I am so glad each of you decided to join Airport's first SCRI study group. It has been a great experience working with each of you this year; I have loved facilitating our classes and sharing in professional discussions. Whether you realize it or not, you all have been pioneers by participating in this blog. We are the first SCRI study group to ever use the web to share our thinking!
As you reflect on the year, consider the following questions...
What has been the most valuable part of this course for you? Is there something in particular you learned that has been helpful in your teaching? Has your approach to teaching text changed at all? Have your views on reading and writing changed at all? Any other thoughts you have?
21 comments:
Blog Due April 16, 2007
I really enjoyed the whole package… quick writes, blogging, professional literature, book clubs, exit slips, practicing the strategies, etc. and the way Diane made the class innovative and enjoyable! Confession…. I have confided in a number of folks that contemporary YA literature is not my favorite thing. I really, really like the classics (anything by the Bronte sisters, Dickens, etc.) and nonfiction. This class has “compelled” me to read some current YA offerings and contemplate how important this genre is to a large segment of our student population.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I had never encountered reading strategies (we learned about this year) in any of the library science classes I have ever encountered. This has made me think about reading from a different perspective. Lastly, it has been fantastic to become more acquainted with my colleagues!! Learning together in SCRI has really been the high point of my school year. Thanks!
I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in the SCRI study group this year, and I look forward to this again next year. The most valuable part for me was learning along with my Airport colleagues. I enjoyed reading everyone's comments on the blog, and as this is just my second year at Airport, I still feel like there are teachers that I don't know well yet, and I have enjoyed getting to know more and more of you. It is also been helpful to understand better how things are run in other classes, since my students have so many different teachers for their other classes. One thing that I enjoyed in particular was reading young adult novels and participating in literature circle discussions. My juniors are currently reading Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn and discussing the book weekly using the role sheets. This week is their third week, and I have been impressed by their level of discussion and understanding. I don't believe that I have made any major changes to my teaching of text, but I do like the fact that we focused on so many different strategies. Helping our students to understand informational text is critical these days, and I am glad that I have learned multiple strategies to help me teach them. I am very excited that so many of you that are not English teachers are excited about sustained silent reading, and I am impressed with the writing you do with your students. I hope that as a group we can get more teachers at Airport excited about daily reading and writing in the content areas. I would love to see the whole faculty read the book Subjects Matter next year if we do a faculty professional book. I sincerely hope that we as a group will function as agents of change as we try to interest more of our colleagues into trying these wonderful strategies that Diane has taught us.
I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of SCRI this year. Never once did I feel like going to class was a waste of time. As for what was most important or useful to me, it would have to be the strategies. One might assume that as an English teacher I would know how to teach reading; but like I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, I have no more training than other secondary teachers when it comes to teaching students how to read, so I learned a lot this year. It helped to use the strategy myself first. It gave me more credibility when I used it in my own classroom. I also very much appreciated the professional dialogue that took place during class. Even though we may not all see eye-to-eye on every issue, I know that the people involved in our study groups are committed to being learners themselves and that means all our students benefit. I also appreciated the time given for reflection. Reflection is an important part of evaluating myself. I’m already looking forward to next year’s group.
Final Thoughts
I have to be honest. I originally joined this class because it was free, and it would extend my certificate another five years. I came with the expectations that I would just enjoy the class.
WELL… Enjoy the class I have – immensely. I truly wish this course had been around when I left the confines of college to enter the real world of teaching. Not one single course that I took in college prepared me to actual teach reading as much as this course did. While I am not teaching courses that actually require a lot of reading, this class has made me realize that there are strategies to guide the students into loving reading as much as I do – even in student leadership.
The most valuable part of this class, along with the neat handouts on strategies was the discussion we had in class. I really liked to camaraderie and frank discussions we had on what was actually going on in our classes. We bonded. I feel like we were there for each other. I also appreciate the fact that my colleagues respected by thoughts and opinions about certain topics – alcohol. I respected the fact that as Claire said, we didn’t always see eye to eye but we are all committed to being better educators to help our students be life-long learners.
