(Page 8) “…the academic achievement levels of students who are taught by good teachers increase at greater rates that the levels of those who are taught by other teachers…well-prepared teachers raise the achievement of all students, not just those who were already doing well.”
While I don’t necessarily agree with the No Child Left Behind definition of a highly qualified teacher, I do believe agree that it’s the teacher that makes the difference in student learning. Even though my daughter isn’t even close to being in school, I’m all concerned about how I’m going to make sure she has the best teachers once she does go. Sure, I’ll do my job at home, but I don’t know that that can make up for a poor teacher.
So what makes a good teacher a good teacher??? I have my thoughts, but I’d like to read yours first! In addition to the response you planned, please write a little more about what you think the qualities of a good teacher are.
(Page 8) “Without additional training, teachers at the secondary level remain largely unable to take up the task of enhancing adolescent literacy.”
I’m sure all of us took the one required reading course in college, but how many of us can say that that course prepared us for teaching students how to read our course content? Even as a special education teacher, I left school not really knowing how to teach students to read. For my ONE reading course for SpEd certification, it was a K-12 class, and the professor focused on reading at the elementary level because that is what she had taught. I can remember thinking, “If they can say the words, they can understand what they’re reading. How is that any different than listening to someone talk? And how can they get to high school if they can’t say the words?” Oh, my ignorance! It wasn’t until I started taking classes, going to workshops, and hearing the same thing over and over that I began to figure out how to teach my students how to read. I honestly used to think that teachers who did SSR in their classes just wanted to keep the students quiet and not have to do anything else. I can’t imagine teaching resource without SSR now. I thought I was doing a good job in the classroom because my students liked me and I was able to help them get through all of their classes and graduate. But were their skills really any better after they graduated than before? I wish I could get them all back and really teach them!
While I don’t necessarily agree with the No Child Left Behind definition of a highly qualified teacher, I do believe agree that it’s the teacher that makes the difference in student learning. Even though my daughter isn’t even close to being in school, I’m all concerned about how I’m going to make sure she has the best teachers once she does go. Sure, I’ll do my job at home, but I don’t know that that can make up for a poor teacher.
So what makes a good teacher a good teacher??? I have my thoughts, but I’d like to read yours first! In addition to the response you planned, please write a little more about what you think the qualities of a good teacher are.
(Page 8) “Without additional training, teachers at the secondary level remain largely unable to take up the task of enhancing adolescent literacy.”
I’m sure all of us took the one required reading course in college, but how many of us can say that that course prepared us for teaching students how to read our course content? Even as a special education teacher, I left school not really knowing how to teach students to read. For my ONE reading course for SpEd certification, it was a K-12 class, and the professor focused on reading at the elementary level because that is what she had taught. I can remember thinking, “If they can say the words, they can understand what they’re reading. How is that any different than listening to someone talk? And how can they get to high school if they can’t say the words?” Oh, my ignorance! It wasn’t until I started taking classes, going to workshops, and hearing the same thing over and over that I began to figure out how to teach my students how to read. I honestly used to think that teachers who did SSR in their classes just wanted to keep the students quiet and not have to do anything else. I can’t imagine teaching resource without SSR now. I thought I was doing a good job in the classroom because my students liked me and I was able to help them get through all of their classes and graduate. But were their skills really any better after they graduated than before? I wish I could get them all back and really teach them!
12 comments:
Andrea Baker
Media Specialist
NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform
Reading and Blog due Nov. 13, 2006
A good teacher has the intrinsic motivation and preparatory knowledge to teach student oriented reading and writing assignments that are meaningful, relevant, and interesting to her students. Good teachers are abundant; great teachers are not.
In order for a school culture to foster systemic change vis-à-vis adolescent literacy (IMHO) all stakeholders must be on board and participate in school wide professional development (per the article). This necessitates the school administration having high expectations for all teachers and encouraging, even modeling, desired behaviors. I think it is fantastic we have a number of talented administrators (stakeholders who are also powerbrokers) who have opted to join the yearlong SCRI study group.
Diane (our superb leader) is operating at the “first exposure” level during faculty meetings and giving all Airport High School teachers some exposure to literacy strategies. But the lucky teachers (begs the question are we lucky or good teachers who recognize a golden opportunity when we see it!!) who are members of the SCRI study groups are the folks who are moving (per the chart on page 9) up the “multiple stages of professional development learning.”
