Second Term Book Reports
I just finished grading the book reports for the second term. Some students did very well and I'm very pleased. However, some students gave me book reports that only covered the first chapter or two of their books.
In the same way that a drumstick isn't the same as a Christmas turkey, a book report over a couple of chapters is not the same as a book report about a whole book.
Outside reading is a VERY important part of the NELP class. Traditionally, the student who reads the most makes the most progress. This is because through reading, students can see language in action. Students should read books that they can understand, but which are a little challenging and give them opportunities to see new language and new forms.
I give my students class time to read during our Wednesday reading time, so I'm very surprised and disappointed that some of my NELP students are not reading up to their potential.
I'd like my students to be reading MORE, and where possible, I'd like my NELP parents to check on their students and see if the students are doing the reading that they need to do.
Date: 18:25｜Permalink｜Author：mark
This Week in NELP Reading Class
Here are some pictures from this week's reading classes!
Here are the first graders:
Here are the second grade students.
Here are the third grade students.
Date: 20:16｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Ending Progress Reports
This term I decided to try a little experiment. I decided to ask the students to write Progress Reports on their reading rather than book reports. There were several reasons for this. One, some students were reading books, but were not writing book reports because they felt they couldn't write a good report on that book. I felt that this was missing the point, as our real goal was reading, not writing. Secondly, some students were not keeping up with their reading, and I wanted to better monitor their progress. As well, some students were reading their books, but turning in book reports after the deadline, causing them to lose massive points on their grades.
These are all valid reasons for the idea, and I stand behind them. However, what seemed a good idea in theory was a little confusing in practice. The biggest problem was that students didn't clearly identify what progress they made in their reading. Most didn't remember my instructions to write down what pages they had read. This led to confusion for me as I often didn't know if the report I was receiving was a Progress Report or a Final Report. As well, and most importantly, I noticed a greater tendency for students to stop reading once they had reached their reading quote.
This last reason particularly has convinced me that we should go back to book reports.
Date: 09:54｜Permalink｜Author：mark
This Week in Reading Class
Two weeks ago,, the first grade students read an article called "Video Games Have Role in School" about the use of video games in school. We also had a good discussion about using video games for work.
Last week, the students watched the movie "Chicken Run" and we discussed the movie in class.
This week, the first grade students read a poem called "One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty Eight Winters" by Jaci Earley. We talked about depression, and also about how we can learn about the narrator of a poem through the language of the poem.
Next week, the first grade students will read "On Colonizing Education" a speech by Onondaga Chief Canasatego (given in 1744) regarding the nature of education.
Two weeks ago, the second grade students were supposed to read "The Cask of Amontillado". This did not go so well. I don't know if it was too difficult, or if it wasn't interesting, but for the second year in a row, this story flopped. I can't tell if they read it but didn't understand it or if they didn't read it at all. Hard to say. Either way, this story will be replaced in next year's curriculum.
Last week, the second grade students watched "The Parent Trap" and we discussed the movie in class.
This week, the second grade students read a mock-science article about banning DHMO - dihydrogen monoxide (also known as water). The students gave small-group presentations about dangers to the environment and they had very interesting ideas.
Next week, the second grade students will read a news article about modern pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Two weeks ago, the third grade students began forming their attacking arguments for the debate and we discussed fallacies and logic.
Last week, the third graders watched the movie "School Days with a Pig" (ブタがいた教室) and they discussed the movie in their debate teams.
This week, the third grade students are studying points and motions in debate.
Next week, the third grade students will learn about debate procedures.
Date: 10:10｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Update on the library
I've made a change in reading progress chart.
I used to replace this chart at the end of each term, but I realized recently that many of my students don't turn in their reading until the end of the term. In order to show recognition to those students and hopefully to inspire them to read more, I've decided to leave the chart up for the whole year. I've also started to highlight the lines to better show each students progress. Student progress is now much more visible than it was before. I'm particularly proud of one third grade student who read more during first term than any NELP student has ever read for me before. She read three level 4 books. I should also stress that her language improvement this year has been amazing, reinforcing my belief that one of the most influential keys to language development is reading.
In a final note on the library, we got some new books:
I haven't counted them, but we have a lot of really good new books.
