More Than the Textbook

The benefits of literary works as a resource is something I want to debate. Early on in chapter three, Daniels & Zemelman, state that a non-fiction story can “give more {than a textbook},to make the information readable and memorable” (53). From the excerpts of A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation, I can see how the authors can make the argument that the story was “readable.” It was in straightforward language that was more enticing than most school textbooks (51-53). However, I don’t think a story makes the facts any more memorable after just reading the information. I read the excerpts from A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation about E=MC2 Thursday before class. Five days later, I just remembered two guys went out skiing and made an important discovery related to the equation. The specific information that I was supposed to remember eludes me. What I think needs to occur is an assignment that makes the students properly think about the new material. As I learned in my CEP class, memory is the residue of thought. If the students read the book, but give it minimal attention, then it will not transfer over into long-term memory (which is what happened after I read the passage on the formula). Thus, reading is only half the battle. It is a hard part of the battle for some teachers who only use textbooks given how boring the material can be. However, once something is read from either source (text or non-text book) you still need to make the student think before any sort of learning occurs. 

To be clear, the importance of learning is a focal point of Subject Matters; however, the process appears different than the one outlined in UBD. Subjects Matters revolves around the reader’s engagement and ability to process the new material. Arguments like the one I refuted above occur because the author is preoccupied with changing the “reading diet” of students reading first and foremost (51). As stated above I already think there is more to the equation, but applying UBD adds more layers to the process. Rather than question the readability of a text, a person following UBD first need needs to ask if the material is in line with what we want to teach the students. Or question if there are better options. In USB the tools are still a significant part of teaching students, but not all resources are correct nor should all lessons be designed around the resources the teacher will use. As such, the UBD reading focused far less on resources and far more on the how to set goals (USB, Chapter One).  However, I like the idea of spending more time on the goals because such a line of thinking can lay a better defense for why a resource is used in a class.  Just saying “national standards” wants teacher’s to go in more depth or saying “readability” affects what the pupils potentially retains isn’t enough (53). Both of these arguments leaves open the possibility of wasting time. The only way to figure what should be used is starting out with the goal.

Despite questioning the resources Subjects Matters presents in a more critical manner due to UBD, Daniels & Zemelman were still able to teach me a valuable lesson about picking content. Paying attention to specific factors like “short v. long,” “primary v. secondary,” and “classic v. contemporary” all have a decisive impact on the student and their reading experience (58-61). All of these will affect me as a teacher too, yet the concept of “mirrors and windows” captured my attention the most (59). According to Daniels & Zemelman students need to be reading some text that are different from their experiences, beliefs, and overall character to fulfill the windows requirement of the concept. Logically, including mirrors means that students must read texts similar to them in some way so that they are engaged and validated as a student (59). Thinking this over, my reaction to USB approached a fine line. I wrote about how I enjoy teaching from WWI onwards specifically through the lens of the United States. I still hold that preference, but in teaching my subject I need to be very careful not to let my preference drive all the material I present. After mulling over my book choices, I realize I lean towards the mirror side of the equation. Such a revelation is probably a factor as to why I enjoy US history the most. Yet, my experience at TS and CF confirm that not all my students will be like me. So this means that I will need to do a better job incorporating variety into my class. The first place to start will be by expanding what I read. Yes, that means book suggestions are more than welcome! For I know a few good “widow” books, but not enough to be able to effectively choose resources when it comes time to under the UBD method of planning.

I included this picture because it kept popping in my head as I was writing the last paragraph. The overall commentary about differences is a bit sad, but the implications of Einstein’s general statement always inspires me to value the diversity of all students.

