Dear Jane Doe*, (this would be directed to my ELA department leader)
I wanted to ask
you for your support for a massive curriculum revision for our ELA department.
I know this is only my fifth year teaching, but after being at Harper Creek for
four years, I am noticing that many of our students often fail to see that what
they are learning is accumulative; English needs to grow year by year. I feel that our students often look at their core
English classes as these hoops they must jump through to get to graduation rather
than the building blocks they will need to grow intellectually in life.
What’s worse is
that many of our students don’t seem to care about how they are growing year
from year; I feel like their learning is rarely a celebration or a reflection
of how much they are developing as readers and writers. I feel like our core English courses and
current curriculum have become all the same: we are all frantically reading
through 4-5 classic pieces of literature, writing too many boring timed essays,
and giving a multiple choice exam at the end of the semester . I feel like we are all on a high speed train
that has to cover so much ground, and you, me, our department, and our students
are so stressed out that it is easier to “jump through these hoops,” rather
than slow down and take the time to pause, reflect, and connect our learning
unit to unit.
I feel like our
kids have picked up on that too. We are
seeing more and more students accept that D- or 60% because at least it is
passing—for them, that’s one hoop down.
We are seeing more students who are willing to cheat around our reading
and writing expectations rather than take the time to sit down and really learn
them. I have seen this every semester
when we go to read some of our core texts like The Great Gatsby or 1984.
I know you have seen the same things
with Hamlet and Frankenstein. I also know you
have seen our students become good at “faking” the class discussions and quizzes.
It is so frustrating. I also know both you and I, and so many of our other
department members, have resorted to reading most, if not all, of the books
aloud in class—because, hey, at least then we know they are reading.
So, now that I
have inundated you with the woes of our day-to-day classroom, I want to share
with you some solutions I think will help…two in particular. Brace yourself
because what I am suggesting will probably anger some of our department
members: We need to change our curriculum by cutting down our classic
literature novels by 50-70% and initiating electronic portfolios as an ongoing
final assessment from English I-English IV.
I have been
reading William E. Doll Jr.’s work (2009) and his idea of “richness”(p. 268) in
curriculum creation and have wondered just how deep and rich our curriculum
currently is. I believe that trying to barrel through 4-5 pieces of literature,
like we are currently doing, is creating a type of surface learning that, as
our beloved Kelly Gallagher (2009) would say, is “ a mile wide and an inch
deep” (p. 10). I feel like we can’t truly invest in the books we teach because
we just don’t have the time. So instead we teach them shallowly while also
trying to teach them grammar and ACT and paragraph
organization and choice reading and writer’s notebooks and…well
you know how it is.
I believe we need
to cut down two and maybe even three books from our curriculum and instead
focus on shorter literary readings and nonfiction, choice reading,
reader’s/writer’s workshop and “soft
skills.” And yes, when I heard the
phrasing “soft skills” I was anxious because I thought that might mean “soft
lessons,” but I learned from a poll done in 2013 that many “Americans say U.S.
Schools should teach ‘soft’ skills,” such as “…critical thinking, creativity,
communication...” because they are “necessary for future success in higher
education and in the workplace” ( Lopez & Calderon, para. 8). The poll also
highlighted skills like “how to set meaningful goals” and “how to collaborate” (Lopez
& Calderon, chart 1 ).
Don’t get me
wrong, I love literary analysis, and I still think we need to focus on teaching
students reading strategies, especially with classic literature, as well as writing
techniques and grammar, but I also think we need to help our students with how
they are communicating in today’s very diverse technological world. We need
students to think creatively about English as well as set goals beyond “reading
chapter 2.” I believe that initiating electronic portfolios and making these
portfolios an ongoing project from English I to English IV would be a great
investment for our students. By decreasing
our required classic novels from 4-5 to 2-3 a semester, we would have more time
to discuss the way students would organize their electronic portfolios and
teach them writing genres beyond ACT (like blogs, personal narratives, letters,
etc.). I also would love to see students
use a website like Weebly to create these portfolios to be an authentic place
for students to reflect and celebrate their growth as they learn reading and
writing strategies in all four English classes.
Just imagine if a
student made a Weebly electronic portfolio their freshmen year and was able to
revisit it in English II, English III, and English IV and build on what
they are learning every year?
Now this is not
something that will happen overnight. It
will take some significant professional development hours and experimentation,
but I think it is worth it. We need more
time, so we need to consider cutting down the shallow reading we are currently
doing. We need more depth, so we need to
show students that learning does not exist in a vacuum. We need more richness
in our curriculum, so we also need to consider authentic and meaningful ways of
reflection and celebration—like a Weebly electronic portfolio.
I would love to discuss this with
you more and begin to plan how to share this information with our department
and curriculum director.
Aren't you tired of watching so
many of our students jumping through hoops? I know I am.Sincerely,
Amber Rutan
P.S. Please refer to the following
links which will show the electronic portfolios I am currently implementing for my creative writing
and AP Literature class:
References:
Gallagher,
K. (2209). Readicide: How Schools are
Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse
Publishers
Lopez, S.
& Calderon, V. (2013). Americans Say
U.S. Schools Should Teach “Soft” Skills. Gallup Poll. Retreived from: http://www.
gallup.com/poll/164060/americans-says-schools-teach-soft-skills.aspx