Date: 12:20｜Permalink｜Author：mark
"Longing" by Matthew Arnold
The third grade students did some pretty funny and interesting stuff with the poem "Longing" by Matthew Arnold.
Here's the original:
Longing
by Matthew Arnold
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me!
Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth,
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say, My love why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again!
For so the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
I put the students into groups and asked them to translate the poem into the more modern English. Here are the results.
Group 1:
I want you!!
If you come into my dream,
I'll be happy and you will make my day.
Come to me!! You angel!
You smile to the world with the
same smile you did to me.
To tell you the truth, I want you to
part my hair, kiss me, and care about me.
I love you!!
Love me!!!
Group 2:
I just want to dream about you.
And some day I will be happy again.
Time dreaming about you can cure
my hopeless, lonely heart, and days.
Please come a thousand times to my dreams (or me)
Dear angel from heaven.
She smiles beautifully to everyone, and also
She smiles as same to me!
She's kind.
Please open your heart, and be truthful to me.
Please come to me, and I want this dream to
really happen.
Touch my hair, and kiss me.
And ask me, why are you depressed?
I just want to dream about you.
And someday I will be happy again.
Time, dreaming about you can cure
my hopeless, lonely heart, and days.
(On a side note, Group 2 also included the line:
touch my body put me on the floor
wrestle me around, play with me some more.
However, I don't think that was originally intended for their poem.)
Group 3:
Hey, come into my dream!
Then I'd be happy, yay!
At night I'm too excited
at daytime I'm doomed.
I feel like you came here a thousand times
your (sic) like an angel from heaven.
And smile to me and be kind.
just like you do to others.
Even though you never came here
Please! Come right now
and touch my hair, kiss my forehead
and ask me, "What's wrong with you?"
These have been reproduced here exactly as they were written, errors and all, to give an idea how my students are doing.
I thought these were very funny.
Date: 17:57｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Reading Update - Readings this term
I'm really shocked to discover that this term I have completely failed to keep my blog-readers informed of our readings this half of the term. So, hopefully better late than never, here is a recap of this term's readings.
First Grade:
First grade began with a news article about Halloween, "Japan Tricks and Treats Itself to Halloween" which discussed the origins and growing popularity of Halloween in Japan. The students then had small group discussions about various aspects of Halloween and Halloween culture. The students did reasonably well on the activity in terms of speaking, but some found it difficult to listen and respond to what the other students were saying. The fact that this activity was much more challenging than a regular presentation indicates two things to me: one, that the students' presentation skills and confidence in those skills have certainly grown; and two, I made the right decision in expanding our speaking activities to include more skills.
First grade then continued with a non-fiction article, actually written by me, on The Great Molasses Flood of 1919. This article was actually taken from a variety of sources, and recounts an actual disaster in Boston. The students responded to the topic very well, and did an excellent job in their presentations. Several students chose to give examples of other disasters. A couple of students chose a more difficult topic: describing how to be prepared for a disaster. Their presentations were quite illuminating.
Next, the first grade students read "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Here the students were asked to do small group presentations. This went a little better than the discussions, however, the students had a little difficulty asking questions and giving comments.
Finally, the students read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Considering how difficult the vocabulary was for this reading, I was very proud of how well they did. We had our first class debate, in this case an open debate (in order to keep the format simple, relaxed and non-adversarial), but the students had a little difficulty in presenting their ideas. Again, the fact that it wasn't easy convinces me that trying different speaking activities is a good thing. Knowing how to present differing points of view in a mature, logical, and not-so-confrontational or defensive manner is a good thing, in my opinion.
Second Grade:
The second graders began the second half of the term with a blog article: "A True Creepy Story for Halloween" about the discovery of a graveyard in Tokyo. Their speaking activity was a presentation, not unlike what they did for Halloween last year.
For their second reading, the students studied and discussed the lyrics to the song "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. Here, we did a class debate to discuss whether the song is, as some people claim, a romantic song, or whether it is actually, as others claim, a song about stalking. The response was overwhelmingly against the song. The debate was quite fun and energetic, but many of the quieter students needed a lot of urging to speak.
