Literacy Now

p: RachelEllen

The Eskimos have 52 words for snow because it is so special to them; there ought to be as many for love. —Margaret Atwood

We tried to talk it over, but the words got in the way. —Leon Russell

Margaret Atwood is right, of course. We could communicate more effectively with more words to describe different kinds of love. But having just one word is infinitely better than none.

Words, despite their limitations, help us talk about topics we would not otherwise be able to discuss, and see things we would not otherwise be able to see. A word is a candle held up in the darkness to help us move forward.

Words might be humanity’s greatest invention. A common vocabulary helps us share emotions, share ideas, learn, grow. And this is just as true in conversation in schools as it is in conversations at home.

An important common vocabulary in schools, as Phil Schlechty has explained, could be developed around student engagement. Teachers can have meaningful conversations defining and acting on the terms authentic engagement, strategic compliance, and off-task behavior. And once the words are defined, teachers can share ideas and strategies to increase authentic engagement.

Educators can also benefit from coming to a shared understanding of positive reinforcement, and defining such ideas as growth mindset, ratio of interaction, and positivity. When people develop clear definitions of positive and negative reinforcements, they begin to see interactions in a clearer way in the classroom. Some words make the invisible, visible.

Powerful professional learning also happens when teachers agree about the meaning of other words, such as those describing reading strategies, like text-to-self or summarizing, or writing concepts such as sentence fluency, coherence, or voice. The simple act of talking about a word like voice, and working to develop a shared, deeper understanding, can be very meaningful professional development.

Teachers, of course, are not the only people who need to develop a shared vocabulary. When administrators do not share with teachers a common vocabulary about the meaning and importance of observations, their evaluations have little positive impact on teaching and learning. What good is an administrator’s evaluation when the teacher and administrator can’t authentically talk about what was observed? Worse, what good are observations when observers can’t clearly define what they are seeing?

A clear picture of reality is an essential part of growth, but the picture does have to be clear, and people need a shared understanding if they are going to talk about it.

Students should also be a part of developing a shared vocabulary. When students understand authentic engagement and strategic compliance, they can give meaningful feedback to their teachers on what works and what doesn’t work for them. Sandi Silbernagel, for example, a teacher in Slidell, Louisiana, learns a lot by asking her second graders for their feedback on their level of engagement.

No doubt Leon Russell was right. Sometimes the words can get in the way. But without words we can’t talk. Language is the means by which communication takes place.

And as in life, so in schools. We should do all we can to develop a shared vocabulary. When we can truly talk about what we see, important learning—for teachers, administrators, and students—can really happen.

Jim Knight is a researcher and writer. His books include HIGH-IMPACT INSTRUCTION (2013), UNMISTAKABLE IMPACT (2011), and INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING (2007). He also writes the Radical Learners blog and posts on Twitter @jimknight99. You can reach him at jimknight@mac.com.



Language is Our Heritage, But Will it be Our Legacy?

Kids Must Taste Academic Fun!

As an elementary school teacher in Texas, it is difficult to know that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) even exist, never mind that they are dominating schools, conversations, news, and professional development around the nation. Out of curiosity, I asked my colleagues if they were aware that all but five states (one being Texas) were in the process of implementing the CCSS. The majority were unaware that these standards had even been developed.

However, all agreed that they felt like it would eventually be a disadvantage for both students and educators in Texas to not take part in the adoption of the CCSS. The main reason for this concern is the idea that our educational standards in Texas may not be as challenging as those that students are being held to in other states. As a result, we may or may not be preparing students for success outside of the state upon graduation.

Teachers also feel at a disadvantage simply because they are not aware of what education is like in other states, what is being taught, the materials that are being used, or of the strategies and methods that are common. Although the CCSS does not currently impact educators or students in Texas, it will likely some day in the future.

So, why am I aware of the CCSS? Simple—I used to teach in the Northeast. Upon arriving in Texas, I was immediately aware of (and shocked by) the vast differences in the education systems from state to state. Texas schools are much more grade-oriented, beginning at an early age. This continues to be a difficult adjustment for me because my previous experience focused on a more standards-based educational foundation, which was designed to meet students where they are at. As a result, I try to keep up to date with what is going on in the rest of the country regarding trends in education.

I am also currently pursuing my Master’s degree in reading and language arts, and recently started blogging about teaching ideas, which keeps me connected to other teachers outside of the state. Having been in Texas for the past three years, I had only briefly reviewed the CCSS. In my mind, if the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are just as rigorous as the CCSS, then why not adopt the new standards and collaborate with the rest of the nation?

