Ripp's Blog Post on the Question of the Whole Class NovelRead Pernille Ripp's short blog post, "Can we Discuss the Whole Class Novel for a Moment?"
In it, Ripp asks why we hang on to this highly standard practice, if it may be mostly killing students love for and drive to read. Ripp approaches this topic from curiosity, rather than a "rant." This creates space for teachers to get into the discussion in the comments--check those out too! In the comments, what do you think about teaching the "whole class novel" (WCN)? How should we decide what students read? If we teach the WCN, how do we decide which novels everyone reads? What could be lost and gained if we stop teaching WCNs?
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Morrell on Reading the Word AND the WorldRead former NCTE president, Ernest Morrell's short article, "English Teaching as Teaching Students to Read the Word and the World" (2014). In it, he establishes how teaching reading goes far, far beyond teaching students the mechanics of reading.
What does he mean by teaching students to read the world? How can we do this in our classrooms? More on AUTHENTIC WRITING INSTRUCTIONIn his post, "School Writing vs. Authentic Writing" on Teachers, Profs, Parents: Writers who Care (a really great blog to bookmark!), Ken Lindblom describes authentic approaches to writing instruction as an alternative to "schooled," rote, scripted writing that most students are usually asked to perform.
Have a read through this short resource. Consider any of these questions or respond to something else!:
Fake News, Information Literacy, and Rhetorical ReadingMary Lamb notices a problem in ELA classrooms: often reading mostly literature, students can begin to assume that all texts are "stories." Not having enough exposure to a range of genres and practice at differentiating between them, students can miss the critical component of "constructedness" of nonfiction texts--the HOW of a text, the choices the writer has made to deliver their purpose and persuade their audiences. Lamb writes, "Growing up in this digital age, students have a tenuous grasp on the differences between fiction and nonfiction, which can result in a lack of critical thinking about important political and cultural issues" (43)
Lamb anticipates a very recent concern among ELA teachers--the problem of fake news. This issue, not a new one but certainly one which has gotten much attention recently, makes understanding who is writing, where their writing appears, context, language choices, purpose, evidence, credibility/ethos etc. evermore critically important. This article in NPR, "The Classroom where Fake News Fails," relays how one high school is working on information and news literacy skills. Have a read over it and comment: why is are these skills important? How do we best build them in our students? What resources or alliances do we need? Or, you might look for another resource that shares how educators are incorporating news literacy skills in their classrooms. Share the source in the comments and tell us what you see as the merits/usefulness of the approach. SC State Legislature, Testing, Teaching in SC Today Dec 24, 2014: SC Students Face New Timed Tests for Eng and Math
March 25, 2015: SC Panel Upholds Ruling to end ACT Contract After One Year April 12, 2015: SC Students Count Down to New Timed Tests Dec 18, 2015: ACT Testing Contract to be Ended after One Year, official rules March 23, 2016: South Carolina Still Lagging in Literacy Recent Update on SC Teacher Shortage, Jan 20, 2017: Report: SC Teacher Shortage is Getting Worse Browse through the top 4 articles regarding recent testing and standards changes and their challenges in the legislature (that don't seem to have to do, primarily, with educational concerns). And/or browse through the bottom 2 articles regarding the literacy rates in the state and the state's worsening teacher shortage. In the comments, consider what learning about some of these state-specific challenges and dynamics mean to you as you approach literacy education? Or what changes might help retain teachers? |
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Dr.Hannah Rule | [email protected] | Humanities Office Building 203 | University of South Carolina |