Kelly's Curriculum Corner

Last week I summarized Kylene Beers research on the continuum of readers . At the end I asked some questions regarding instruction on each type of reader. Turns out Dr. Beers followed with another article detailing tips and techniques to working with aliterate students. “We must realize that whatever motivates an avid or dormant reader probably won’t motivate an uncommitted or unmotivated student. Motivating Readers (p. 112) reveals the same activities that encourage readers in fact discourages nonreaders, intimidating them and confirming negative feelings. The activities that uncommitted or unmotivated readers preferred were limited, but specific” (Beers, 1996, p.111). 1. Personal Choice – They want to choose their own books from a limited selection. They were wary of being overwhelmed with a large library. 2. Nonfiction – Many reluctant readers prefer nonfiction over fiction. 3. Illustrations – Pictures and illustrations were very important to these students. Time agai...

  Kylene Beers, as part of a research study, observed two 7th grade classrooms for one year. Through discussions regarding attitudes and habits as readers, she developed a typology of a reader. “It was easy to identify readers at both ends of the spectrum; they readily fit the academic and social descriptions others have provided. It was more difficult to classify the aliterate readers. In fact, I found grouping them under one term – aliterate – was inaccurate because because they gave different reasons for not reading. Understanding these reasons eventually led me to three distinct types of aliterate readers: Dormant, Uncommitted, and Unmotivated” (Beers, 1996, p. 31). I have been pondering this information for awhile. It makes me wonder who the students are in remedial classes. Are they illiterate or aliterate? How would we know or are we focuses exclusively on test scores? Are instructional strategies the same for each type of reader? Are there a disproportionate num...

  The graph above shows an amazingly consistent pattern regarding the reading achievement of girls (top line) and boys (bottom line). While this graph highlights the longitudinal data of 13 year olds, the picture for 9 and 17 year olds looks remarkably the same. Basically girls out score boys and have for 30 years across all age groups according to the National Test of Educational Progress (NAEP.) Michael W. Smith & Jeff Wilhelm summarize the findings on boys and literacy in their book Reading Don’t Fix No Chevys (2002) pages 10&11 :   Achievement: Boys take longer to read than girls. Boys read less than girls. Girls tend to comprehend text significantly better than boys. Boys tend to do better with information retrieval & work-related literacy tasks than girls. Attitude: Boys generally provide a lower estimate of their reading abilities than girls do. Boys value reading as an activity less than girls do. Bo...

A good friend and colleague, Greg Llewellyn, recently came to my Curriculum Council Meeting to discuss strategies for effective implementation of initiatives. Greg shared his experience with school systems that have implemented district-wide initiatives successfully. He recommended districts consider a district-wide leadership team consisting of leadership at all levels whom meet frequently. This system helps to create a coherent understanding and common language regarding the initiative and the goal. It also helps with implementation issues that often develop regarding policy and procedures. These can best be acknowledged and addressed through a district leadership team. District leaders shared that this format was highly successful and kept potential “rogues” from going off on their own. The Caveat: Attendance at the leadership team was non-negotiable! For this district leadership team to work, all stakeholders must be present at critical decision points. Therefore, if all ...

I had an interesting week. Our state school improvement team brought author and presenter, Edie Holcomb, to work with regional service agency staff to enhance and expand our understanding of the change process and assist schools with developing more effective school improvement plans. The training reaffirmed many things, namely the importance of providing tools for schools to monitor their plan implementation, but Edie managed to layer in additional activities and thinking to more clearly focus our efforts. Then today, I received a phone call from Shirely Hord, a long story as to how we connected, but WOW!!!!! For those of you that do not know Shirley, her work is legendary in the area of staff development and the change process. She has authored and co-authored numerous books on Change, Professional Learning Communities, etc.. She has a rich southern accent and each word she says practically drips with wisdom. Needless to say, I wrote down  everything she said and can’t wait ...

  In his new book, Transforming Professional Development into Student Results , Doug Reeves makes a case for severely limiting the number of initiatives a school or district pursues. “Education leaders have three essential resources: time, money, and emotional energy. Time is fixed. Financial resources are typically fixed, and in the present economy, diminishing. Emotional energy is variable.” “The Law of Initiative Fatigue states that when the number of initiatives increases while time, resources and emotional energy are constant, then each new initiative, no matter how well conceived or well intentioned – will receive fewer minutes, dollars and ounces of emotional energy than its predecessors.” Reader Challenge: Take a blank sheet of paper and write down every initiative in your school. Reply via comment and let us know how many initiatives you have and your thoughts about the Law of Initiative Fatigue.

  “Focus is the real 21st Century skill.” ---- Doug Reeves at the PA Department of Education Conference April 2010 What do you think? Watch is the full presentation at http://2010.pdeconference.com/ .