Pick a Side!

What side are you on? No, I'm not talking Trump and impeachment. I'm talking about the READING WAR. Phonics vs. Whole Language. Pick a side. You aren't allowed to be in the middle. You are either for phonics or against phonics. There is no middle ground in this war. You MUST pick a side!

This is a war that must be won because egos are at stake. It's not about the kids - even though many say it is about the kids. In my humble opinion, these education gurus, reporters, and even some teachers and parents aren't actually in it for the kids. It's about them being right. To be fair, we all want to be right, but when it comes to our kids, we need to consider their individual needs. Instead, some are saying it must be phonics. That is the cure for all of our reading problems in this country. 

I am a teacher. I'm not an educational guru with scientific research under my belt. I'm not a reporter with access to professors, parents, educational experts, doctors, and school district administration. I'm just a teacher, but I do have 20+ years of teaching experience working with KIDS, which should count for something. 

With that being said, I truly believe this whole reading war is a joke. I'm tired of arguing with people about it because I don't care about being "right." I care about helping each of my students, wherever they are in their reading when they come to me at the beginning of 8th grade. Some kids need lots of phonics, some need some, and some need very little. We need to meet kids where they are. 

Let me tell you a story about two sisters, two-and-a-half years apart - my sister and me (I'm the oldest). From what my parents tell me, reading came easily to me. I didn't need reading instruction because my brain just read automatically. I don't remember receiving phonics instruction, even though many folks my age say they received phonics as children. I just read, and read, and read. 

Reading was easy for me. Because reading was easy for me, I read books, which helped me to grow in my reading skills and continue to love reading. Practicing reading helped me get better at reading. I didn't need teachers' help. 

My sister, on the other hand, did not grow to love reading right away. Reading was hard for her from day one. She always had to work extra hard at school, and she did well in school because my parents gave her the support she needed. In tenth grade, my parents decided to have my sister tested. Turns out she was dyslexic. My sister needed support with reading, but she hadn't received it during her educational career. Her high school didn't help her either. They put her in a resource study hall, which she didn't need. Instead, she should have had teachers who taught her with an Orton-Gillingham program to help her brain with reading. My parents pulled her out of the resource study hall because it was a waste of her time, and instead they hired a tutor for her.   

Both of us are avid readers now, and the point I'm trying to make is that we all need different instruction to get us where we need to be. But . . . my sister didn't only need phonics. She needed to read on her own as well, which she did, which helped her to get better at reading even if she wasn't getting the help she needed at school. Yes, she has dyslexia, but she still learned to read. She didn't have phonics, but she still learned to read. I'm not saying that kids don't need phonics. My sister definitely needed it, and as a teacher I have kids who need phonics - even in 8th grade, but it is not the end-all-be-all. 

Following the Reading War on Twitter and on Facebook wears me out. I'm not on one side or the other because I believe kids need a mixture of both phonics and reading time based on their individual needs. Here's the deal, though, a kid can decode and still not be able to comprehend what they are reading. 

There are so many variables to reading, but education gurus and news reporters sometimes forget that. There are many variables that affect reading that have nothing to do with actual reading, like being hungry, mental health, health issues, poverty, homelessness, etc. But teach them phonics and they will learn how to read proficiently. Ummmm . . . nope. Ever heard of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs?

Now, while I cannot solve this issue on a large-scale, I do believe I can have an impact in my classroom, which is the only thing I can control. I believe in reading, lots and lots of reading. How will my students ever get better at reading if they don't have lots and lots of time to practice? Stealing from Donalynn Miller or Kylene Beers (can't remember who it was who said this), kids in band practice their instruments to get better, kids in sports practice to get better. If they are not proficient at their instrument or sport, we say practice. Heck, even in math they practice math. We need to allow our kids to do that with reading as well.

I've also recently started Readers Workshop in my classroom. Kids read a lot with Readers Workshop, and I can get around to kids and support them one-on-one. A Twitter follower reminded me of Kylene Beers book When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do. I'm pulling this book out when I get to school tomorrow and looking for strategies to help my kids improve their reading. It's not a quick and simple process. It takes time. What works for one kid might not work for another kid, but I am determined to give my students time to read - to practice this skill, to talk with one another about what they are reading, to write about their reading. 

In the end, there is not quick fix for teaching kids to read. I wish there were, truly, but in the end, it takes time, knowledge, and dedication from teachers to help each child grow as a reader, whether they are like me when I learned to read or like my sister when she learned to read. I'm not taking a side. I'm doing what is best for my students. 

Connecting, Learning, and Grades

We have been enjoying a beautiful fall break here in Minnesota for the past two days. The leaves are turning gorgeous shades of crimson, orange, and gold; the sun is shining; and the temperature is perfect - not too cold and not too warm. I've had the windows open at times and have heard the neighborhood kids enjoying this relative warmth - maybe for the last time. But, even with all of this beauty around me, I still think of school and my students. (I truly wish I could shut it off at times, but I can't. If you know how, please let me know.)

First off, one particular 8th grade student has stuck with me the last two days for one reason and one reason only - I haven't connected with her. Writing this does not make me proud, but it does make me honest. I take pride in getting to know my students and usually find it fairly easy to do, but this kiddo has me stumped so I've shied away from her, which is wrong, wrong, wrong. She is failing all of her classes, seems like a lost soul, and puts her head down in my class - all the time. When I go over and talk to her, she ignores me, so I walk away. That definitely sends the message of "I don't care." I can't let that message be the one making its way to her anymore, so I need to do something different - and it has to be very subtle. I'm thinking of putting little positive notes where she sits to start with and also setting books by her that she might like/find interesting. When she gets to the classroom door, I plan on asking her how her day is going, what plans she has after school, etc. Maybe these little things will help me be able to slowly get to know her. I don't know if they will truly help, but I need to try.