Current, plentiful technology on demand is also necessary for optimal adolescent literacy instruction. The list of literacy skills on p. 5 of the NCTE article concludes with “finding information online.” The inherent presumption is that the computer the adolescent uses to access this information is running the latest operating system and that the student is archiving work on a digital, as opposed to analog, medium. Please note I do not think technology makes a teacher good or great, but current technology tools give good, as well as great, teachers the tools they need to do their jobs well.
p.5 - "Motivation is the factor that leads students to read or not, and engagement means choosing to read when faced with other options." I wasn't aware of the difference in these two terms. I think a lot of us who teach English or Resource do a good job of motivating students to read through our independent reading time and our classroom libraries, but we need to push students towards that engagement. I have a few former students who still come by to get books from me; maybe they have reached engagement. I know I am engaged to read and hopefully, I am pushing some of my students towards that.
p. 13 - "Adolescent literacy is necessarily interdisciplinary." - This is why it is so important to get our content area teachers on board with reading, teaching reading, independent reading, reading across the curriculum, etc. I wish we had more content teachers in our class (Monday group). There are so many cool ways that they could include reading in their curriculums and still cover content, and I just wish we could get that message across.
What makes a good teacher? Obviously, they need to know their content and their students. More importantly, in my opinion, they have to want to be in this building. Our kids know who genuinely enjoys their job and who doesn't, and I think that the teachers who like teaching and like adolescents will ultimately be more successful at teaching our students.
Rita Malyerck
NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform
November 13, 2006
I knew early on that I was not addressing the literacy needs of my students. I thought I only needed to cover the mathematical needs. After reading this research brief, I completely buy into the responsiblity of every teacher addressing their students' literacy needs. Like most teachers, I haven't been equipped with the tools necessary to make improvements. I'm very thankful that this need has been recognized and effective professional development programs are available.
It's amazing that studies have shown that moderate increases in profession development could lead to significant increases in student achievement.
What makes a good teacher a good teacher? A teacher that not only knows their content area, but does everything possible to make sure that the students are learning what they will need to know. Monitoring each student's progress
and being aware of improvements that are made. Not every student will understand everything, but a good teacher makes sure that every student has improved their knowledge of the content area and is able to apply this knowledge when needed.
NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform
As I was reading this article, I was alarmed at a lot of the statistics concerning literacy such as 1 in 4 secondary school students who are unable to read and comprehend the material in their textbooks.
I am constantly talking to my students about the difference between “hearing” a teacher and “comprehending” what a teacher has said. Too many of our students hear us but don’t comprehend us. Too many of our students read text but don’t comprehend the text. Their minds are too full of other things to take the time to comprehend. No wonder employers are looking in other countries to find suitable employees.(p4).
I have taught all grade levels. I have heard high school teachers say that the middle school teachers didn’t do their job. I have heard the ms teacher say that the elementary teachers didn’t do their job. I have heard the elementary teachers say that the parents didn’t do their jobs. What is the answer?? It is time for everyone to stop "passing the buck" and take responsibility for helping our students learn.
I agree with the text that the adolescent reader needs instruction that links to their personal experiences (p.5). I know that if my son/daughter is interested in something, they will read about it all day long.
In Part II, the term “highly-qualified teacher” is defined as someone who has a BA degree, certification and knowledge of what they teach. I agree and disagree with this statement. I agree that we need a college education, but I have also taught long enough to know that we have wonderful teaching assistants and volunteers who were unable to attend college, but who are wonderful teachers!!
In Part III, collaboration between teachers is discussed. Having taught at all levels, I have seen collaboration used successfully and unsuccessfully. I have team-taught with other teachers throughout the years. I have always tried to incorporate reading, math and social studies in my classrooms. I have had students go back to their classroom teachers and tell them things that they have learned in my class. I am also teaching reading of text and musical notes each day.
