The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of K-12 Reading Instruction

As I mentioned in my last post I have a part-time "gig" as an adjunct reading guy at a local community college. I recently asked my college-aged students to tell me what they loved and/or hated about their reading/English class experiences K-12.

Here's some of what they enjoyed throughout the K-12 pipeline:
1.  When the teacher read aloud (even in high school - a lesson I learned very quickly, btw)
2.  When the teacher would stop, pause, and discuss what was being read, "that way we can keep up with what's going on."
3.  Explanations of the text
4.  When "we were asked to keep notes"
5.  When teachers "actually taught" and not just assign work and leave "us" to do it

Here's some of what they did not appreciate throughout the K-12 pipeline:
1.  When teachers showed favoritism and only worked with those who seemed like good students
2.  When teachers made students read aloud (the person mentioned this in the context of herself...when the teacher called on her to read aloud)
3.   When high school teachers didn't explain things

Aside from the simple things of what they liked or didn't like, my college students also mentioned "affactors" I definitely did just make up that term (I think). But it makes sense for the point I--ahem--they wanted to convey.

affactors (n.) the lexical coalescence of affect & factors to mean the emotional components of
(me trying to be "deep", but I digress...)

Without knowing my thoughts, opinions, and approaches to the classroom and teaching and learning, in addition to all of the reading "stuff" they liked/hated, THEY mentioned how they learned more when the teacher CARED, an affactor.

THEY mentioned how they learned more when the teacher CONNECTED with the students, an affactor.

And one had the unmitigated gall (*wink*) to mention her positive experiences with a "guy teacher who was like you, he made it interesting!" Piquing interest? An affactor.

Ayyee!! #dontjudgeme lol

"You think I can rap...?"

http://5starempire.com/category/hip-hop-international/

I'm a public high school English teacher by day and an adjunct reading professor at a local community college by night. As my accelerated reading course began recently, I assigned an article for my students to read that we'd later discuss. I was demonstrating an article discussion assignment that would be required of them soon when one of my students whispered a question to me. "You think I can rap about what we're talking about one day?" I can't begin to express my excitement! This young man didn't realize that the instructor before him TOTALLY believes in multi-modal teaching and learning experiences! Needless to say, my answer was a resounding YES! We then discussed how his rapping could be incorporated into some of the lessons and his class presentations. I think this young brotha is hooked!

Bumping into my formers...

Saturday morning brought a potpourri of emotions. Working hard all week, I was exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally. Add to that a 10am funeral for a church member who lived to be 98 years old, a sweet lovely Mother. That was a little emotional. When I returned back to the funeral from a quick trip to the car, I hear, "Mr. Flemming!" It wasn't someone trying to verify whether it was me. It wasn't someone yelling trying to get my attention. It was very matter of fact, almost military. One of the morticians removed his Secret Service-style sunglasses. Julius. A former student of mine from 10 years ago! For the next few moments we'd get all caught up. Him, a mortician and working in discipline at one of our Philly high schools. His old 6th grade English and Social Studies teacher now a high school English teacher at Martin Luther King.

I commented on his still being able to keep a sharp hair cut and kempt appearance, much like he did in 6th grade. He commented on how he heard of my involvement in the "Kelly mold advocacy" situation and his not at all being surprised about whatever role I played. Him, "I said, yup, he'd do something like that! Not surprised."

This latest run in with a former student is the latest in a string of run-ins with former students. Being a teacher at the neighborhood high school into where many Germantown elementary and middle schools feed, including the school where I taught for 10 school years, has reunited me with several former students. Yesterday a young man in a hoodie walked up to me and just stared. I was covering a Biology class and he just approached me. Stopped. Stared. Awkward. Very awkward. But I'm chillin. Not intimated. Not threatened.

"Mr. Flemming?"

"Uh-oh! That means I'm supposed to know you from John B. Kelly [or a summer school site]. Did I have you?"

"Yes."

"Ok, hold on. Gimme a second."

He proceeded to remove his hood. I spit out his first and last name immediately! As with Julius, we spent the next few moments catching up. Me asking about his family, him not believing I'm at King.

A similar situation happened later that very day with a student I didn't have the privilege of teaching while at Kelly, but whose three siblings I taught. The most memorable line of that "getting caught up" conversation? "They said there was another 'Mr. Flemming' who was teachin' here, but I didn't think it was YOU!"

Relationships matter. I strongly believe in establishing and maintaining them. I believe the teacher/student/family/community relationships we build are the bedrock for success in the classroom and beyond. As with any relationship, they won't always be smooth, easy, or the best. That's a fact. But as school personnel, no matter what our title or position in the building, the bond between us and the students and families we serve, matters. Make no mistake about that.

I chose to teach at Martin Luther King High School for a reason. I believe King has something to teach me. I'm learning. How will I apply what I'm learning and when?

Good question.
To be determined...

Spinning my wheels?

Transparency moment:
There are many times when I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, unsure of my effectiveness as a teacher. As I'm writing this post, I'm wondering if those times come when I measure myself against the checklists. You know, the ones used to measure educator effectiveness. Or something like that.🤔

But then a student or colleague, unaware of this internal conflict, will say something out of the blue that lets me know that this isn't in vain. Whether it's my approach to the classroom, the kids, or all the other "stuff", it isn't in vain.

