What I Learned About Literacy After I Left The English Classroom #EngChat #Literacy

Making the decision to move from my high school English Literature and Composition job after 15 years to build a makerspace and support tech integration for teachers, was very tough. I loved working with students and helping them read and evaluate texts. I thought I would never again be able to work with students to help them explore the deeper meaning of a piece of poetry and how it connects to their lives. After a year and a few months in my job, there are some thing I have learned about literacy that were not clear to me while in the classroom.

Literacy takes many forms

One of the things I would always focus on in my classroom is the importance of reading, writing, and speaking. All three allow a person to understand and communicate. No matter where you go in life, these three things will always help you. I see that this is only partially true. A person can read, write, and speak well, but if they do not know how to use those tools to problem solve, how helpful are they truly going to be? Watching students struggle to solve problems in the makerspace has shown me that there needs to be more time given to teaching these problem solving skills as part of their overall literacy. Using those skills to know how to identify a problem, research the appropriate sources, create a protoype, and articulate the problem and solution to others is very important.

There is not such thing as grade or age appropriate (kind of)

All too often, students would want to read something or explore something and they would be told that is not appropriate for their grade or age. The curriculum is designed to for grade and age appropriateness and teachers are stuck in that box. In the makerspace, I have learned that there is no such thing as age or grade appropriateness. If the student is willing to take on the challenge of something complex and want to work their way through it, why should I, or the school, stand in their way? For those that are going to say things like, "So I should let me 5th grader read "Fifty Shades of Grey'?" No, you shouldn't, but you should probably talk to them about why they want to read it and see what is at the root of their request. Let students experiment and push the boundaries of their reading, writing, and making. That is where they will learn the most.

The struggle is real and important

It can be so easy to just write the topic sentence for the student or do the citation for them. It is much faster when you have 29 other students to conference with over the next 40 minutes. However, they struggle of learning to read and write is so important as long as students are allowed to feel comfortable to try and fail. I think I got better with the try and fail aspect of writing in my class, but, for too long, it was a one attempt and move on mentality in my classroom. The Makerspace has shown me how effective a try, fail, try again approach to learning is needed in literacy and everywhere else in schools. Give student the time to experiment with their poetry or their essays. Give the students time to try new rhetorical devices. Let them struggle to find their personal, beautiful, and authentic voice by trying as many voices as they like until the find the one that is just right for them.

Leaving the direct instruction position after 15 years to a position that supports students and teachers in different ways has allowed me to take a step back and really see what literacy, and instruction overall, can and should look like. The best I can do now is share with the teachers around me and write on this blog.

Thank You Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird was never a book I appreciate or understood in high school. Hell, I'm not sure how much I truly understood it when I started to teach it for the first time. It took they eyes of children, eyes much like Scout's, to truly show me what TKAM was all about.

Harper Lee passed away today and she left us one of the most important novels in American Literature. The voice of Scout is a narration authors can only hope to capture in their novels since TKAM was released. 

To me, Atticus stands the test of time as a figure doing his best to leave a better world for his children. His words of wisdom still ring true today.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." 

- Atticus Finch 

Harper Lee crafted a tale that spoke on race, poverty, education, societal norms, and so much more. It is a book that is powerful and has the ability to, not only remind people of the way this country used to be, but the way the country still is in many ways.

For this, I say Thank You Harper Lee. You left us a gift that will continue to matter  for years to come.

About Asking For Help #ECET2

I spent time this weekend with some amazing educators from across the country. ECET2 was a great experience. I walked away with many different ideas I look forward bringing to my classroom and school. There was something that struck me while I was in the edcamp session.

The session was cool and set up mini sessions at tables. I was with Meenoo Rami, Pernille Ripp, and Ann Leaness. We thought it would be a good idea to do a session on literacy. I'm always looking for ways to encourage students to read and improve reading skills for all of my students. I asked one questions that led to a conversation filled with resources and great ideas, "What can I do to get my male students to read more?"

As I sat there listening to all of the great ideas that were being shared by teachers, I was struck at how long it took me to ask this question. I'm friends with some of the most amazing educators in the world who work hard on sharing literacy strategies. These are people I talk to on a regular basis. We chat education and anything else that comes to mind. Yet, with these amazing experts surrounding me, I never once thought about asking them for help. It really made me think about why.