I also enjoyed the read alouds because I am always looking for something along this line to use with my leadership class. I was able to get some great titles to use as read alouds, which is helpful since I am actually not around so-called English stuff much any more. As I think about it, I agree with Andrea: I really enjoyed the whole packages. I like to write, so I think next year’s class with emphasis on writing will be beneficial to everyone.
As an English teacher, I really enjoyed listening to Christy and Jamie as they got excited about what they were doing in their classes, and it made me realize that finally, it isn’t just the English department teaching “reading.” I loved hearing about Jimmy’s strategy, especially the “dude” part of the sketch.
I loved the reflections that we did even though some of them brought up some memories I would just rather not remember. I think reflecting, though, is a valuable tool for self-analysis as well as student analysis. Gee, I wish life provided more time for that.
Diane, thank you for everything – for opening up our eyes to something wonderful.
I too, as Lola, was looking for a free and convenient course that would help me get my 5 years of recertification. Surprisingly, I found a place of solitude on Thursday afternoons and as I read the required readings and book club books. My life for the last 3 years has not been an easy one and finding the time to read anything (other than magazines in the doctors offices) has virtually been impossible. I don't remember taking any classes in college when I was working on my masters in elementary ed. that taught me how to encourage my students to read. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing with my students the strategies that I have learned and the books that I have read. I used the opportunity to read to my students the book "Fantasia, Life is not a Fairy Tale" and to relate it to the television show American Idol. We compared/contrasted Fantasia and Clay Aiken after we read an article by Clay.
I talked with my students about the book club books and we did quick write from examples of Denzel Washington's book, as well as, reading "America's White Table Cloth" and writing letters to our soilders. I also enjoyed the Winter Literacy Conference. I guess the biggest challenge for me has been the blogging process. I had never blogged and I had plenty of problems along the way, but Diane was always there with helpful hints. I want to thank Diane for making class interesting each week, for encouraging us to succeed and for making class stress free. I also want to thank her for visiting my class and for the helpful comments that she gave. I'm not sure that the class will fit into my schedule next year, as changes are happening around me each day, but I highly recommend this class to any and everyone. I also have found a new outlet for me in young adult books and I WILL be reading more starting this summer. In fact, I have already checked out "Speak" from the local library.
Thanks again for a wonderful experience.
Final Thoughts
When I was given the opportunity to take this class I thought it would help me to do a better job in helping my students be better writers but it was offered on Mondays which is still the tap, ballet and now the t-ball day of the week so I emailed Diane my regrets and thought the matter was closed. With Diane I really should have known better because she went one better and opened up a second section of class if we had the numbers and the Thursday night group began. I had worked with Diane in the past and like Claire knew that even when you can’t predict much in this world you did know with certainty that she was not going to waste your time-and she certainly didn’t. Each day I commuted to ‘the other end of the world’ (which as it turns out was good practice as I will probably call it home next year) and like Lola mentioned, I knew that once the commute was over, I would be given the opportunity to meet with other teachers I never get a chance to see. I also looked forward to hearing from experts in all subject areas-even Math (ughh-no offense!) with people like Joni who are actually really good with numbers?!?
To be completely candid at the very first class in the SCRI study group I felt unqualified to deal with ‘young adult literature’ and like Andrea mentioned earlier, I was also a big fan of the classics. To my utter surprise, not only did I love the selections we were placed in our SCRI book clubs to read, but I formed my own book clubs with my US History and Psychology students for the first time. The students liked the book clubs immediately and in fact, became aggravated with me not having more titles available when my advanced readers finished early. I had to rely on Diane for additional copies of titles I purchased with the money that Mr. Jovanelly generously provided in December and Andrea to check out numerous books to put on my shelf. For some reason, if the students see other students reading in their book clubs it isn’t ‘un-cool’ to be seen reading and in fact they were chastised when they weren’t able to contribute to their discussions on Fridays. I wanted the other teachers to hear about this and ended up talking Christy into being a presenter with me on book clubs at the Winter Literacy Conference in January.