Our third reading for the half-term was "The Night the Bed Fell" by James Thurber. The students seemed to have enjoyed this one, though I think most didn't really get why it might be considered funny. Students were required to give small group presentations, and this class actually did very well at asking questions, giving comments and providing opinions. I was very happy with their speaking activity.
Our final reading, which we are doing this week, is the speech "I Will Fight No More Forever" by Chief Joseph. Unfortunately, so far, it is not going so well. Although the speech is very short and simple, the assignment was not so simple. Students were asked not merely to read the speech but to do background research on Chief Joseph, the Nez Perce and the relationship between the U.S. and the Native Americans. While almost all of the students read the speech, very few grasped the full meaning because NO ONE had done the required research.
Now, some of my students have said that, for whatever reason, they do not have access to the internet. I replied with the joke: "In my day, we had something like the internet, and it was called BOOKS!" And I challenged them to visit a library. That said, I see no excuse whatsoever for students at a junior high school such as Seishin, in a program such as NELP, not having access to the internet.
Access to information is a vital part of the education of these students. If we want our students to be prepared to be the leaders of tomorrow, we MUST see that they are well-educated today, and if we want our students to be well-educated, we must see to it that they are well-informed, and that means that they must have clear and easy access to information, whether it means the internet, libraries, or just people to interview or talk to.
More and more, from now on, my course will require students to do research. It is not enough for students to have opinions. It is not enough for students to be able to express opinions. Students must have facts, evidence, cases, research, and examples on which to base their opinions or their opinions are likely to be little more than ephemeral, insubstantial whimsy.
In that view, I ask parents to please make sure that students, all students (not merely my own), have access to libraries and the internet. Furthermore, I strongly encourage parents to assist the educators of their children (and I especially encourage the parents of my students to assist me) in making it clear that it is not enough to merely do the minimum amount of work required. Rather it is necessary and important in reaching one's full potential to challenge oneself by going beyond the required minimum to achieve all that one is capable of. In the case of my reading class, that means doing background research on our readings.
Third Grade:
The third grade began with the news article "Train Victim's Cell Kept Calling Loved Ones After He Died". The students understood the article quite well, but it was interesting to see in our group discussion that there were angles to this story that the students hadn't considered, and that although the article appears to represent a paranormal situation, there is actually the possibility of a non-paranormal, although disquieting, explanation for the events in the article: namely the possibility that rescue workers may have concealed evidence and given false information to a family in order to cover up their failure to discover a train survivor in time to save him.
Next, the third grade students attempted to read "The Lottery", a classic story by Shirley Jackson. The story was much too difficult for the students, although several admitted that they didn't even try to read it. However, the fact that the student with the highest level of English failed to grasp the main idea of the story tells me that the story was perhaps too subtle and too ambitious for these students. I'm actually quite thankful, as I had felt reservations anyway about putting such a macabre story in my curriculum. Next year, I'm considering a short story about a secret community in a busy city. It's quite a charming, friendly and safe story.
After the fiasco that was "The Lottery", we quickly moved on to study the lyrics of the song "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. This was received much more favorably, in part because we watched videos not only for this song, but also for the parodies of this song: "You're Pitiful" by Weird Al Yankovic, "My Cubicle" by an as-yet-unknown artist, and "It's Bloody Cold" by British comedy group The Dead Ringers. However, the speaking activity was a bit difficult. Students gave presentations about parodies and why there are parodies, but we didn't see many examples, and the students could certainly have put a little more time into their preparation.
Our final reading this term is a non-fiction article, again written by me from a number of sources, on The Christmas Truce of 1914. The students appear to feel very favorably towards the topic, a true story of soldiers who stopped fighting to celebrate Christmas in peace. However, they had difficulty with the vocabulary. Now, it's true that they have access to the main vocabulary list, which I give them. It's also true that they can always get a dictionary. However, some concepts such as a trench or 'no-man's-land' are still difficult to understand even if one can find them in a dictionary.
To remedy this, I think it would be a good idea to spend a little time on Fridays going over the new reading for the following week. I'll try it next term and let you know how it goes.
Third grade is also having tremendous difficulty speaking English is class. There is entirely too much Japanese spoken in the third grade class, and it is, considering the aims of the class, completely unacceptable to have so much chatting. I've threatened their grades, and scolded them harshly, but they are nearing the end of junior high and so seem to care a little less about their performance.
