Response to Chapter Four: "The Essence of Understanding"

Ellin Oliver Keene's chapter in Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice starts by providing a story in which the author led a class discussion of Toni Morrison's photo-essay Remember: The Journey to School Integration in way which promoted the students to connect to the major concepts of the work by learning how to read closely and by participating in meaningful class discussion. The chapter then goes on to define understanding and how it is achieved before outlining ways in which to promote understanding in the classroom. As I was reading I focused primarily on the story at the beginning of Keene's chapter. I found the story very inspiring as it illustrated the very discussions I wish to have in my own classroom one day. By having the students sit on the floor, Keene alerted the students that something different was going on and focusing their attention on her. This also allowed the students to take on a more relaxed posture, enabling them to feel more comfortable and willing to share. I was intrigued by the idea of using this as a possible hook for a lesson in the classroom as it seemed to really quiet and focus the students in the story. By reading and thinking through the essay aloud Keene was able to illustrate to the students how to approach the text, this gave the students a framework to follow when reading enabling them to participate in the group discussion with increased confidence. By following this framework, I as a teacher, can instruct my students not only in how to read critically but how to participate in a group discussion. Through the process of gradually phasing myself out, I can teach the students how to lead their own discussions enabling them to learn to think critically on their own. My primary goal as a future English teacher, is to provide the means for students to learn to connect to literature in a meaningful and pertinent way, hearing this story enabled me to envision how I might achieve this one day.

Response to Chapter Six "Of Times, Teens and Books"

Chapter six of Adolescent Literacy: turning Promise into Practice, "Of Times, Teens and Books," by Teri S. Lesesne outlined the ways in which Yong adult fiction is changing to match societal changes. Lesesne began the chapter by explaining how books once marketed to an older audience are now being read by younger children  as a result of their changing "resources, abilities and interests" (2007, p. 62). In response to these changes in their audience, publishers have begun to publish an increasing amount of books in different genres addressing many different issues relevant to teens today. As I read I was amazed at all the different literature available to students and teachers today. Lesesne filled the chapter with references to different works of fiction providing a brief plot summary of each, the inclusion of these titles and their explanation alerted me to the variety of issues teens face today and how they can be discussed through reading. As a future teacher, I found this to be very empowering as I will be able to find literature for all my students to connect to that will help them  enjoy reading more. I was particularly intrigued by the idea of using a graphic novel to reach students struggling with reading, this would be a wonderful thing to start a class with in order to increase student involvement and confidence in the course.

WORK CITED

Beers, K., Probst, R., Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice. Heinemann, (Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Anchor. 

Response to Chapters 3 and 16

Chapter three of Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice written by Donna E. Alverman addresses the paradox between the multiple literacies of today's youth and the methods by which they are taught to read in school. Alverman (2006)  introduces this topic stating,

Congruent with [the] move toward the digital... is another movement, largely driven by policy makers at the state and national levels. Here, the agenda is to make high-stakes testing the impetus driving our students to be better prepared, ready to take their place in an increasingly competitive global workforce. (p. 21)

This section really challenged me as a future teacher to think of ways in which to bridge this large gap in how students communicate outside of school and how to better prepare them for the standardized tests that are becoming increasingly prevalent. I believe that teachers can use technology in an engaging manner to help students connect to the material needed to take these tests. As somebody who is often intimidated by new technology this is something I will have to consciously work on incorporating it in my future classroom. From the connections adolescents make with the digital a new form of literacy is developed pertaining to the understanding of the symbols used in the electronic systems. Alverman (2006) concluded the chapter by discussing how these systems result in the multimodal learning practiced by most young adults in the form of digital interactions. While this is largely ignored by traditional teaching methods the chapter concludes with the recommendation of using different sign systems as a way of helping low achieving and unmotivated students "redefine their literate competence"  (Alverman, 2006, p. 26). I greatly appreciated this comment at the end as it emphasized that the use of sign systems is not to replace traditional reading instruction methods completely but is to be used rather as a way to peak interest in reading and to supplement lessons.


Chapter sixteen of  Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice then went on to illustrate different ways in which teachers can reach underachieving students preparing them for academic success. In this chapter, authors Yvette Jackson and Eric J. Cooper discussed methods in which to promote success within students unused to experiencing it. I found this chapter incredibly useful as outlined the steps that needed to be completed for students to feel safe and competent in the classroom while being challenged. The most interesting section to me was that on listening to students.
This section of the chapter emphasized the importance of a teaching strategy centered around forming relationships as a method of encouraging classroom involvement. While I have always viewed this as a simple fact, the authors outlined methods that encouraged students to form a relationship not only with their teacher, but with their education as well. Jackson and Cooper (2006) state "the most critical question-- What's needed for you to learn? -- is seldom asked of  the students" by asking this question of students it encourages them to analyze the "very thing we judge them on-- their learning" (p. 246). I found it incredible how asking a question as simple as this is almost never asked of students. This really challenged my perceptions of how to best teach and encourage student analysis and made me realize the importance of each student being asked to evaluate their learning.

Response to Ch. 10 " Teaching English Language Arts in a 'Flat' World" 

Jim Burke's chapter on teaching how to teach literacy skills to students in the twenty-first century focused on eight different workplace roles set forth by Tom Friedman. These different roles include: colaborators and orecestrators, sythesizers, explainers, leveragers, adapters, green people. personalizers, and localizers. In the chapter,  Burke took each of these different societal roles explained them and their importance in a couple brief paragraphs then listed several ideas for how to best nurture the growth of the role in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed these suggestions, as they were practical methods of teaching certain skills sets that could be easily implemented in the classroom. What really amazed me was how these simple changes in teaching methods could dramatically increase student's literacy in a flat world. 

Burke ended the chapter by illustrating the implications of these practices in the classroom through his own personal experiences as a teacher. By creating a group online discussion board for his class, Burke found that participation in his class soared while students learned valuable communication skills.  Upon reading this section of the chapter, I was a little skeptical about the effectiveness of this strategy for teaching high school students, thinking many would simply use the in class computer time to mess around. I was surprised to find that many students really connected with this method of group discussion. 

Overall, this chapter challenged me to consider implementing the different instructional method mentioned to better prepare adolescents for the new workforce.  

Response to "The Measure of Our Success"

            Upon reading Kylene Beers’ chapter entitled “The Measure of Success” I was challenged to reconsider the educational system and how it works or does not work for students; as well as the definition of modern day literacy. The author’s inclusion of real stories at the beginning of each topic to illustrate her point really influenced my reading of the text; as I often tend to view education in an old fashioned traditionalist sense. These little anecdotes at the beginning of each section compelled me to remember that the main goal of teaching is not simply to convey information, but to help students grow into successful individuals.

            The author’s first story told of a boy named Derek placed in a remedial reading class out of a need to further improve his standardized test score. This story showed how, it is very easy for educators to get caught up in academic easements that we forget about all the outside factors that contribute to performance in school. Upon reading this I was charged to view student scores and attitudes with increased compassion and respect as the prescribed school system often hinders students of low socio-economic status’ ability to succeed.

            As the chapter continued, Beers introduced the topic of underground literacy, once again illustrating that there is often more behind a student’s achievement than what is on a graded page. After telling the story of Collin, an avid environmental blogger, who was receiving low grades in English, the author went on to discuss what literacy in twenty-first century looks like. I found this section of the chapter the most interesting and challenging as it outlined what and how schools should be teaching while illustrating how they are presently falling short. As a future teacher I found this broad picture inspiring if not a little overwhelming. How am I as one teacher supposed to make an impact on this broad system of thought and teach my students what they need to know to be successful while nurturing them as individuals?