|
Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
Inside, Outside and All-Around:
Learning to Read and Write
by Mary L. Olsen
Aleutians East Borough School District
It is my belief that the world inside each of
us is every bit as vast and profound and exciting as the world
outside and all around us. To be a total person we must know who we
are, who the people around us are, and integrate ourselves into the
great commonality of our oneness as individuals and as units of
living humanity.
This paper will focus primarily on writing and
communication, and the students of my class will be the central
facilitators and focus. One prong will be an "Adopt-a-Student"
project where each student will write to a college student or
successful role model outside the community, exchanging letters and
ideas for a year. It will work like a "Big Brother" or "Big Sister" program.
Another prong of the project will be a local community and government facet in
which students will learn about state and
particularly local government, invite speakers in from the community,
and observe meetings. The third prong will be the production of an
elementary newsletter that will tie the teachers and students of the
elementary classrooms together and inform the community-at-large of
school activities. The fourth prong will be an inter-school exchange
of student letters, with a focus on information about Native customs
and culture. Some exchanges will be by mail and some by computer
modem. The fifth prong will be that of teleconferencing and travel
between district schools and utilization of onsite times for a
variety of activities. The sixth prong will be the production in
class of at least three publications for our class and the library at
each district site.
All of these prongs will center around my
students who will be both generating and receiving massive amounts of
information. Within the classroom itself they will be using journals,
learning logs, and other writing activities to internalize, respond
to, and express feelings, ideas and values about information they
receive. These activities will provide experience in the three modes
of writing: expressive or personal writing, transactional (letters,
information or persuasive pieces), and poetic (drama, poetry, song).
Their reading will correlate with their social studies curricula in
both place and time. Upon completion, students will engage in further
reading and research, writing and art projects, which they will
summarize to demonstrate their learning.
My Philosophy of How Writing
Should Be Taught
Long before writing was viewed as a process, I
had practiced and learned the "writing process." As a young child, I
often spent Saturday afternoons composing what I felt to be some
powerful thought on Dad's typewriter. On Sundays I rushed to my
grandfather when he came to dinner to ask him what he thought of my
idea. I respected his opinion because he wrote a column in a county
newspaper. He always responded, asked questions, and made suggestions
for improvement. Under his tutelage I learned to organize, economize
or expand, focus, reread and rethink, edit, and value my thoughts on
paper.
I would like my students to have the privilege
of the same environment of writing in my classroom. There should be
plenty of information and ideas available for them to become
saturated. They should be asked to think about, use, feel, respond to
the ideas and information. Excellent models of literature and writing
should be presented, thought about, analyzed, responded to,
internalized. An atmosphere that questions and discusses variant
points of view freely and respectfully should be fostered. Students
should read and write a lot because fluency and skill come with
practice and direction. There should be a purpose to guide them and
an audience to respond to them. As teacher, my role will be like that
of my grandfather. I have expertise but I will use it to guide their
writing toward higher expectations, not to impose my style or
authority upon their works. Their peers will help each other by
responding and helping them direct and evaluate their works. They
must proceed through the process of writing - pre-writing, drafting,
revising, editing, publication -so that they become so intimate with it
that it becomes their own and part of themselves. They must be the
creator and proprietor, the pilot at the controls, and take
responsibility for their telling.
My Philosophy of How Reading
Should Be Taught
With regard to reading, I believe that I as
teacher should diagnose where my students' skills are and encourage
them to board the train of improvement and proceed full-steam up the
road as far as we, working together, are able in our appointed time.
It is also vital that they learn reading strategies that will stay
with them forever, long after I have faded from view. It is also in
my job description to interest them and get them hooked on reading as
a habit, pleasure, and hobby. Also, I believe reading is an active,
not a passive process, and the more actively students are involved in
what they read, the more they will learn by having a sense of
ownership in what they read because they have expended a great
quantity of time and energy in their ideas.
Language in all forms (reading, writing,
speaking) has both a process and a content. We need to analyze,
respond to, and evaluate its content for its effectiveness, purpose,
and style. Students must also learn reading as a process just as they
do writing and speaking. They must be aware of how they go about
reading, developing an intimate awareness of what steps and actions
they and good readers go through as they read. Once they are aware of
how they proceed to read and make connections, they must learn
strategies to make them the most effective readers they can
be.