*Image copied from this blog: http://alyssiakajati.wordpress.com/

Reaction to UBD

As I was reading about understanding by design, the content made sense to me. A large reason is because my professors at RIC already introduced me to the idea without putting the formal name to the concept subtly being taught. For instance, during a reading about how different educational philosophers view education, my FNED professor made the point that we, as educators, need to be thinking about how to actively engage learners with the skills being taught so as to gain evidence of their understanding. Also, in my SED 406 class last semester the professor stressed that the goals should be one of the first items addressed when creating a lesson plan. In fact, the template he gave us for such an assignment had the goals put before the instructional part of the lesson plan. These are just a couple examples, but the first two stages of UBD (evidence and results) were regularly brought up in FNED and SED 406. Each time I agreed with the sound logic of these method because I want my students to learn well and not by accident as this author states on numerous occasions (The Big Ideas of UbD, 7). Despite this desire and slight familiarity, I still have issues conceptualizing this theory into the reality of a yearlong curriculum.  

One difficulty stems from the fact that I fell into the second "sin of typical unit planning" well before I reached section A of the assigned reading (8). Back in chapter one, the author gave a visual representation about how to prioritize the curriculum (10). At first, I thought “great this makes so much sense; of course I can easily do that.”  Then I thought about how much history content I have to also cover in a year and I became far less confident. During my recent observations at TS the teacher I was assigned to, who has been teaching for years, constantly struggled with staying on top of the required material. By the time I left, she was over 100 pages behind in the text book from where her administration wanted her to be. If an experienced educator still hasn’t figured out a good solution for this problem, how is a novice teacher expected to stay on task?

When I stop letting my anxiety take hold, I can see that the teacher I observed didn’t exactly follow the guidelines set forth regarding prioritizing information. To be fair, the teacher spent many days trying to increase the “enduring understanding” of her students by giving close readings and critical thinking assignments. However, there were plenty of other lessons she wasted covering topics outside the priority diagram outlined in Chapter one (please see page 10) just to appease administration. A prime example for this is when she spent two weeks on ancient Egypt and Mummies. I find this unnecessary because the political scientist in me thinks it is important to choice topics that allow the past lessons of history to be applied to the present. Try as I might, I can’t think of anything relevant about Ancient Egypt. I really just prefer spending the most amount of my time reading about WWI onward as those lessons have the most obvious impact on our current society (at least in terms of the United States, Africa and the Middle East are a different story). Yet, most people I talk to never reach these significant eras because the educators run out of time. This problem seems to be a curriculum planning error that would need to be resolved through a restructuring of each district’s History agenda. A few schools have done this by including current event electives, but not many. I just hope I am able to become part of the more progressive schools or help led a campaign to negotiate the curriculum with administration because I won’t be able to stand covering topics just to appease administration at the expense of significant lessons.

Keeping in line with my political science roots raised one last concern in regard to resources. Reviewing the nutrition lesson at the end of the first UBD chapter displayed how the teacher didn’t think his book was well equipped to use the entire time (17). I feel like a large portion of my assigned classroom book won’t cover what I want in regards to current event either. Now the author of Subjects Matter makes the point that a wide variety of generas be utilized, such as “newspapers, magazines, websites,” etc. (15). I will probably resort to these most often. However, I start to wonder how costly will my constant copying be. Should I just have students read everything online? Will that always be possible? Though most importantly, I wonder about what content I will provide my future pupils with to read.  This weekend, I came across a NPR blog about the plague and how its lessons could be applied to the Ebola outbreak (see below link). It was an interesting read and something I would like to incorporate into a class if I were forced to be teaching the plague like the teacher at TS, but then I would spend forever researching the perfect article to give my students. Maybe, with time, I will get better at choosing resources, but that is not the case at the moment. Yet, time in the teaching profession is an immensely valuable resource. So I can’t always squander it trying to find the absolute best lesson. So once again, I am left wondering how should I handle curriculum design and where do I compromise?

The best answer to my final question comes from the end of chapter one in Subjects Matter. Specifically when authors says that they hear everyone’s criticisms towards the new fast food unit and respond with the logic that, “we’re not saying…that this is where you begin” (14). In my head, I have these great lessons. However all great lessons, like the fast food unit, take time. I need to continue to move forward slowly and work past my anxiety in a progressive manner like I did in this blog. Furthermore, I need to pay close attention to the content of Subject Matters as the authors do promise that the pages after chapter one will “show how content teachers can take steps-carefully and thoughtfully toward more promising reading (15).” I hope they keep their promise!   

