Secondary Literacy

Welcome to READ 509 Practicum—Last steps

2011-09-20T14:52:00.001-07:00

Hi,
Most of you will be taking this class as your last one in the ReadOregon endorsement program. I'm looking forward to all of your participation; we always learn so much from each other in this class.
I was surfing the website:http://englishcompanion.ning/group/teachingtexts/forum/topics/schoolwide-read when I came across a question that I wish every teacher would be asking or administrator: "We have money for a schoolwide book reading, would love to have some suggestions." Below is one of the replies:

"We have done The Glass Castle, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and A Long Way Gone: Memoir of a Boy Soldier. So far, the latter has been the kid favorite, although we did offer an alternative title, The Book Thief, for those for whom the gruesome violence would be an issue. (I had only 1 student out of 130 who chose the alternate title.) It is probably the one best suited to a cross-curricular purpose. We are considering People of the Book for next year."
There was a number of other suggestions replete with schoolwide activities to go with the book selected.

As you get ready to write your proposals and write-up your curricular findings, I would appreciate your thinking about the trade books you can include as well as the assessments and instructional activities you will implement. Some of you will have bins of books to use; backpacks of books for students to take home as well as classrooms or situations where these books are limited.

In this month's Council Chronicle, the President of the National Council of Teachers of English writes: "We know that schools in high-poverty areas have inferior school libraries and inferior classroom libraries." I would hope that this is not the case in our area, but we all know that media specialists are being cut and money for library collections as well.
Whatever we can do to make trade books a powerful entity in our classrooms helps all students realize the value of authentic reading.

Classes start at PSU -READ 509

2011-03-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here it is another quarter. It seems they come faster than ever. I'm reading a great book of essays called The Right to Literacy in Secondary Schools. One of the essays is " Self-assessment of data: Empowering students to plan and own their own learning in Language Arts" by Lesli Cochran.

This teacher was tired of students just blowing off the standardized tests they were taking so she came up with a curriculum that was highly individualized based on the results of the standardized test results. She herself was not as excited about this testing as well but decided to try something that would motivate them all.

This was not her only curriculum and she didn't write lesson plans to meet each students' results but she included time for conferencing with students about their results and then in addition to their required Language Arts work they were given three 30 minutes blocks to work on their own needs. She put together materials that focused on the state standards that students needed to personalize their own work and could access themselves.

For the entire class, she posted a summary of class results and had the students do a gallery walk through the data posters to see what the class's strengths and weaknesses were. One student remarked " Man, Mrs. Cochran, I feel sorry for you. You have a lot of work to do. We're not good at anything." She used that comment to segue to what they were good at and what they needed to work on.

This all took some work in planning, getting materials that students would be interested in and showing students how to read data.

As a result, students scored 8% higher, and individual students raised their scores over 100 points, whereas in the past year they realized maybe 25 points.

Whatever works! What I appreciated is that her Language Arts curriculum didn't suffer, in fact it became richer as students provided more personalized feedback.

Enjoy the term!

More on dystopian novels

2010-10-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Just after I finished The Fear of the Flood by Atwood, I saw a few reviews in the NY Times Review of Books of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Another dystopian novel for young adult readers, but like the Harry Potter series also embraced by adults. Even adult level book clubs are picking up the Collins Trilogy with blogs effusively seeking out the last book Mockingjay.

After reading it, I was amazed at the similarity of both of the novels based in a future challenging the few who survive and also both having strong young women who take on the challenge.
I think it's wonderful that books come along that cross boundaries. Isn't that the job of reading—the crossing of boundaries?
To take readers from the mundane of some of our everyday lives to another world be it in the future, the present or the past.
I sometimes wonder about the kids who face so much assessment and wander in a daze from all of it wondering what could possibly be so marvelous about this depressing process called reading!
If we put real books in their hands, surrounded them with books in classroom bins, or as some of my secondary teachers do—build shelving around the room and keep a ready supply of YA titles to attract their attention and interest maybe, just maybe we wouldn't have to face that dystopian world that seems on the cusp of our time!

Fall quarter begins

2010-09-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

How quickly these terms go! I can't believe that this one has started already. By the way, the only comment I ever got on this blog is totally inappropriate. I need to google the print to see what it says. Soon I promise. I don't have the faintest idea of how to get rid of it. Would appreciate it if any of you bloggers out there have the know how.