I posted a journal prompt yesterday in class. "The best lesson somebody ever taught me was ______. (Explain)" The lesson could be an academic or life lesson, in or out of school. One kid started speaking about how he was taught to have high expectations as a Black man and not to walk in others' perceptions of him. I cosigned. I asked him, just as I asked the others, who taught him that. His response, "You!"

A little note on reading instruction

"Oh my goodness, we gotta read a paragraph??"

"Yooooo, I DONT FEEL LIKE READING THIS PARAGRAPH!!! You drawlin!!"

"ugghhhh!!!"

"You do the most!"

"I ain't readin' this *&@^#!!!"

These were some of the responses I received this past week for what really was one paragraph my students had to read along with the 5 questions they had to answer. The paragraph was taken from a chapter in a book, that we're reading and that most of us are enjoying.  We had already read this particular chapter, by the time of the quiz, so it wasn't new. But even if it was...

This book has already generated a great deal of in-depth conversations about self-esteem, acceptance, and colorism. The book is The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake. After completing a multiple choice section about some of the vocabulary, the students had to read a single paragraph and respond to 5 multiple choice questions. But what the students saw was that they had to *read* and they were having none of it!

BUT, before you judge them too harshly, I firmly believe that the test-prep, data-laden (or did I mean 'driven'?), mundane approach we take to reading instruction from kindergarten on up has created an aversion to any type of reading outside of Instagram posts and 140 (or is it 280?) characters. I believe that creating an overall culture where reading is a subject 'done' in school and a task that we have to do and for which they receive a grade instead of it being a relaxing, engaging, or informational activity 'done' at home, on the bus, on in the park, churns the disdain for it. Many kids hate the very idea of it.

That's. Not. Good.

We've test-prepped them straight into a hatred for the idea of picking up a book or magazine and reading . We've assessed them right into running in the opposite direction when faced with a single paragraph. That we read already. In a single chapter. In a book we're reading together. And enjoying.

Normally, I wouldn't be giving them something like that before creating a culture in our classroom where WE enjoy reading. I believe in starting off my reading/English classes with 15 minutes or so of students reading whatever they want. I believe in a well-stocked, robust, diverse, and welcoming classroom library and that a classroom library isn't for decoration or checklist purposes. I believe in school libraries and school librarians/teacher-librarians. I believe in carpeted areas, pillows, book shelves, plants, pet fish (or Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches...don't ask). I believe in us discussing what they read; in them drawing about what they read in an illustrative summary; in them writing about what they read; in them speaking to each other about what they read; in building up that "reading trust", so that when I must go into the stuff that I'm supposed to do, we can do so with a little less contempt. This approach works, even by the inappropriate measure of standardized testing scores. This approach has worked. That's not to say I haven't had to tweak the process depending on the class, but overall, it has worked.

However...

I was told one year that these first 15-25 minutes were "a waste of instructional time." Another year I was told that I needed to "assess" them on what they're reading during this time. Another time I was told that I needed to use only the books that the school district purchased. For a long time I pushed back because of the results that I've seen. I've seen students go from hating the idea of picking up books and reading to them LOVING it! I've seen those beloved test scores (*cough*) go up year over year as a group. I've heard the comments they'd make when they thought I wasn't paying attention; the smirk at something they just read; the intensity with which they are turning the pages; the "Mr. Flemming, 5 more minutes!". I've seen them RUN into the classroom to grab a book before someone else did. 6th graders!! I've seen them HIDE books so that they knew where it was for the next time. A colleague noticed that students were sneaking to read in her math class. We speak of it to this day. Years after I had one student, he approached me on the street and said, "You still the best English teacher I ever had."

But after being observed incessantly, both formally and informally; after three visits from a higher power above my administrator at the time; after all of the comments on the observations; after all of the heated conversations behind closed doors about my teaching philosophy being antithetical to the compliance cultures that are created in our schools, I threw up the white flag. Not because I wanted to, but because I'm working on other goals and need my mind free (Carter G. Woodson would say 'enslaved'). I need my mind enslaved. My sister says that I'm just "taking a nap"; chillin' in the cut; recalibrating to fight differently. 

So, I resolved to enter this school year being a compliant teacher. This time, however, it's a "do over" at a different school. Sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day, but I try to do everything that I'm asked to do. I apologize. (To whom do you think I'm apologizing?) One year I asked an administrator if they wanted me to teach or do what I'm told because they aren't necessarily synonymous activities. And speaking of that Carter G. Woodson, he would call me a "miseducated negro" (his words) this school year and the majority of this previous school year. Might he have a point? Judge ye. As quoted in Brown (2009) Woodson writes, "Taught from books of the same bias, trained by Caucasians of the same prejudices or by Negroes of enslaved minds, one generation of Negro teachers after another have served for no higher purpose than to do what they are told to do" (p. 420).

So, how is my resolution working out for the kids?
Well...

"Oh my goodness, we gotta read a paragraph??"

"Yooooo, I DONT FEEL LIKE READING THIS PARAGRAPH!!! You drawlin!!"

"ugghhhh!!!"

"You do the most!"

"I ain't readin' this *&@^#!!!"



Reference
Brown, A. L. (2009). “Brothers gonna work it out:” Understanding the pedagogic performance of African American male teachers working with African American male students. Urban Review, 41(5), 416-435. doi:10.1007/s11256-008-0116-8