My Book Blog 10: Keep Learning

In my last blog, I want to talk about professional development. I still remember how relieved I felt about finishing graduate school and starting to be a teacher four years ago. After many years of schooling both in my home country and in the U.S, I was exhausted  and ready to say goodbye to being a student. But today I have made the decision to come back to further my education because during my past four years of teaching, there has not been one day when I do not feel the need to keep my knowledge of content and knowledge of education current; there has not been one day when I feel totally contented with my teaching skills.

Routman argues in her book that there is no shortcut to studying about our profession and reflecting on our practice. We must make time for ongoing professional development. Otherwise, we will remain at the mercy of outsiders to make decisions for us. Knowledge gives us power and energy. With knowledge, "we are able to be decisive, we have fresh ideas, we can figure out what makes sense, we know how to teach our students and move them forward." (Routman, 212) Not only that, our own enthusiasm for learning can also increase student passion for learning and achievement. Personally, since I decided to pursue my Ph.D. degree, I have been able to have more empathy for my students and I have felt more energetic about my teaching.

There are many types of professional development and Routman suggests two relatively easy and inexpensive ways to conduct professional development. Her first suggestion is to take part in schoolwide conversations. She says school that are more collegial and collaborative are happier places and have higher student achievement. The most effective teachers are the ones who read about their profession, collaborate with their colleagues, and actively engage in ongoing professional conversations. Through my own experience, I have also realized that sharing and exchanging ideas with my colleagues is one of the best ways to improve my own teaching. Unfortunately, we do not have many opportunities for this kind of professional conversation.

Routman's second suggestion is to make time for personal and professional reading. Exemplary teachers always read a lot because it is how they enrich their lives and continue to grow as a teacher and a learner. How do we find the extra time for such reading? Routman then cites her favorite quote on the subject to explain. I am copying part of the quote here because it makes very good sense:

"If you have to ask yourself where you'll find the time, it means the desire isn't there…Life is a perpetual plot to keep us from reading…Time spent reading is always time stolen…stolen from what? From life's obligations…Time spent reading, like time spent loving, increase our lifetime…reading does not belong to the societal organization of time. Like love, it is a way of being…"

We teachers need to do whatever we can to ensure that our students love learning.  In order to cultivate a love of learning, we ourselves, first and foremost, need to have that love of learning. To me, I see being able to participate in professional development as one of the best parts of our job.

My Book Blog 9: A Critical Issue in Teaching--Pacing

             Have you ever been in a class or a meeting that seemed to drag on forever? Or, one that seemed to pass in a flash? As a teacher, I would want my students to feel that my class seems to pass in a flash because they are so engaged in the lesson that they forget about time. Here we are talking about the issue of pacing, which is simply the speed at which we move through a lesson. In chapter 12, Routman makes a special note about the importance of keeping a lively pace in the classroom.

  

           Pacing is a way to keep students engaged in learning. Routman cites recent brain research results that indicate we have students' attention for less than ten minutes before they need a "cognitive rest" (206). This result means that we must allow lots of time for students to process and digest new information. When the work is interesting and we move along at a fast pace, we keep students engaged. A good-paced lesson appears to unfold more quickly and helps students to feel that they are moving along.

            How to create that lively pace? Routman says that she is always looking at her watch when teaching. She times every activity, keeps it to a short period, makes her teaching points, and moves on. She argues that when we try to "stuff" our lessons by trying to do everything, we lose students' attention and we tire them out. What a good teacher will do is focus on one or two important teaching points, and do them well. 