Meanwhile, my latest read was Fear of the Flood in order to have some idea of the authors' LeGuin and Atwood who spoke at the 1st Arts and Lectures '10 session last week. What violence especially against women, Atwood singularly presents in this dystopic book. In her interview in the Oregonian she said that she is often castigated for this, but she says that she communicates what she does as a writer and what the muse dictates she writes. She says in some way despite the cruelty, the reader always finds some hope. True, if one understands the ending. Fortunately LeGuin asked her what she meant by the ending, "Who were the singing people entering the story at the end?" Atwood said that where Hope resides.
More of this later.

Carrol

New summer quarter, 2010

2010-06-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

It seems that I only get around to this when I'm starting a new course. I'm glad I like to write, because one thing about a blog is that sometimes it becomes a very lonely place to share one's thoughts. However, writing is about exploring one's thoughts. As Goethe wrote (paraphrasing). "I only know what I'm thinking after I write."
This is the beauty of writing—exploring one's thinking.
I just finished the Haitian writer, Edwidge Endicat's, Farming the Bones. The book is sheer poetry despite its tragic subject. One piece that I particularly mulled over was a remark about the dead—the book is about Trujillo's massacre of the Haitians in his country, The Dominican Republic in 1937. She wrote:
"I once heard an elder say that the dead who have no use of their words leave them as a part of their inheritance. Proverbs, teeth suckings, obscenities, even grunts and moans once inserted in special places during conversation are passed along to the next heir."
Most parents— even while alive— would agree wholeheartedly when they hear their offspring mimicking their use of language.
As teachers we have a responsibility to leave a legacy of word usage that helps students explore their thinking through writing, a responsibility to leave behind students who can communicate in many forums: in personal relationships, at work, in leisure pursuits, on the street and in formal situations. It is a huge order especially in this electronic age when students text, blog, etc., —where fingers do the communicating rather than verbal interchanges.
As long as we have books to demonstrate good writing, and provide opportunities in the classroom for students to write, there is a chance that we just might contribute to the education of an individual who can communicate clearly, even creatively, despite the distractions provided by digital access.
Carrol

Is it cold enough?

2010-03-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.phillipmartin.info/clipart/homepage.htm
Found a free educational clipart site that fit today perfectly. How much colder can it get in Portland?
I saw a request by a teacher who wanted to start a professional development group on the englishcompanion.ning.com. She was lamenting the miserable professional development she has experienced the day she wrote her request.
I've been impressed over the last few years with how teachers have had some say in what they want to learn on professional development days. Often they are the ones included in giving the workshops. It seems a win-win situation. The teachers are recognized as professionals and the administrators are giving their teachers what they want— relevant workshops that teachers can take from and use in their classrooms.
I would hope if any of you reading this post have had the experience of contributing to professional development workshops would go to the englishcompanion.ning.com/professional development group and relate what you have done in your district that includes the teachers giving the workshops or participating in faculty and staff meetings where their expertise is called on to demonstrate to other educational faculty. There are thousands of teachers accessing this website, your experiences would be highly regarded. Keep warm. Carrol

New Quarter, Spring, 2010

2010-03-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

How quickly the term went. Now a new one is starting and what's on the national agenda now? Obama's educational plan is being deep-6ed by teacher's unions. It is interesting how the mandates keep coming down from the federal level and so little input comes up from the teaching trenches. Somewhere there must be a compromise!

I'm reading for a teacher study group a book called Content Area Conversations: How to plan discussion-based lessons for diverse language learners by Fisher, D. et. al, Shirley Brice Heath writes in the Foreward, "Students need to imagine, plan, think about, wonder and speculate." No matter who they are is her basic premise.

Although today teachers are called on for "accountability, evaluation and standards," she maintains "instead teachers should be asssessing through communication. . . particularly oral language and performance."

In following up on an English Ning link, a teacher asked how to promote discussion in the classroom. Maybe she was reading the same book. Antoher teacher responded with a wonderful web-link.

http://www.coe.uga.edu/~smago/VirtualLibrary/Activities_that_Promote_Discussion.htm
I think almost any part of the language arts curriculum has an activity on this site.

