Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002
Good reader, bad writer, posted at 8:41 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Another long day. Woke up at 5am, had a great workout at the gym, made it to school at 8:10am. My lesson plans weren't the best, as a lot of my kids were going to be gone on a field trip and I was so exhausted from yesterday's observations.So I did this drama thing in which my students acted out chapter 24. I'm struggling with how to help kids "get" what they're reading. I try to explain to them that there should be two voices in their head when they're reading - one that is reading the words and one that is responding to or thinking about the words. And a movie camera that envisions the action that is occurring. Two voices and movie camera. I'm constantly surprised by how much they struggle with understanding what they read. Much of it is not reading slowly or closely enough. They're used to young adult novels, which are great lack some of the thematic depth that a book like To Kill a Mockingbird has. (Note: after a lengthy guestbook entry by someone who failed to leave an address where I could reach them, I feel the need to clarify the above the comment. For the most part, I mispoke. I should have clarified that comment a little. What I meant was that the students haven't been taught to deal with the thematic study of these books, not that they don't have them. However, I believe that part of the issue is the complexity issue; YA adult novels, by nature and definiton, are not as complex as their adult counterparts - this I stand by. Perhaps my definition of complex is different than some people's, but I've read many on your list and wouldn't categorize them a complex work as a whole - mostly because of language use. I'm actually a big fan of YA literature, and never meant to imply [and don't think I did] that they "mean less" than other books. I've taken courses on them and still read them for enjoyment, and really wish we had at least a couple on the curriculum.) Or maybe they've only concentrated on plot before. I'm not sure. But they're struggling with reading this novel.
I'm also shocked by how some of my best writers are some of my weakest readers, and even more shocked when some of my incredible and visual learners are my worst writers. There are two kids that fit snugly in this category, both boys, and I don't know what to do with them. One kid is one of my favorite students. He's an obviously at-risk student - the type of kid who speaks in heavy slang, lives with an aunt, and has gold teeth. (I hate to be stereotypical here, but if the primary adult in your life lets you get gold teeth at the age of 14, then there's a good chance there is some sability, judgment, or control issues going on.) But he's also one of my most talented readers; he often gets 100% on the reading quizzes when most of the class isn't even passing. I even called home the other day when I was calling a bunch of parents of kids who weren't doing so well, and said something to the effect of, "Hello, this is Mr. Epiphany from the (name of school), and usually when there is a message from a teacher, it's because something not so good has happened. I decided that I wanted to call with some good news. I wanted to let you know that Tyron's performance and reading this quarter has been excellent and that his hard work and strong class participation make him one of the strongest students in his class. Thanks for your support."
Anyhow, "Tyrone" reading is excellent, but his writing looks like chicken scratch. He has major problems with subject very agreement and spelling. While he's not the weakest writer I've ever had - far from it - he's certainly the student I've had with the greatest disparity between reading and writing skills. Usually they're intertwined.
I sort of forgot how I got on the subject of Tyrone, but back to my day. It was further stressed with my planning period taken up by my post-observation meeting, which went okay. I think had my poetry group meeting at the museum afer school, so I was cavorting about with students from right after school until 7pm. I finally made it home at 7:30. I'm ready for bed, but am going to stick it out until 24 comes on. I also look forward to returning a call from Gale, but am waiting for nighttime so I don't use up my minutes. Getting her message made my evening; I'd been especially homesick lately with the holiday approaching, and had been waiting to hear from people I hadn't heard from in a while. It's nice to be on the receiving end of phone calls.