Frankel, K. & Brooks, D. (2018). Why the “Struggling Reader” label is harmful (and what educators can do about it). Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 62(1), 111-114.

I was interested in reading this article as I just finished Tompkins’ (2018) textbook Literacy for the 21^stCentury: A Balanced Approach.The term “struggling reader” was used throughout the text. While I don’t think the author was using this term to be derogatory, I think it’s important that we are conscious of the words we are using and the labels that we are placing on students.

The article begins with the problematization of labels. The first reason why the “struggling reader” label is harmful is because of the “deficit” narrative. This reminded me of Yosso (2005)’s discussion of community cultural wealth, that shifts the deficit of view of capital to cultural capital. I highly recommend reading Yosso (2005)’s article “Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. This article has made a tremendous impact on my positionality as an educator.

The second reason why the “struggling reader” label is harmful is because it creates a static good/bad dichotomy. When we look at this label, we also need to look at the systemic oppressions that also create these labels. Yosso (2005) illustrates that using the community cultural wealth framework empowers students with strengths and assets outside of what might be perceived as “capital” in regard to monetary value. We also need to look at structural inequities that take place in and outside the classroom. The “struggling reader” label can further exacerbate these inequities for our students.

The most recent post I wrote “Differentiated Instruction” illustrates how we need to create a variety of instruction to meet our students’ various needs. Three of the guiding principles outlined in the article are:

• Listen to and learn from readers
• Build from the resources and interests that readers already possess
• Adapt instruction to account for the interactions of particular texts, practices, contexts, and readers

The first principle is a critical skill to possess as an educator. I would put emphasis on learning from readers, as there is so much that we can learn from our students. An element of my philosophy, as an educator, is using problem posing education with my students (Freire, 1972) and move away from the banking model that has been used at times in educational spaces.

The second principle I want to utilize in my classroom through students’ funds of knowledge (González, Moll, Amanti, 2005). Finally, the third principle illustrates Picower’s (2012) Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design. We need to frame our curriculum so that as educators, we work with our students to promote social change.

I hope that you get a chance to read the article above and get to look at the references. I really enjoyed this article and strive to be a social justice educator! It takes working with other educators and allowing the space in our classroom for our students to engage with critical work. Thanks for reading!

References:

• Freire, P. Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder.
• González, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practice in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.
• Picower, B. Using their words: Six elements of social justice curriculum design for the elementary classroom. International Journal of Multicultural Education,14(1), 1-17.
• Tompkins, G. E. (2018). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7th Ed. New York: Pearson.
• Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69-91.

Article Review

Winn, M.T.  (2018). A transformative justice approach to literacy education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 62(1), 101-104. Retrieved from: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jaal.887

Restorative justice is one of the buzz words in education in recent years. While restorative justice is sometimes presented as an alternative to expulsions or suspensions in school, it should really be utilized to create a school community culture. The authors suggest using restorative justice as a lens for educators to view their relationship, roles, and responsibilities to students. Restorative English education “seeks to create and sustain writing, reading thinking and action-oriented communities in which children, youths, and educators can cultivate purposeful literate identities and trajectories” (Winn, 2018, p. 219).

The image above illustrates the four pedagogical stances that the author outlines using fifteen years of fieldwork in literacy communities, both inside and outside school spaces and conducting histographies. The outside circle, history matters, compels educators and students to understand “local, state, local, state, national, and global histories that provide context for relationships” (Winn, 2018, p.220). One of the ways to gather history is to interview family members and producing work that belongs to the student as well as the community.

The second circle, race matters, compels educators to “walk boldly into meaningful discussions of race by naming and defining themselves and determining their futures” (Winn, 2018, p.221). This can be difficult for educators, and I will admit this is something that I struggle with as an educator. However, by developing critical vocabularies to engage in these conversations, we can move towards transformation. Addressing harm is a critical component in restorative justice and this step, while uncomfortable, should not be ignored. This allows us to move forward to the third circle, justice.