   

Another way to create the illusion of speed is to use a variety of activities to accomplish a single lesson objective and to create structures that maximize participation. When we change the type of work or activity, the method of presentation , or the way students are grouped together, we are changing the pace. When we create structures that promote maximum participation, such as student-led groups, discussion groups,  shared reading or partner reading, students tend to be more engaged and they learn more.              At our community college, a typical class lasts one hour and fifty minutes, so it is critical for teachers to use good pacing in order to engage students throughout the entire class period. My understanding about pacing is that it does not mean you present material at a fast speed, but rather students feel that you are moving quickly and students like to think they are going through a lesson quickly.              One challenge I have faced with keeping a brisk pace in my teaching is classroom management. This summer semester I have a rowdy group of students in one of my college success skills classes. It has been very difficult to move smoothly from one activity to another because I always have to stop and control the students before starting again. You would assume that these are adult students and they should have known how to behave in a classroom. But boy, I was wrong! To keep a lively pace in the classroom, the organization and management of students is just as important as the organization of instructional materials.

My Book Blog 8: Live an Interesting Life

              I was recently on an interview committee for full-time reading faculty positions at our school. Our very last interview question is: how do you want to improve yourself as a teacher? Our candidates gave various answers, some of which I did not find very meaningful. I have been pondering on that question since the interview and I was happy to find a couple of good answers in Routman's book.

            Chapter 12 of the book is titled "You Only Have So Much Time" and in this chapter, Routman gives some good tips on how to make our teaching lives easier and more productive. Her first suggestion is to live an interesting life. Do you often feel tired from work? Do you feel you never have enough time to do it all? Our time is limited and valuable. We have to spend it in the most meaningful, productive ways possible. Routman told the story of a teacher who was going to decline an invitation to an evening out because she had papers to grade. Routman advised her to go to the event and be an interesting person because you cannot come to work each day enthusiastic about teaching if all you did the night before was grade papers. We all want to and need to "have a life." As teachers, we are not only role models for learning; we are also role models for living. Staying late after school does not necessarily make someone a more effective teacher. Our students will not become better readers because we give them lots of paperwork and grade lots of papers. They will become better readers if they receive excellent instruction from us. Living an interesting life keeps us energetic and enthusiastic about teaching and therefore, we will be able to provide better instruction to our students.

            Routman's second suggestion is to spend most of your time thinking. Routman says that she spends a lot of time planning for her instruction, but it is mostly thinking and this thinking goes on all the time. She specifically mentions four questions that she has in mind all the time:

1. What do I want them to know and understand?

2. How can I help them know and understand it?

3. How will I know when they know and understand it?

4. What are my new expectations for students?

These four questions form a complete circle of learning starting with goals and expectations, going onto teaching strategies and learning activities, finishing up with assessment and evaluations. Then the circle starts again with new learning. To me, this kind of thinking and reflection is key to becoming a good teacher. Constantly doing this kind of thinking and reflection is how we can improve as a teacher. I also remember a conversation with a very experienced teacher. She says teaching never stops at the end of the school day or when you step outside of your classroom.

            So now if I am asked "how do you want to improve as a teacher", I would say first of all, I want to live an interesting life and then, I want to be constantly thinking and reflecting about my daily teaching practices.

My Book Blog 7: Teach children, not programs.

           Dear fellow teachers, have you ever been forced to go along with programs and practices you know are not working well for many of your students because you have to meet rising demands of curriculum, standards and high-stakes testing? Have you ever felt so defeated and exhausted that you doubt you would have any power to change things? If so, Routman asks you to speak out and say NO (if you are tenured) because it is our professional obligation to be the advocate for our students and ensure that they receive excellent instruction. No one else knows our students as well as we do and if we as professionals continue to remain silent and passive, people outside education will continue to determine what we should do in our classrooms.

            In  Chapter 11, Routman cautions all teachers to be informed about relevant research and be selective about prescribed instructional programs. She strongly argues that "only you, as a knowledgeable teacher, can decide what your reading program should encompass and how it should be organized. There is no best program or perfect model of teaching reading" (186). I can really relate to what Routman is saying about not going with the flow, but going with your instincts as a teacher.