I loved the read-alouds and have already used a couple of the titles with my Psychology classes this semester. I think having new strategies taught in fun but meaningful ways and actually being able to apply those new ideas right away was very useful in helping me continue to improve my teaching practices. I actually plan to start my own blog for next year’s students rather than the article clubs I had been doing which definitely shows a new approach to my teaching.
This morning I overheard a student make a remark that led me to finally answer what I felt was the most valuable part of the course. The student saw me taking inventory of all of the books as the book clubs ended and he said, “You know, I’ve read more books this semester in your classes than I have for the other two years at Airport combined.” I smiled thinking, bless his heart, he literally spends half of his day with me taking both Psychology and US History and being a member of two book clubs at the same time and he now LIKES to read? Wasn’t that the entire goal of the class-to teach our kids to be better readers and hopefully convince our students to become life-long learners? I think we will continue to reach more students as more teachers become involved with the SCRI program and I look forward to the second year of SCRI. Thanks for creating the second section of the course for us Diane!!
Final Blog
April 25, 2007
Being a math teacher I really didn’t know how much this class would enable me to help my students, but I decided to take it because it was free, being offered at Airport, and I needed a course for recertification. I come away with some wonderful reading strategies that are greatly benefiting my students. The one common thread with all math students is their disdain for math word problems. Now I really understand that the majority of the problem is their inability to decode and comprehend what is being asked. I will not only encourage students to read, but I feel equipped with reading and thinking strategies that will help them understand more completely what they are reading.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. It has been enlightening, fun, and enjoyable. The readalouds were a nice way to get things going while we ate a snack. I enjoyed everyones strategy spotlight and how they encorporated different reading strategies into their classes. I loved the bookclubs because it gave me an orpportunity to see what is out there for the students I teach. I enjoyed the opportunity we had to go see the movie Freedom Righters and to see what one teacher can do to inspire her students to learn. There are so many things that I am looking forward to trying next year that I didn't get a chance to this year.
My final thoughts depend on whether or not this blog posts. This is a test.
Final Thoughts
5/2/2007
Over all, the two most important things this class has taught me is that reading is a very complex process and time for silent reading is an important component in teaching reading.
I think about the reading process while I read more now than in the past. I think of ways to make reading engaging for my students. I think about the reading processes of connecting, predicting, reflecting, visualizing, asking questions, drawing inferences, evaluating, and recalling ideas.
Now, we spend equal time with oral and silent reading. Before, we did not spend time reading silently. After reading we go beyond just questions. We discuss and write summaries more than before…
I am really sad to see this class end. I actually looked forward to our classes- I loved our book clubs, the frank discussions, the camaraderie, the read alouds- everything. I even learned to appreciate YA literature. I am a nonfiction kinda girl and I was not crazy at the thought of reading the YA literature. However, I did not want to read any more professional literature either! Now, I think that I have been missing on a way to really connect with my students. I need a summer reading list from someone! And I always took something back to my classes. I think I was the only one but I loved writing my memoir. I found that I loved writing and editing the memoir. I enjoyed it so much that I actually wrote another one (it is still a work in progress). I liked the blogs because it connected me to folks in the other section as well. I can’t thank Diane enough for facilitating a class that enabled me so much professional growth. I am certainly looking forward to next year’s class!
I have really enjoyed taking this class. I first was interested in taking the class when I heard it was offered at Airport (especially since the price of gas has jumped). I also wanted to get a FREE credit. As soon as I heard about the class, I signed up!
I have gained so much knowledge and material to help me in the classroom. The strategy spotlights helped me out the most since I was able to use the material with my students.
I have also enjoyed meeting new teachers. I have become close to teachers that I never really knew before taking this class. It was also a time to laugh after having a few bad days.
The only thing that I really did not like about the class was the writing...I hate writing...I would rather discuss what we read, which is why the blogs have been nice! Even though we are writing, it is like conversation. I have really enjoyed being able to read the thoughts and connections that the others have made.
I am looking forward to next year's class!