Note to parents; it is vitally important that students use every available moment in NELP class to practice their English. This is a safe and productive environment in which to do so, and it is far better to practice in here (in the NELP classroom) than out there (in the world outside the NELP room door). Please encourage your students.
Date: 08:13｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Reading Exams - Soon to become more difficult
Reading comprehension questions in my NELP class have five questions. At the beginning of the year, I gave them three minutes, but I've been gradually cutting it back. We're down to two minutes on the clock, but most students are finished in about 90 seconds. We often have one or two who are done in 60 seconds, and we often have one or two still finishing at the two-minute mark, but in general: most finish in 90 seconds.
The same is true of our vocabulary quizzes. We have ten questions, all matching. Five match the word and the meaning. Five match words with the appropriate sentences they complete. Again, we're down to two minutes on the clock, but most students are done in about 90 seconds.
I've noticed recently that the students are finishing their English Beta exams too quickly. Most seem to take about half an hour for a 50-minute exam. Now, I've encouraged them to review their answers, to no avail.
I've also noticed a recent tendency among the students in my classes not to read their weekly required reading. Students are supposed to read the selection twice, and come to our Monday discussion class ready to talk about the reading, but we've been having a problem recently with students showing up to discussion unprepared to discuss. They have discussion questions to review, and should take notes, but when they're in groups or with partners to check their answers, a couple of students in each class have nothing to contribute. This makes it more difficult for the students who DO prepare. To me, it's unacceptable for students to merely show up to discussion only to be told the answers by their peers. They're supposed to discuss the answers and check the answers, but they can't do that if they haven't read the assigned reading. Ah, what to do ...
Well, I have a solution to both problems that I'm thinking of. I'm going to make the test longer.
Up to now, the reading test has consisted of vocabulary and reading comprehension. I feel that the skills involved in reading comprehension are more important than merely remembering a story. To that end, the readings for the test are different from the weekly assigned readings. However, in order to encourage more participation in the discussions, raise the level of challenge of the test, and make better use of our test time, I'm strongly considering adding one more section to the test, to make the test 25 percent longer.
This will mean that our English B: reading tests will now have 75 questions instead of 60. This will reward students who do their readings and participate in class discussions, while hopefully motivating all students to read more, prepare more, and participate more.
This idea is still technically under consideration, but considering that I've already modified the test format in the computer to accommodate the extra 15 questions: I'd call it 'a done deal'.
Date: 09:17｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Reading Exams
It's been a few weeks since our last update, and things here are still very busy. First, we had our mid-term exams. These went very well for the most part. The reading exams have two main parts: reading comprehension and vocabulary. Vocabulary Part I involves matching the word and the meaning. This mostly went well, however, for the meanings, I used the exact same wording as in the study sheets. I personally feel that this doesn't really challenge the students and doesn't actually indicate whether or not the students UNDERSTOOD the word. I've accurately demonstrated in my class that my students can successfully pass such a test without understanding the word, and without, in fact, even READING the word. So, even though it means more work for me, future tests will not use the same wording as the study sheets. Students must be able to identify and understand the concept of the word, not merely the wording of the definition.
Vocabulary Part II requires the students to correctly choose which vocabulary word best completes each sentence. This could likewise be a bit more challenging, but I'm relatively pleased with this section.
There are three readings on the reading section of the test. These include one poem and two longer works of fiction or non-fiction. I've found so far that the poems are the most difficult part for the students to understand.
Most of the students did very well on their exams, and I'm quite pleased with the grade distribution, as I felt it accurately represented the levels of the students in the class.
I'm currently working on the final exams and I sincerely hope these will be a strong improvement over the mid-terms.
Date: 09:08｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Readings This Week
This week, we studied fiction in all three junior high NELP classes.
The first grade studied "Gonzalo" by Paul Fleischman. This is from our Visions textbook. It's about a boy and his family who come to America from Guatemala, and especially about the problems Gonzalo's Great Uncle, Tio Juan, has in adjusting to his new life so far from his home.
The second grade studied "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling. This is quite ambitious, as it is one of the longest stories in our curriculum, however, the students really enjoyed it. It's about a mongoose, a small weasel-like animal, named Rikki who goes to war against two cobras, snakes who are trying to kill the family that adopted him.
