10-second review: What is the problem with “tracking” students? Tracked students achieve/behave according to the level of their track. We need to see them as individuals. We need to know and encourage their aspirations.
Source: R VanDeWaghe. English Journal (July 2005), 85-86. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Tracking works against students both ways, at the top and the bottom. Just because students are in the highest-tracked classes does not mean that they are all equally talented. We need, as the author said, to recognize them as individuals with individual strengths and weaknesses, as individual human beings. On the other hand, students who are tracked at the low end of the scale are treated by teachers as “dummies” and the teachers’ expectations and the students’ are just that—dummies. The lifeless curriculum and the discouraged attitude make sure that the students live up to their expectations. I have seen too many true-life examples of that.
Example: A teacher invited me in to see her teach grammar in a mixed group of fifth-grade students. She did a marvelous job. Her enthusiasm for what she was teaching was contagious. The students had a great deal of fun and they learned the grammar she was teaching very well. I stayed around to see her teach reading groups. She started with the bottom group. Her teaching turned from lively to lifeless. The best way to describe it was “wooden.” Her questions lacked any enthusiasm and the students almost fell asleep as she droned and they droned answers to questions about a basal story.
On the other hand. I have also had very talented teachers take on the problems of working with difficult students. I have seen some of the best stay with it for a year or two and then request not to continue. The students were achieving so little that the teachers became discouraged. There’s a problem here. Tracking is certainly not the solution. Tomorrow’s article deals with that problem. RayS.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Topic: Terminology in the Curriculum
10-second review: How does terminology get in the way of teaching and learning? Author “demystifies" math by changing formal terminology in math to terms that more clearly relate to the concept: For example, why use "percentages"when "hundredths" would do?
Source: Review of Demathtifying: Demystifying Mathematics by L Samson. Reviewed by JW Lott. The Mathematics Teacher (February 2005), 446. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Comment: Consider doing the same in English grammar. Why not "—ing verb" for "gerund," etc. I know that I have used successfully an approach to punctuation that I read long ago, the three most important uses of the comma: after “introductory expressions,” around “interrupting expressions” and before “afterthoughts.”
Look at all of the grammatical terms used to describe “introductory expressions”: “direct address,” “prepositional phrases,” “verbal/gerundial/participial phrases,” “infinitive phrases,” “subordinate clauses,” etc. I have found that the term “introductory expressions” helps to simplify and clarify this use of the comma. Grammatical terminology only adds clutter and confusion to the procedure for separating the introductory expression from the rest of the sentence.
“Interrupters" include “direct address,” the “appositive” and “relative” or “Parenthetical” clauses.
“Afterthoughts”: The technical grammatical term for an “afterthought” is an “absolute,” an isolated construction. Many years ago, when people in English worried about defining a “mature” writing style, I read an article suggesting that the outstanding trait of mature writing was the frequent use of absolutes. Absolutes do seem to be plentiful in sophisticated and scholarly materials. The term "Afterthoughts" is a much clearer description of the concept than "absolute."
By the way, I need to give credit for the terminology—“introductory expressions,” “interrupters,” and “afterthoughts”—to a short note in an old copy of the National Council of Teachers of English quarterly publication, College Composition and Communication. A college—Susquehanna?—used these terms in describing what they had discovered to be the most frequent uses of the comma from an analysis of published writing. I remember the terms, but no longer have the issue of the publication, nor do I know how to find the information, which was added to fill space at the end of an article. For me, that terminology has been one of the most useful tools for teaching punctuation I have ever found.
It would be fun to go through grammatical terminology to see if we could find more descriptive words. Grammatical terminology is probably the most difficult and abstract reason, jargon, that distracts students from learning English grammar—that and the fact that grammatical information has very little application as it does in foreign languages. RayS.
Source: Review of Demathtifying: Demystifying Mathematics by L Samson. Reviewed by JW Lott. The Mathematics Teacher (February 2005), 446. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Comment: Consider doing the same in English grammar. Why not "—ing verb" for "gerund," etc. I know that I have used successfully an approach to punctuation that I read long ago, the three most important uses of the comma: after “introductory expressions,” around “interrupting expressions” and before “afterthoughts.”
Look at all of the grammatical terms used to describe “introductory expressions”: “direct address,” “prepositional phrases,” “verbal/gerundial/participial phrases,” “infinitive phrases,” “subordinate clauses,” etc. I have found that the term “introductory expressions” helps to simplify and clarify this use of the comma. Grammatical terminology only adds clutter and confusion to the procedure for separating the introductory expression from the rest of the sentence.
“Interrupters" include “direct address,” the “appositive” and “relative” or “Parenthetical” clauses.
“Afterthoughts”: The technical grammatical term for an “afterthought” is an “absolute,” an isolated construction. Many years ago, when people in English worried about defining a “mature” writing style, I read an article suggesting that the outstanding trait of mature writing was the frequent use of absolutes. Absolutes do seem to be plentiful in sophisticated and scholarly materials. The term "Afterthoughts" is a much clearer description of the concept than "absolute."
By the way, I need to give credit for the terminology—“introductory expressions,” “interrupters,” and “afterthoughts”—to a short note in an old copy of the National Council of Teachers of English quarterly publication, College Composition and Communication. A college—Susquehanna?—used these terms in describing what they had discovered to be the most frequent uses of the comma from an analysis of published writing. I remember the terms, but no longer have the issue of the publication, nor do I know how to find the information, which was added to fill space at the end of an article. For me, that terminology has been one of the most useful tools for teaching punctuation I have ever found.
