I recently spent much-needed wonderful quality time with my husband for our anniversary. We had the fortunate opportunity to listen to some music at the Dakota. Nachito Hererra was playing piano with a basist and a drummer. Now, if you've never heard of Nachito Hererra, don't feel bad. I didn't either. We kind of stumbled onto this show, and a Cuban pianist intrigued me. I didn't know what I was stepping into.
The guy was awesome. Look him up and buy his cd (he is not paying me to advertise for him - I do have a point coming). Here was a man playing Chopin, my grandmother's favorite composer, giving his music a Latin flair. A Latin Chopin! How awesome! Hererra did the same thing with Rachmaninoff. I was floored. But it got me to thinking about our learning (seriously, I do have a life; I don't spend every waking moment thinking about how my experiences tie into school - they just sort of do, actually).
Nachito Hererra came to this country only a few years ago. He speaks English with a very heavy Cuban accent. He really doesn't need to speak at all, because his music speaks for him. Why is that? Because classical music is world-wide. The heavy-hitter composers are known all over the globe. But each culture soaks up the language of music differently. Hererra heard Chopin differently than I heard Chopin - because of the difference in our experiences - our culture - our schema. I would never have thought to put a Latin beat to Chopins nocturnes. But he did - because of the life experience in which he was immersed.
What does that say about our learners? Our readers? Our students coming to American schools from families who have never experienced American schools? Our gifted students? Our struggling students? Each and every student comes to school with a certain set of life experiences, and takes from his or her learning something different because of that schema. There are students who have no books at home. There are students who hate reading because they read letters backwards and no one can seem to help them. There are students who have a brain that functions so beyond their years that they can't figure out how to really connect with others their age. Is an urban culture different than a suburban culture? (I'm just keeping it in the U.S. right now to illustrate a point.) Is one race's schema different than another race's schema?
The answer was beautifully apparent when I sat five feet from a classically trained Cuban pianist, listening to music I grew up with for the first time. Yes, I grew up with that music. And yes, I was listening to it for the first time.
I was "seeing" it through the eyes of another culture. And it make the experience, the music, all the richer. Instead of forcing our children to see American schools through the eyes of those who went through American schools, we should attempt to embrace as much as we can from others. It will make the entire experience more rich.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
No rigor moratorium!
Yes, yes, yes, I meant "moratorium" rather than "mortis". Frankly, a rigor moratorium would be the same as rigor mortis. Dead and stiff education, stiff from "the unavailability of energy needed" (American Heritage Science Dictionary). When one looks up the word "rigor" in the dictionary, geesh, a lot of unpleasant images are created through the use of strong descriptors - words like "harsh inflexibility" and "severity and cruelty" and "unyielding or inflexible". And yet we use that term as a GOOD thing in education, well, good when used in the correct context and not in the context of any of those nouns/adjectives above!
What does rigor mean in the context of education? According to Strong, Silver and Perini (2001), rigor is "the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging."
In other words, FULL OF LIFE! Rigor should be viewed as a curriculum goal for every single student - in every single subject area - in order to get all students to become thinkers. This definition of rigor requires students to work with challenging ideas and complex texts. Rigor stimulates the brain and helps make connections between learning and life. Nice.
Rigor is NOT more of the same. It's not the quantity of content (yes, children, we will learn ALL the world's history in eighteen weeks; let's get started!). It's not about "back to basics" or as some people put it, a "core" or "classical" curriculum, and it's not just for selected students. Content is important, don't get me wrong. In fact, I'm screaming that theme! But it needs to be rich, deep, and meaty. Why? Rigorous texts get students to become more flexible thinkers. Because students will tackle more difficult material and make sense of it, they will become better readers and more critical readers. Rigorous content requires attention, which in turn hones their critical thinking skills. Most of all, appropriate rigor creates self-confidence. Why on earth would I create easy stuff for my students? They would have been insulted. A rigorous content, with enthusiastic guidance and support, meant that my students knew I had faith in them and would undertake the journey with them. And when they succeeded, it was a beautiful thing. It wasn't handed to them.
Rigor is relevant to life and to our students' futures. It's critical. It makes learning come ALIVE!
What does rigor mean in the context of education? According to Strong, Silver and Perini (2001), rigor is "the goal of helping students develop the capacity to understand content that is complex, ambiguous, provocative, and personally or emotionally challenging."
In other words, FULL OF LIFE! Rigor should be viewed as a curriculum goal for every single student - in every single subject area - in order to get all students to become thinkers. This definition of rigor requires students to work with challenging ideas and complex texts. Rigor stimulates the brain and helps make connections between learning and life. Nice.
Rigor is NOT more of the same. It's not the quantity of content (yes, children, we will learn ALL the world's history in eighteen weeks; let's get started!). It's not about "back to basics" or as some people put it, a "core" or "classical" curriculum, and it's not just for selected students. Content is important, don't get me wrong. In fact, I'm screaming that theme! But it needs to be rich, deep, and meaty. Why? Rigorous texts get students to become more flexible thinkers. Because students will tackle more difficult material and make sense of it, they will become better readers and more critical readers. Rigorous content requires attention, which in turn hones their critical thinking skills. Most of all, appropriate rigor creates self-confidence. Why on earth would I create easy stuff for my students? They would have been insulted. A rigorous content, with enthusiastic guidance and support, meant that my students knew I had faith in them and would undertake the journey with them. And when they succeeded, it was a beautiful thing. It wasn't handed to them.