Link

1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/09/20/349271621/ebola-battlers-can-learn-from-venices-response-to-black-death

Chapter 1 & 2: Subjects Matter

                                                         

I appreciate that Daniels and Zemelan want “to see students overly worked up” about a subject as a result of their course reading (13).  Every teacher does. According to these authors, all educators need to focus on techniques that will increase comprehension rather than "decoding" or many students won't become passionate (22). There logic essentially states that since basic phonetic skills are completed in elementary school, high school teachers should move onto teaching the more challenging material that many pupils struggle with as decoding isn't really an issue at that stage of learning anymore (22). Wilhelm makes a similar point when explaining his choice for a teacher/learner centered approach to education as well, showing that Daniels and Zemelan’s notion has some support (39).

I might agree with all three authors, were it not for the illiteracy rate in the United States. According to a recent 2013 Huffington Post article, 21% of the adult population reads worse than a 5^th grader and 19% of graduating seniors can’t read at all (see below link). I feel like these student might have missed some of the basic decoding skills in their prior years that could have helped them read better. Another concern I have is for ESL learners. As my observations at CF show, there are students in mainstream classrooms who understand Spanish better than English. How would I best teach those student to read and keep up with my content? Daniels and Zemelman seemed to believe that students with phonetic issues already have resource teachers who will help them; implying that everything will be fine due to the special education department (22). However, if the aforementioned student is in my classroom, shouldn’t their reading problem be my concern too?

I suggest that lower skilled readers be taught in a manner that addresses both decoding and comprehension problems so as to maintain the high standards these authors advocate. For I feel giving an assignment geared to increasing comprehension won’t work unless the student can read English in the first place. As someone who was told early on in their school career that they can't hear phonetically, I take this issue very seriously because I know just how hard it is to read when sounds don't come together. Luckily this is a problem I overcame, but it still happens to me every now and again. A word I will use in everyday language will be printed on a page and I will be staring at it for 3 minutes trying to figure it out before the issue is clarified. When I was younger these reading blocks were more frequent so I found reading exhausting. I actually hated reading for quite some time because of just how bad I was at it. When I do start teaching, I hope my prior disdain of the subject is something I can advert my students from feeling. 

On a more positive note, I do agree with the fact that educators need to learn how to teach reading in a way that furthers critical thinking skills. For I now love reading because of how thought provoking some stories can be. Plus being able to think critically is just a good skill to have in general. Without this ability, people run the risk of making poor uninformed decisions that affect much of their life. I know before I was taught how to comprehend I couldn't make connections between what I read and what I learned. Meaning the reflective pieces we have to do right now to grow as an educator is something I couldn't sufficiently do before. Such reflective pieces is one of the most valuable aspect to learning, because otherwise how would a student really understand or remember what they learned? Therefore, these reasons make me think comprehension is something that teachers really need to focus on as well. 

Link

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/illiteracy-rate_n_3880355.html

Literacy Profile: Ballroom Dance

I am very proud to say I am literate in ballroom dancing; though until recently, dancing wasn't something I boasted about to others. The reason becomes obvious when looking at my motive for doing ballroom. When I entered the URI Ballroom Dance Club my freshmen year, there wasn't much thought put into the decision. As a requirement for all incoming classes, URI makes students participate in at least one extracurricular activity. Since mock trial and parliamentary debate were unavailable, I really didn’t have a strong desire to be an active member of anything. I later asked my friends what they chose (there answer being ballroom) and I thought, “sounds as good as anything else. I am in.” So off I went for an hour long class Wednesday evening.

