"Chopsticks" and Comprehension

This was a really intriguing book to me, partially because I have never read anything like it. I think it was also a little challenging because, as it is in cohesion with the comprehension chapters from Graves, I think it was meant to test our comprehension strategies a little.

In my Young Adult Literature class last semester, the teacher’s intent was to show us lots of different genres of literature. This is actually something Graves mentions that can aid comprehension because students can learn how to follow the general form of different genres, as well as something that can help interest different students. In my YA Lit class, we did read a graphic novel, thought it was much less engaging in my opinion than Chopsticks, so I ended up deciding that graphic novels were not for me. This however, was a much more gratifying experience. I actually think this book would be much better used in the classroom, though definitely high school, than the book that we read (Skim, a cartooned graphic novel by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki). I also enjoyed the music references and pictures as well as the Spanish and Pablo Neruda poetry, because I’m a musician AND I love Pablo Neruda!

So, what do I, personally think about Chopsticks? I think it is not only filled with interesting pictures, but also an interesting storyline. I didn’t know what I was getting into—I actually choose not to read the little back cover synopses of books before I read them, so my first impression was the initial pictures. I saw evidence bags and immediately thought someone might be murdered (I watch a lot of crime shows), but the next bit was a photo album of happy people in love. At this point, I was hoping no one will be dead because I didn’t want to see either of these happy people hurt. As the story kept going, I thought it was easy enough to follow. There are the typical teens that are in love but the parents don’t approve, in this case Glory’s dad, V. This particular part of the plot is always interesting to me, because I’m my dad’s daughter. I hate when I can read love from the dad but see how the teen daughter sees it as utter despise. With this book, I could visibly see it on the dad’s face, especially in the page where Glory and Frank are sitting at the piano laughing and her dad is looking over at her. It makes me think of my dad when I was in high school, though I didn’t hate playing the piano, but I quit the golf team, which was something I knew my dad loved.

In the end, I like to think that she left the arts psychological ward of sorts to be with Frank in Argentina, but I don’t know that is even a happy ending for me. Because I believe in the healing power of music, I was hoping that Glory would be able to regain her senses and love for all music, but I could see that she just couldn’t get Frank and Chopin out of her head. I like the ambiguous ending. I think it’s a very reflection and discussion sparking book and I think it gives readers a chance to define the ending in the way we see as the most logical and the one we like the best as well.

My question, more than the end of the book, is what is the connection (V makes) between Glory and her mother, Maria? Alcoholism?

Authentic Vocabulary

I found the vocabulary readings, both from the Graves text and the “Robust Vocabulary Instruction” article particularly interesting, because I think that I was taught vocabulary words in possibly not the best way.

Things I Noticed That Differed from My Experience:
1.) Choosing sets of words that are related
2.) Using authentic learning in a workshop format
3.) Students as “scholars”

First, Graves mentions in Chapter 9 on vocabulary that it is an important step in vocabulary learning that the word sets are all connected in some way. In the opposing side, in my school experience, there is the vocab book. Sometimes words were somewhat related, like positive words vs. negative words or things like that, but hardly ever in my memory did words actually relate to each other in the real world outside of that textbook. That meant that our primary experience with those words was from the text and direct definitions, not from any individual thinking. This got me thinking, “As a math teacher, what can I do to stimulate interesting, connected vocabularies in my students?” There is the obvious, teach them the math vocab words, but based on Graves mention of using all words that can be used to describe space, couldn’t I design problems that we could work through as a class that all have interesting and new space words? Instead of a space shuttle traveling from Earth to the Moon, what if it was a space capsule, dispatching from The Kennedy Space Center or something like that?

Secondly, the article strongly emphasizes the benefits of workshop-styled learning for vocabulary, something my experience definitely lacked. I absolutely love the concept of the word box, where students can put words in they want to learn. It’s such a brilliant way to get kids EXCITED to learn new words. If what we’re out to get is our students personally invested in their education, this is an excellent way to do it. I think even high school students in some cases could like this way of learning vocab words better than the traditional vocab book or list.

Finally, in Chapter 7, something really caught my attention. In one of the little anecdotes in the text, Gordon Scholander talks about his students’ learning and casually refers to them as “my young scholars” (199). This blew me away a little. His “young scholars” are first graders, where my teacher may have considered us pests more than scholars. While this particular section was actually about how to use a word bank (another authentic way to help kids take interest in their words), his word choice was the part that really affected me. I think that all children, even 6 year old first graders should know that they are “young scholars” and be treated accordingly. I think it has such a positive connotation, not that “student” has a particularly negative connotation, but the optimism behind his word just made me feel as though his students really are scholars-in-the-making.

