Summer PD continues! I've just finished 180 Days by Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. Secondary English teachers, this one is for YOU!
The book covers the authors' core beliefs and daily practices, their mapping of reading and writing for the year, how they balance feedback and evaluation, and how they teach different writing discourses.
If you happened to be nearby as I was reading, you heard frequent cries of "AMEN!" and "PREACH"! If you look at my book, you'll see annotations including "YES!" and "We do this in education ALL THE TIME!" When a friend (and former colleague) asked me what it was that made this book such a must-read, I said, "It's giving me validation about my teaching practices. But mostly, the authors have the courage to say the things that I want to say."
Let me begin with this quote:
"Reading and writing in school is rarely practiced as the life-sustaining force it is. Students leave one year after another having missed the personal joy, the satisfaction, and the power of creating their own canon of books they love and pieces of writing they cherish" (5).
In June, I completed my 11th year teaching a middle school reading intervention class, and this quote is absolutely true of my students. These kiddos do not come to me with the "contagious passion" for reading that Gallagher and Kittle hope to create. Instead, many of them have been forced to complete reading strategy worksheets in lieu of reading and responding to authentic texts. When I ask students at the beginning of each year to name a favorite book or author, many can't (this was something that the authors noted in their high school classrooms as well). My most frequent answer to that question is always "Dr. Seuss." When I think of all of the outstanding middle grade literature that they are missing out on, it makes me want to cry...but I'll save that for another post. At the middle school level, I have personally witnessed the removal of whole-class novels in favor of short texts or passages followed by multiple-choice assessments. Will these types of activities show us if students can choose a main idea or theme from a limited number of choices? Sure. Will they encourage and enable student creativity? Not even a little bit.
"We believe that as English teachers we must be readers and writers because it is the heart of our content area" (11).
"Many of our students come to us as dormant readers after a summer, or in too many cases, after years of reading only excerpts and short texts, not books" (12).
Just as I do in my own classroom, the authors have piles of books on the desks/tables beginning on DAY ONE, and encourage students to shop for titles that interest them. The authors also complete Book Talks (one each class period, but with more titles mentioned the first few days so students can see what is available to them).
A new idea that I want to put into practice is to have the students get started in their writing journals on DAY ONE as well. Starting both of these on the first day of school cements the expectation that when you walk in our door, you are readers and writers (my classroom door will have a similar sentiment on it very soon).
I could write an entire post about the portions of the book that cover writing instruction, but as I read, one thing became clear: I need to up my game! The authors begin the year with Narrative writing because it is "central to all writing discourses..." (138). I too believe that the best way to ease kids in is to have them write about themselves.
According to 180 Days, the essential elements of writing are:
- generating ideas
- organizing and revising ideas
- fine-tuning
My favorite "PREACH!" moments happened when the book discussed the dangers of writing to a "formula". This is a major sore spot for me. I don't believe we should EVER force all students to use the same writing template (Note: When a student requires additional support, then by all means, let's use a scaffold. But not all students are going to need it!). Instead, let's teach them to "read like writers" by having them "write beside" beautiful passages from mentor texts. That, of course, necessitates that our students read every day. 😉
While Mr. Gallagher and Ms. Kittle see their students for varying lengths of time, whether every day or every other, their breakdown of daily practice is the same. EACH DAY, the students:
1. Read
2. Write
3. Study
4. Create
5. Share
I am so excited to use the ideas from this book to improve my teaching! More than anything else, my personal goal is for my students to find JOY in reading--to view it as something they GET to do, rather than HAVE to. The authors stated, "If current practices were effective, more students would love to read and write outside school" (223).
Challenge accepted. 😊