Hmmm… what makes a good teacher? I agree with Pam. A good teacher knows her content and her students. Knowing her students allows the good teacher to plan for what her students need to learn and how best to ensure that learning takes place. Good teachers focus on making sure students learn no matter what it takes. They meet their students where they are and bring them up from there. They don’t say, “They should already know that; it’s not my responsibility to teach that.” I also think Andrea is right. There are lots of good teachers but not lots of great teachers. It will take an overhaul of the current educational system to increase the number of great teachers. Until teachers are no longer being asked to do more with less, things won’t really change. I don’t think I can be great until I have smaller classes, more resources, and truly enough time to plan for student learning; but I am certainly going to try.
As for article, am I the only one who felt angry as I read? The first sentence reads, “Over 8 million students in grades 4-12 read below grade level…” Eight million doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know the total number of students in grades 4-12. A percentage would have been much better. On page 9, I found the bulleted list of different types of things students need to be able to read and understand very interesting, especially determining whether to vote for a state amendment. Doing that earlier this month was some of the most difficult reading I’ve done in awhile. Right after that, the article mentioned that media literacy can go a long way in raising comprehension scores. I would love for us to be able to offer a media literacy course. Annette mentioned the term under-literate. I think the people who are making the educational decisions at all levels are not taking into account that the volume of what kids need to learn has grown at a rate which doesn’t allow us to teach everything we’ve taught in the past if we’re expected to teach what’s new. I think that’s part of the reason kids are under-literate.
I thought the info on the importance professional development has on student achievement was very interesting. However, for the professional development to be effective, it has to make its way into the classroom. If we who are part of the SCRI study group don’t take the strategies Diane models for us and use them with our students, they do no good. That brings me back to what I said about good teachers needing ample, uninterrupted time for planning to become great teachers. Can y’all tell I want/need more time to plan?
According to the NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform, there is a connection between professional development and students’ learning and achievement.
I enjoy learning new strategies, and I enjoy sharing them with my students. Sometimes strategies fall flat the first time I try them, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try them again. I may be learning exactly how my students feel when they’re expected to assimilate four courses a day, including homework, projects, and class work—not to mention the day to day literacy required for our high tech world.
Perseverance, patience, planning and purpose are attributes I see in good teachers.
After reading about the many problems of adolescent literacy on page 4, I was confused about the statement that followed these problems. “Meanwhile, our knowledge-based society and information-driven economy increasingly demand a more highly literate population. In the 21st century Unites States, it is not enough to be able to read and write- the literacy demands of the global marketplace have grown more complicated.”
Please bear with me; I am having a hard time getting my thoughts on this issue into words. I may repeat myself and restate my thoughts to try and make sense of what I am thinking.
What I don’t understand is how the problem got this bad and why there is such a gap in what is expected and what people can actually do. If so many of our students that are graduating and going into the workplace can’t meet the demands of what is expected how did the demands get so complicated? My guess is that this problem of under-literate people is not a new thing but why does it seem to be getting worse and who are the over-literate people making things more complicated?
Okay, after going to class on Monday and speaking with Pam and Andrea, I think I have a better grasp on this statement. I now realize that this problem is stemming from the fact that more and more of our young-adults do not have the computer skills and/or access to computers needed to “keep up” with what is being demanded by an ever changing information-driven economy. We then discussed that it is hard for our adolescents to keep up because many schools do not have the technology needed for students to gain this new information. Not only schools, but many homes do not have the technology, or even a computer, for young people to use. This is obviously a very real problem that I had no idea about until I read this article. I would be interested in following up on this topic in the future and hopefully seeing what gains have been made.
I agree with what everyone has said about what makes a good teacher. Teachers may know their content forwards and backwards but they need to be willing to use that knowledge to plan lessons that will really engage the students and will help many types of learners understand it (hmmm, sounds like differentiated instruction). Good teachers also care about their students and adolescents in general. They are able to build rapport with their students but still have the authority and classroom management needed to maintain a good learning environment.
