RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

One of the first assignments I give my students each year is a scrapbook like activity in which they create an All About Me book with their families. I think that it is a good way to bridge the gap between home and school and see what each child is truly interested in. Some families go all out and create a book that looks professionally done, while some obviously let the child do the majority of the work themselves, but regardless of how the finished product comes out it is always something the children are proud of and something that serves as an icebreaker when we share them as a class. We keep them in the room all year in our reading center, and the children can read and reread them, as well as show them off to their friends.
-Elizabeth Norwood

Candy,

I liked your question "Is it manageable with a class of twenty or more students for each child to make such personal connections?" and the eventual self responses that you had. I am a true believer in the hybrid classroom, especially one where the teacher knows everything about every student. It can be difficult to know a lot about every student's lives, but I don't think I could be an effective teacher if I didn't.

William Byland

Candy, While I would love to everything about every student, I can't imagine that it would be possible at the middle school level. It seems that most research we are reading about is done at the elementary levels where a teacher only has 18-20 students to get to know. At the middle school level, we have as many as 33 in one class and as many as 125 students on a team. With numbers this large, it is very difficult to make personal connections with the students. I try. I really do. One of the first activities I have the students complete each year is a learning styles questionaire and then an "I am" poem. We post those poems around my classroom and in the hallway on my team for all of us to get to know each other. I always start off the year by showing my students a movie maker presentation about me and my family. I feel that by building this personal connection to me, they will open up and allow me to get to know them.

Candy,
I think you are right. We, as teachers, really need to make sure the work we are assigning to all students is meaningful and relevant. I learned about choice assignments and think tac toes (sort of like menu boards) in an AIG class. This has been the most helpful, although not olnly with AIG students. My lower level readers really make connections to what they read when completing a project of their choice. I always provide as many avenues as I can think up to coorelate to the book we have been reading. Even in Shiloh one of the options was making a cake that their family could use to celebrate something like Marty's did. Another was to make a dog related item to share with the class. Some of the boys made a dog house with their dad for their dog and brought in pictures or measurements that they used. The students loved these real life connections that they were making with books. I try to always make choices available that help students to voice their style .
Amy Reep

I've read all the remarks and I think the ideas to personalize activities are a good one, but I still think Hicks has more in mind. It's about understanding what our students' needs are and trying to meet them. I read an article in the Journal for Adoslecent and Adult Literacy that addresses this topic. The article talks about how educational ideas of literacy are not the same as many working-class students. This causes teachers to believe that they have no literacy skills when in fact they have a tremendous amount; it just doesn't fit into the school framework. I feel what Hicks is trying to say is that we have to give students ways to show what they are capable of in an area or with a topic that is relative and comfortable for them. We, as educators, have to open our mind to other ideas about what it means to be intelligent and literate.

In a hybrid classroom our students can grow at their own rate. While I think it would be more challenging at a middle school level if it was incorporated across the school, I think reading and writing workshops would greatly benefit our students. As you said about Jake and Laurie's stories being so different but personal and relevant. When we make assignment meaningful it makes a world of difference. I often struggle with this and the writing test that my students must do 4 times a year. It is a challenge finding a prompt that provides flexibility and opportunities to make their writing relevant and meaningful. Often their brains are ready for problem solution and evaluative thought processes, but I'm forced to press upon them this somewhat daunting task. I often get frustrated with this especially because so much of my year is eaten up with these assignments- almost 1 month! It takes away from my opportunities to make writing more relevant to them. TO make this happen we really need to get the state board to understand how these mandates impact our students and the classroom.