Yes! A high-quality education is a radical thing, but is built in a very boring way. An education lives or dies by the quality of the text.
We read a poem five times together in class today. Students came up with a correct, but insufficient theme after the first read. After the fifth read, students were able to articulate how the inconsistent rhyme scheme supported the author’s message that imperfection and failure are fundamental to (not obstacles to) success. When they then wrote their analytical paragraphs, they were truly excited to articulate what they had discovered. If they had written after only the second read, their responses would have been perfunctory.
Well put, Anne. "Correct, but insufficient" could go on the cover of the middle school yearbook 😜
But for me, the most important line here is "they were truly excited to articulate what they had discovered." We always assume that students will be "bored" by spending too much time in a text, while in reality, they're enthralled by their deep understanding of the characters and authorial choices and everything that they're able to do with that deep knowledge.
Thanks for chiming in! Your insights will always be valued here
Luke, I totally agree with your main premise that drilling skills without giving kids meaty texts is boring and counterproductive to actually attaining those skills. I'm wondering how you think smartphones figure in here? I know in my own family, reading went down quite a lot when we got smartphones... we were very late adopters, and I could see the difference in myself as well as my husband and kids. This experience, having a harder time focusing on longer texts after getting a smartphone, has led me to be a big proponent of the smartphone-free schools movement.... because I think 8 hours a day without that constant distraction can help rewire kids' brains. Interested what you think!
Ruth, I couldn't agree more! 😝 I see it in myself as well and frankly, it scares me. I guess the one hope I have is that I can still create environments where I'm immersed in something and the phone doesn't cross my mind -- usually because I'm on a mountain and it's not an option, so I feel like there's a way forward for my own brain, if I have the courage to pursue it (Jerusalem Demsas wrote a banger about this a few weeks ago--worth a read). I think your point that we have control as a society to make that 8 hours a "safe zone" for kids is quickly becoming one of our greatest obligations. Thanks for the thoughtful comment! 👏🏻
Yes, I really wonder if the downward trajectory of reading skills is mostly a result of smartphones just getting better and better at hijacking kids’ attention. The stats on adult reading are going down sharply, too.
My newsletter is about educator burnout, and one connection I see is that we keep trying to get teachers to compensate for more and more societal issues that are outside our control… and then calling schools a “failure”. I’m all for taking responsibility, but it’s a demoralizing situation.
100%. Teachers are working their tails off, they're facing tremendous headwinds, and I do think that schools by and large are still failing--I don't think those things are mutually exclusive or that blame should be assigned to folks flailing away in a broken or struggling system.
What I do believe is that this is a staggering problem with tremendous urgency, and I believe that there are concrete steps that every individual in the system can take to address the breaks, even if they aren't responsible for creating them. Brene Brown said “Daring leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things.” I suppose that's what I'm hoping to explore with the rest of my work.
I appreciate your contributions--I can't imagine a more noble pursuit than fighting for the thriving and well-being of teachers. I look forward to reading more 🤝
Yes! A high-quality education is a radical thing, but is built in a very boring way. An education lives or dies by the quality of the text.
We read a poem five times together in class today. Students came up with a correct, but insufficient theme after the first read. After the fifth read, students were able to articulate how the inconsistent rhyme scheme supported the author’s message that imperfection and failure are fundamental to (not obstacles to) success. When they then wrote their analytical paragraphs, they were truly excited to articulate what they had discovered. If they had written after only the second read, their responses would have been perfunctory.
Well put, Anne. "Correct, but insufficient" could go on the cover of the middle school yearbook 😜
But for me, the most important line here is "they were truly excited to articulate what they had discovered." We always assume that students will be "bored" by spending too much time in a text, while in reality, they're enthralled by their deep understanding of the characters and authorial choices and everything that they're able to do with that deep knowledge.
Thanks for chiming in! Your insights will always be valued here
Luke, I totally agree with your main premise that drilling skills without giving kids meaty texts is boring and counterproductive to actually attaining those skills. I'm wondering how you think smartphones figure in here? I know in my own family, reading went down quite a lot when we got smartphones... we were very late adopters, and I could see the difference in myself as well as my husband and kids. This experience, having a harder time focusing on longer texts after getting a smartphone, has led me to be a big proponent of the smartphone-free schools movement.... because I think 8 hours a day without that constant distraction can help rewire kids' brains. Interested what you think!
Ruth, I couldn't agree more! 😝 I see it in myself as well and frankly, it scares me. I guess the one hope I have is that I can still create environments where I'm immersed in something and the phone doesn't cross my mind -- usually because I'm on a mountain and it's not an option, so I feel like there's a way forward for my own brain, if I have the courage to pursue it (Jerusalem Demsas wrote a banger about this a few weeks ago--worth a read). I think your point that we have control as a society to make that 8 hours a "safe zone" for kids is quickly becoming one of our greatest obligations. Thanks for the thoughtful comment! 👏🏻
Yes, I really wonder if the downward trajectory of reading skills is mostly a result of smartphones just getting better and better at hijacking kids’ attention. The stats on adult reading are going down sharply, too.
My newsletter is about educator burnout, and one connection I see is that we keep trying to get teachers to compensate for more and more societal issues that are outside our control… and then calling schools a “failure”. I’m all for taking responsibility, but it’s a demoralizing situation.
100%. Teachers are working their tails off, they're facing tremendous headwinds, and I do think that schools by and large are still failing--I don't think those things are mutually exclusive or that blame should be assigned to folks flailing away in a broken or struggling system.
What I do believe is that this is a staggering problem with tremendous urgency, and I believe that there are concrete steps that every individual in the system can take to address the breaks, even if they aren't responsible for creating them. Brene Brown said “Daring leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things.” I suppose that's what I'm hoping to explore with the rest of my work.
I appreciate your contributions--I can't imagine a more noble pursuit than fighting for the thriving and well-being of teachers. I look forward to reading more 🤝