Looking forward to a great quarter. Carrol

A new quarter, Winter 2010

2010-01-03T21:33:00.001-08:00

Welcome all to the new quarter that begins in a new year, 2010. Wishing you a very prosperous New Year!
I've been following the debate on englishcompanion/ning over the Learn Act. Senator Murray in our neighboring state of Washington has been eliciting opinions on this new legislation. Writers and thinkers like Stephen Krashan have really been fighting NCTE on their stand on supporting this Act claiming that it is more of the same as NCLB,'The former President of NCTE Kaylene Beers who contributed to its development believe it is an improvment recognizing the differences in Teachers' views. Our own Joan Yatvin, also an NCTE president, feels that it is a disgrace to the National Council of Teachers of English.
I'll be interested to see what students this term think of this act and how it plays out in what they are asked to do in the name of literacy.
If teachers are asked to teach a highly scripted program of literacy will this be in accord with the legislation. For teachers who believe that students deserve a balanced reading/literacy program how will this play in their interests?
After the ups and downs of NCLB, I think we all need to be aware of the arguments and have our voices heard.
A little politicking is in order.
By the way I saw Avatar in Spanish since I was in Mexico at the time. Even though it was in Spanish, it was fairly obvious to see the political message on military might and the preservation of culture and respect for different people—even when they are 12 feet tall and blue. It is also a bid for protecting the environment even when it is on a planet called Pandora. Besides that it is a novel technological wonder and quite ethereal in parts. As you can see I believe it is well worth seeing even when the actors speak Spanish with no subtitles. Although I want to see it again in English. Good night! I'm looking forward to the quarter. Carrol

Alaska trip and literacy

2009-09-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten back from the land of Northern Lights, stormy seas and long train rides. I didn't see a bear, nor a caribou, nor a Dall sheep and the only eagles were either in a cage or on a trainer's arm for lecture purposes. Yet, despite what I didn't experience, I did get a sense of marvelous country, views of awesome scenery like Mt. McKinley, and the opportunity to participate in an era where history doesn't seem to have gone much past the days of the Klondike and would-be adventurers.
Skagway boasts its wooden sidewalks; Juneau has no roads except those by sea and air, and Ketchikan boasts more salmon ready to jump its fish ladders than people living there.
Juneau, however, had book stores—lots of them.
I picked up The Blue Bear by Lynn Schooler. A superb memoir of an Alaskan fishing guide and his encounters with an international photographer, Michio Hoshino. Perseverance, patience and an eye for the ultimate picture were Michio's unique qualities. No picture until its time!
Sadly, Michio's fate had been determined by the very nature he sought to capture through a lens.
Now what has this to do with literacy?
First of all, in this vast land, besides many saloons still packing customers in since the time of the gold rush, I saw many reading with a book in hand, not a Kindle. Second, the idea of aspiring to reach the ultimate goal kept on nudging me. Every teacher who is teaching or guiding a student in literacy wants the child or young adult to understand. Like nature itself, every child also has his or her own time to get to that point. Like a talented photographer, we need to be patient with the process. No literacy program has the patience of a teacher who "sees" the next step and the next step toward the realization of a young comprehending mind.

Promoting Expressive Writing

2009-08-01T16:04:00.002-07:00

WHO WAS LOOKING ANYWAY?

Just had to try this out. I’m always looking for new ways to direct writing activities that foster kids’ interest rather than the “have-to writes.”

After reading a student’s response in my distance learning writing class this summer to a message by another, I was struck by her comments on the work she did to help students pass their writing test and then her rationale on why they didn’t. Several other teachers in her school commiserated with her as well —their students didn’t pass either.

Are we surprised when kids don’t pass after our stoic endeavors to give them the tools, even though we believe there is a better way then how we’ve been directed to do this?

If you haven’t read Thomas Newkirk’s new book Holding on to Good Ideas in a Time of Bad Ones: Six Literacy Principles Worth Fighting For, I would suggest it.

Anyway, he talks about the generative role of language use in a marvelous chapter on expressive writing. Also follow the discussion on Ning to see how teachers are responding to this book, especially the chapter on Expressive Writing!

He has lots of ideas but I took to this one:

Have your students select an experience that didn’t last more than five or six minutes, but that they remember in absolute detail. The example in his book leaves me with shivers just thinking about it.

Anyway, here goes mine:

A Courtroom Experience

When we got to the jury room, my 11th grade social studies class rolled into their seats. The austerity of the room grabbed me. The seats were pews; the judge’s bench situated augustly above us all. The two tables up front were positioned for the Defense and the Prosecution. The jury box sat separate with the decision up there in the ether. The wood paneling, the stark white of the walls, the light angling in from huge windows set the scene for the trial to begin.