Since Texas is a large state, finding materials that match the TEKS is not difficult for teachers. The textbook companies will continue to develop editions solely for Texas. Reading basals and other textbooks are written to specifically align with the TEKS for use in Texas school districts. The TEKS are actually listed in teacher’s manuals and all materials have the distinctive Texas Edition label. While teaching in the Northeast, we spent a great amount of time analyzing textbooks for their alignment to state standards. Often, it was determined that some material was extraneous while other resources were created to supplement the teaching of standards that were not addressed sufficiently. Textbooks and materials that align with the CCSS are already being adopted. Smaller states would not have had the luxury of abstaining and remain able to obtain adequate materials.

In addition, many Texas school districts use an online curriculum management system called CSCOPE. CSCOPE is directly aligned with the TEKS and provides a curriculum calendar for each subject and grade level, as well as materials and lessons. Some school districts require teachers to teach lessons explicitly from CSCOPE, thereby reducing the need for additional resources. However, since the concepts are generally the same, resources found online and from teacher resource stores which cater to the CCSS can be adapted for use by teachers in Texas, provided the focus is on the skill being targeted rather than the grade level in which it is taught.

p: mikerastiello via photopin cc

Professional development in Texas is offered locally through regional education service centers, which develop training based on trends in the state. While it is advantageous to have teachers in Texas educated in the same way, it may pose a challenge since, unbeknownst to many Texas teachers, the pedagogical techniques are not necessarily aligned with the trends in the rest of the country. As time goes on and other states unite over the CCSS, this gap is likely to widen.

Even more concerning is that Texas will not be involved with the development or implementation of a standardized test to match the CCSS. Texas recently implemented its new STAAR test last year. By administering a different assessment than the remainder of the country, it will be difficult to compare results and determine whether the educational system in Texas is on par with the rest of the nation. This possibly puts Texas students at risk for being underprepared for colleges or the workforce outside of the state.

As an educator in Texas, I worry that we may be missing out on some of the advantages of the CCSS—particularly, the commonality of the common core.

This spring, the International Reading Association Annual Convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas. Since educators from all around the country will be in attendance, it is likely the CCSS will dominate sessions and discussions. However, this will likely make many Texas educators feel left out of the loop.

Personally, I am looking forward to attending the conference to find out what are the hot topics in education outside of the state as well as to gain some insight on the CCSS and whether or not they are comparable to the educational standards in Texas. There are many authors whose materials I read that I plan to attend their session, whether Common Core focused or not. Hearing Richard Allington speak about getting all readers up to grade level is beneficial for any educator, regardless of the state standards.

Jessica Goodrow is a second grade teacher in Texas. She previously taught first grade in Connecticut before relocating. She is currently working on obtaining her Master's degree in reading and language arts from the University of Texas at Arlington.

by Mary Beth Scumaci

Einstein once said “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Isn’t that what we want for our students – imagination and creativity, balanced with the logic of learning and critical thinking? Technology integration combined with using web tools can assist us with achieving these goals.

Yet, there are so many web tools out there that it can be well, just overwhelming. When you hear the words web tools, you may feel a variety of emotions from excitement and curiosity to sheer frustration. Which should I use? How will I integrate it? Do I have time for this? With so many web tools out there, it is hard to research and decide which ones to add to that tech savvy tool box of yours.

The web tool I am highlighting today is screen casting. There are a variety of screen casting software options out there including CamStudio, SMART Recorder in the Notebook software, Camtasia Studio, and my current favorite, Screencast-O-Matic. You can find free and paid subscriptions for screen casting software, one of them is sure to fit your needs.

Sreencast-O-Matic is an audio and screen capture recording software. The software has amazing potential and is quite simple to use. It offers a free version as well as a pro version paid subscription. Once downloaded, you can resize anything on your computer screen and record it while narrating what you are demonstrating or teaching. Once the recording is finished, you can use it as-is or apply the editing tools to enhance your project. Then you can post your project to YouTube, save as video file and post to your websites, and on the Screencast-O-Matic server. The website is user friendly and offers several short, clear training tutorials on different functions and tools to use while you are designing your projects.

