Each year several scholarships are awarded to NSW teachers who wish to embark on a study tour to collect resources, conduct interviews, create resources to ultimately enhance their pedagogical approaches and those of their colleagues. I applied for the Premier's English Teachers' Association English Scholarship in 2016 and whilst I didn't win, I thoroughly enjoyed the application process - reading, writing, and reflecting on the ways in which I teach writing and reading. In preparing, I contacted several schools to possibly arrange visits and I also applied for an Internship at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Internship program at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in Edgecome, Maine. One aspect of my proposed study tour included the internship to further my understanding of Nancie Atwell's approaches at the Center for Teaching and Learning, the demonstration school she established in 1990.
Flying to America to to partake in an internship is not something one can usually just do but it just so happened that my partner and I were planning to go to America for a belated honeymoon. We had been putting it off (for nearly three years) - saving a bit more, waiting for a better time, etc. Sometimes you just need a bit of an incentive to get organised and the Internship was it! So work and touristing have combined into our 2017 trip! We will be visiting a range of places before I visit CTL for four days in April before we fly back home.
To prepare for the Internship I have been assigned some readings. I am going to tackle these as well as my preparations for next year - a unit of work to write, Faculty Handbook to collate, Scope and Sequence to update, etc. over the next month before school begins for 2017.
I have been reading Atwell's work for a few years now after I was directed to her texts by Professor Wayne Sawyer from Western Sydney University. He sent me some initial chapters from the first edition of 'In the Middle' published by Heinemann in 1987 and then I went hunting for all of her texts. I was overjoyed when a new edition of 'In the Middle' was published in 2015 - how serendipitous! After engaging with the work of Nancie Atwell I am reminded of what a driven person she must be - she is a prolific writer, reader, and you know, has her own school. Amazing.
Review Reading #1 The Reading Zone - Nancie Atwell
ISBN: 978-0-439-92644-7
ISBN-10: 0-439-92644-0
Publisher: Scholastic Teaching Resources
Publication Date: November 7th, 2007
I am going to respond to the texts by writing a 'Letter-Essay' - a technique students at CTL utilise to reflect on the texts they have read. This is the letter provided for students to guide them when writing their own letter-essays. Students receive a copy of this letter to stick into their workbook.
Dear Reader,
I have just finished reading
Nancie Atwell's The Reading Zone.
This text explains what constitutes the 'reading zone' and a range of
methods and strategies to assist students to reach this place in their own reading.
I felt an immediate magnetism to the idea of the 'reading zone' because I
have always loved reading and I have the propensity to get so caught up in a
story that I simply must continue to find out what is going to happen next. I
love the anticipation of continuing reading a text and the feeling when dipping
back into a book to see what the characters are up to - will they solve the
problem? Will there be an explanation? Will they find the inner strength to
overcome an obstacle? The thrill is almost addictive and it is why I have
sometimes have trouble choosing books because I do not want to waste my
valuable reading time. I want to be immersed in a world and drawn immediately
into a story so I am back in the 'reading zone.' So, is it any wonder that I am
deeply saddened when my students loudly proclaim - 'I hate reading' and 'I
don't read' like it is a feat? Atwell's book gave me some practical
strategies to utilise to assist students with their reading to ensure that they
too can develop the habits of a reader and experience the joy
that accompanies the 'reading zone.'
Atwell writes in a very honest and straight
forward manner with references to both research and anecdotes from her time in
the classroom. She effectively details the practices and approaches at CTL
whilst reinforcing the school's vision and the humility of staff/student
interactions. The underlying element to each successful strategy is exactly
that humility, the staff member who cares about and knows their students. The conferences
between pupils and their teacher are evidence of adults who put the time into
knowing what it is that each student needs. I love the reinforcement of this
throughout The Reading Zone and all
of Atwell's texts. Schools are places made up of people helping other
people.
I often get asked about what 'work' students do
with our reading program at school what students do once they have finished
reading? The Reading Zone outlines an effective way for students to
respond to texts using a 'letter-essay' to their teacher or peer. This
accompanies regular reading conferences to determine where students are up to
with their reading and whether they are reading texts that are too hard, too
easy, or 'just right'. The letter-essay gives students a chance to write an in-depth
response to a text that they have read. This text is not something assigned by
a teacher or on a prescribed reading list but it is a novel chosen by the
student after listening to 'Book Talks' and having conferences with their
teacher who knows a range of texts to recommend to readers. There are no
chapter questions, reports on every single text a student reads but a
considered response to a text a student feels strongly about – either positively
or negatively!
The Reading Zone provides
an excellent overview of the way that the reading workshop at CTL runs and
whilst it is filled with success stories, it provides honest ways to work
through issues to provide structures to help students who aren't regular
readers and ways to give all students an opportunity to experience the reading
zone.
The things I totally loved about The
Reading Zone are:
THE IDEAS AND STEP BY STEP PROCESSES:
- Students complete 30-minutes of reading every night for homework.
- CTL works with parents to ensure students are successful as readers. A letter goes home at the start of the year and parents are sent a letter if students are not partaking in their reading. After the third contact a meeting is arranged to discuss reading (as it is so important to student success!).
- Students are given choice of reading material in reading workshop.
- Reading voraciously and reading quality texts supports the development of comprehension skills so comprehension strategies are taught in Mini-lessons - to individuals, small groups, or the class when and if there is a problem.
- Teachers conduct quick conferences to determine whether texts suit students' ability and to ensure they are not holding onto a text they should have ditched. They also record pages read to ensure HW is completed.
- ‘Someday’ titles – after listening to a Book Talk by a teacher or peer students are encouraged to write the title down if it is something they think they may enjoy.
QUOTES AND ANECDOTES:
I love the way CTL operates and the way
students are exposed to a rich and worthy curriculum that builds their autonomy
and abilities as critical consumers of texts as well as
effective composers. The quotes Atwell disperses through her prose
just sing to those wanting to try something different:
- ‘The book which you read from a sense of duty, or because for any reason you must, does not commonly make friends with you’ – William Dean Howells.
- ‘Children learn to read only by reading. Therefore, the only way to facilitate their learning to red is to make reading easy for them’ – Frank Smith
- The personal anecdotes like, ‘I’m being realistic. I cannot read all the literature and also edit all the writing and plan all the lessons, write all the evaluations, attend all the meetings, and teach history, too. But I can become intimate enough with young adult literature to connect particular readers with the particular books they crave. Intimacy with my kids’ books has become the goal.’
I loved this text for an overview of what Atwell
does and if you are interested in the ideas I recommend that you jump into In the Middle: A Lifetime of Learning about
Writing, Reading, and Adolescents
Yours truly,
K
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