Rigor is relevant to life and to our students' futures. It's critical. It makes learning come ALIVE!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Oh, for the love of..... reading!
One of my favorite quotes in the whole world comes from a wonderful writer (and fellow sarcasm lover), Mark Twain, who once stated, "The man who doesn't read is no better than the man who can't."
Think about that for a minute.... it's really true, isn't it???
In 2003, 14% of American adults (defined as those age 16 and older) had BELOW BASIC literacy (National Center for Education Statistics). Below basic literacy is defined as the most simple and concrete literacy skills - such as signing a form and adding the amounts on a bank deposit slip. 14% of a million is...140,000, correct? And how many million adults are in the United States? Approximately 211 million as of 2000. So, since I love math and I am math literate, let's see...that's 29.5 MILLION adults at the below basic proficiency level of literacy. whoa. That figure makes my head spin. These are really the people who CAN'T read. (The bigger question here begs an answer...why can't they read?) Others can, but don't. Why don't people read?
I know what you're thinking. Life gets in the way. We're so busy! We'd love to read, but... we just can't squeeze in the time.
But let me ask you a question: would we accept these answers from a kindergartner? I'll be honest, we do actually accept these answers from adolescents - getting an eighth grade boy to pick up a book is pretty hard to do these days. But what about an elementary school-age child? Study after study shows that early literacy habits have a direct correlation to success in reading. And those who are good at what they do usually LIKE doing it.
We implemented the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading this year at Harriet Bishop. One of its goals is to bring back the love of reading - and how does it do that, you may ask? By actively and purposely engaging students in texts that are approximately one level above their current reading level while in school. In other words, students aren't just reading in school; they're getting BETTER at their reading in school. It's a pretty logical concept, really, when you think about it. Children are actively engaged in self-selected texts in school that are at their instructional level. So the book is something they WANT to read, and they're learning skills and strategies while reading it. Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading (SEM-R) helps students become active partners in their own reading. It focuses on the development of self-regulated readers. Students are exposed to a wide variety of texts and text structures, purposefully selected by teachers to develop skills and strategies, and stimulate interest. It's not simply about the love of reading, but I reiterate what I said before - people will do what they're good at. And they'll LIKE what they're good at. The other two goals of SEM-R are to encourage students to pursue independent reading of appropriately challenging texts, and to improve fluency and comprehension.
If one wishes to look at this subject economically, illiteracy is a HUGE drain on resources in the United States. Alone, approximately 70% of current prison inmates would be considered illiterate. But not only that, the POTENTIAL resources for the United States are drained as well. Fields such as the sciences and technology NEED proficient and advanced readers. Food for thought.
I know that I will never get all students to love reading as much as I do. (I can try...) But if I can get students to love reading enough to continue reading, to grow as readers, and to bring reading into their adult lives, then I've done something worthwhile.
Think about that for a minute.... it's really true, isn't it???
In 2003, 14% of American adults (defined as those age 16 and older) had BELOW BASIC literacy (National Center for Education Statistics). Below basic literacy is defined as the most simple and concrete literacy skills - such as signing a form and adding the amounts on a bank deposit slip. 14% of a million is...140,000, correct? And how many million adults are in the United States? Approximately 211 million as of 2000. So, since I love math and I am math literate, let's see...that's 29.5 MILLION adults at the below basic proficiency level of literacy. whoa. That figure makes my head spin. These are really the people who CAN'T read. (The bigger question here begs an answer...why can't they read?) Others can, but don't. Why don't people read?
I know what you're thinking. Life gets in the way. We're so busy! We'd love to read, but... we just can't squeeze in the time.
But let me ask you a question: would we accept these answers from a kindergartner? I'll be honest, we do actually accept these answers from adolescents - getting an eighth grade boy to pick up a book is pretty hard to do these days. But what about an elementary school-age child? Study after study shows that early literacy habits have a direct correlation to success in reading. And those who are good at what they do usually LIKE doing it.
We implemented the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading this year at Harriet Bishop. One of its goals is to bring back the love of reading - and how does it do that, you may ask? By actively and purposely engaging students in texts that are approximately one level above their current reading level while in school. In other words, students aren't just reading in school; they're getting BETTER at their reading in school. It's a pretty logical concept, really, when you think about it. Children are actively engaged in self-selected texts in school that are at their instructional level. So the book is something they WANT to read, and they're learning skills and strategies while reading it. Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading (SEM-R) helps students become active partners in their own reading. It focuses on the development of self-regulated readers. Students are exposed to a wide variety of texts and text structures, purposefully selected by teachers to develop skills and strategies, and stimulate interest. It's not simply about the love of reading, but I reiterate what I said before - people will do what they're good at. And they'll LIKE what they're good at. The other two goals of SEM-R are to encourage students to pursue independent reading of appropriately challenging texts, and to improve fluency and comprehension.
If one wishes to look at this subject economically, illiteracy is a HUGE drain on resources in the United States. Alone, approximately 70% of current prison inmates would be considered illiterate. But not only that, the POTENTIAL resources for the United States are drained as well. Fields such as the sciences and technology NEED proficient and advanced readers. Food for thought.
I know that I will never get all students to love reading as much as I do. (I can try...) But if I can get students to love reading enough to continue reading, to grow as readers, and to bring reading into their adult lives, then I've done something worthwhile.
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