The third grade just finished "Buried Poems" by Terry Tempest Williams. This is a story about an archaeologist who gets the whole town talking about its past by leaving mysterious poems all over town. Unfortunately, the students had a very difficult time, as many of our reading questions were about motivations. This was quite a difficult story in terms of age-appropriateness, and I'll be giving consideration to replacing this story with something else in the future.
Next Week: Non-fiction.
The first grade will be reading about fashions in the 18th and 19th century from a selection from Grammar Sense from Oxford.
The second grade will be reading a true story about trading and friendship between enemies during the US Civil War in "Blue and Gray Fraternize on the Picket Line" by Alexander Hunter from the book The Blue and the Gray by Henry Steele Commager.
The third grade will be reading a selection written by me about the Mausoleum of Theodoric: an amazing and nearly indestructible piece of ancient architecture.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wish me luck!
Date: 19:49｜Permalink｜Author：mark
The New Reading Curriculum
I haven't updated in a little while, as usual. My NELP blog is starting to sound a little like my letters to my grandmother: "Sorry I haven't written in so long, but I've been very busy."
I've been working on the new NELP curriculum and have now, other than a few snags, pretty much hammered it into shape.
Each half-term, students will have one poem, one short story, one non-fiction article and one current issue. In addition, I've updated the guidelines for new words and other vocabulary exercises. In the past, my rule was that students had to give me two new words every Monday, and that the second Monday after receiving a new reading packet, students would give me ten sentences using vocabulary from the reading. However, we've had a problem remember what's due and when. So starting this week, new words and vocabulary exercises will be a part of the packet, and each one will be appropriately labeled. This will make it a lot easier to remember when stuff is due. I write due dates on the speaking assignment sheet.
Also, I've been working on the new English reading tests. From now on, readings will come from a variety of sources, including our Progress in English book. Each test, the students will have three readings: a poem, a short story, and a non-fiction article or current issue article. These will be given to students in advance to study, but they won't see the questions until the day of the test. Also, the study packets will have vocabulary, but the real tests will not.
This means that each term, students will get a minimum of four poems, four short stories, and six non-fiction articles and current issues. Not bad at all.
The poems will also include music lyrics, and I've had some fun finding real poetry among song lyrics, both old and new.
This means that students will have a greater variety of readings in their tests. Although the tests will be much harder, I hope they will also be more interesting. I also hope this will finally put an end to students finishing my 50-minute readings tests in 20 minutes.
Finally, I've decided to start updating the NELP blog from home so that I'll have more chances to keep this blog up-to-date.
Date: 21:54｜Permalink｜Author：mark
New Books
I've recently returned from a long summer vacation back in America. While there, I've taken my first step on what I hope will be a new tradition for NELP: I bought some new books for the library.
At the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri (http://www.titanicbranson.com/), I bought You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Titanic: One Voyage You'd Rather Not Make by David Stewart.
At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/index.html), I bought You Wouldn't Want to Be on Apollo 13: A Mission You'd Rather Not Go on from the same series, this time by Ian Graham.
At a bookstore, I bought Stupid History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions Throughout the Ages by Leland Gregory.
This book is great for people interested in history, because what we learn in history class is rarely the whole story, and sometimes it's more 'story' that 'history'.
To supplement my reading classes, I also 'borrowed' a collection of James Thurber stories from my father's book collection (which, I must admit is a formidable collection).
For those unfamiliar with Thurber, he wrote humorous stories, such "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", "The Dog that Bit People" and "The Night the Bed Fell" and many more. He was also a famous cartoonist.
From The University of Texas - Pan American (from which I graduated), I bought a book by my former anthropology professor, Professor Mark Glazer, Ph.D.: Flour from Another Sack & Other Proberbs, Folk Beliefs, Tales, Riddles and Recipes: A Collection of Folklore from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
This is a long title for a very interesting book of folklore. What's interesting is that many of the stories "Really happened!" to a friend of a friend, etc. etc., but many stories have counterparts, particularly in the Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, & Other Supernatural Creatures (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) by Katherine Briggs. For those who don't know me, I have a strong background in folklore.