  

I admit, following the crowd was not a good reason to dance and it highly impacted how skilled I became as a dancer. Since I was forced to join an activity, I did the bear minimum.  Whereas, the more passionate people attended the club from 5-9 PM, during which time six dances and some technique was (and still is) covered. At technique classes more one on one time was offered and the teacher really discussed how to make the dance look good. Since, I opted out of that last hour I didn’t know how to follow my partner's lead correctly, count music, stay on beat, or how to position my body during the dance. I had a general understanding that I should be on the right of the leader, but that was only because my partner would push me over there every time.

The better dancers also made more of an effort outside of the classes. Be it by themselves, with a friend, or at a social dance they put in many practice hours on their own time. Then they would come back with questions that they would converse to the teacher about thereby increasing their “declarative and procedural knowledge” as Wilhelm would say (47). Without much practice, all I could do was follow the steps, but typically only when my teacher was saying what should be done next. I say typically, because I even struggled to follow the sequence of moves since I didn't know all of the names of the steps. The last day of class when there were numerous complex steps that built of the basic, I did horribly. Since I had a thin grasp of the dances foundation I couldn't keep up with what my teacher was saying much to my partner’s displeasure.   

Despite my low interest and lack of practice, I continued to attend dance intermittently and performed in a subpar manner until my senior year. That year many of the experienced dancers were no longer in the club and the leadership changed. Now I know I am most at fault for not growing as a dancer earlier, however, I didn't end up caring about the club to put any effort into the skill until the change in members occurred. Under the old group the club was unwelcoming to new comers. On my first day of class many of the participates were frustrated that new comers didn’t already know how to dance. Furthermore, the skilled members didn't make much of an effort to include beginners in their conversations during class either. Really, it is a wonder I even went back sometimes. Luckily I did, and the club changed around the time I did too. Simply put the new president and younger dancers started to be more sociable and were helpful to everyone. With more of a connection to the club, I started staying later, practicing with others outside class, and attending socials.  One of our teachers, who owns a professional dance studio, even offered us discounted class rates when it became apparent the club, myself included, didn’t want to stop dancing during the summer (See below link for studio information).

Aside from having an increased appreciation for a variety of music generas and a wide knowledge of ballroom, I have gained some practical skills that impact my life on a daily basis. For one, becoming involved in dance has made me more personable. In any dance situation you have to be in close proximity with your partner. Because I dance so often at socials and other events, I meet many new dancers constantly. To minimize the incredibly awkward feeling everyone has when being in close contact with a stranger, I have learned the art of small talk quite well. Not everyone is receptive to polite conversation nor are people more skilled than I nice about dancing with a person below their capabilities. Before that bothered me, but now I know to just brush it off and keep dancing. They are only a small thorn when it comes to the overall picture, which is an attitude I keep in mind for anything I try now. So I have also developed a pretty thick skin due to dance.

 The importance of “humane” practice for increasing engagement will also translate into my teaching (Wilhelm, 21). When Wilhelm described how to teach reading during chapter two his support for Vygotsky’s learning-centered teaching showed he thinks a large part of the equation falls on the teacher’s method (31-53). My ballroom teacher used this same method, but as my early experience showed that wasn't enough. What I needed was to have someone create a safe and welcoming environment for me, which could have simply been done by being caring and patient. This clearly relates to the classroom. Wilhelm once said in an aside such an environment can increase new interests (21). With the experience of a poor atmosphere still fresh in my memory, I think atmosphere is more than a footnote. That feeling still makes me go out of my way to be nicer to the freshmen when I dance at URI. The current President does the same too, which is great because membership retention has increased with the introduction of this new club culture. So hopefully like dance retention, I can increase student retention (i.e. interest) through the use of my “humane” ballroom practice.

Links

1. Studio Information: http://dancinfeelin.com/

2. Video of Most Recent URI Performance: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=920111361337853&set=o.2200019120&type=2&theater

*The people in the second video are the people I currently practice with. There technique is a bit better than mine, but I can typically keep up with them during lessons.