Fodder for Thought

Reading Workshop: Week One

2012-02-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

I had a great time this week in my first week in placement. I don’t have very many students. My first period class, Research, only has five students. Currently, they are working on argumentative essays. I am designing a minilesson on MLA format to show them next week, because several of them don’t know how to format their papers. I gave them the choice of which section of the rubric they wanted me to give them instruction on and that is what they chose. We are also showing them how to design an outline.

The second class, I only have two, is suppose to be British Literature but instead we are experimenting with reading workshop. Before I arrived in the classroom my host teacher had done a short introduction on the reading workshop, and gave them a reading survey. I took these home to go over them and they provided a wealth of data to form an idea of my students literacies. This class only has twenty students, seven of which come from first period.

One student, who I’ll refer to as Eve, came to me directly and asked for help selecting her next book. She had just finished reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and she wanted to switch genres and read a love story. I’m not very familiar with many of Ms. Schipani’s books, but I helped her go through the books to find one that met her requirements. We eventually narrowed her choices down to two. She didn’t mind taking both of those to read the first few pages and make a decision on which one she wanted to stick with. Eve’s reading survey had some distinct differences from the others. She was one of the few who have read a book in the last twelve months. Though she has only read one book in the last month, she responded to other questions saying that she reads “all the time” and she “loves reading.” In Eve’s case I believe the reading workshop is giving her the opportunity to read without distractions and nurture those preexisting feelings she has for reading.

For another student, who I’ll call Brzostowski, the reading and writing workshop is a formative endeavor. In Brzostowski’s reading survey, she claimed that she hasn't read any books in the last twelve months, and in response to the question “how often do you read at home” she said “none or once.” However, she has quickly become absorbed in her reading of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. In her dialogue journals with her friend, who is a texting addict and what I consider one of my “bubble students,” Brzostowski adamantly recommends the book.

On Tuesday, I brought in several graphic novels for the students to read during reading workshop. I let them know that if they wanted to read a graphic novel they would be writing to me in their daily writing journals. Several things surprised me this week in regards to the graphic novels. I hypothesized that the students would swarm to them and I would have to create a waiting list for specific titles. On the contrary, I had two students read a graphic novel this week, one read Bone and the other read A.D. I also asked whether they thought reading a graphic novel would be easier or harder than reading a standard novel. Shockingly, most of the students felt that it would be harder to read a graphic novel. They said that having pictures meant that there was more information to process. One last thing that came as a surprise was that the two students that chose to read graphic novels were young ladies. I assumed that the graphic novels would appeal more to the young men in the class. i’d like to get more students reading them this week so I can get more feedback to present at GCTE this Friday. I might ask the two students that read them if they would like to do book talks on Monday, in hopes that they may get the other students interested.

Fodder Sets Sail

2012-01-26T11:09:00.000-08:00

For centuries, seafaring wanderers blessed their boats for safe passage through the seas of their wanton gods. I realize I have set sail without christening the boat. Give me a moment for the ceremonial commencement speech before I break a bottle of olive oil over my computer (I don’t have any red wine).

Here’s to modeling at its finest, folks. Since my earlier post was so hastily written and posted as a rough draft, there were several mistakes. Instead of removing it I’ve decided to keep it up, in order to do some live editing in the future. I think it's fair that if a student should have to get in front of the class and do grammar exercises, it should be my work, not theirs, up on the board for editing. It gives them a chance to be as critical of my work as I am of theirs.

As a bonus to live editing, I’ve created a points system just like those other reading programs I spoke of in my previous post. Like I've always said, "If you fail the first time, keep trying the same exact way." However, this isn't less like those busted old literacy programs. This one is better. Because you win nothing. Well, not quiet. The points, Fodder Points (FP), are worth loads of intrinsic value. Plus, the interweb makes a perfect bank for these fantastic tokens of literacy achievement. Every time you complete an achievement on Fodder fo Thought, you will win a designated number of FP. Without further ado, I introduce you to the achievement system:

Make a comment correcting my grammar (+15 FP, limit three per post)
Make a comment about what you thought (+10 FP)
Make a comment that asks a pointed question (+5 FP)
Make a comment responding to a question (+5 FP)
Make a comment that includes a citation (+5 FP, +15 FP if you cite something I missed)
Make a comment that recommends a book (+2 FP, +5 FP if it includes a brief description)
Occasionally I'll post minigames that will hold their own point value. Like this one: Make a continuity chain of five words with meanings that represent a certain value in various degrees. For example, okay<good<great<terrific<amazing. The value can be anything--colors, emotions, etc. (+100 FP, +25 FP for extra creativity or rare words)
If you have a minigame you would like to play, you can describe it in and put it up for nomination (+5 FP). Once a game has the vote of forty percent of the members, I will assign it a point system and it will go active.