I also bought a couple more Texas-themed books.
The first is Texas Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff by John Kelso.
The second is Weird Texas: Your Travel Guide to Texas's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Wesley Treat, Heather Shade and Rob Riggs.
These two books will, I hope, provide some variety to the reading classes.
During my summer vacation, I attempted valiantly to find some junior high school literature books. We have the Visions A books here in the NELP room, but I'm sad to say that they haven't been particularly popular, though we will undoubtedly still use them from time to time.
Likely as not, I will be designing a standard curriculum of reading from a variety of sources, including fiction and nonfiction in a variety of styles. Hopefully this will give our reading classes not only some much needed variety, but also some very much needed stability in the curriculum ... something painfully lacking at the moment as we've been focusing almost exclusively on current events for our weekly assignments.
Needless to say, I'll be busy during the coming week looking at a new formula for the weekly cycle.
Date: 15:38｜Permalink｜Author：mark
The Library is Complete
I'm happy to report that the eight boxes of books we received in April have now been entered into the computer and put onto the shelves. I'm also happy to report that I have labeled the shelves to make it easier to find and replace books.
It's really nice and feels really good to get this done before summer vacation.
In addition, I'm going to begin setting up a graded listening library from CDs that go with the books. In this way, students may check out the book, the book and the CD, or just the CD.
However, we're not finished with our library. I still hope to add to the library little by little, but until we get a library room, we won't be able to add many more books.
Date: 15:42｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Reading
My first grade NELP students have done very well this term on their reading quotas.
Tomorrow is the final day for book reports, and so far we have had twenty-four book reports from my seven students. These have included: 1 level five book, 1 level three book, 1 level two book, 2 level one books, and 19 level zero books.
By contrast, my fourteen second grade students have given me four book reports, including: 1 level four, 2 level three, and 1 level zero. I should note two things. One: The two students who gave me level three book reports have shown tremendous progress. They started their reading last year in Level Zero, with the easiest books and have successfully worked their way up. Two: Many of my second grade students are reading high level books, which are much longer. I have great hope that many of them will turn in substantial book reports on the last day. By contrast, however, my seven third grade students left me feeling a little disappointed. I received only seven book reports. Of those: three were progress reports on larger books. Two students turned in no book reports, an automatic loss of ten percent from their final grade in Reading, and one more student did not meet the required quota. However, two students have shown a big improvement in reading: one read 1 level one book (a lot of ones there) and another read 2 level one books. I'm quite proud of their progress.
Date: 10:42｜Permalink｜Author：mark
High School Reading
I currently have four students in my High School First Grade NELP class. Three of the students are in the Life Science Course. One student is in the Humanities Course. This has caused me to rethink my reading policy in high school. There are two problems here. The first problem is that high school NELP students do not study reading with me. We only have oral communication. The main problem, however, is that the Life Science Course students have a special reading class while the Humanities Course students do not. This creates an unfair situation because the Life Science Course students will have class time to read books, but the Humanities Course students will have to do it for homework outside of school hours. In addition, the high school students are very busy with other subjects, so reading is not their highest priority.
For these reasons, I've decided to waive the reading quota in high school. High School NELP students may still check out books from the library, and may still read library books ... in fact, I will strongly encourage them to do so for their own educational development, however, I will no longer tell them how much to read, it will no longer be a part of their grade, and they will no longer have to write book reports for me. This sets an important transition for the high school students in several ways.
First: It establishes a pattern of reading for enjoyment rather than reading as part of a curriculum. Many adults read for enjoyment or to get information, and I think it's important at some point for students to begin reading, not because they have to, but because they CHOOSE to do so. This brings me to my next point.
Second: This again returns to each individual student responsibility for her own education and development. As adults, they will no longer have a teacher or adviser standing behind them every moment, setting tasks and goals and requirements. As adults, they must be responsible for their own goals.
Helping each student to see that she is individually and solely responsible for her own education is an important part of what I aim to teach, so while my high school students may undoubtedly reduce the amount they read (I sincerely hope they will not stop reading altogether) they will, I hope, come closer to understanding this more fundamental lesson that I'm hoping to help them learn.