It would be fun to go through grammatical terminology to see if we could find more descriptive words. Grammatical terminology is probably the most difficult and abstract reason, jargon, that distracts students from learning English grammar—that and the fact that grammatical information has very little application as it does in foreign languages. RayS.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Topic: Reading on the Internet
10-second review: What advantage does the Internet have in increasing understanding of words? “In a traditional print environment, the discovery of new word meanings might be through the use of contextual clues, morphological [prefixes, roots, suffixes] awareness, or the use of external reference materials. Online, the reader might use hypertext links to access a dictionary or alternate pages with detailed information, diagrams or other images that explain and elaborate definitions and related concepts.”
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 495. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: There are some definite advantages to reading on line. Teachers and students need to become familiar with using hypertext while reading. Teachers and students also need to learn how to access a vocabulary definition quickly from an on-line dictionary. Google, at http://www.google.com/, is a convenient source for Web Definitions. Merriam Webster’s On-Line Search offers oral pronunciation of difficult words (http://www.merriam-webster.com/). RayS.
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 495. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: There are some definite advantages to reading on line. Teachers and students need to become familiar with using hypertext while reading. Teachers and students also need to learn how to access a vocabulary definition quickly from an on-line dictionary. Google, at http://www.google.com/, is a convenient source for Web Definitions. Merriam Webster’s On-Line Search offers oral pronunciation of difficult words (http://www.merriam-webster.com/). RayS.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Topic: Successful Readers and the Think-Aloud
10-second review: What are some examples of modeling reading skills and strategies? “The think-aloud is a technique by which the individual voices her or his thoughts during the performance of a task…. …the think-aloud has been used to provide information about user cognition and processing during task performance or problem solving.”
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 493.
Comment: Instruction in the think-aloud strategy must be modeled. Teachers read passages aloud and tell what they are thinking as they read. I don’t know about trying this strategy with chapters or short stories or novels. Identifying difficult passages and modeling how teachers would read them seems to be the best use of the strategy. In short, keep it short. RayS.
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 493.
Comment: Instruction in the think-aloud strategy must be modeled. Teachers read passages aloud and tell what they are thinking as they read. I don’t know about trying this strategy with chapters or short stories or novels. Identifying difficult passages and modeling how teachers would read them seems to be the best use of the strategy. In short, keep it short. RayS.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Topic: Reading on the Internet
10-second review: What are some reading skills that are needed to read Internet text successfully? “With printed text, readers may skim or scan to determine length, organizational format, and key passages that might relate to the purpose of the reading activity…. Due to the volume of text on-line, it is necessary for students to become proficient at skimming and scanning for information.”
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 494. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: My definition of skimming is to search through the text rapidly to find the answer to a question. My definition of scanning is to read the first paragraph, the first sentence of middle paragraphs and the last paragraph to gain an impression of the main ideas and important details. RayS.
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 494. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: My definition of skimming is to search through the text rapidly to find the answer to a question. My definition of scanning is to read the first paragraph, the first sentence of middle paragraphs and the last paragraph to gain an impression of the main ideas and important details. RayS.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Topic: Reading and Prior Knowledge
10-second review: What is the role of prior knowledge in successful reading? “In the online environment, it is equally important that the reader or searcher consciously activate her or his prior knowledge.”
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 494. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: The more you know about a topic, the more you will comprehend what you read about it. One of the easily forgotten pieces of instruction when assigning reading is to remind students to think about what they already know about the topic and what questions they might have.
In class, I would have students brainstorm what they know before they read for about five minutes. Then I would have them read the title, the sub-title, the first paragraph, last paragraph and the first sentence of every middle paragraph. Finally, I would ask them what questions they have and the answers to these questions would become the purpose for reading. If the article does not answer all the questions the students have, I would have them try to find the answers on the Internet. RayS.
Source: A Kymes. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (March 2005), 494. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: The more you know about a topic, the more you will comprehend what you read about it. One of the easily forgotten pieces of instruction when assigning reading is to remind students to think about what they already know about the topic and what questions they might have.
In class, I would have students brainstorm what they know before they read for about five minutes. Then I would have them read the title, the sub-title, the first paragraph, last paragraph and the first sentence of every middle paragraph. Finally, I would ask them what questions they have and the answers to these questions would become the purpose for reading. If the article does not answer all the questions the students have, I would have them try to find the answers on the Internet. RayS.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Topic: Modeling Reading
10-second review. Demonstrates what a successful reader does.
Source: Wenk, M. English Journal (July 2005), 42-48. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: For example: Chapter in a textbook. Read title and sub-title. First paragraph. Last paragraph. First sentence in middle paragraphs. Charts. Diagrams. Purpose for reading: raise question, “What do I want to know from the chapter?” Read to answer. Apply the information in some way; for example, what can I learn about the topic on the Internet? Note: I think professional articles about reading say very little concerning applying the information students learn from reading information in textbooks. RayS.
Source: Wenk, M. English Journal (July 2005), 42-48. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: For example: Chapter in a textbook. Read title and sub-title. First paragraph. Last paragraph. First sentence in middle paragraphs. Charts. Diagrams. Purpose for reading: raise question, “What do I want to know from the chapter?” Read to answer. Apply the information in some way; for example, what can I learn about the topic on the Internet? Note: I think professional articles about reading say very little concerning applying the information students learn from reading information in textbooks. RayS.
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