I felt my knee genuflect as I turned to enter the pewlike seat, not just bend but hit the floor!

My face flushed as I quickly realized what was happening—the Catholic-like atmosphere had launched me into church mode. I abruptly stopped my hand from making the sign of the cross. My face flushed; my mind whirled: how could I redeem myself, but the twitters—not the mobile kind— had already started. Fortunately at that time, cell phones had not been born. My activities would have been up on You Tube in a flash. My face burned; I felt damp all over. Embarrassment is so obvious in its manifestations!

Could I pretend I was picking something up from the floor? Some of the kids were smiling trying to keep themselves from rolling over gagging—at least those who knew church culture; others looked around perplexed. What was going on? Suddenly, the silence of the courtroom was filled with muffled sounds; gagging laughs, voluable honks, and stifled squeaks. Furtive glances streamed up and down the rows.

I shrugged my shoulders looking all around, and smiled as if to say:

“Yes, you’re right, your teacher is capable of weird behavior, let’s get on with the business at hand.”

The bailiff asked us to rise.

Carrol

2009-08-01T16:04:00.001-07:00

Zine Conference

2009-07-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Attended the Portland Zine conference today. Smiling faces, everyone interacting with someone. Whole communities of zinsters have arisen—all for love of writing with little chance of reimbursement. Maybe that's why there were lots of T-shirts and graphic arts paraphernalia!What writing energy. Some zines profane, others artistic, others mundane, but something of interest could explode from any table at anytime.
The IPRC, Independent Publishing Resource Center, had a table–a good place to start. This resource is available for a sliding fee to anyone who wants to learn about publishing and developing their zine proficiencies: youth programs, workspace, a zine library and outreach are available. Justine had a copy of the recently Oregonian featured "Tell it like it Tiz," a project of the center in which zine writers interviewed elders at the Marie Smith Center—Delightful pearls of wisdom. From Miss B, B.1937 "You want to be real wherever you go." Good advice for writers to write "real." isn't it?
The youngest writer I met was Will, not sure if he was 12 or a bit more. He was busy telling me about his zines he wrote when he was 7,8,10, etc. I picked up his"The City of the Kings: A collection of poems inspired by San Francisco." I share his feelings for City Lights Bookstore: "They have lots of great books/But no bathroom." Now you know. Great pictures too!
Lots more to write about.
Before I leave for the evening, I met at one of the tables, a doctoral student seeking participants for a narrative study of teaching with zines, formally or informally, with any age group. If you want to let her know "how" you are using zines in the classroom, email karinde@tigers.lsu.edu. A resource zine for teachers based on participant responses is one of the products to come out of this study.
The Literacy Lady

The Old Curiosity Shop

2009-05-14T15:24:00.001-07:00

Tonight, I'm waiting for the PBS show Dickens' "The Old Curiosity Shop." I haven't read the book completely. I am fortunate to have access to the 1st cheap edition of the book written in 1848. Believe me, it is difficult to get through the story because I'm so intrigued by the book cover, the pages, the odd numbers and letter found on the bottom of pages.
I'm an inveterate reader of fantasy. I've followed Richard and Kahlan in the numerous volumes of Goodkind's series or Rand and Elaine in Jordon's—when will the posthumous last book of the series come out? So it shouldn't be such a stretch to follow the many characters popping up chapter by chapter in Dickens. But after meeting Quilp, Kit, little Nell among the slew of others, I'm blown away at the depth of feeling one has for these characters based on their description alone. One can see, smell, touch by virtue of their clothing alone—wouldn't want to touch Quilp!
I'd love for my distance learning writing students to come up with this sense of detail in their writing, or actually in any of my virtual classes. To write "used literacy curriculum materials" versus writing "helped student CT do a comparison of a hermit crab with a Dungeness crab in their National Geographic article. As Barry Lane says "Show, don't tell."

Poetry Month

2009-04-10T14:31:00.001-07:00

April may bring May flowers and allergies, but best of all it brings an emphasis on poetry. For some ideas check out: (All ideas —thanks to Penny Plavala, Instructional Specialist, Multnomah Educational District, Portland, OR.)

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41

This is the Poets.org web site which boasts these resources:
- 30 ways to celebrate national poetry month
- a poem a day
- new books of poetry
- a link to poetry events happening around Oregon

Under "For Educators" at the top of the page you will find:
- curriculum and lesson plans
- great poems to teach
- tips for teaching poetry

"Poem in Your Pocket Day" is April 30. The idea is simple: select a poem you love and
carry it with you to share with friends, family and co-workers.