The teacher's role in reading, as I view it, is
the same as in any endeavor -to nurture (feed, prune, protect), guide
(point the direction, help along the way, but let them do the
traveling), and extend (their abilities, interests, vision). We are
to help them explore knowledge, ideas, horizons, both inside and
outside of themselves.
Reading, as with all language experience,
should help build confidence and self-esteem. I believe in a
transactional approach to literature, reading, and language. Reading
(the content) is a springboard and starting point. The reader
composes meaning from the text as s/he proceeds through it. Just as
we teach the writer, not writing, we must also teach the reader, not
just the text.
Students should have the greatest posssible
input into reading and writing. They should be encouraged to initiate
strategies, systems, and plans for carrying out activities as much as
possible to engender a sense of responsibility and control over the
program. I believe that reading and writing should be taught across
the curriculum and integrated as much as possible. The selection of
our reading is strongly connected and correlated to our social
studies, math, and science, so that it is difficult to determine
where, if ever, they separate. I believe that in reading and all
language experience students should work in groups or pairs, for
language cannot exist in a vacuum, but flourishes when met with
response and sharing. I believe that in reading, a format and
activities should be provided where everyone is allowed and expected
to contribute. I believe that a classroom should provide and foster a
literate environment. The students should themselves all affirm, "We
all can read; we all can write; we all can think." The class should
involve their individual and collective lives, their feelings, and
their relationships -all that they are as people.
Reading must provide strong, inseparable
connections to writing. By reading a wide variety of works, students
will expand their world view and have a clearer awareness of options
possible for them. By exposure to and analysis of reading materials
ranging from cheap pulp to the finest works of literature, they will
devise and internalize standards of measurement. They will have a
clearer sense of the qualities of "good" writing - in
others' writing and in their own writing.
Prong I: Adopt-a-Student
-
A Mentor
Relationship
September
- the
teacher will read Dear M. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. This
book will serve to introduce the mentor relationship. It is a
story of letters written by a boy to his favorite author. Although
he starts out writing because he wants a famous author to help him
with his writing, it turns into much more. The boy's parents have
recently been divorced and he shares with the author his feelings
regarding his parents and his problems at school.
Students will compose a list of possible
mentors, such as local college students or other older people from
the community but not presently living there. The mentor list
should be composed of people from varying backgrounds who are of
different ages, live in different locations, and have a wide
variety of jobs.
Students will establish a list of activities
- we
will send Christmas cards, pictures, relate incoming news and
information in our newspaper, etc.
Students will set rules and guidelines -we
will discuss topics of privacy and confidentiality, how often to
write, expense involved in any gift giving, what topics can be
discussed, etc.
Students will compose a newsletter about
their plans and mail it to a mentor of their choice, along with a
personal invitation explaining why they have chosen that
person.
Students will send a letter to parents
explaining the program and asking for suggestions.
Students will review friendly letter form
and addressing envelopes.
September-December - operate under the
guidelines outlined above.
January - students will decide what they
have liked, disliked, suggest improvements. Each will send the
class evaluation to their mentor, asking for response and
suggestions for changes for the remainder of the year.
End of April - teacher/students compose and
complete an evaluation sheet.
May - send final evaluation results to mentor,
write a thank you letter for participation. Ask mentors for input
as to whether it was worthwhile, should it be continued. If a
relationship has developed which both parties have enjoyed, they
should be encouraged to continue it.
The aims of the "mentorship" program cover many
areas. In addition to giving the students actual practice writing
different kinds of letters to actual people, it also serves: 1) to
provide role models; 2) to provide mutual support and communication
between an older and younger person; 3) to stimulate interaction
between different age groups; 4) to provide links with the past and
learn about how things were different; 5) to learn of past
events and the history of the area; 6) to gain a sense of where we
have come from and where we are going as individuals, and as a
community.
Prong II - Local Government,
Community and Citizenship
This unit will be integrated closely with
social studies and an introductory study of local government.
