This book, at times frustrating and frankly patronizing, DID teach this not so old dog some new tricks. At the end of the day, looking past Keene's Utopia, pod-people children with genius IQ's, and Brady-esque happy endings wrapping up in 30 minutes... I learned a LOT of useful strategies that I was not only able to keep in my pocket but was able to use right away in class. It was helpful that she used her own experiences personally to illustrate certain strategies before talking about how she used it to solve a problem or taught it to a group of children. I was able to piece these parts of the chapter together to aide in greater understanding. I guess I was making a 'mosaic' of my own. In the end, I'm sure that's what she had in mind.
This book has made me examine my own teaching techniques. Do I challenge my students enough? Do I collaborate with colleagues enough? But mainly... to I MODEL enough? The answer to all three is no. At least I can learn from that and improve. As it is very important to model strategies to your students explicitly- it was equally important for Keene to explicitly model for us... her readers/students. Though admittedly her tone and vocabulary occasionally made me a bit queasy, she did do her job and I appreciate it. It will be a challenge for me to adapt some of her methods to the students that I teach, not because they're special ed but because they're NOT perfect Stepford children. I do wish that there was more "troubleshooting" in the book in the case of an emergency, but overall I am glad that I read it. I gained insight into a lot areas that were very fuzzy for me as a teacher, and I was able to first roll my eyes, and then get a good idea. :)
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Carla, I think you hit on the major benefit of the books we have all read this semester, and in the classes building up to this one. I think that many of us agree that the books we read are often unrealistic - I love the way you describe the utopia filled with Brady children with perfect IQ's. Obviously, that's NOT what our classrooms look like.
ReplyDeleteBut as you mention, the largest benefit is paying attention to what we do. Am I magically fixed from reading Strategies That Work?? Heck no. Have I tried most of the stratgies from the book? No. But, I have tried some, and above all I have sat back and REFLECTED on my teaching. We all have this semester, and that's the best thing that any of us can do.
I agree with both of you! By reading my book and seeing that most of your books had a lot in common with mine, I was able to reflect on my teaching as well. At my school, we have the Rigby reading series, which I do like, but am not realizing that I need to do more MODELING, think-alouds, and challenge my students to make connections. The big books that I am using in first grade do not make my students think enough! I want to read more interesting books that they can make connections to and say "WOW, that is a great book!!!"
ReplyDeleteI really liked your summary of your book club book, Carla. I think that all of our book club selections helped us to reflect and examine our teaching methods to see what we could do better. I know that there is always more that I can be doing to help my students become better thinkers and readers. It's always nice to get some fresh new ideas and try them out.
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