Finally, the inner circle for language, is at the heart of this work. I was most moved by this piece, as the author asks educators if “we will listen with filters of correctness and appropriateness or embody stances that support their (students) goals for articulating their dreams, ideas, and intentions” (Winn, 2018, p. 221). I love this quote! As educators, we have state standards to teach. However, we must not lose what is at the heart of teaching. Students are filled with thoughts, ideas, histories, and we must allow them to articulate these without restrictions. It reminds me of the last article that I reviewed. Check out the post if you haven’t yet: https://alwayslearningwhileteaching.school.blog/2018/11/15/article-review-sustaining-multilingual-literacies-in-classrooms-and-beyond/

As educators, we need to develop relationships with our students and critically think about how our classrooms are set up to engage with students. We need to decolonize any practices in our classrooms that do not promote learning as relational. Another point that the authors made that I want to utilize is to for our students “to use their writing to invite others to the table they set” (Winn, 2018, p. 220). I hope you enjoyed the review as I learned a great deal! If you have the chance, I hope that you read the article in its entirety. It’s only three pages and a great tool if you are interested in using the restorative justice framework in literacy practices in your classroom.

I can still remember having one textbook for every class when I was in middle school and high school. There was a book for Social Studies, Science, Math, French, Spanish, Music, and Language Arts. I remember how heavy it felt to have all these books in my backpack. I can still remember getting the books at the beginning of the year and feeling overwhelmed at how I was going to learn and remember all the information inside these books.

Now that I’m in my teaching program, I am tasked with planning how I will teach the content. Whether I’m in a school that has district adopted curriculum, or I have the opportunity to choose my own books, I know that I will never be dependent on one textbook per subject. Tompkins (2018) states, “Content area textbooks are resources that many students use to learn about content areas, but they aren’t a complete instructional program” (p.402). It is essential that students are able to engage their background knowledge and are exposed to various types of literature. While textbooks are read throughout school, including in higher education, students will most likely not be engaging in very many textbooks outside of school.

I want my students to develop a passion for reading and I want them to be e exposed to different genres and subjects that appeal to different interests. I do think that there is value to textbooks and offer a format that can be used to help students locate information, such as the glossary, headings and subheadings, illustrations and graphs, and margin notes. Tompkins (2018) suggests using the five stages of reading process to teach minilessons when using textbooks (p.416). This is incredibly helpful, as a new teacher looking for various ways to teach information.

In today’s digital world, the resources that we have access to are incredible! While text sets are encouraged in the classroom, they can be costly and sometimes hard to come by. Teachers Pay Teachers is a great website to support other teachers who have self-created worksheets and curriculum. It is also so much easier to pull media from YouTube or other streaming services to show videos and documentaries to students. I remember only watching a handful of videos in school “on special occasion” because you needed to have a VHS, which could be costly or get ruined. It’s great that we have technology at our fingertips as teachers.

While reading, it is helpful to engage writing. It has been proven that you remember more information when you write it down. Even as I read the Tompkins (2018) textbook Literacy for the 21^stCentury, I write down notes from each chapter to help me retain the information. After I write the notes, I go back and refer to my notes before writing out my blog. I want to give my students the same opportunity to utilize writing before, during, and after reading. Reading and writing go hand in hand; by reading more, you can learn different writers’ styles and formats. By writing, you can improve reading comprehension to synthesize what you have read. As a teacher, it also helps you assess students’ comprehension by reading what they wrote.

One of my favorite activities is quickwriting. Quickwriting allows you to put your ideas to paper, without worrying about grammar or revisions. When I’m feeling writer’s block, I love to just get on the computer or pull out a pen and paper to just write. Sometimes I’ll even write, “Nothing I’m writing makes sense, I don’t like writing.” After five minutes of just typing, though, I’m able to break past feeling crippled and not feeling like anything makes sense. I want my students to have the same opportunity. Writing can be intimidating and I want my students to understand that it’s a process. The key is to start!

Reference:

Tompkins, G. E. (2018).Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7^thEd. New York: Pearson

Article Review

Martinez, D.C. & Caraballo, L. (2018). Sustaining multilingual literacies in classrooms and beyond. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(1), 101-104. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.764

Have you ever been corrected in how you say something? Did this ever happen to you in school? Perhaps you are an educator and correct students in how they say something. If any of the above applies to you, you may want to read the article above. I recently read the following article and I highly recommend!

