to revise what one thought was the perfect piece of writing?

When we expose our ideas to others we are ready to learn, for most likely our ideas will be met by the ideas of others, some in agreement and some in disagreement.  This is when the learning process begins because as with writing, we may need to revise, rethink, and rework our thoughts before expressing ourselves again.

If we are to teach beyond the minimum standards and equip the 21st century workforce with the knowledge base and skills it needs to succeed,  we need to look at our education system and see where it gets bogged down.  Federal mandates may be one place to start such scrutiny, but that is a slow process.  We need to act locally and think about our future generation of workers at the community and state level before we tackle the cumbersome federal level.  We can blame federal standards for different issues in or education system, but we can also act locally to improve our schools from the ground up.  We need to stand up for our teachers and the programs that further the growth and knowledge of our children.

Unfortunately, the legacy of NCLB is perhaps that average and above average students can take care of their own learning.  This is what I call our investment in “adequate” or minimum education.  Unfortunately, a decade has passed without challenging these students, and ignoring the gifted and talented students.   We need to invest in our G&T programs  that challenge our students and have a ripple effect in enhancing the education of all students.  When a school has a G&T coordinator to support both teachers and students, everyone benefits (as long as the program is funded).  G&T teachers can help teachers differentiate as well as work with students in small groups, or on a one-to-one basis, to enrich their learning.  Currently, G&T programs in some schools have been cut as administrators and uninformed taxpayers opt for  Individualized Instruction as a way of reaching talented students.  However, too often, this Individualized Instruction is ineffective and equates to more busy work for a student without meaningful follow-up with a teacher or mentor.   This is not education.  Individualized Instruction does have a place in our future, but involves more training than many districts are ready to pay.  Until we reach that point, we need to invest in our 21st century workforce.  



“To succeed in the 21st century, all students will need to perform to high standards and acquire mastery of rigorous core subject material.  All students will also need to gain the cognitive and social skills that enable them to deal with the complex challenges of our age.”

                                                               -The Partnership for 21rst CenturySkills

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

For several days, this book was the source of my emotional, literary paradox: I had a hard time putting it down but then didn’t necessarily want to pick it up again. I wanted to read it but at the same time wanted to spare myself, preferred that it collect dust on the bookshelf rather than haunt my thoughts. I received the book as an advanced copy, and after I started to read, the poems began to creep into my mind routinely, playing with my emotions and distracting me periodically throughout the day. The book consists of 68 different poems; the author, Lesléa Newman, created “fictitious monologues from various points of view.” The star-filled night sky, the fence that Matthew was tied to, and Matthew himself all have a voice. I think that students will have positive reactions to the book, but I feel that it helps if you, as the teacher, read it first. The message permeates most classroom discussions—arousing themes of respect, acceptance, and individuality. At the same time, I hope this book is not over taught (i.e. Readicide by Kelly Gallagher) but instead used to teach and reflect in a way only a good book can do.

To find out more, check out the book on our website. The book will be released September 25th.

http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=9579&category=7

♫ Summer readin'... had me a blast... ♪ ♬

Summer is a great time to catch up on reading—both personal and professional. My favorite personal read in the last couple of months is Yes, Chef, a memoir by renowned chef, Marcus Samuelsson. I like his narrative voice; he has a way of putting you in the scene without any convoluted description or flowery language. It’s hard to put down the book, as you travel along his international path to culinary renown. I like most books that pertain to food, but he also includes personal details in such an open, simple way—you feel the raw human emotions he experienced in pursuit of his dream.

Professionally, I have picked up and put down Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. The Times Educational Supplement exclaims that this book, "...reveals teaching's Holy Grail." The author, John Hattie, has pulled together an enormous amount of research from experts around the world. I don't think that I could digest this book during the school year, but it is the perfect "pick-up, put-down" book during the summer. I find myself referencing it while researching various projects for curriculum directors and school administrators. 

Happy reading!

