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Burnt Out on Books

Here's a story from the Washington Post about how our current quest to raise standards may be having some undesirable side effects. 

Odds stacked against pleasure reading
Emphasis on required texts leaves some bookworms burnt out
By Valerie Strauss
May 23, 2005

Sherre Sachar comes from a book-loving family. Her father, Louis, is an award-winning author, and the graduating senior thinks that settling down with a good book should be one of life's great joys. But as she prepares to leave high school and head to Cornell University in the fall, she is tired of reading.

The extensive required reading in her high school classes — including Advanced Placement English Literature, where she flew from one classic to another — left her with no time to pick up books she thought would be fun. And she was frustrated by teachers who offered either too little help in understanding the complex texts or conducted tortured efforts to wring symbolism out of every word.

"I haven't read a book for pleasure in about three years," said Sachar, 18. "If I do, it's in the summer, and I might only get through one book because I'm so sick of trying to read. It's not fun anymore."

Allowing students some choice in what they read and helping them understand the content is a difficult balance to strike for today's teachers, educators say.

Little time for pleasure reading
With high-stakes standardized testing driving curriculum and teachers increasingly required to use scripted lesson plans, what is getting lost for many teachers is the freedom to allow students to explore books of their choosing — and the time to explore the meaning, the educators say. And many students, especially in high school, simply have no time to read what they want.

More here.

Harper Lee Makes an Appearance

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, made a rare public appearance in Los Angeles last week. Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize for that year, was named the best novel of the century in a 1999 survey of librarians conducted by Library Journal, and remains one of the most widely taught books in American schools.  The 1962 movie of the book, starring Gregory Peck, is considered a classic as well.  Lee, 79, has published no other novels.  You can read about her Los Angeles appearance (and see a photograph of her) here.

You Can't Look It Up

Merriam-Webster Online has posted a list of the ten most popular words not in the dictionary.  They include ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous; confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time; slickery (adj): having a surface that is wet and icy; and snirt (n): snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed. You can read the entire list here.

To the Golden Wood

Middle school and high school teachers tend to read aloud to their students less often than teachers in the earlier grades, but maybe we shouldn't be so quick to set aside such a valuable practice.  Teenagers can fall under the spell of the spoken word just as readily as third graders.  In a recent article in The Guardian, novelist Janet Lee Carey describes her experience reading Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring to her teenage son when he was in the hospital: 

Most parents stop reading aloud to their kids when they are six or seven. We never did. Our many hospital stays kept us in good practice. Of course, our son is an avid reader himself, but you try reading while you're flat on your back with drainage tubes, heart monitor wires, and an IV in your arm.

Just after dawn, I opened the pages of The Fellowship Of The Ring. Josh had read the series before, but that didn't matter a wit. I launched into the story and we were pulled into the adventure. Never did we need Middle Earth more than we did then. The book took us from Bilbo's birthday party in Hobbiton, to the Council of Elrond, and onward with Frodo and company to the golden wood of Lothlorien.

You can read the rest here.

NCTE Releases Report on SAT and ACT Writing Tests

The National Council of Teachers of English recently released a report on the SAT and ACT writing exams.  They conclude that the tests are probably not a good thing.

The SAT and ACT timed writing tests are “unlikely to improve writing instruction,” and have the potential to “compromise student writers and undermine longstanding efforts to improve writing instruction in the nation’s schools,” according to “The Impact of the SAT and ACT Timed Writing Tests,” a report from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Task Force on SAT and ACT Writing Tests.

The task force’s findings relate to both the new SAT essay and the new essay component of the ACT (which, being optional, is expected to have less of an impact). The report raises serious concerns about the validity of the tests as an indication of writing ability, the impact of the tests on curriculum and classroom instruction, the unintended consequences of the writing tests, and issues of equity.

Task Force Chair Robert Yagelski, of the State University of New York at Albany, says, “I support the College Board’s desire to send a message about the importance of writing, but the new timed writing component of the SAT also sends troubling messages about writing and may actually undermine our efforts to improve writing instruction at the secondary level."

You can read a more complete summary or download a copy of the full report here.

On a related note, the director of undergraduate writing at MIT, Les Perelman, claims that to get a high score on the new SAT writing test, all you have to do is write something long.  You can read about Perelman's concerns here.

 

International Reading Association Regional Conference Coming to Albuquerque

Begin planning now to attend the 31st IRA Southwest Regional Conference.  It will be held in Albuquerque at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, February 1-4, 2006.  Speakers will include reading researcher Richard Allington, renowned writing teacher Ralph Fletcher, and many others.  To print a flier about the conference, click here (pdf).  Registration begins May 23.  If you'd like to submit a proposal to present at the conference, you can download the call for proposals here (pdf).  Proposals are due June 17.

The End is Near

The last days of school can be trying for everyone involved.  Here are some ideas about what to do with your students as the year winds down.  They come from a conversation on the "MiddleWeb" listserv.

1. Board Games
2. Word games (Taboo -- have students make up the cards based on this year's curriculum, Word Mastermind, $25,000 Pyramid, for examples)
3. Write and shoot a short video about a topic from the year
4. Write and perform skits/scenes from this year's content
5. Dress as historical figures and have them debate modern world issues
6. Paint a wall in (or outside) the school that expresses the curriculum or students' unique nature
7. Establish a Web site devoted to a school-related topic
8. Record books on tape for younger students, homeless shelter residents, nursing home residents. 9. Community service, service learning
10. Build benches for the school's courtyard or grounds
11. Plant bushes, trees, flowers on the school property
12. Write letters to hospital patients that will be placed on their food trays (You or a parent can take them over there after school one day)
13. Write letters to themselves that you will send them one year from now
14. Set goals for next year
15. Write letters of advice to next year's students who take your course

To see the rest of the conversation, click here.  (The suggestions above come from middle school expert Rick Wormeli.  To see more from him, scroll to the bottom of the page after you click.)