Multilingual and multidialectal literacies are often used by youth, particularly youth of color. However, in the classroom, educators may correct students to match those of the “dominant” group in the classroom. The authors, Danny Martinez and Limarys Caraballo both worked in two different settings to explore how they sustain multilingual literacies. Danny looked at high school ELA classrooms in Northern California. Limarys looked at Cyphers for Justice, an after-school program in New York City. Both Danny and Limarys are former ELA teachers and now work as literacy teacher educators and scholars. Their research interests include equity and are committed to socially just teaching practices, as well as humanizing research traditions.

In the suburban Northern California community where Danny conducted his research, there are almost an equal percentage of Black, Latinx, and Filipino/a youths which account for 90% of the school’s population. Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander and white youths make up the remaining 10%. The two teachers in the study included Mr. Michelson, a white teacher, who is bilingual in Spanish, and Mr. Alcordo, who is Filipino. Freshman students in Mr. Alcordo’s class were introduced to Romeo and Juliet and worked in pairs. As the teacher walked around and asked the students to make predictions about the play, one student said, “They Beefin!” How do you think Mr. Alcordo responded?

Well, he responded with “Yup, there’s beef of some sort!” After he returned to whole group discussion, he began with “There’s definitely gonna be some beefin’!” Mr. Alcordo clearly illustrated that rather than changing their language into academic language, he legitimatized and welcomed the term in his classroom.

In Mr. Michelson’s classroom, he uses Spanish with emergent bilingual students whenever necessary. It’s important to note the term “emergent bilinguals” rather than “English learners”. This legitimizes knowing two languages, rather than the emphasis on learning English. Students use a range of languages in Mr. Michelson’s classroom and multimodal texts are used, such as films, short stories, poems, and even TED talks. Mr. Michelson “treats students’ contributions as worthy pits of knowledge, seeds that will bloom into ideas that can be displayed and shared however possible. Most important, he treats youth contributions as worthwhile of his own learning” (p.102). One more example in Mr. Michelson’s classroom was the use of the word “Slap.” The student was asking for free time to listen to music or chill, but Mr. Michelson didn’t know what it meant. The next time the word was used, Mr. Michelson asked what it meant. By the third time, Mr. Michelson used the word “slap” saying, “They can slapat the end of class.” The students accepted him using the word and Mr. Michelson demonstrated his willingness to learn from and with them. An important point the authors make is that not all educators will feel comfortable using youth language, nor should it be done unless it is in solidarity or alliance with communities whose languages have been stigmatized.

Cyphers of Justice includes researchers working on social justice issues in context of after-school seminars. They focus on critical and youth literacies, research, and social action. High school students and preservice teachers are introduced to traditional research methods and explore opportunities to report and act on research results using a range of rhetorical modes, including digital literacies, hip-hop, and spoken word. Youths are invited to examine their own diverse experiences critically as they collaboratively develop inquiries focused on issues most relevant to them.

One of the students, Wintress, is a young African American woman and was interested in exploring female body image, ideals about beauty, and notions of self-acceptance. She collected data from interviewing female, male, and nonbinary classmates and was presented her research to peers and educators. Here is an excerpt from her:

“I think girls do feel pressured [by the media] …like with rappers and having certain girls in their videos. They see and want to be like those girls.”

She used collage and poetry to more accurately represent the multiple perspectives about body image that emerged from her research. The freedom to choose how she wanted to convey her findings allowed for a more inclusive and culturally sustaining engagement with literacies and social action.

As educators, it’s essential that we foster multilingual literacies in our classroom. While we are mandated to teach state standards, there are ways to do this while we foster students’ multiple ways of learning and the language they use. For youth of color, who are in particular often marginalized in the way they speak, it is essential that we break through “business-as-usual-practices” and embrace multilingual literacies.

As teachers, we are mandated with teaching state standards and may need to even use a mandated curriculum within our district or school. It is imperative that we plan out what we will be teaching and organizing our instruction. The five literacy programs that Tompkins (2018) states are the most commonly used between K-8^thgrade are guided reading, basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading and writing workshop (p. 331). Throughout Chapter 10 in Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach, these five programs are outlined in great detail. In this post, I will be highlighting Reading and Writing Workshop.