E-book Battles

E-books. We sell them. Some of my family reads them. Some, like myself, have not particularly taken to the new format. But, what does all of this digital publishing mean for libraries and small bookstores?

An article in the Christian Science Monitor caught my attention recently. (“Battle Over e-books in the Library” June 18, 2012 p. 43). It outlines the brewing battle over price and usage between publishers and libraries. In some cases, prices have jumped 700% due to the possibility of multiple readers reading the same copy and thereby making the publishers believe the books to be more valuable. Last year, Random House announced that e-books sold to libraries would expire after being checked out 26 times.

I have watched e-book prices yoyo as publishers try to gain and understand the e-book market—the underlying reason for the current tug of war between publishers and libraries. Will the price be what sways the reader? It did initially with $0.99 books, but publishers can’t keep up with this loss forever as evidenced by price increases. Some say the e-book will spell the end to small bookstores, but right now, I still believe it will be the below or at cost sales of Amazon and other corporate stores that affect the independent bookstores the most. But like the e-book publishers, these corporations must recover those lost profits somewhere…

Here is the link to the CSM article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/0618/E-book-battle-Libraries-publishers-square-off-on-pricing

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Black History Month

So many resources, so little time. The web provides audios from Rosa Parks on sites like History.com, and there are endless lesson plans on a variety of sites. But, since our specialty is books, I am going to take the time here to list a few of my favorites.

Making History Mine, Grades 5-9(http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfmProdID=8355&category=10). This book challenges students to take ownership of their history as an individual as well as a citizen of this country. This book is not specific to Black History, but could serve as a great launching pad to lead students to understand their past and embrace it.

Some of the books listed below can be found as part of Nancy Boyles Literacy Collection on our website, www.alranbooks.com, or can be ordered by mail or phone as our trade book collection is always changing.

This is the Dream, by Shore and Alexander is a book appropriate for younger grades addressing the civil rights movement. This book is now available in paperback !

Toni Morrison's book, Remember: The Story of School Integration, is a powerful book. The photos and words strongly compliment each other. This book could easily be used with secondary students even though the target audience is probably grades 2-6.

We Are The One: The Story of Bayrad Rustin.  Rustin hales from the quaker area of West Chester, PA, and this hardcover book is the story of one man and his lifelong pursuit of civil rights for all.

Doreen Rappaport has three books that can be used across the grade levels. No More! Stories and Songs of the Slave Resistance, Free At Last: Stories and Songs of Emancipation, and Nobody Gonna Turn Me Around: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement.

My final choice is an old favorite of many, myself included. Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side is a beautiful story of a developing friendship during the days of segregation.

I could go on with pages of books, but these are a few of my favorites. There are countless sources of music, poetry, letters, and speeches that can bring this month's curriculum alive for all students.

Happy New Year!

2009 was a very busy year. I hope to get a little better keeping up with the blog this fall between business travel and technical challenges I fell behind. There are many things I want to talk about this spring from the trade books that correspond with Nancy Boyle's new book to Graphic Novels. So, please stay tuned as I get my thoughts organized this first month in 2010.

Learning to Speak Poetry

Somehow it is just unfair to have such gorgeous weather, now that the school year has begun. I hope everybody had a good weekend, and your travels were safe.

I just stumbled across a book in the last week or two by local author, Alice B. Fogel, that I really enjoy. The book, Strange Terrain, is about reading poetry, not writing poetry. Understanding the voice, the choice of words, and the phrasing in a poem are a few of the topics that Fogel discusses with the reader. Fogel's book is organized in such a way that it can be used in an evening course, or a long term book group or semester class. The book is very approachable by a variety of ages from the secondary level on up. A district which has used Georgia Heard could easily add Fogel's work to their curriculum.

If you go to the author's home page, www.alicebfogel.com, you can see a long list of Fogel's awards and teaching positions. After speaking with Alice the other day, I think that she would complement very nicely a professional development day or conference that is looking to bring in local authors and speakers on the secondary level. You can find Alice’s book at http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=8554&category=5.