It is so tough to admit not knowing something. It's tough to admit that there are things that I can be better at. It's tough to admit to yourself, much less put it out there on the Internet when you need support. As I work to be a better teacher in so many other ways, it can be tough to admit areas where I still need to grow. I find it weird that there are some things I choose to ask for help with and others I will keep hidden. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm an English teacher and I'm afraid to admit a weakness is that field, but non-English areas I feel it's acceptable to ask for support. It has given me something to think about.

As I look inward and figure all of this out, I hope to become better at asking for help from others.

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

Creating a Blogging Community

(Editor's Note) Parts of this was cross posted on my school blog. I thought I would share it with all of you as well.

I've seen many an eye roll at me when I talk about my blog. Many people still have this idea that blogs are for celebrity gossip and angst filled teens. Blogging is used for those things, but they can play an important role in the classroom as well. I've decided to create a Blogger's Cafe in my room to encourage student blogging and opening up my class to the world.


Blogger's Cafe

The Stage in my Classroom

I plan to set up a lounge style seating area on the stage that will have space for two students to use netbooks and live blog/tweet the class discussion/lecture. Students will rotate blogging day to day to ensure that a different perspective is gained in class. The goal is to create a comfortable environment for students to work. The students will post the blog on my schoolwires page at the end of class. Students who were not blogging will be able to go back to my page at any time and add any information they thought was important. It allows for students who were absent to see what happened in class and for parents to actually read exactly what happened in class that day. It knocks down the walls of the classroom and lets the world see the learning first hand.

The Blogger's Cafe will be important and students work with other students from Van Meter, Iowa. Students will be working on various units with other students from Van Meter and will need a space to work on different parts of various projects. Student blogs will be used to explore different ideas and reflect on experiences. It will be an avenue that will allow all students to freely participate, instead of the select few that love to raise their hand in class.

Literacy

Another reason I want my students to blog on a more regular basis is because it will help them become better readers and writers. I had my students answer discussion questions last year using Turnitin.com. At the end of the year, I realized that I had my students write the equivalent of 3 extra essays. I could tell by the end of the year, their writing was sharper and their though process stronger. Just writing essays might not be the only way to strengthen writing skills. Blogging allows for students to freely express their thoughts on topics without being stuck following a strict essay format. That ability to let ideas flow will help students as thinkers, not just writers. Literacy is no longer just reading and writing. Computer Literacy needs to be considered as these students move on to college or the job market. The more experience students have with computers and web tools, they better prepared they will be for college.

My Goal

My big goal for the year is to have many other students, in many different content areas, in many different building, start to blog and have their students blog. I want to create a Blogging Community in the district that will allow students to read and comment on various types of blogs. I have a Math and Science teacher ready to blog in their class and I don't want to see it stop there. I want to assign their blogs as reading in my class. This will allow reading and writing to finally be spread out across the curriculum. By having students engage in reading and commenting on other content blogs, they will be reading and learning about new ideas.I would love to see 8th graders reading and commenting on 9th grade blog posts. Freshmen engaging in discussions with AP students on different topics in Biology or History. The potential is truly limitless if a Blogging Community is created. As this idea grows, discussions can begin with other schools in other districts. Eduction should not happen behind four walls alone. Blogging knocks down those walls and opens the world to our students. Before we see the world, we need to create the right environment in the district.

This is a big goal and I don't expect it to happen over night. I do know that I teach with some of the best teachers in the world and they are dedicated to using the best methods available to prepare our students for the tests they will take in the future and college down the road. Now is not the time to be scared to try something new in the classroom. We have a chance to do something different that will help all of our students. If you think that more reading and writing will help the students in your class, please send me an email and together we can set up a class blog. 


I think this is a great idea to try and set up in your school district if you have the means. If different districts can set this up, then we can all work together to create a large community for our students to work and learn in. I think this is possible if we all work together. I've been lucky to pair up with Van Meter and can't wait to see where it goes. Let me know if you are going to try and bring this to your district.

- @TheNerdyTeacher