            If you are familiar with developmental education, you probably know that across the whole nation, developmental education has been under a microscope and scrutinized closely. Many people cannot justify why we have to spend our tax money educating students twice on the same content. As a result, we as developmental educators, have felt enormous pressure to prove what we are doing is highly necessary and to prove we are producing satisfying results. We examine all kinds of research on developmental education, and look at various new programs and models being invented across the country. To be honest, many times, my colleagues  and I have felt that we got to adapt that particular model because it has worked for a particular school and we got to try it out too. At other times, as Routman describes, we start to doubt that we can improve instruction without an expensive program. In fact, over the past few years, faculty and administrators at my school have been involved in time-consuming, and money-consuming programs with the intension to improve our teaching. However, these programs either work only for a while when the money and resource is there or end up in the planning stage because it is too difficult to implement. What we did not do enough, as Routman suggests, is to invest in the professional development of teachers.

            What Routman says has so much truth because without effective teachers, regardless of the approach, program, or materials being used, students are less likely to be successful. Routman goes on to say that she is by no means against using programs. She recommends using programs only as a resource and beginning framework. Learn from it, see how it works for your students, adapt it and change it. All in all, "exemplary teachers taught children, and typical teachers taught programs" (Routman, 185).

My Book Blog 6: Guided Reading

 Guided reading is small-group instruction for students who read the same text. In guided reading, the teacher provides support for small groups of readers as they learn to use various reading strategies in a manageable text. Guided Reading has been traditionally associated with younger readers in primary grades, but it can be modified and used successfully in all grade levels. For example, in my developmental reading classroom, my adult students may need to learn how to read an informational text rather than a story book and guided reading can provide them with the type of guiding and supporting they need.

Since I started reading my book, I have been constantly thinking about the differences between teaching children to read and teaching adults to read. Guided reading can be used with all age groups; the difference is that in lower grades children are learning to read and in upper grades students are reading to learn. One of the framing questions for LLSS 538 also deals with the differences between learning to read and reading to learn. Now I can better define my goal as a developmental reading teacher, which is teaching my students how to read to learn. I need to equip my students with the reading strategies to navigate college study materials and give them access to the information they are seeking.

How is guided reading different from independent reading and shared reading? A key part to guided reading is the teacher's guidance to the student, which includes teacher providing immediate feedback, correction, and instruction on specific skill development. In shared reading, the teacher leads the class in reading a text. Guided reading has many of the same components as shared reading. However, it is conducted with a smaller number of students and focuses more on the individual reading needs of each student. In independent reading, students read books on their own, exploring different kinds of texts and applying new learning without assistance.  It is not hard to understand that an effective reading program should include all the above three models.

One challenge with guided reading, according to Routman, is what the other students should be doing while you are teaching guided reading groups. I can see this challenge turn into a serious classroom management issue. Will the students not in a guided reading group be able to do what they are expected to do? Routman's advice is very simple: you establish your routine from day one and expect students to manage their own behavior. She says that in a class where teachers have bonded with students and have treated students respectfully, students will return that respect and they will understand how important it is for the teacher to teach freely and uninterrupted. Of course, you will always want to engage the rest of the students in other kinds of literacy activities, such as independent reading, literature circle, book clubs, etc.  I  am a little worried about whether some of my students will live up to this expectation because they tend to slack off when my attention is not focused on them.  It sounds bad, but I have to say that sometimes my adult students do not behave nearly as well as children, which has always been a challenge to my teaching.

Book Blog 5: Shared Reading

I teach developmental reading at Central New Mexico Community College. In my classroom,  my students age anywhere from 18 to 60 and their reading levels range from 5th grade to 10th grade. One difficulty in our teaching is the lack of research and training for how to teach adult readers. Most of the exiting research and professional development is more specifically geared toward teaching children as well as teenagers. The book I chose to read also focuses on teaching children. Some of the good ideas mentioned in the book are hard to implement in our classroom setting, such as establishing an excellent class library. I get more excited when I come to this shared reading chapter because the author particularly emphasizes that this strategy can be used for students of all ages.