Here's a question I have for those who read this blog on occasion. Is anybody using opposites when teaching poetry? I was looking at some of the work poet laureate Richard Wilbur has done with opposites, and can see much more room for fun with this type of poetry.

Units on Butterflies

The milkweed has not bloomed yet, and I haven't seen many Monarchs yet, but I have fielded a few questions about what books I would recommend for a unit on butterflies. So I will take today to pass on a few titles to hopefully save somone a little time. We carry all these books, even though they may not appear on our website; if you are looking for a copy, please give us a call. The first book is the obvious Eric Carle's The Hungry Caterpillar. For those unfamiliar with this book, it takes the reader through the stages from caterpillar to butterfly. Young and old love this book and it could be used as a template for students to create their own books about the changes an insect or amphibian goes through over time. The second book is Sam Swope's book Gotta Go, Gotta Go. This little paperback tells the story of a Monarch butterfly and its trip south to Mexico, and then the full circle of its life. The third book I would choose would be Melissa Stewart's A Place for Butterflies. This book is only printed in hardcover format at this time, but there are teacher resources available on the internet (go to Melissa's home page). It should also be noted that Melissa is local (Acton, Mass) and goes to schools to speak about her books. This book shows the habitats of many butterflies all over the U.S. as well as maps showing the ranges of the many butterflies. There are countless books on butterflies, but these three books seem to cover the aspects of life cycle and habitat that are needed for the units of study.

What Student Writing Teaches Us

There seems to be a lot going on with writing this summer and there are, of course, a few new books out on the subject. Currently, I am reading Mark Overmeyer's book, What Student Writing Teaches Us: Formative Assessment in the Writing Workshop. This book follows Mark's first book, When Writing Workshop Isn't Working (grades 2-5). Mark, like many teachers, is a person who loves teaching because he is always learning, and always figuring out a better way to teach. Currently, he is actively involved with Colorado's Writing Project, and worked in both an elementary and middle school doing the research for this book. Mark's overall message throughout the book seemed to be listen and look for what the students need to move ahead with their writing. This may seem obvious as a teacher, but with writing programs and prescribed rubrics, it is not always as easy... or obvious. Mark points out places where we may fail to listen in our effort to grade or assess certain aspects of students' work. I liked the student interviews about the grading process. I think this added to the book and at times made me think of Ralph Fletcher's Boy Writers. Mark's voice is conversational and easy to read, and I think this latest work of his could provide for some interesting discussion in a book group.

http://www.alranbooks.com/Books.cfm?keywords=when+writing+workshop

http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=8517&category=4

With a little luck Nancy Boyles new book will be released in October

There are always little things that can slow down the release of a book, but it looks like the long anticipated release of Nancy Boyle's new book is coming closer. October remains the release month for the book, in plenty of time to put the 40 new lesson plans into use. I will try to answer some of the other questions I have been getting so districts and individuals can plan ahead. As far as budgeting, this book will cost more than Nancy's other books as it has more features than past books. If you plan for $40 per book you should be safe; if it's lower, all the better! The book addresses grade level 2-8, and ties in with both trade books and RTI. As with all of Nancy's books, it will have an easy to use format and be classroom tested. On Friday December 4th, 2009 ALRAN Books will host Nancy at Lombardo's conference center in Randolph, Mass for a one day conference where Nancy will talk predominantly about the information in this book. Let us know if you'd like to attend - we'd love to see you there!

The Sun has come out!

It is hard to believe the sun has come out today. Thirty days of rain, and only a few partial days of sun is too much. Consequently, I have done some reading this past month, during the breaks in my conference schedule when I would otherwise be outdoors.

