Language Arts Test Scores and Online Literacy
by Joan Hamilton, Pierce School Librarian
Two recent articles provide food for thought about current literacy practices. The first is an article released by the Massachusetts Department of Education stating that for the 2008 MCAS,
English language arts results in the elementary grades declined and the middle schools were flat.
http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?printscreen=yes&id=4287
The second article is from the September 19, 2008 Chronicle of Higher Education and is entitled "Online Literacy is a Lesser Kind" by Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University and author of a book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Tarcher/Penguin, 2008).
http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i04/04b01001.htm
Bauerlein describes the style of literacy used for screen reading (web sites, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) as "racing across the surface, dicing language and ideas into bullets and graphics, seeking what they already want and shunning the rest." He argues that when reading a long narrative, a long political tract, a dense argument, a modern poem, a complicated narrtive or academic texts, this style of reading breaks down. He concludes by advocating "slow reading" and a plea that educators keep at least some of our students' educations "unplugged and logged off."
At Pierce School, "slow reading" is built into the culture of learning -- from read alouds in the early grades designed to grip children in the thrill of narrative, to literature circles, book discussions, summer reading, book fairs, and required independent reading projects in all grades. It blossoms as parents choose to regularly read aloud at home to their children. It is a habit of mind that will grow and bear fruit as our students go forward into a speeded-up digital world.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Google: First try or last resort?
I have two full disclosures (confessions?) for this blog. First, this article was inspired by Nicholas Carr’s article, “Is Google making us stupid? What the Internet is doing to our brains,” in the July/August edition of the Atlantic Monthly. Secondly, to find a copy of the article, I Googled the title. I was unable to access the article that way, so I then turned to our Minuteman Library Network and obtained a copy from the Academic One database.
This week in my seventh grade technology class, I projected the title of Carr’s article and asked students what they thought he meant. Their responses were many and included:
*We don’t go into a book or a library to look things up. We just go to Google.
*It’s spending too much time not thinking – everything is right in front of you.
*Google makes it too easy to forget things. When I didn’t remember how to do my math homework, I used Google.
*Some of the sources you find on Google won’t be true.
*(It’s) Giving us the wrong idea about what you want to know – it could be written by anybody.
I was intrigued to hear their perceptions about Googling. While all their thoughts about the title probably are true, Carr’s argument in the article is that our overuse of the Internet for reading is causing changes in the way our brains function.
So we are going to spend some time in our classes skimming, reading, and comparing research results from Google and from our library databases. My first goal for students is that they are able to judge for their own research purposes when to use Google as a first try or last resort. Secondly, and just as importantly, I want students to learn when to skim and when to read deeply.
Which method do you use when Googling? First try or last resort?
S. Sicard
This week in my seventh grade technology class, I projected the title of Carr’s article and asked students what they thought he meant. Their responses were many and included:
*We don’t go into a book or a library to look things up. We just go to Google.
*It’s spending too much time not thinking – everything is right in front of you.
*Google makes it too easy to forget things. When I didn’t remember how to do my math homework, I used Google.
*Some of the sources you find on Google won’t be true.
*(It’s) Giving us the wrong idea about what you want to know – it could be written by anybody.
I was intrigued to hear their perceptions about Googling. While all their thoughts about the title probably are true, Carr’s argument in the article is that our overuse of the Internet for reading is causing changes in the way our brains function.
And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski (Carr, 2008).Although I am a heavy user of the Internet for news and information (see disclosure above), I am a firm believer in moderation. I believe that one can adjust his/her reading style depending on the purpose of the reading. I also believe that research and reading non-fiction does involve more skimming than immersing oneself in a novel. That being said, students growing up online should be taught explicitly how and when to use different styles of reading.
So we are going to spend some time in our classes skimming, reading, and comparing research results from Google and from our library databases. My first goal for students is that they are able to judge for their own research purposes when to use Google as a first try or last resort. Secondly, and just as importantly, I want students to learn when to skim and when to read deeply.