Mrs. Darlene Swannie teaches at Transit Middle School in the Williamsville Central School District in East Amherst, New York. She uses the SMART Recorder in the Notebook software to record lessons and post them to her classroom home page. See this example of a lesson she recorded on Punctuating Quotations:

Mrs. Swannie uses her friendly, warm teacher voice to narrate a lesson on how to properly punctuate quotation sentences. She walks students through the punctuation process one step at a time while using expression and intonation, a curser to guide the process, and colored text to highlight where the correct punctuation and capital letters should be written. One of her grade 5 students recently stated “This is very good! If I forget something, it’s right there to remind me. It’s kind of like having Mrs. Swannie teach you wherever you are.” 

You can integrate screen cast technology into your teaching in a variety of ways, including recording lessons to use while you teach, as student reinforcement exercises posted on your teacher webpage, preparing and leaving plans for while you are away from the classroom. The ideas are endless and only limited by your own creativity. Children will love hearing your voice in your absence or during reinforcement exercises. It’s the next best thing to taking you home with them!

I highly suggest investigating Screencast-O-Matic, SMART Recorder, CamStudio, Camtasia Studio, or some other screen cast recording tool. Adding it to your technology toolbox will allow you to create fun and engaging lessons for your students.

Mary Beth Scumaci is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Technology Coordinator for the School of Education at Medaille College in Buffalo, New York.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

p: Ambient Photography

There have been many articles about the Common Core that have highlighted frustrations about new standards that will greatly increase the amount of nonfiction students will be asked to read. One blog entry even implied that the Common Core is disrespecting fiction titles and trying to pass off wood chipping manuals as nonfiction.

These characterizations are not particularly helpful in the grand scheme of things. In the national conversation, the nonfiction in question is repeatedly referred to as “informational texts,” a label that immediately bathes the genre in an unflattering light and exacerbates the misconception that upping the nonfiction ante will be a negative thing.

Indeed, the term “informational text” conjures images of dry, fact-filled tomes that pale in comparison to the fiction educators are wont to give up. Compound this imagery with comparisons that pit a suggested reading of “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” published by the General Services Administration to, perhaps, E.L. Doctorow’s RAGTIME, and it will not be terribly difficult to muster support for those who seem to be against reading more nonfiction.

While it is true that Common Core will open the door to a broader range of texts, this type of warped comparison is creating fear as well as giving nonfiction short shrift and, more importantly, it is skewing the conversation in general.

It is imperative to understand that the intention behind the Common Core is to recognize that part of what is needed is knowledge, as knowledge is part of what informs literacy. This misconception that Common Core exists to take away the literature naysayers love—and by literature they mean fiction—has people really riled up. Instead, a benefit of what Common Core is doing is broadening what we commonly think of as literature. The kind of nonfiction that challenges a student’s thinking and expands their views of the world is most definitely literature.

In part, it is the list of Common Core titles that keeps circulating that is contributing to the conflict. The list includes award-winning narrative nonfiction as well as historical documents and can seem constricting. What would be more useful than a list of texts would be a list of qualities of a nonfiction text that make it beneficial to readers and learners for providing them not only with information but avenues of critical thinking, placing people and episodes of history in context so readers can better understand how our world was, and is being, shaped. Marc Aronson, an author and teacher at Rutgers who has led more than 20 Common Core workshops for teachers and librarians is working with the people at Student Achievement Partners to effect this change.

Since I am an author of narrative nonfiction, this may make me biased; however, my colleagues and I are in a unique position of experiencing first-hand how excited students become when reading and analyzing nonfiction texts that challenge and encourage them to dissect meaning for themselves. We write books that make kids think about what is being presented, and question things for themselves. This is evidenced during school visits, as well as in letters and emails from kids asking wonderful questions of authors.

The implementation of Common Core is an excellent step toward preparing our students to be more critical thinkers, able to form intelligent opinions and solve problems. Of course, it is also a work in progress and there will be glitches along the way that need to be refined. To this end, rather than restricting teachers and librarians by supplying them with a list of titles to utilize, the idea of a list of qualities would be a vast improvement.

In the meantime, I am offering teachers some useful ways to connect the CCSS to my two new books—COURAGE HAS NO COLOR, THE TRUE STORY OF THE TRIPLE NICKLES: AMERICA’S FIRST BLACK PARATROOPERS (ages 10 and up with more than 100 photographs/Candlewick Press) and WHO SAYS WOMEN CAN’T BE DOCTORS? THE STORY OF ELIZABETH BLACKWELL (picture book, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman/Henry Holt).