What is shared reading? "In shared reading, a learner or group of learners sees the text, observes an expert (usually the teacher) reading it with fluency and expression, and is invited to read along" (Routman, 130). There are multiple benefits to shared reading. First, teacher can model and guide students in all aspects of reading to comprehend--fluency, figuring out words, thinking, questioning, predicting, and rereading. Second, it helps students and teachers bond in an enjoyable process. Third, it provides a context for students to talk with one another about a text, which improves comprehension.

Not only is shared reading a powerful teaching tool for students of all ages, but also is ideal for showing how any text works-fiction or nonfiction. In my classroom, 99% of the reading material is nonfiction, didactic, and "inconsiderate" text, which tends to be a little boring and difficult to read. I think the shared reading process will be able to engage my students more and make their reading tasks less stressful.

So how is a shared reading session conducted? Routman gives two very detailed lesson examples in the book. In each of the examples, she starts her shared reading session with surveying the text and activating students' prior knowledge. When reading the text out aloud, she stops constantly and voices out what is going on in her head regarding what she has just read. She makes her own thinking very explicit because she wants students to "see" her thinking. During the process, she also pauses to let students do "partner talks"--discussing, summarizing or retelling with a peer. Besides, she also constantly asks questions to check students understanding. Through the lesson examples, I can really tell that shared reading is a highly engaging way to involve students with long texts, especially when the text itself is highly informative and entertaining.

I know this is a powerful teaching tool that I can use with my adult readers. But what are my challenges? For a shared reading session to be successful, first of all, I need to be careful about not dominating the talk. Students' active participation is key to this strategy; so it will be hard to conduct the lesson  if the group is shy and quiet. Second, plan it! As the teacher, I need to be very familiar with the text, plan my questions to ask, my thinking aloud, and students peer activities. Routman recommends putting most of your planning comments on sticky notes right in the text, which I consider very helpful. Anyway, I am excited about learning this strategy and cannot wait to give it a try.

My Book Blog 4: Teach Comprehension

I read this section of my book while completing the "Two Student Readers-Jeremy and Rachel" assignment, and I was able to make connections between these two texts. In Jeremy and Rachel's case, they look and sound competent, read smoothly, and can retell what they have read, but they are unable to go further in their comprehension, for example, determine what is more important in a text. Therefore, they are only "superficial readers" according to Routman. Real and good readers are always aware of their understanding or lack of understanding and always do whatever is necessary to make sense of what they are reading.

In the book, Routman argues that comprehension is critical to reading and we need to teach comprehension right from the start, from the day kids enter preschool or kindergarten. The good news is that comprehension has become a focus in our teaching; the bad news is that the teaching of comprehension strategies is often isolated from exercises. Routman describes in the typical reading classroom nowadays, teachers often focus on practicing one comprehension strategy for weeks and then move on to teach the next comprehension strategy.

That is exactly how I teach in my developmental reading course. We have a required list of strategies to go over during a semester based on the course syllabus, and we tackle those strategies one by one hoping that our students will exit our course equipped with a toolkit of comprehension strategies to use in their college reading. However, the reality is that our students spend large amount of time learning and practicing these strategies, often without knowing how to apply them and how the strategies fit into their reading of college materials. The problem, according to Routman, lies in not enough time for independent reading that enables students to use and practice these strategies.

The book then goes on to recommend the 20%-to-80% rule, which means 20% of class time allocated for explicit instruction of strategies and 80% of class time dedicated to the act of reading.

In my own teaching practice, I do leave the majority of class period for students reading practice. But a frustrating problem I have constantly experienced is that students go ahead to read with their old reading habits in spite of all the instruction on the useful strategies that were taught to them 10 minutes ago. For example, after I teach highlighting, some of the students are still reading with their hands in their pocket and their text as clean as new. Another frustrating problem with a lot of my students is that they rarely reread materials for better comprehension, even though rereading is the single most useful comprehension strategies as Routman describes it. They read through the material and then rush to do the comprehension questions. When they stumble on one question, they generally do not go back to reread the text; instead, they just go with their memory of the text or instincts. I have simply blamed some of my students for their laziness, but I am aware that as the teacher, I need to address the problems, but I have been  and am still looking for the solution…