Which method do you use when Googling? First try or last resort?
S. Sicard
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
These Are a Few of my Favorite Tools (Excel)
by Sandra Sicard
For the second installment in my series about tools, I've decided to showcase Microsoft Excel. Excel is a spreadsheet program that, at first glance, is unexciting. It is used widely in the business world to organize and analyze data. I'm trying to encourage teachers to use it not only administratively but also instructionally. Here are some examples of how we've used it this year at Pierce; maybe one will inspire you to try it out.
(I have first-hand knowledge about the following lessons because students were in the lab for some of their learning. There are other examples of students using Excel in various parts of the curriculum; I just don’t know about all of them.)
Students in 4S are learning about minerals in science; as part of the unit, they conduct tests on a variety of samples (about 12) and compare their results to identify a mystery rock. We used Excel to create a chart of their test results; our goal was to organize their data in an easy-to-read way. This is a great first step in learning to navigate the cells, columns, and rows in Excel.
Last fall, 5k researched wolves. As part of their unit, they conducted opinion polls about wolf characteristics and lifestyles. Students then input their data into Excel and created graphs to illustrate the survey results. Printing the graphs in color gave them a polished and professional appearance. Later in the year, students returned to Excel and used it in a science lesson to analyze respiration rates of peers and adults.
Eighth grade students have used Excel in a variety of math and science units this year. Their first lesson reviewed the basics of Excel by using a spreadsheet to calculate grades and some class statistics. Students then used Excel to determine if a correlation existed between stride length and height and then shoe size and height. They graphed the data and found the line of best fit as well as the r squared (the square of the correlation coefficient).
From those lessons, it's easy to see how Excel is a flexible tool that allows you to do a little or a lot with data.
Have some data of your own to collect, organize, and/or analyze? Let’s talk about what tool makes the most sense to do what you need. I'll be sharing some lessons from The Graph Club in my next blog - a very simple data tool for primary students.
For the second installment in my series about tools, I've decided to showcase Microsoft Excel. Excel is a spreadsheet program that, at first glance, is unexciting. It is used widely in the business world to organize and analyze data. I'm trying to encourage teachers to use it not only administratively but also instructionally. Here are some examples of how we've used it this year at Pierce; maybe one will inspire you to try it out.
(I have first-hand knowledge about the following lessons because students were in the lab for some of their learning. There are other examples of students using Excel in various parts of the curriculum; I just don’t know about all of them.)
Students in 4S are learning about minerals in science; as part of the unit, they conduct tests on a variety of samples (about 12) and compare their results to identify a mystery rock. We used Excel to create a chart of their test results; our goal was to organize their data in an easy-to-read way. This is a great first step in learning to navigate the cells, columns, and rows in Excel.
Last fall, 5k researched wolves. As part of their unit, they conducted opinion polls about wolf characteristics and lifestyles. Students then input their data into Excel and created graphs to illustrate the survey results. Printing the graphs in color gave them a polished and professional appearance. Later in the year, students returned to Excel and used it in a science lesson to analyze respiration rates of peers and adults.
Eighth grade students have used Excel in a variety of math and science units this year. Their first lesson reviewed the basics of Excel by using a spreadsheet to calculate grades and some class statistics. Students then used Excel to determine if a correlation existed between stride length and height and then shoe size and height. They graphed the data and found the line of best fit as well as the r squared (the square of the correlation coefficient).
From those lessons, it's easy to see how Excel is a flexible tool that allows you to do a little or a lot with data.
Have some data of your own to collect, organize, and/or analyze? Let’s talk about what tool makes the most sense to do what you need. I'll be sharing some lessons from The Graph Club in my next blog - a very simple data tool for primary students.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Research Supports Summer Reading
Research Supports Summer Reading
by Joan Hamilton
The Book Fair is coming! The Book Fair is coming! This wonderful event sponsored annually by the hardworking, energetic members of our amazing PTO will have hundreds of books for sale, many of which are on Pierce's summer reading lists. As in the past, for Pierce students entering grades 2 - 8, there will be a required title -- one book to be read by every person in the class, plus a list of books from which students must choose four other titles.