Check out the poems ready to print in a pocket-size format:

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/409

In this age of mechanical and digital reproduction, it's easy to carry a poem, share a
poem, or start your own Poem in Your Pocket day event. Here are some ideas of how you
might get involved:
# Start a "poems for pockets" give-a-way in your school or workplace
# Post pocket-sized verses in public places
# Handwrite some lines on the back of your business cards
# Start a street team to pass out poems in your community
# Distribute bookmarks with your favorite immortal lines
# Add a poem to your email footer
# Post a poem on your blog or social networking page
# Project a poem on a wall, inside or out
# Text a poem to friends

What is one of your favorite poems:
I have several but one I have on my wall and look at frequently is one by Yeats, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree."

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a puple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Back on

2009-03-28T15:55:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I've been on this, probably because I couldn't find the address. Another term begins this week. They certainly come around quickly. It looks like a big enough group to have some dialogue.
The NCTE Chronicle for March 2009 has a policy brief on 21st century literacy as well as some websites that might prove helpful to teachers in my classes.
See http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition. Its main purpose is to help get the process of advocacy on the way.
So if you know legislators either state or national, this would be a helpful brief to hand them. And even if you don't—it's not that hard to locate them.
We lament that our schools cut—whatever seems necessary to do our jobs—yet, without advocating for our own needs they aren't going to appear magically. So now is the time to text message, twitter, blog, etc. our legislators and let them know your story.
Carrol, The Literacy Lady

Collaborative lesson planning

2008-02-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

In my online class, Teaching the Struggling Adolescent Reader, I'm thrilled with the collaborative nature of the class. Participating teachers work in pairs. One designs the lesson, including pretest, lesson and posttest; the other implements it. In addition to the feedback the teacher who is implementing the lesson provides, this teacher is also responsible for writing up the final case study.

What has impressed me most is the dialogue that is going on. Before the teachers could design the lesson, they needed to have assessment and observational data on the student involved in the case study. Teachers used a variety of sources to pinpoint the needs of the struggling reader. In addition, the designer of the material needed to have pretest information to begin the lesson planning. This often necessitated a few rewrites in order to get at the level the student could begin the lesson.
Often in online classes as well as regular classes, an instructor does not see the planning and the discussion that goes on in formulating these materials, often one only sees the end product. In this class it is evident.

This program is part of a collaborative effort established through the University of Georgia at Athens through a Carnegie grant. The slant in this project is to teach struggling readers to use researched literacy strategies to help students in understanding their reading.

The feedback sessions are particularly informative: the instructor sees what the students said and wrote, how the students used the materials, what support the student needed and what problems arose during the lesson. This then begins the dialogue in planning the next lesson.

One can see how a community of practice could grow out of this model if used at the school level.

Website for more on this:
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/lessonstudy/articles_papers.html

Reading and Writing

2007-10-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today read an article by Lee in the Writer's Chronicle about the influence that reading has on her starting from early on. It seems even when she read Heidi, she would write different endings or another situation just to keep the story going.
How many times we've read something and say I wish this author wrote another book using the same characters? That's why I like the fantasy series like The Wheel of Time.
Now that Robert Jordan has died who is going to finish his Wheel of Time series. Thought it was interesting in his funeral orations the comparison of his battles in the Wheel and our times. Maybe that's why I like fantasy. Although I would never have the discipline to write it.

Thought for the day!

“– the evil laced into forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the scenes of unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events – bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades -”