Students will read some books of other lands and
peoples:
Julie of the Wolves - a story
of Eskimo and tundra people
White Stag - a story of Atilla the
Hun and Hungary
Heidi - a story of the Swiss
Alps
Hans Brinker - a story of
Holland
We will invite local people to come in who
represent various cultures -Japan, Hungary, Mexico, the Philippines,
and the Aleuts. They will be interviewed and tell about their
customs, foods, and culture, and tell how they have become citizens
of the United States and what it means to them. They will be
encouraged to share arts and crafts, pictures and slides, letters,
etc. Students will attend various local meetings - City
Council, Shumagin Corporation, School Board, Indian Education, Health
Board. Students will interview local leaders and committee members,
write reports, and send thank-you letters.
The objectives of this exercise are to learn
about people in other places; to see and learn about the different
kinds of local government; to observe how meetings are conducted and
the kinds of issues each deals with; to learn people's reasons for
serving in government; and to become aware of the varied backgrounds
of our citizens.
Prong Ill - Elementary
Newsletter
The third unit will be the production of a
monthly newsletter about the elementary school. Each month students
will sign up for a job which will rotate. These include reporters,
submissions directors, word processors, production jobs (artwork,
graphics, layout), and distribution.
Reporters will select people and
topics, write interview questions, conduct interviews, write news
articles and edit them.
Submissions directors will solicit, collect
and choose writings or drawings students or teachers have
submitted and arrange them by topic, content and appropriateness
of time and theme.
Word processors will type and save news
articles and submissions selections.
Producers will use Pagemaker,
Thunder Scanner. MacPaint and the laser printer.
They will design and produce the newsletter.
Distribution will derive and maintain lists
and schedules for distribution and implement it.
The objectives of this unit are to communicate
with and inform students, elementary teachers, and parents; to
provide a format for student writing; to learn and practice
interviewing and reporting techniques; to sharpen selection skills;
to learn computer production techniques and programs; and to learn
cooperation and management skills.
Prong IV - Inter-school
Information and Letter Exchange
The fourth unit will be the inter-school
information and letter exchange. The methods of communication will
utilize both mail and computer modem. The purposes are to link a
village school with a town school and set up three types of exchanges
- student
pen pal letters, information about their school and our school, and
information having to do with Aleut culture and heritage. We are
attempting to unify and link our schools, districts, and communities
more closely in this transition. Since the villages still have
traditional language, customs and activities, we will compile the
information they share with us.
At least once a month students will compile a
packet of stories or letters to send. They can each type their letter
on disk and save it. Then it can be coded and sent at once over the
office modem. When we receive replies, students may compose the next
correspondence either in class or at home.
Prong V - Teleconference and
Inter-school Travel
The fifth unit will be the teleconference and
inter-school travel component. The students in grades 5-8 travel
several times during the year to King Cove for intermural basketball
and volleyball/wrestling. We would like to extend and better utilize
the on-site time. Also, we would use local teleconferencing equipment
to link similar classes for practice rounds of such activities as
spelling bees and Battle of Books. On-site activities could
include:
a. those mentioned above
b. participation in the regular classroom
activities
c. author days, where students share their
writings
d. academic decathlons or contests
e. special topics classes, such as gun
safety, pottery/ceramic making, swimming and water safety (where
the visiting students use the facilities and program of the host
school).
The purposes of this unit are for students to
meet and make friends with other students their age, to bind us
closer by working and playing together, and to broaden horizons and
create interest in learning new things.
Prong VI - Student
Publications
The sixth and last component of our network
will be our publications unit. Students will proceed through the
writing process to its end, publication, at least three times during
the year. They will publish a book of Halloween stories in October, a
book of poetry by January, and a composite publication of various
writing activities and selections from journals and logs by April.
Students will:
1. Write and edit selections suitable
for publication
2. Plan and design the format of the
publication
a. Cover
b. Page layout/design
c. Artwork
d. Binding
3. Word process stories
4. Cut and paste
5. Dummy up the book
6. Run off copies/collate/bind
The purposes of the unit are to gain
self-esteem through seeing a finished product; to learn the writing
and publication process; to develop cooperation and a sense of
authorship; and to show parents what their children are capable of
doing.
Needless to say, this is an ambitious program
for the year, but if we accomplish most of our goals
I shall be very satisfied. I believe this program
utilizes and synthesizes the best of what I learned in
my two Rural Academy classes (Desk-top Publishing
and Higher-level Thinking Skills) and the Writing
Consortium. I look forward to next year's well-planned and
well-integrated programs.
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
| 