Final Thoughts
I signed up for the course, and tried to leave after the first night. I didn't think I could do all of the work required and meet deadlines for National Boards. Diane told me that she thought that the course would help, and she was so right. I have learned more than I imagined, and I have added several great experiences to my portfolio.
Reading books for young adults has to be my favorite experience. I understand why students are frustrated with some classic novels. Alex Flinn talked about book selections, too. Diane has done the research for us again, and most of the classics can be taught by using companion books that are more current.
I'm glad I stayed in the course.
Final Thoughts
I know you all are tired of hearing this, but…I never knew I could read and enjoy it! I had a great time in SCRI. I am embarrassed to say that I was a little reluctant to sign up at first (mostly because I thought I was a non-reader), but now I would not trade this time for anything. I have learned so much about reading and writing. I can now walk into classrooms and fill confident in my ability to recognize good reading and writing strategies. I can also feel confident about assisting teachers and students with their own reading and writing. I would like to thank Diane for all her hard work and dedication to our class. It is the best class I have ever taken!! Thanks so much!!!
I never imagined enjoying this group as much as I did (nothing against you Diane!) I was not really sure what to expect but I am so happy I chose to be a part of the first ever SCRI study group at Airport. I began writing “the most important thing…”, and then I realized everything was important and helpful to me!
A couple of the things that stood out the most were the great conversations that went along with the required readings. We sure did have some different takes on what we read which not only made for great learning but gave us a little comic relief as well. I also will never be able to express how excited I am all of the strategies I have been introduced to. I will be able to use these for years to come.
I am also sad to see this class end but I now know how wonderful it is and that really makes me look forward to next year!
I really do not enjoy reading… or writing for that matter, which is probably why I put off blogging several of my articles until the last minute. It is terribly stressful for me to have to write. Despite my dislike of reading and writing, I actually have enjoyed this class. I really enjoyed the book clubs and actually finished each of the books (although I was a little late with the last one). I will also say that these strategies that we have learned (especially through book clubs) has made me a better reader and a more engaged reader.
I will admit that many of the reading strategies are unable to be used with a lot of my kids independently because of their functional ability level. I have however made the conscious effort to work with my students trying to use some of these strategies. I do not have a lot of written work to show this because my students writing is definitely an area of great frustration and weakness, but we have orally talked through a lot of the reading strategies and different activities. We have begun to draw more pictures and begun to discuss characters more in-depth which is what the role sheets allowed us to do in our book clubs, but we have been able to do more of that orally than through writing. Although I do believe writing is an essential part of this class, it has been something that for my specific population has had to be modified to fit their very special needs.
I am looking forward to being in the class next year and continuing to gain more information and insight about how I can better serve my students. Great Job Diane!
I loved the class. I learned so much. Even though I had taken Reading in the Content Areas back in the day, I learned nothing about what to do when I recognized a non-reader. I wish I had known all these strategies when I had my own classroom. I have used my knowledge of them to help teachers I have observed and conferenced. Thank all of you for sharing such good ones and thank you, Diane, for giving us even more.
I have always loved to read, but rarely make time to do so. The requirements of the course meant I had to, and I liked everything I read. Unlike Christy, I prefer fiction. However, I thought our two professional texts were great, even fun.
I, too, liked coming to class. Diane, you modeled excellent teaching so well. You were perfectly prepared with varied content and strategies. You kept us engaged through oral and written conversation. You gave us time to read and reflect.
I have grown both as a reader and as a writer. As a content area person, most of my writing has been research-type stuff with either some facet of the social studies or teaching and learning as the subject. In the last several years, it has been mostly instructions and directions. I appreciate the writing time and topics. Like Christy, I really enjoyed writing my memoir. Although I haven’t started another one yet, I’m thinking one may be in my future.
And, finally, as all of you mentioned, getting to know you better was a true highlight. I enjoyed and learned from our professional and personal sharing. We became a true learning community. As I have shared with some of you, the scary thing is, by the end I knew whose blog I was reading before I saw the name. Not only will I miss each of you next year, but also I will miss not being a part of the group. Keep spreading the word and the words, and maybe before long we will have an entire school of teachers teaching reading.
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