Secondly, I'm still questioning grades. There has to be a better way to have kids learn without making grades the focus. Sarah Donovan, @MrsSJDonavan, has helped guide my thinking about assessment and evaluation (follow her if you don't already), but I feel like giving feedback with assessment is impossible to do at out school. Kids and parents and admin and staff want to see grades in the electronic grade book . . . because how are the kids learning if they don't have grades? My question is: How are they learning with grades? One of my students has every single formative assessment as missing in the grade book for another class, but this students has "earned" a 3 on the only summative for that class so far so is passing that class with a decent grade. That summative has nothing to do with actual learning the content, but it's a way to make it so kids pass the class. (I'm not even upset with this teacher. This teacher does not want to have students failing, like the rest of us, so this teacher "adjusts" the grade book. If students are failing, that looks like the teacher failed the kids, right? No teacher wants to be that teacher.)

But that's just as bad as not giving grades - maybe even worse because the grade doesn't represent any learning. To help with this conundrum I'm in, I'm going to have students start self-evaluating themselves more. (Thanks, @mrskellylove, for your gentle reminder about self-evaluation. Readers, follow her if you don't.) To do this I need to slow down. Let kids enjoy their independent reading, think about their independent reading, write more, think about their writing more, share their thinking, writing, and reading with one another. I don't need to be the sage on the stage. I need my students to take ownership of their learning; to do that, I need to trust them more.

So . . . next week, we are going to slow down, have fun, and enjoy learning with each other - even though the kids need to take a pre-assessment on Reading Standards 1 & 2 for our PLC. At least it's a story they will find entertaining and creepy.

Grading Gives Me Gray Hair

Grading . . . the bane of my existence. In my perfect education world, we would do away with grades. I hate giving my 8th graders grades because grades don't encourage learning, they encourage earning points and don't encourage taking risks - like reading a book outside of your favorite genre, trying a new way of writing, making a hypothesis you know might not be correct once you prove it, thinking outside the box. Grades force kids to stay within their comfort zones because that way they know they can "get the points."

I've been struggling with the concept of grades for several years now, and I still have no way of making grading better for my students which will fit in with our school's system. Our school is supposed to be standards-based, but, let's face it, it's not. The kids earn a score of 0, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, or 4, but then those scores are turned into letter grades, which again makes the focus on letter grades and not learning. We have formatives (20% of grade) and summatives (80% of grade), but teachers do weird things with these. For example, finding three pictures for a notebook cover counts as a summative. Huh? (There are way more examples of summatives that shouldn't count as summatives, but I'm not going to out teachers.)

At the beginning of the year, I tried going grade-less. I wanted to give students more feedback on what they are doing well and where they can use some improvement, but that hasn't gone well. For one, I am expected to teach the same as my 8th grade English partner. We are different people. This isn't a good or a bad thing, but it holds me back from teaching in a way I want to teach. This isn't her fault, and it isn't my fault. Expecting two teachers to teach the same is not effective - at least for me. Thank goodness she understands my craziness and is accepting of my ideas, but I still am not teaching the way I want to teach my students.

My students know I have high expectations of them, which they have talked to me about, but what happens when my expectations are higher than other 8th grade teachers. For example, an assignment for another content area was left in the next door teacher's classroom. I happened to see it and noticed the student received a 3 (which converts to an A- and all the student cares about) but they were missing the required reflection. On our school's assessment scale a 3 represents substantial, effective, thorough. How does a student earn a 3 when they are missing their reflection? How is leaving out this essential part of the assignment substantial, effective, and thorough?

For the most part at our school, if a student completes an assignment (formative or summative) they receive a good grade because I feel we are forced to give good scores/grades. Over and over, I hear students say, "Why didn't I get a 4? I turned it in." This needs to stop. Our kids are expecting As because they completed an assignment - with no care about how well their thinking was demonstrated. Teachers are afraid to give low scores because we are afraid that we will be seen as bad teachers, but kids can re-do summatives so we should be giving feedback to help our kids improve their learning.

About five years ago, I taught Advanced Language Arts at an affluent middle school (for one year), and the kids were not happy with their learning in general. They were frustrated that their learning wasn't in-depth. They said they learned enough to pass the test in their subjects only to forget the material after the test. Part of this is because of grades. Grades are the focus for students and parents alike. It's difficult to learn something in-depth when we are asked to always have grades in the grade book. How do you really learn something well? By being graded on what you are learning all the time? Learning requires time, but we don't give kids time. We give kids assignments in which they must show immediate mastery of a topic because if they don't their grades go down. This means teachers water down the content - learning becomes more about breadth than depth.

Another struggle I have with grading is how grades become tied to rewards (think PBIS). I flat out disagree with taking away school privileges and activities because a student is not passing a class. I understand why schools do this. We try to incentivize good grades, but what actually happens is the opposite of learning. Kids who need to increase their grades to participate in the school PBIS reward complete their missing formatives or summatives as quick as they can just so they can attend the activity. They will earn enough points to get to the activity but will not actually learn the material. In this way, the school is promoting points and not actual learning.

I have more thoughts on grading, but this post has drained me. Will write more at a later date.

What are your thoughts about grading? Please share in the comments.