The Research Matters

Okay, so Daniels and Zemelman talked a lot about reading in Subjects Matter. Which only makes sense. It IS a book about getting kids excited about and engaged with content-area reading. The authors discuss strategies for engaging students and enacting real learning, things that every teacher worth their salt wants to achieve.

But this guidance and information about teaching and supporting students in their academic achievement has not been arrived at arbitrarily. Rather, it is based on actual research that shows that connecting with students on a personal level, allowing them choices in what they read, and providing them with concrete and effective support are all immeasurably valuable in getting them to read, but more importantly, to understand. Because what is reading without understanding? Just another pointless exercise that may cause some short-term learning, but has no significant impact on real learning in the long run.

Daniels and Zemelman break down the big takeaways from reading research into two sections: what students read and how they are taught to read it. They emphasize the importance of variety in reading materials, variety in difficulty of texts, and the amount of reading students do, among other things. On the teaching side of things, they discuss the importance of teachers modeling good reading habits and encouraging students to discuss what they are reading.

I agree with all the assertions that they make, but there is one major thing that I’m worried about when it comes to teaching students how to engage in meaningful reading. That particular concern deals with students with a low sense of self-efficacy. How do we help students who label themselves as “bad readers” or just don’t like to read? These students will, of course, require more of our attention than their more confident peers. But will they ever be comfortable with or enjoy reading even if we constantly challenge and support them? What if they’re just not willing? I suppose this is a question that can be asked regarding many aspects of teaching. I think that part of the answer is that we, as educators, must be the ones who are willing to reach out to those students who struggle and try to help them academically, personally, and socially.

I hope that the ten conclusions taken from reading research that Daniels and Zemelman outline at the end of their book are things that I will be mindful of as I enter the teaching profession. They are clearly all very important and have real research to back up their importance. I hope that, if nothing else, I will be able to keep my students engaged with history and the reading attached to its study. Many students write off history as boring or a waste of time. I hope to show them that with the right approach and the right reading materials, history can be an endlessly fascinating subject that has more connections to our everyday lives than most people think. Really what I want to do is pass on my love of something that I have loved for so long.

Students Are Not Sponges, They Are People

            There’s a lot more to teaching than just simply relaying information and teaching skills. Teaching is about making real learning happen, learning that endures and serves the learner for the rest of his or her life. There is a marked difference between teaching skills and information and getting learners to retain and process information that is useful and significant, but it is sometimes difficult to know how to make the jump from the former to the latter.            

            In Chapter 11 of Subjects Matter, Daniels and Zemelman stress the establishment of genuine and supportive relationships between teacher and student, specifically in the context of reading. Unfortunately, many students struggle with reading, which is perhaps the most basic skill associated with learning any subject. As a result, we must be especially supportive and encouraging when it comes to dealing with students who struggle with reading. Simply portraying ourselves as human beings who make mistakes and struggle with things and not as all-knowing god-teachers will go a long way to making students feel more at ease and more willing to put in the effort to improve their reading or any number of other skills.

            And that is how we make the jump; not only in the context of reading, but in teaching in general. Building supportive relationships with our students in which we show that we are truly invested in their learning and improvement will ensure that what we teach sticks with our students for a long time to come. The other techniques for helping struggling readers that Daniels and Zemelman outline can also be applied to teaching as a whole. Modeling how good readers read can be transferred to mathematics, (modeling how good mathematicians solve problems) or history (modeling how good historians think), or any number of other content areas. Making materials accessible and building engagement with the material are also not just reading specific strategies. They can be applied in a larger sense to what we are teaching in our schools, regardless of content area, grade level, or curriculum.

            I think that, at times, it may be very easy for teacher candidates or new teachers to fall into the trap of thinking that all of their students will be engaged and have no difficulties with the material that they’re presented. The reality, however, is that there will be students in every class that struggle with one thing or another, be it reading, writing, critical thinking, or less academic issues such as paying attention or time management. How do we help these students? It all comes back to building relationships, and not just the typical teacher-student, delegator-delegatee ones. Instead, we must strive to establish meaningful and genuine relationships with our students. Take an interest in their hobbies or their life outside of school. Support them when they struggle in school, and let them know that you are there to encourage and help them however you can and that you believe in them and are rooting for them. That all sounds very trite, but it really is a pivotal component of getting students interested in and excited about learning. Knowing that you are an ally rather than an unapproachable authority figure will put students more at ease in your classroom, and will ultimately make them more successful in their academic careers.

I found this really excellent TED Talk about building relationships with students. Take the eight minutes to watch it, it's worth it. 

Not Your Grandma's Book Club (D&Z 9+10)

I really like the idea of content-area book clubs. It’s not an idea that has ever occurred to me, and certainly isn’t something I have ever experienced during my education. I think that if they’re used correctly and sparingly enough, they could be truly invaluable tools for really getting students involved and interested in the subject matter.

I think perhaps the single greatest aspect of these book clubs is how learner-oriented they are. Students are able to exercise considerably more choice and have more independence than they normally ever would in a classroom setting. Teachers, of course, must still guide student learning, providing support and help when necessary, but students are, for the most part, pulling their own weight and making their own decisions.

Pulling kids out of the black holes that are textbooks is another great thing about these book clubs. Instead of reading hundreds of pages of dry text overstuffed with facts, students can read novels, articles, essays, and countless other forms of text that integrate the themes of history, or science, or mathematics into a more easily digestible format. And really, that’s what we want in our teaching. We wants students to be able to get through things without too much trouble, maybe even have fun while they’re doing it, but still learn things that matter in the process.

While I would love to use book clubs in my future classroom, there are some things that give me pause to do so. For instance, how big an issue is time management? How do we make sure that book clubs don’t become enormous time sucks, leaving us with no time for other ways of teaching and learning? And what about kids who just don’t like to read? Sure, you can always “bribe” these kids with material that really interests them, and part of the purpose of using these book clubs is to get kids to really enjoy reading, but there are always kids who will be resistant and defiant for defiance’s sake. How do we get these students excited about book clubs, and ensure that they pull their weight in their groups? Daniels and Zemelman address both of these issues to some degree, but I would really be interested in knowing a little bit more about how to handle them should they come up.

Lastly, I really like the idea of inquiry units because, again, they allow for student choice. I think that every adult who has been through the education system in this country probably couldn’t even count the number of times that their big, year-end assignment for a class was an essay or research paper. Sure, there’s some value in having kids write these kinds of things, but it’s minimal at best. Asking kids to actually go out and explore, question, interview, investigate, and discover will be infinitely more beneficial to their long-term learning. Depending on how the inquiry unit is structured, kids can attempt to find answers or do research about things that are personally important to them, or do work that is valuable in an interdisciplinary context. I also really like the kind of backwards engineering of the inquiry units. It makes so much more sense to construct an exciting and expansive project and then see what standards it meets than to see what standards need to be met and then creating bland, recycled assignments to meet those ends. And this is something that we, as educators, should constantly keep in mind: what goals do I, and more importantly, my students, need to reach? Okay, now how do I get them there in a way that is fresh, exciting, significant, and effective?

I found this nice little rubric (not quite 4x4, but it'll do) that could potentially be used for book club assessment. While I would likely avoid using an actual formal rubric for evaluating student progress, I think this rubric does provide some good criteria to be on the look out for, and could possibly be reworked into a less formal assessment.