There is a great deal of research that states that children who don't read over the summer actually lose ground in reading proficiency. Recent research from John Hopkins University's Center for Summer Learning concludes, "The effect of reading four to five books during the summer is large enough to prevent a decline in reading scores from spring to fall." Another study entitled Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling by Barbara Heyns states. "Children (she was working with 6th and 7th graders) in every income group who read six or more books over the summer gained more in reading achievement that children who did not."
Stephen Krashen, in his report, The Power of Reading, says that children read more when they see other people reading. This suggests a practice my family indulged in successfully during the summers when my three children were still in school -- family reading time. The time was announced and it was expected that every family member would produce a book and we would all sit and read silently for half an hour. This could be followed by discussion or read aloud. It worked as well for family journaling--especially effective while on vacation. Krashen states, "If children read one million words a year, at least one thousand words will be added to their vocabulary." He concludes that reading as a leisure activity increases comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary as well as making the reader a better speller and a better writer.
So, see you at the Book Fair on May 27th, 28th, and 29th, and Happy Reading!
by Joan Hamilton
The Book Fair is coming! The Book Fair is coming! This wonderful event sponsored annually by the hardworking, energetic members of our amazing PTO will have hundreds of books for sale, many of which are on Pierce's summer reading lists. As in the past, for Pierce students entering grades 2 - 8, there will be a required title -- one book to be read by every person in the class, plus a list of books from which students must choose four other titles.
There is a great deal of research that states that children who don't read over the summer actually lose ground in reading proficiency. Recent research from John Hopkins University's Center for Summer Learning concludes, "The effect of reading four to five books during the summer is large enough to prevent a decline in reading scores from spring to fall." Another study entitled Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling by Barbara Heyns states. "Children (she was working with 6th and 7th graders) in every income group who read six or more books over the summer gained more in reading achievement that children who did not."
Stephen Krashen, in his report, The Power of Reading, says that children read more when they see other people reading. This suggests a practice my family indulged in successfully during the summers when my three children were still in school -- family reading time. The time was announced and it was expected that every family member would produce a book and we would all sit and read silently for half an hour. This could be followed by discussion or read aloud. It worked as well for family journaling--especially effective while on vacation. Krashen states, "If children read one million words a year, at least one thousand words will be added to their vocabulary." He concludes that reading as a leisure activity increases comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary as well as making the reader a better speller and a better writer.
So, see you at the Book Fair on May 27th, 28th, and 29th, and Happy Reading!
Friday, May 2, 2008
These Are a Few of my Favorite Tools (TimeLiner)
by Sandra Sicard
I've decided to write a series of blogs on software tools that work well across grade levels and subject areas. The first tool I'm highlighting is TimeLiner, which allows students to create, illustrate and present timelines easily.
In 2G, students read biographies in Reading Workshop and noted important events from their subject's life. They then came to the lab and created a timeline of 5-6 important events. They could then add text notes to identify turning points. Lastly, they added a picture of their subject; most of their subjects had pictures included as part of the TimeLiner clipart. (Their teacher and I had to go online to find a few pictures of subjects not included in the clipart collection.)
4H recently completed a thorough investigation of European explorers. Students worked in pairs to research an explorer's life to present to their classmates. They created a timeline, a slideshow, a handout, and a board game. TimeLiner allowed students to import pictures from the Internet as well as pictures that students had drawn in KidPix and then exported. Each event on the timeline became a slide; parents were able to view the students' final slideshow and products during a family breakfast.
Lastly, seventh grade students used TimeLiner in a brief project to organize Revolutionary War dates and events in order to make generalizations about the challenges and successes of the Patriot war effort. Seeing this information visually allowed them to make predictions about the immediate consequences of independence.