Commence the games!

p.s. I have a book club in the works that will offer many opportunities to win FP!

Literacy Timeline Reflections

2012-01-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

First off, for anyone that may not be "in the know," a literacy timeline is a chronological inventory of anything you've read that has impacted your life in one way or another. i slapped one of these babies together the other day, and I have to say, I was very surprised at the huge gaps in the timeline where I couldn't think of a single thing that I read. I think the problem is that in those periods of time I was just recklessly devouring books. That's because I was a competitive reader. Only nerds read for pleasure, am I right? Somewhere up in the closet at my mom's house buried within a mountain of boxes, there is a gold vein of plastic summer reading trophies. I was like the Kobayashi of competitive reading. I had to be. My fathers job in the mine wasn't enough to support me and my ten other siblings. So I'd walk in the blazing heat to the downtown library each summer an read enough books to win a years supply of free pizza coupons.

But enough with the shenanigans. I really do think that the reading programs suck the fun out of reading. Before I sat down and made this literacy timeline I was in full support of reading programs like those at the public library and Accelerated Reader, but in hindsight I was supporting them for all the wrong reasons. The only reason they were fun is because you could win worthless swag. That's the same reason I went door to door selling popcorn when I was in the cub scouts (though, I stopped doing that when one guy told me to come back when we were selling cookies). Kids will do anything to win useless junk, but that doesn't help them appreciate whatever arbitrary task that may be. Do you think Kobayashi likes hotdogs? I would guess an emphatic 'no'.

Looking back the books i enjoyed were one that I read outside of these prize programs. I remember loving to be at my grandmother's house back when I was a young buck, because she had the complete Disney Fun-to-Learn series. I'd plop down on the floor next to my grandfather while he shucked peas, and read about five of those before going into a book coma.

The next key point on my timeline would be Goosebumps. I think the appeal of Goosebumps is the image on the cover. The first one I read was called Ghost Beach if my memory serves me correctly, and I anytime something creepy would happen I'd flip back to the picture of the ghost on the cover and say "Why! Why are you tormenting these poor, poor children!" Another little interesting fact about that series that I found out recently is that R.L. Stine designed them to be page turners; so when you get to the bottom of the righthand page you are right in the middle of a suspenseful moment. There are no good stopping points.

Going into middle school I entire one of those long dark periods where I can't think of many things that had an impact on me even though I know I probably read a few thousand books for Accelerated Reader. Some of the exceptions would be "Where the Red Fern Grows", "Rifles for Watie", "The Hobbit", and "Andersonville". I say those are exceptions because I actually remember reading those. I'm not sure I could tell you much about what happens. In "Where the Red Fern Grows," a dog dies. In "The Hobbit," a midget fights a dragon. In "Rifles for Watie," Watie gets rifles (I think), and "Andersonville" is about about a prison. After middle school I just stopped reading completely. What was the point? I didn't have Accelerated Reader anymore. I was free at last. Hallelujah!

During high school I got pretty heavy into architecture. My mom bought me a book about Frank Lloyd Wright, that may be the only book I read in high school. I also might have read a book about Dave Matthews. I liked Dave a lot in high school because he philosophized and that kind of stuff is cool when you are high school and don't have real world problems. So I guess Frank Lloyd Wright and the discography of Dave would be the only things sitting on my literacy timeline in that period.

I went to college to study architecture and somewhat enjoyed it, but I got burnt out quickly and realized that the forty dozen freshmen couldn't all be famous architects. I decided to bow out, but not before the program could make an impact on me and resurrect my childhood love of reading. Our final project was to design a three-dimensional model based off of our choice of a city in a book called "Invisible Cities." The book is a novel about several different cities. I couldn't really do it justice in trying to describe it in any more depth. It was amazing. I went on to read every other novel by its author Italo Calvino, and I wasn't let down. When you discover an author that you love and you can follow like that, I think that is one of the best things about reading. If you haven't read anything by Calvino do yourself a favor and go out there and find one of his books. The guy is a genius.

So, I'll leave you with a question. Who is your author? Represent!