NCTE Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform
November 27, 2006
There was a lot of interesting information in this reading. Though it does state specific statistics, I would have to agree with Claire, in that a percentage would help me understand better the relationship of numbers (because I’m that bad at math!). If there are 24 million students in grades 4-12, and 8 million are below grade level, then the percentage of below grade level is actually not bad. Because students do need the complex literacy skills that the article talks about on page 2, then the focus should not be on what they are learning/reading in English, but what they are learning/reading in all content areas. This seems very important to me, not only because I don’t have enough time in the day, but also because English is such a wide scope of literacy possibilities, that the students are reading in all of their classes: that all teachers are giving their students time to read for pleasure as well as content knowledge. “Moreover, literacy is not a technical skill acquired once and for all in the primary grades. Rather, students develop it over many years, and that development continues will into adolescence and beyond” (p. 5). Teachers need to understand that this literacy continuum does not stop at the English doorstep. It must be seen in all content area curricula to support and move the student forward to become highly literate.
What makes a good teacher? A good teacher must tie in content and literacy with real world connections to help students be successful in their life’s profession; understand where the student is from and where the student wants to go; show compassion and passion for each and every student, and let the student know you care. Yes, there are times I get annoyed that they “should have been taught that before,” but who hasn’t? There is no right or wrong answer when describing a good teacher, because a good teacher makes mistakes and learns from them, just like everyone else in the job they love.
In 1996 I participated in a Teacher in the Workforce program through USC. One of the ideas behind this was that the teachers needed to see what job skills are required of our graduating students upon entering the workforce. On page 4 the opening paragraph listed many of the skills that was required of the employees at Richtex Brick (the company I was placed with) which included comprehending highly sophisticated information, negotiating elaborate structures and intricate style, understand context-dependent vocabulary and recognize implicit purposes. Yes, all of that to be an employee capable of making brick. As Lola stated earlier, I was also shocked by our NHS students not understanding how to break down assembling directions when putting together storage sheds for the Habitat for Humanities this month. So, it would be an understatement to say that I agree that our nation cannot afford and under-literate workforce.
As a Social Studies teacher I realize that students need to not only be able to read but comprehend a variety of different types of printed material not just a textbook or a map. I agree with the premise in the article (page 5) that it is our job as teachers to show them how literacy operates within academic disciplines and when our instruction does not address adolescents’ literacy needs motivation and engagement are diminished. If we don’t engage them the chances of them learning to love reading or become life-long learners is slim. I have started using book clubs in my psychology class and have really enjoyed giving the students their choice of three books and putting them in literature circles based on their selections. I have seen that the self-selection of texts does give the students the motivation to read and make real-world connections as was stated on page 6 of the article.
When reading the article (page 8 and page 13) I found like Christy stated earlier that professional communities are one of the most effective ways to develop teachers and staff. This is also one of the ways to develop a ‘highly-qualified teacher’ as the No Child Left Behind legislation mandates. I also know teachers who didn’t fit that category and had to jump through additional hoops to do what they’ve always done well. Also, in order to take the effectiveness of the professional development a step further and demonstrate that student achievement has occurred. This has been proven repeatedly with the research done with Natioanl Board Teachers and the students that are in their classrooms.
I also agree with Pam that good teachers should know their content and their students well. If asked what their personal teaching pedagogy is most teachers would definitely site both as imperative to being a good teacher. The problem here is that there are many teachers striving to be good teachers who aren’t equipped to teach ‘reading’ to their students and were certified to teach in high schools with absolutely no training in how to ‘teach reading’. This is where I think literacy coaching is most effective…with teachers striving to be better and looking for a way to bridge the gap.
I surely do not think that the general teaching of reading class I took in college really prepared me for teaching reading to students. I also took a remedial reading class in college that I think I learned a great deal more from, but since I didn't use that very much in my first couple years teaching, I lost a lot of that knowledge. I think I also agreed with the thought of... "If they can read it... They can understand it". Boy, was I wrong. I never even thought to use SSR in my classroom or even do read alouds. How much they would have helped in those first years teaching.
Adolescent Literacy Reform
I never thought about reforming literacy! Until SCRI I had no idea of all the ins and outs of reading. I keep referring back to the fact that I was a math teacher and did not read, but I now know we all need to keep literacy in the forefront!! This article gives great insight as to how we need to let our students know that literacy if more than reading and writing. I think this is a hard concept for our students, and some teachers, to grasp. Since our students are so technologically advanced, we need to make then realize that these mediums are used to convey thoughts and help students make connections to texts.
The article points out that teachers of all grades should be experts in literacy. I know it is hard, but we all need to make an effort to better ourselves in this area. We need not put all the burden on English teachers!!
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