Literacy Lady

Planning my summer writing course

2006-06-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

I thought I posted this but obviously lost it. So just like webct, I should write this in Word first then paste it in.
It’s time to forget about my aching ankle and think about my writing course for this summer. Since it is a virtual experience, it takes more planning than a class in real time. In addition, the technical people in Continuing Education have given me a few deadlines. I understand their haste since they have many of these to get up and running but I also believe that course planning takes times no matter how many times one has taught the course.
In addition, I have been stalling because Anita and I finished our new writing book, Write More! Learn More! Writing across the Curriculum a few months ago and just got the proofs to check. Also the artist who has been so gracious to design all of our covers for our textbooks just agreed to let us use one of her pieces that I thought highlighted our theme. I do love having such a talented, generous friend. The covers the company usually selects are usually so dull in contrast.
Our last book, Guiding Reading and Writing in the Content Areas also has one of her covers. And the students keep telling me even years after their course “I keep the lighthouse book on my desk and use it for planning.” Now the “lighthouse book” won’t resonate with those who haven’t used it and some may wonder what the lighthouse book is, but to those in the know it is the symbol that tells all—lighting the way for kids to comprehend and write.
So back to planning my syllabus. I have a new book to plug in and some professional journals to make decisions about. Why journal articles, too? It seems to me that if we are to be professional, we need to keep up on what is happening in our field. And summertime gives us that time to study, reflect and decide how we will use what we are learning. I am reading A Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a whooping 700 pages, but worth every word. Lincoln and his presidential rivals: Seward, Chase and Bates were brilliant but never stopped learning. Their evenings were filled with conversations and reading. None of them felt they could realize their presidential aspirations without learning more philosophy, political science and even geometry. I sometimes think how much TV and the pressures of today leave so little time for thought and reflection.
So tomorrow, I will make the selections among the articles. Unfortunately, this won’t be easy; my stack of probables is high. What will interest my students? I wish I knew who they would be? It always seems ridiculous to plan a course not knowing who the participants are. Yet, especially in this virtual, push-button, hit-keys age that appears a luxury. Enough for tonight and my ankle is still talking to me.
Literacy Lady

Getrting back to the blog

2006-05-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Misfortune favored me in late April. So no posts for awhile. I'll get back to the literacy issues after working through my anxiety on this latest happening in my life's odyssey.
After a great ski season, we were at the Timberline Ski area, our last run, our last day skiing when I bit the snow and my leg decided to go along with the ski which didn't release. A grogeous day, the vista on a sunny day strung out before us as I waited for the ski patrol. Thank the mountain gods that it was warm and I had something to look at besides my leg in a 90 degree angle going the wrong way. One of the joys of living in Oregon it seems to me are its sights, I could look down on the lakes nestled in the mountain canyons, see the snow-topped ridges stretched out, and feel the throb of pains shooting up to remind me that pain and pleasure often walk hand in hand.
Ury, the ski patrol rep, arrived after an interminable wait it seemed. After a careful diagnosis, while I could only think, "This is bad!", Ury wrapped me in the Johnson sling and helped me into the sled. Although Ury was an ace at what he did, the mountain figured in for a few more slights: chips of snow and ice flew up in my face, the sled bounced over the snow field. Not all was groomed trail. In fact I realized I had hit the peaanut butter snow when I fell obviously off the groomed trail. That stuff is like cement and doesn't give. But finally, I reached the first aid station.
Every movement sent pain coursing everywhere, bu to their credit, the guys were careful. After a shot of morphine, which doesn't mask the pain, only lessens it to a bearable range, I was loaded into the ambulance. My first ride and I hope my last.
Bob, the attendent, was a great morphine giver and a conversationalist so the long trip to Providence Hospital in Milwaukie was tempered. But I was never more relieved then to arrive at the hospital emergency room. Continued tomorrow. My leg throbs after a few weeks but at least it is out of the cast and in a boot. A far cry from the situation 30 years ago when I broke the other ankle at the Mountain at Killington. Medicine has come a long way.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find such progress in education? To be able to look at what we do and say this is so much better than when I began my teaching career. Again something to explore in this blog.

Secondary Literacy

2006-05-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

Secondary Literacy
Just getting back to this and forgot how to post a new blog. Not sure if this is it. I'll try it and see.

Secondary Literacy Plus

2006-04-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Today I am starting this blog on secondary literacy. Lately adolescent literacy has been in the news, even Bush who appears to be challenged in this area included adolescent literacy in his new addendum to the No Child Left Behind bill.
From an American Idol phenomenonally talented singer who cannot read nor write to the concerns of the Alliance for Excellent Education who are terribly concerned about the reading and writing of our future work force, adolescents are finally getting some attention regarding their literacy needs.
After attending a zine conference where 8th graders were buying and selling their zines among a host of adults who create their own work in this genre, I believe the difficulty is not that our young adults aren't literate. But rather that they don't believe that school is the place to display these capabilities. They email, text message, create newsletters, and zines and probably a host of other literacy product. These all require writing and reading and they like doing these things. Why aren't we as educators seeing a spin-off in the classroom? Mainly because we are so good at telling students what to write; what to read. And they are so good at not feeling motivated to accede to our wishes. So what does an educator do? This is the purpose of this blog to explore avenues that young adults want to explore.