Teachers

In which the author shares tasties for teaching reading and writing

What We’re Doing

Nellie and I are trying to teach the students to read and write like folks who actually spend time reading and writing in non-school settings. We’re trying to teach them to do it for real. She teaches 7th and 8th grade language arts. I teach an occasional writing workshop.

The underlying and ruling premises of how we both approach the teaching are these:

1. You need to be a practiconer to teach.
2. The students need to learn to do what practiconers actually do.
3. Learning is best achieved by teaching methods that have been proven to yield results.

How can you help a student with something you’ve never done? You can’t. You simply won’t have the insights that can help them go beyond a rudementary level. A lot of this is due to the fact that you won’t know what it is that practioners do. You’ll be guessing. You’ll be teaching what you think practioners do, but not what they really do, which means the students won’t be learning the skills that will take them where they want to go. They’ll be heading in the direction of your guess-land.  

Furthermore, the teaching methods used must actually work. The proven methods are simple. Not a lot of fluff although the work is most certainly enjoyable. They fit within this framework: 

• A supportive and good-humored enviornment.
• High expectations and accountability.
• The three-step teaching model of (1) explain (presentation, demo, talking about cognitive choices  being made), (2) guide (worked examples, scaffolding), (3) practice (reading and writing). An easy way to remember this is “To, With, By”–show it to them, do it with them, let it be done by them.
• Allotting the bulk of the time to guiding and student practice.

All of this results in the students choosing what to read like real readers outside school do. It means they might abandon a book or skim parts because, again, that’s what real readers do. It means they share recommendations. It also means that students choose what to write. They take responsibility for revising and polishing it and decide when its ready for publication and where to attempt to publish.

This also means the teacher is there for the students WHEN THEY ARE practicing and making decisions to help them learn to make those creative decisions. Not just at the end to give a grade.

Resources

• We both knew that grammar, spelling, and vocab worksheets were NOT the way to teach writing or reading. Nor were assigned readings and long class discussions. When Nellie found Nancie Atwell’s In The Middle 2nd ed., we knew we’d struck gold. It’s a must have.
• The Conditions of Learning: Training Applications by Robert M. Gagne and Karen L. Medsker. A classic that focuses on what you really need to learn a thing.
• Ruth Clark, Ed.D. takes Gagne a step further. Her methods are based on the most current research and they work. They’re simple, proven, effective. Some of it will surprise you. Building Expertise, Efficieny in Learning, and Developing Technical Training . 
• The Accelerated Learning Handbook by Dave Meier is good.  A lot focuses on the teaching of facts and concepts, but his stuff on a quicker instructional design process is gold.
• Writing is a complex cognitive skill and Training Complex Cognitive Skills by Jeroen J.G. van Merrienboer is a compilation of reseach showing what actually works when teaching others these skills.
• Many books on writing and publishing from actual practiconers, including among others.
  • FICTION: 
    • Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain
    • Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
    • Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine
    • On Writing by Stephen King
    • Write Away by Elizabeth George
    • Techniques of Fiction Writing by Eliose McGraw
    • Interviews of writers in various places
  • POETRY & LYRIC:
    • Knock on a Star by X.J. Kennedy (John’s favorite)
    • A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver
    • Writing Poems by Robert Wallace
    • Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure by Pat Pattison
    • Songwriting: Essential Guide to Rhyming by Pat Pattison
    • Interviews of writers in various places
  • EDITING & PUBLISHING:
    • Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King
    • The Fiction Editor, The Novel, and the Novelist by Thomas McCormack
    • How to be Your Own Literary Agent by Richard Curtis
    • Your Novel Proposal by Blythe Camenson & Marshall J. Cook
    • Writing to Sell by Scott Meredith
    • Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Al Zuckerman
    • The annual Writer’s Market, Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, and Children’s Writers & Illustrator’s Market
• Finally, an essay on Stupid Learning and some ideas on how to avoid it.

Actual in the trenches reports

These, of course, come from Nellie as she teaches 7th and 8th graders language arts and John as he conducts fiction writing workshops. You will find the reports by clicking “Teachers” in the Categories section.