There are some great new RTI books out. I think my current favorite is from Guilford, titled RTI in the Classroom, by Brown-Chidsey, Bronaugh and Mcgraw. This book is full sized, and its sprial-bound format makes it ideal for photo copying (50 reproducible forms!).  One of the elements I like about this book is that it covers: literacy, math and behavior. This book is easy to access. The book has ready-to-use forms to help in the monitoring and assessing process in the classroom that will hopefully make this process easier.  Remember, some of you are already doing this with a different form, or under a different name.  So, take a breath and look at some of this material to see how you can take what you are doing now and fit it into these new forms and strategies. The information contained in this book is clearcut, simple to understand, and will help you realize how much of RTI you already know and do, and help you understand and implement the parts that may be unfamiliar.  It's not hung up in a lot of jargon. It is practical. This book is meant for teachers, but will be useful to coaches and principals as well.

This book is for K-5 and thus covers the issue of Dibels, as Susan Hall did in her RTI book, Implementing RTI. It also provides "recipes," a term used to refer to the authors' strategies and forms for those without a standard assessment process in their school. This book has a heavy emphasis on documentation and offers many forms to monitor student progress... this is the big difference between this book and others on the market.

http://www.alranbooks.com/Details.cfm?ProdID=8450&category=2

Curriculum Develoment through books

This spring I have been in more districts than ever before. It has been a great deal of fun working on developing curriculum for a variety of subject areas from Math ( I think this spring we have the best selection of professional resources for math of any year yet), Science , Social Studies (we have a wide selection of both student and professional books- some really great picture books for use with all ages), ESL/ELL and of course Reading and Writing PK-12.

My teaching certification is in Social Studies and History so, I admit, I am partial to spending time in the stacks reading through the many titles. Candlewick, Tilbury House, and Scholastic's nonfiction series have some great books for students; thought provoking with strong images.

One of the most popular teacher resources for students this year has been the four book series of Leveled Texts for Social Studies available for Early America, Expanding & Preserving the Union, The 20th Century and World Cultures Through Time. The books are aimed at Grades 4-12 and each book contains 15 different articles each written at 4 different levels ranging from grade 1+ to grade 6+. The articles are all printed in the same size type and have the pictures and maps in all the same locations. The one big difference per article is at the bottom of each page there is a square, triangle, circle, or star. These symbols help teachers differentiate instruction for the different levels of readers. The CD in the back of the book makes it easy to print out these articles for your students. The comprehension questions for each reading level at the end of the article are a real bonus.

In a year when having differentiated materials for every student in your classroom is key these articles can really help out. They are not your "full curriculum" but, they will supplement what you are currently using in your classroom and be a good answer to meeting the needs of differentiating your classroom. If your school has funds for RTI these books will easily fall under that category too.

It looks like the rain is here for another day or so I expect will make my way through some more of the new releases. My next blog will be on Burkin's new book, Practical Literacy Coaching: A Collection of Tools to Support Your Work. It looks to be good read for tonight.
Alison

New practical book on coaching

Rainy days are good for catching up with the blog and looking at new titles. Practical Literacy Coaching: A Collection of Tools to Support your Work by Burkins just came in from IRA. It is the newest coaching book from the author of Coaching for Balance: How to Meet the Challenges of Literacy Coaching. This is a pretty slim book (it won't weigh down your book bag) and seems to build on Burkin's last book. A less glamorous title for this book would be, "Get the Job Done Well, Don't Burn Out Along the Way, and Don't Reinvent the Wheel in the Process." The print is an easy-to-read size which I like, and the voice flows easily. The book is packed with supportive advice and stories from an active Literacy Coach. The one drawback I see is the multitude of checklists and forms. I would appreciate these on a disc so that the coach doesn't have to retype them!

To

One of my current favorite books

Gorgeous day here in the Monadnock region. I am enjoying two days back in the office after several weeks of logging thousands of miles around New England visiting schools. I avoided the black flies and had the chance to see some of your schools where you spend your busy days.

Throughout all of these visits, I would have to say McAndrews book Diagnostic Literacy Assessments and Instructional Strategies: A Literacy Specialists's Resource, remains my favorite. This book has it all for teachers, specialists and administrator's looking for everything in one place. You will find an extensive list of quality assessments, checklists, rubrics and so much more. If there is one book you add to your professional library as a school, this should be the one.