 

Feezell, G. (2012). Robust Vocabulary Instruction in a Readers' Workshop. The Reading Teacher, 233-237.

Graves, M. F. (2007). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century (5th Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Fluency and Confidence, in Reading and Music

Occasionally I think all of our readings about reading can be difficult to relate to in our own experiences. We talk about using these concepts and ideas in the classroom, but I personally need a more personal connection to material to be able to really keep it in memory for future use sometimes. This section on fluency and the intervention of the Poetry Academy really got me thinking about my experience in music.

As I was reading, a lot of the techniques used to help students with their reading fluency had parallels with my life in music. I started playing the clarinet a year later than my peers, so in a way, I was a low-level reader when I was thrown in with them in my band class in 7^th grade. Partner reading, where one partner (the stronger reader) reads and the second repeats translates into practicing in pairs, where you essentially do the same thing, but playing a difficult part, not reading. Tape-assisted reading is just like how band directors gave us CD’s of our songs, both played professionally and by us to listen to and play with. Readers’ theater and radio reading, which are more progress-to-perform oriented, work just like chamber music concerts, where band students work on solos and small ensemble pieces to play for each other in a low-pressure performance. The more I read, the more I could relate. Maybe I don’t remember learning to read, but I do remember learning to play clarinet.

One of the big things I struggled with as a beginning clarinetist was confidence. Because I felt so far behind my peers, I never wanted to play at any audible decibel or in front of them because I didn’t think I was good enough. I think that a large part of these fluency practices, and especially the Poetry Academy, are working towards is reading confidence. When we feel inadequate at something it is almost always because we are comparing ourselves to our peers. I think this is where the Poetry Academy really made an impact because students were learning one-on-one with a helper—there were no “others” to be compared to in this situation. Also, by encouraging students that this was something cool and special (like Hogwarts) these students could feel like they were special too, which probably helped with confidence as well. Lastly, having students work on short poems that they can enjoy and learn with a little effort was sure to inspire self-confidence—learning that you can do something is what makes the difference in terms of a positive learning experience, it doesn’t matter how long it is. A small poem learned is the same as a whole novel learned for someone who needs the confidence boost just like a few bars of music is the same as a whole concerto for a beginner.

Graves, M. F. (2007). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century (5th Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Wilfong, L. G. (2008). Building Fluency, Word Recognition Ability, and Confidence in Struggling Readers: The Poetry Academy. The Reading Teacher, 4-13.

Reading Differentiation Across All Blackboards

Once again, I am caught supporting what I read about reading on every front, and the realization that I will most likely find myself teaching Math in the classroom. I should add that I am totally ok with that. But reading about assessment and differentiation in terms of teaching reading, in particular, early reading, it can be a little complicated to relate it to myself and my future classroom. That being said, the three sections I read (Chapters 4 and 5 in the Graves and Chapter 4 of Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents) actually helped me come up with some connections I haven’t thought of previously. My realization is that in assessing my Math tests and homework, I am also assessing reading, so it is up to me to differentiate and scaffold not only Math concepts, but reading as well in order to help my students learn at the levels they are at and progress from their individual levels.

Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents pointed out that often times, the differentiation that middle and high schools try to create for students who are struggling with reading is ineffective. They say that many schools try to work on phonemic awareness with these older students, but it just doesn’t help them progress. So, what are teachers of older students supposed to do? I believe that differentiated teaching (and assessment) can occur in all the different subject matter in terms of reading level. If we do it that way, students who are behind in reading level can still fully participate in their other classes, while improving their reading and writing skills. The only “negative” of this is it would mean teachers would have to start paying very close attention—classroom differentiation is about more than sending a student to see the reading aid or ESL program. In my Math classroom, I was thinking about how homework, test questions, and even the textbook are worded. I hope that when my time comes to teach, I will take the time to adjust these texts for my students who may need help with more than their math. The Graves text worded eloquently, “Differentiation is about matching students with texts and tasks that meet their ability, their interests, and their learning styles” (125). I think that can relate to the projects I plan and questions I create. I will do everything I can to make learning math accessible to my students, even if that means altering my plans to account for reading differences.   

Graves, M. F. (2007). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century (5th Edition). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Ivey, G. &. (2006). Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents. Alexandria: ASCD.

Kids on Reading

A friend of mine (who is actually a music educator) posted this on facebook, and I loved it, so I decided that I needed to post it here! Burning Through Pages seems like they're doing good things!