For COURAGE HAS NO COLOR, Lynn Rutan wrote a wonderful Teacher’s Guide, which is being made available in its entirety here. It includes Discussion Questions as well as Writing Prompts and Research Activities with Common Core Connections. For WHO SAYS WOMEN CAN’T BE DOCTORS? I am currently working on a guide that will be available soon and do similar things.

The author of more than ninety books for young readers, Tanya Lee Stone graduated from Oberlin College, worked as an editor of nonfiction books, and earned a master's degree in science education. She moved to Vermont in 1996, wrote her first book, and has been writing ever since. In addition to her two new books—COURAGE HAS NO COLOR and WHO SAYS WOMEN CAN'T BE DOCTORS?—Stone's books include ALMOST ASTRONAUTS, ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY, SANDY'S CIRCUS, UP CLOSE: ELLA FITZGERALD, and A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL. She also has a forthcoming picture book about Jane Addams called THE HOUSE THAT JANE BUILT. Tanya has received many awards for her work, including a BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Honor, YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist, an Orbis Pictus Honor, a Jane Addams Honor, a Flora Stieglitz Straus Award, a Golden Kite Award, and a Robert F. Sibert Medal. She teaches Writing Creative Nonfiction and Writing Children’s Literature at Champlain College.



The Common Core: Showing Nonfiction the Love

Book Reviews: Social Justice

A typical problem I see with my ninth graders is differentiating between a specific detail and a general statement. I would imagine a couple grades above and below show similar problems, so this lesson should work for multiple grade levels.

This lesson takes some initial prep time, but once you set it up, you’re ready to go for all your classes this year and probably several years to come. In class, the students take the lead. Aside from a little guidance, they work together to figure it out themselves.

I use this activity to help teach the theme paragraph. It has a definite point to prove, but it is short enough that we can focus mostly on details. For an example here, I used a chapter from Robert McCammon’s BOY’S LIFE, “Old Moses Comes to Call.” However, you can easily adapt it to suit your assignment.

Time frame: One to two class periods.

The basic activity:

Step 1 (Prep)

Pick out ten or so specific detail sentences from a story or text you are studying. Then make up another ten not-specific detail sentences. Type them, print them out, and copy them so you have enough for everyone in your class. Click here to download a sample.

Next, cut the sentences into strips, so each sentence is on a strip. I use card stock, so the strips last longer. NOTE: You may want to number the strips before copying them to make your life easier in Step Three, or in case the papers get mixed together.

Step 2 (Group Time)

Put students in pairs. Give each pair a complete set of strips and tell them that their first mission is to sort the strips into details and non-details. I recommend pairs not only because it’s more engaging than solo, but also because if this skill is a weakness, the students will need the help.

Step 3 (Back to Full Class)

Bring them back together and go over their answers to explain why the specific ones are specific and the not-specific ones are not so. This is where the numbers on the strips are useful. I like to throw in overgeneralized examples with words like “always” and “everyone” in order to discuss that pitfall.

Step 4 (Back to Groups)

Students return to their groups. Each has a simple graphic organizer with the topic they must prove and two boxes. In one box, each student will copy three specific details he/she will use to support the topic. In the second box, each student will rewrite one of the non-specific details to make it specific.

My example has three boxes because they could also choose which theme they wanted to prove. Here, students have to sift through the examples and select ones that best support their topics.

Step 5 (Individual Time)

From this point, students construct their rough draft in whatever manner suits your needs.

Tech it up:

If you have access to a computer lab, you can put these words in a program like SMART Notebook, which is free, and you do not need a SMART Board to use it. This way the kids can treat this activity more like a computer game where they drag the details to the appropriate column. And for you, you will not have to run to the copy room or cut out hundreds of strips.

Click here to download the one I use; feel free to change some wording and steal my format. NOTE: You’ll need to download the SMART Notebook Interactive Viewer to be able to open the sample file if you do not already have this program.

If you click split screen (the icon at the top that looks like a windshield wiper), the kids will be able to drag the specific details into the graphic organizer. (Again, my example has an extra box so the kids could choose their topic.)

Cross that curriculum:

Certainly science and social studies assignments can utilize this same information, whether it’s for classifying types of rocks or contributing factors of the bubonic plague or the Civil War. So, adapt away!

Tony Varrato teaches English at Sussex Technical High School, in Georgetown, Delaware. He serves as Membership Chair on the Sussex Council Board for the Diamond State Reading Association and helps plan local literacy events. In addition, Tony is the author of several novels for teens, including FAKIE and OUTRAGE, both of which were selected for YALSA's Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers lists.