The greatest strength that I find in using Reading and Writing Workshop is the authenticity for students. Authentic literacy “replicates or reflects reading and writing activities that occur in the lives of people outside of a learning-to-read-and-write context and purpose” (Duke et. al, 2006, p. 346). My goal for students is that when they leave school, they enjoy reading and are comfortable with writing. Even as I complete my teaching and masters program, I hear my colleagues complain about reading and the amount of reading required. I think that too often, reading and writing opportunities are given in short amounts of time, often with timed constraints. As technology has rapidly increased, attention has become shortened. I believe that the sustained periods of time within Reading and Writing Workshop allows student to build a stamina for reading and writing.

Reading and Writing Workshop takes time to build in a classroom. When I have my own classroom, I want the process to start within the first two weeks of school. It’s important to implement the process alongside introducing class norms in the classroom. What I really love about Reading and Writing Workshop is how it builds community in the classroom. After students read books individually, they share these with one another. During writing workshop, students share their drafts and edit with each other, as well as share their final products with their class and see themselves as authors. I want my students to share their work and feel proud of themselves, as well as each other. I would also like to incorporate Literature Circles within Reading and Writing Workshop so that students can use different roles and share with each other. I recommend checking out my colleagues’ blogs to find out more about Literature Circles: https://nksardisco.wixsite.com/elemteachertalk/home/literature-circles

https://leonismmyteachingphilosophy.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/building-a-community-of-readers-with-literature-circles/

It is important to note that Reading and Writing Workshop should be part of a balanced literacy approach, with a combination of explicit instruction, small-group, whole-class, and independent reading and writing opportunities. An important point that Tompkins (2018) makes is that minilessons should be used throughout so that students are taught explicit instructions. It takes time to build Reading and Writing Workshop, but I believe it is a fantastic program that I want to utilize in my own classroom. I also would like to make sure that culturally relevant texts are provided in the classroom. Lack of funding may be a constraint to provide a rich library both inside the classroom and inside the school, as well as the community surrounding the school and homes of the students. However, teachers provide an incredible community of support for one another and are incredibly innovative to make sure that students’ needs are being met.

References:

Duke, N., Purcell-Gates, V., Hall, L., Tower, C. (2006). Authentic literacy activities for developing comprehension and writing. Reading Teacher, 60(4), 60. 344-355.

Tompkins, G. E. (2018).Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7^thEd. New York: Pearson.

Comprehension involves reader factors, as well as text factors. I’ll be going over text factors in this post. According to Tompkins (2018), there are three types of text factors: genres, text structures, and text features (p.294). When students understand text factors, this can serve as a scaffold to make comprehension easier.

As teachers, it is important that we go over text factors with our students so they understand the different genres, structures and features while reading. First, genres are the broad categories in literature and include stories, informational books or nonfiction, and poetry. Within these genres are subgenres, such as fables, myths, and legends within the genre of folklore. Each of these genres or subgenres have similar characteristics that students can identify. As teachers, we can go over these through minilessons.

Stories have text structures that are unique from other genres. The most important story elements, as outlined by Tompkins (2018) are plot, characters, setting, point of view, and theme (p. 299). The most basic aspect of plot is beginning, middle, and end. I attended a workshop in February from the People’s Education Conference (https://www.facebook.com/thepeoples.ed/), where I was exposed to the ESPSP framework. Traditional story plots are outlined as exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. However, Currameng, Lopez, and Tintiangco-Cubales (2016) have created the Ethnic Studies Praxis Story Plot (ESPSP): expose the problem, oppressive action, trauma/tension, taking action/resistance/healing, and revolution and reflection. The Ethnic Studies Praxis Story plot offers greater critical thinking, as well as serves “students in more socially just and community responsive ways.”

Tompkins (2018) used a very helpful chart to outline the five expository text structures alongside the graphic organizer type (p. 309) (see below)

When graphic organizers are used, it helps provide a guideline for students to organize the information in a visual way. I will definitely be using these in my own teaching practices. Even as I read Tompkins (2018), it is imperative that I utilize the text features to help me take notes and disseminate the information more easily. I usually outline my notes using the headers and sub-headers and make note of the graphs. There is even a pattern to the colors used for different diagrams in Tompkins (2018). For example, booklists are green and graphs with categories are in yellow. It is important that we utilize all the different features to aid our learning and understanding so that we can work towards comprehension.