Date: 10:28｜Permalink｜Author：mark
New Books and Bookshelves
Just a short update about our library:
We got new bookshelves!
Now all I have to do is finish cataloging all those book!
Date: 09:28｜Permalink｜Author：mark
New Developments in the Library
It's great having a lot of books in your library, right? Of course it is! However, there is a downside. Somebody, somewhere, must figure out how to manage the collection. This is a lesson I've learned very recently. When we first began the NELP program, we started with a few hundred books. One of our high school reading teachers, a very, very great teacher named Mr. Yamada, organized the initial library. Last winter, we got a box of new books, and we were all very excited. Again, Mr. Yamada entered the information into the computer and tagged the books. Had I known he was doing all the work himself, I would have helped, regardless of my busy schedule, but I was led to believe that others were helping him. Such was not the case. However, Mr. Yamada came through brilliantly and did all the work himself.
However, this April, we got a surprise that was both wonderful and yet quite daunting: EIGHT boxes of books ... and not small boxes either! Great, big boxes! There are big books, small books, thick books and thin ones of all levels. It was amazing, but it also presented us with a problem: it would be no small task to enter these into the computer.
I suggested that we should ask Maruzen or the publishers to send us software and maybe a barcode scanner, but nothing came of that suggestion. I guess we're all pretty busy these days.
So I took it upon myself to study the problem. Turns out there is A LOT of software ... FREE software ... for libraries that has been released under open content licenses. Well, I did a lot of digging and research. Some of them are good, some are still in development, some are finished and some will never get out of beta. I chose a New Zealand open source software called Koha.
The problem isn't as simple, however, as installing a program. I had to learn to install and configure all kinds of things: MySql, Apache, and ActivePerl. Some software I had looked at required Php, so I installed that for good measure. ActivePerl and PhP were pretty simple ... I'm not sure what they do, but they were simple to install. With Apache and MySql, I found it better to install Apache first and then MySql ... or was it the other way around? I installed, uninstalled, reinstalled and threw temper tantrums multiple times over the course of a hair-pulling evening and morning. The end, though, was quite simple: Check online, follow the directions, don't skip ANY steps, and make sure your passwords are correct. It took a few tries, but the end result is very satisfying. Wanna see?
Now all I have to do is figure out how to retrieve Marc data and see if z39.50 really works on Koha ... and if you don't know was Marc21 or z39.50 are, don't worry. Last week, I didn't know what those were either.
Also, now that I have installed Apache and MySql, knowing nothing about them, I'm curious to know if I can network my laptops to my desktop and have an in-class network. That would be super-cool!
Date: 10:50｜Permalink｜Author：mark
vocabulary
Vocabulary is a big part of our reading program, so I thought I'd take a few moments to talk about teaching vocabulary.
Over the course of the last two years, my thoughts about how to teach vocabulary, and the importance of vocabulary within the curriculum, has changed quite a bit.
One of the most important reasons why students should read a lot is that extensive reading exposes students, in fact showers students, with a wide variety of new words, while allowing students to see those words in action. When students encounter new words in their reading, I encourage students to wait, to resist the urge to pick up a dictionary and look it up right away. I tell my students that they don't have to understand every word in order to understand what they are reading. I tell my students to try to find the meaning through the usage. If they see the word only once, then that word may not be really necessary to comprehension. If they see the word many times, they should first try to see the meaning: if they still don't get it, THEN they can look it up.
In this way, we take a more natural approach to language development, while at the same time, encouraging students to read more by forcing them to spend less time with their dictionary in their hand. However, I should note that in choosing books for reading, I encourage students to choose books that are about their level, but that will challenge them. In general, I recommend the 'three word' rule. If the student picks up a book, opens it, and there are more than three words on that page that they do not know: probably that book is too difficult and they should try another book.
In the past, I applied a ten word limit to new vocabulary. I believed it was better to give students no more than ten new words a week because I believed it was better to learn and understand ten words very well, than to be given a long list of words and maybe not really learn any of them. However, I think now that this is a mistake. The most obvious error in this kind of thinking is that it presupposes that the teacher will know which words will be most useful to the student.
