Literacy Builders

For the Love of Learning

Conference

Come Away from the Dark Side

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On Friday, I met Andrew, a smallish, third grade boy who wore his distaste for reading like a badge of honor. We all know these kids. They proudly announce how they don’t read books and how reading is stupid and boring. Often, when these readers (or non-readers, as the case may be) make this proclamation, we teachers say things like, “Oh, Andrew, how could you say that? Stories are filled with action and excitement. Stories are wonderful.”

When we say things like that, our intentions are good. We know that if our students hate reading, they won’t want to do it, and if they don’t want to do it, they won’t practice and get better. It’s only natural to want to cajole them away from the dark and twisty side.

But I didn’t say that to Andrew when he told me that he doesn’t like to read. Instead, I said, “I get what you mean. Sometimes, when I read, I can’t picture it and I feel like it doesn’t really make any sense. When this happens, I don’t really like to read either.” When Andrew heard this, he softened a bit. He allowed me to come with him into his book and we flipped through the pages and talked about the pictures and how the pictures make the story come alive.

…Or I should say, I talked about that.

Andrew listened and then after careful thought and consideration, he said, “Yeah, but I don’t get how you do that. How do you see pictures in your mind?”

This took me by surprise. On the one hand, I recognized that Andrew hates reading because it doesn’t make sense, but on the other hand, I made the assumption he visualized as he read.

Our notions of what children can and should be able to do cause us to take for granted what students ARE doing. These assumptions can lead our teaching astray. Andrew’s comment was the quick jolt of reality that I needed to shake me awake and remind me to listen actively and adjust my teaching to his needs. Coaxing him from the dark side won’t happen from simply validating his feelings about reading. Now it’s time to give him the tools he needs to understand.

Calling All Learners

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Yesterday I attended a conference co-sponsored by the Long Island Language Arts Council and the Nassau Reading Council titled “Calling all Learners.” Before this day began, I gave very little thought to the name of this conference. In my mind, it was a conference—a place to gather and talk and learn with people who love literacy as much as I do.

As the morning got underway, I listened to several announcements and introductions and listened intently as Kerry Vann, president of LILAC spoke about the title of this year’s conference: Calling All Learners. She asked the audience to consider whether we were prepared to answer the call to meet the needs of all learners or would we “screen our calls” and meet the needs of only the ones we thought we could help or felt up to the task of teaching.

When she spoke, I couldn’t believe my ears. Just moments earlier, before the introductions began, I sat chatting with some colleagues whom I hadn’t seen in awhile and our conversation turned to Response to Intervention, one of the hottest buzz words in educational circles at the moment. As we talked, I shared that I thought that the greatest outcome of RTI will be teacher accountability. No longer will it be okay to identify students with reading difficulties and push them along to the reading teacher and say, “okay, now you fix them.” RTI forces classroom teachers to understand and value their role in developing reading proficiency differently. RTI will help to promote realization of a long neglected fact: when children struggle, everybody is responsible. Strugglers are not simply the charge of specialists.

I admit, the telephone analogy implied in the title of this year’s conference was lost on me at the onset of yesterday’s program. But, as a I listened to Kerry speak, I was sold. We are steeped in a culture of technology and instant gratification. We do need to be reminded that we cannot “screen our calls” if we are going to create students prepared to meet the demands of the twenty-first century.

To the people responsible for laboring over a thoughtful title for yesterday’s conference, I’d like to say thank you. You certainly have me thinking about my role and responsibility in “answering the call.”