References:

Curammeng, E.R., Lopez, D., Tintiangco-Cuables, A. (2016). Community responsive literacies: The development of the ethnic studies praxis story plot. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 15(3), 411-429.

Tompkins, G. E. (2018). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7^thEd. New York: Pearson.

It’s amazing to think how much students’ vocabularies can grow! Tompkins (2018) wrote, “Capable students’ vocabularies grow about 3,000 to 4,000 a year…by the time they graduate from high school, their vocabularies reach 25,000-50,000 words or more” (p.219). While this is quite a broad range, the possibilities for students are quite incredible. It’s our job as teachers to try and cultivate this growth for students and make developing vocabulary fun!

For students who are emerging bilinguals, it is essential to bridge their native language knowledge with English. English has so many challenges, from homonyms to homophones. However, as English has borrowed words from other languages, this can help students take words that they already know and find the similar English word. For example, “frío” in Spanish is “cold” in English, or another word could be “frigid” or “freezing.” I don’t want my students to feel that they have to lose their native language to learn English. We need to find ways to build on their funds of knowledge to help develop their vocabulary.

Tompkins (2018) offered many great strategies to teach students how to unlock word meanings, from word walls, word posters, and word maps to dramatizing words, word sorts, and word chains. It is essential that we incorporate various activities that reach our students because vocabulary knowledge and reading achievement are closely related (p.220). The larger vocabulary students have helps them become better readers, and the more students read, the more opportunities they have to figure out meanings of unfamiliar words.

One of the best memories of learning new words in school was through the use of wordplay. This came in the forms of alliteration, hyperboles, onomatopoeia, oxymorons, palindromes, and personification. It made me realize how fun language can be when it’s used in different ways. Dr. Seuss is commonly used and introduces these concepts for students. Another way that I would introduce vocabulary to my students is through songs and poems, as they are engaging and illustrate creativity. I hope that my students learn to love vocabulary as they grow their knowledge

Reference: Tompkins, G. E. (2018).Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7^thEd. New York: Pearson

The foundational skills of learning how to navigate the English language is essential for early learners. Tompkins states, “Phonemic awareness has been shown to be the most powerful predictor of later reading achievement” (Tompkins, 2018, p.155). As teachers, we need to have a balanced literacy program for our students. My goal is to keep my students engaged so that they are able to connect with what they are learning. Alphabetic code knowledge that students learn consist of phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling. It is critical for students to be exposed to a variety of activities where they can develop this knowledge.

Tompkins outlined five phonemic awareness strategies: identifying sounds in words, categorizing sounds in words, substituting sounds to make new words, blending sounds to form words, and segmenting a word into sounds. In my teaching observations, I was able to see these strategies take place throughout various lessons. In addition to the strategies Tompkins outlined, she also listed the three criteria that phonemic awareness instruction should meet. First, the activities should be appropriate for 5-6 year old children. Second, the instruction should be planned and purposeful. Third, activities should be integrated with other components of literacy instruction.

Children should be able to sing songs, chant rhymes, read aloud wordplay books, and play games. Activities that students can use are sound-matching, sound-isolation, sound-blending, sound-addition and -substitution, and sound-segmentation. It is helpful to begin with oral activities using objects and pictures before adding reading and writing components. I find word walls to be incredible tools in the classroom. One example is a word wall of phonograms that show words with the same sounds. I’ve also seen in my observations that high frequency words are put on the word wall so students can reference and eventually commit to memory.

As technology continues improving, there are so many resources for teachers and parents to use with students. Raz-Kids was used frequently in the classrooms I observed and students can use this at home, as well as in the classroom. The innovation of teachers is amazing and there are also a variety of resources available through Teachers Pay Teachers. As a new teacher, it’s helpful for me to have a variety of resources to find what works best for my students.

Reference: Tompkins, G. E. (2018). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach 7th Ed. New York: Pearson.