Sidebar: I had been under the illusion that TimeLiner didn't work on our computers so it wasn't installed in the lab and laptops until a few months ago. If you'd like it on your classroom computer(s), just let me know.
I've decided to write a series of blogs on software tools that work well across grade levels and subject areas. The first tool I'm highlighting is TimeLiner, which allows students to create, illustrate and present timelines easily.
In 2G, students read biographies in Reading Workshop and noted important events from their subject's life. They then came to the lab and created a timeline of 5-6 important events. They could then add text notes to identify turning points. Lastly, they added a picture of their subject; most of their subjects had pictures included as part of the TimeLiner clipart. (Their teacher and I had to go online to find a few pictures of subjects not included in the clipart collection.)
4H recently completed a thorough investigation of European explorers. Students worked in pairs to research an explorer's life to present to their classmates. They created a timeline, a slideshow, a handout, and a board game. TimeLiner allowed students to import pictures from the Internet as well as pictures that students had drawn in KidPix and then exported. Each event on the timeline became a slide; parents were able to view the students' final slideshow and products during a family breakfast.
Lastly, seventh grade students used TimeLiner in a brief project to organize Revolutionary War dates and events in order to make generalizations about the challenges and successes of the Patriot war effort. Seeing this information visually allowed them to make predictions about the immediate consequences of independence.
Sidebar: I had been under the illusion that TimeLiner didn't work on our computers so it wasn't installed in the lab and laptops until a few months ago. If you'd like it on your classroom computer(s), just let me know.
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Power of Story
By Joan Hamilton
When author Mitali Perkins visited Pierce School last week, she talked to the 6th and 7th grade students about the human need for "a story fix." "Where do you go when you need story?" she asked, "because we all need stories." When asked how many students had seen one movie five times, nearly every student raised his hand. When she asked how many played video games (now many of them also using the concept of story to hook kids), many also raised hands. But what surprised Ms. Perkins was that when she asked how many had read one book at least five times, a majority of the students raised their hands. She explained, "If you've read it five times, it is a story that speaks to something in your heart, in your soul. Later she told me, "I'm amazed. I speak at schools all over the country, and seldom do I have such a high percentage of students who have a book they've read five times."
Why is this reading experience so common to Pierce students? I would like to claim it is because from the first day of kindergarten to the last day of 8th grade, we build around them a culture of reading. It is a culture built through read-alouds, author study, genre study, literature circles, Bingo for Books, Pierce Reads, author visits, the study of folk literature motifs, independent reading projects, poetry recitations, required summer reading and participation in the Massachusetts Book Awards. It is a culture based on the 1,500 titles of multiples housed in the library that form the foundation of our literacy program.
Sadly, it is a culture at risk. It is at risk because Brookline will be eliminating all library assistants in the elementary schools if the override does not pass. The result will be an erosion of that culture--perhaps not noticeable at once, but over the years an inexorable erosion.
Later in the same day that Mitali Perkins was so impressed by our students' love of reading, a retired colleague stopped by. She had been substituting for several weeks at a school that had no library. She said the 4th graders in that school could not even sit still for a story read-aloud.
In contrast, I pictured Pierce 4th graders. Mention the word "story" and their ears perk up and they settle quietly into their listening positions. At Pierce children often clap at the end of a read-aloud. For they know, as cultures throughout the ages have known, that it is through story that we learn our history, we learn what we kind of persons we hope to become, what kind of community we want to live in. I remember Chet Raymo, the Boston Globe's science writer for many years, saying if you want your child to become a scientist, read him stories; for then he will be able to wonder and imagine. There have been civilizations without the wheel. There has never been a civilization without story.