Now I do things quite differently. Students get new reading each week. Approximately seventy-five percent of their new vocabulary comes directly from their weekly reading. The other twenty-five percent comes from the students themselves. Students are asked to present two new, useful words each week, and all of the students are asked to study these words. The reading vocabulary is presented naturally and in context. The vocabulary list is at the back of the reading, and for each word, I provide a definition and an example sentence. When students submit their two new words each week, they are asked to write a simple definition and an example sentence. These meanings and examples are included in a weekly list to the students as well. This amounts to 60 to 100 new words each week. Now, naturally, it would be impractical to expect students to assimilate 60 to 100 new words each week. However, not all of these words are new to all of the students. Many students are already familiar with many of these words. Also, some words may be encountered more than once.
By showering students with a LOT of new words, I'm giving students greater exposure to vocabulary, and thus increasing the chances that they will find more words that are new and useful for them.
This is somewhat like the difference between a chef who chooses a meal and then gives it to everybody whether they want it, or even need it, or not, and a chef who prepares a veritable smorgasbord, a buffet wherein each person takes what they want. By showering the students with language, I'm preparing a smorgasbord of vocabulary. This increases the chances that students will find something they like and need. I was a little skeptical of this approach at first, but no longer. Experience with this system has clearly shown that students are improving their vocabulary FAR more under this system than they did under the older, more rigid ten-words-a-week system I used to use.
Now, once we introduce language, how do we help students to assimilate the new language? Well, here too, I have a system for vocabulary. Each week, students choose ten words from the list and write example sentences with those words. However, I have a few rules for these examples. First, students must not simply copy an example from the dictionary. Why? When we copy, we use our eyes and our hands, but we don't use our brains, and our brains are exactly where we're trying to put that new word.
Secondly, students must write a personal example. It shouldn't be just an example. It should be something from their memory, or something they are thinking about, something real. I tell my students: "You have this new word, 'amazing'. You could write an example sentence like 'Bob is amazing', but who is Bob? Why should I care? What makes him amazing? I've made a correct sentence ... but it has no meaning for me. I have to use this word to describe something I know: for example, 'My brother John used to make really amazing things out of cardboard.' Now, that sentence has meaning."
You see, when we make an impersonal 'example', we're only activating one area of the brain. However, as soon we apply the new language to a memory, or to something we're thinking about or worrying about, as soon as we set up an association for the word, we're starting to put that word into other areas of the brain, we're activating other areas of the brain, and we're creating cross-references and associations in our mind that will help us find that word later.
Put another way, let's say you're a librarian and you've got an index of magazine articles. You get a new article. You could just file it under one subject, and then whoever searches for articles about that one subject will find your article ... or you could file it under a variety of related subjects and topics, thereby increasing the chances that people will find that article again.
That's what I'm trying to do with vocabulary. By asking my students to activate more than one area of the brain when dealing with new words, I'm hoping to create links that will help them find that word again in the future.
I think this approach has really helped students a lot. I should also mention, for those who, like I used to be, are worried about giving their students too many new words: many of my students study not only the words I give them, but study more vocabulary on their own.
Date: 13:19｜Permalink｜Author：mark
The Reading Program is Going Well
The reading program is off to an amazing start third term. So far, one third grader, one second grader, and four first graders have FINISHED their required reading this term, and several of them, even though they have finished the required reading, are still going strong. One first grader has already finished TWO level 5 books (our highest level): The Wide Window from A Series of Unfortunate Events and All American Girl by Meg Cabot. It's not even February yet! I'm really proud of my students.
Here are the latest pictures:
Date: 18:53｜Permalink｜Author：mark
Reading
I'm happy to say that reading has gone very well this year.
So far this year, my 12 first grade students have read 92 books, 7 of which were full-length novels, and 6 of which were juvenile novels (often more than a hundred pages).
Here is an image showing the library record for a second grade student.
These are only 2 pages of a four-page record and shows only about 60 percent of the 71 books she has read during the past nearly two years. She began in the NELP program in April 2006, reading Oxford Reading Tree Stage 1, and has since progressed to much longer books, such as Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (80 pages), Monster Eyeballs by Jacqueline Wilson (47 pages), and The Little Witch Goes to school by Deborah Hautzig.
I've been really proud of this student's progress in my class.
Date: 13:54｜Permalink｜Author：mark