When author Mitali Perkins visited Pierce School last week, she talked to the 6th and 7th grade students about the human need for "a story fix." "Where do you go when you need story?" she asked, "because we all need stories." When asked how many students had seen one movie five times, nearly every student raised his hand. When she asked how many played video games (now many of them also using the concept of story to hook kids), many also raised hands. But what surprised Ms. Perkins was that when she asked how many had read one book at least five times, a majority of the students raised their hands. She explained, "If you've read it five times, it is a story that speaks to something in your heart, in your soul. Later she told me, "I'm amazed. I speak at schools all over the country, and seldom do I have such a high percentage of students who have a book they've read five times."
Why is this reading experience so common to Pierce students? I would like to claim it is because from the first day of kindergarten to the last day of 8th grade, we build around them a culture of reading. It is a culture built through read-alouds, author study, genre study, literature circles, Bingo for Books, Pierce Reads, author visits, the study of folk literature motifs, independent reading projects, poetry recitations, required summer reading and participation in the Massachusetts Book Awards. It is a culture based on the 1,500 titles of multiples housed in the library that form the foundation of our literacy program.
Sadly, it is a culture at risk. It is at risk because Brookline will be eliminating all library assistants in the elementary schools if the override does not pass. The result will be an erosion of that culture--perhaps not noticeable at once, but over the years an inexorable erosion.
Later in the same day that Mitali Perkins was so impressed by our students' love of reading, a retired colleague stopped by. She had been substituting for several weeks at a school that had no library. She said the 4th graders in that school could not even sit still for a story read-aloud.
In contrast, I pictured Pierce 4th graders. Mention the word "story" and their ears perk up and they settle quietly into their listening positions. At Pierce children often clap at the end of a read-aloud. For they know, as cultures throughout the ages have known, that it is through story that we learn our history, we learn what we kind of persons we hope to become, what kind of community we want to live in. I remember Chet Raymo, the Boston Globe's science writer for many years, saying if you want your child to become a scientist, read him stories; for then he will be able to wonder and imagine. There have been civilizations without the wheel. There has never been a civilization without story.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
How Can We Make a Difference?
It was one of those a-ha moments at a technology conference... Ms. Wang and I attended a presentation by Dr. Tim Tyson, former principal of Mabry Middle School. He spoke about his vision for technology in education; through his leadership, the Annual Mabry Film Festival was launched as a way to propel technology integration into engaging instructional activities for students. His passion about wanting to make a difference and to inspire students to know they could make a difference was contagious. On the way home from the conference, Ms. Wang and I started conspiring about how we could do something similar with her students.
This morning, Pierce School had its very first "film festival". The students in 5W showed their Environmental Science films to an audience of their parents, during a class breakfast. They will show their little buddies in 1W their videos in a few weeks; the students of 5W hope these movies will educate others about issues in the environment and what each person can do to save the environment.
Students had researched, planned, written scripts, directed, filmed, added voice-overs, chose images, and edited their films. From the very beginning of the process, students had to decide what information was most essential to share in a two-minute video. Information was found, read, and discussed; before each groups could receive approval to proceed to the next step in the process, they had to reach consensus.
Through this video experience, students learned about working cooperatively, the environment, and all the technical skills necessary to create a video. Ms. Wang and I learned that one person truly can inspire others to make a difference. If you have a chance, borrow the 5W DVD or check out the Mabry videos online. These students make me think about how I can make a difference.
This morning, Pierce School had its very first "film festival". The students in 5W showed their Environmental Science films to an audience of their parents, during a class breakfast. They will show their little buddies in 1W their videos in a few weeks; the students of 5W hope these movies will educate others about issues in the environment and what each person can do to save the environment.
Students had researched, planned, written scripts, directed, filmed, added voice-overs, chose images, and edited their films. From the very beginning of the process, students had to decide what information was most essential to share in a two-minute video. Information was found, read, and discussed; before each groups could receive approval to proceed to the next step in the process, they had to reach consensus.
Through this video experience, students learned about working cooperatively, the environment, and all the technical skills necessary to create a video. Ms. Wang and I learned that one person truly can inspire others to make a difference. If you have a chance, borrow the 5W DVD or check out the Mabry videos online. These students make me think about how I can make a difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)