Primary Sources and Teaching Less

Reading primary sources can be difficult for struggling readers.  Lets be honest, it can be difficult for many readers. Primary sources in my class are often written at least a few centuries ago in a style that simply confuses my students.  However, the project we are just now finishing had students read primary sources from the era of Indian independence (late 1800's to 1947).  I tried to scaffold the reading by defining words that students might not know.  The other support I gave students was a group.  Student worked in groups of 3 to read and analyze the short primary sources.

I taught students to "chunk" the reading into a few sentences and discuss each chunk separately and try to figure out its meaning.  "What is this chuck trying to say to you", I asked them.  I told them they would have to read each primary source multiple times--this was normal, but taking good notes would reduce the number of times they had to read each source.  The whole-group direct instruction explanation of this skill mostly fell on deaf ears, but once I went around to each group as they met frustration or misunderstanding, I retaught the aforementioned advice.  I saw groups instantly begin to successfully dissect the difficult reading.  Before I talked to them, I realized they were reading through the entire passage--burning right through it, basically lip-syncing the words, without any level of processing what they were reading.  It was then I realized many of my kids didn't know how to read critically.

Many of them did not have the skill set to tackle difficult reading.  Students have encountered difficult reading before, but their computers enabled them to find more simple resources.  This project required them to explain how India became independent (choosing a combination of 6 possible causes) by selecting specific quotes and portions from the primary sources only.  They allocated a certain percentage to each of the 6 possible causes, but had to justify their choices with specific parts of each primary source.  They were forced to understand the information in the primary source.

The "chunking" advice was very useful, but the best resource the students had to understand the difficult primary sources were their groups.  After they read a few sentences, they would have great conversations about what the chunk was about.  I heard students correcting each other, building on each other's knowledge, reminding each other about context clues, identifying vocabulary words, etc.  It was really exciting.  I just found it interesting that when students were initially told to use this method it was ignored, but when I sat down in a moment of frustration and retaught it and modeled it for them they took right to it.  This just reinforces something we've blogged about before.  The more I teach, the less they learn.  If they don't "need" what you are teaching, they won't remember and/or use it.  Whole-group direct instruction should be limited as much as possible.  As students begin to work and you identify a few students beginning to struggle, you can "spot teach" as needed.  If a student can learn something on their own, why steal that from them with unnecessary instructions and advice?  New motto: Don't steal their learning.

Campaign of Kindness Part 2

I feel obligated to give an update on our Campaign of Kindness at Wabash Middle School (Indiana).   The obligation comes from the outpouring of positive feedback and comments on my original blog post on behalf of the students' acts of kindness and the continued efforts of this anonymous group of students who have lifted the spirits of their fellow students.  The group now goes by what has become a mysterious name here at Wabash--"S. KMMA".  Student are talking about it and trying to figure out the meaning.

Recently, S. KMMA has setup a Google+ account.  They regularly make positive general comments to fellow students and they also target random students with personalized compliments about their school work, cloths, or good attitude.  Last week they bought about 375 pieces of gum and other candy, wrote 375 positive notes, and taped the candy and note to every student locker after everyone had left.  Unfortunately, a few students came in early and stole maybe a dozen pieces of candy.  It happened near my classroom, so I was lucky enough to hear a few students immediately offer their candy to those who had had theirs stolen.  It was a powerful moment.

S. KMMA is growing.  They have absorbed new members and are now beginning to think long-term.   How will this group survive once the current students go to high school?  They are also trying to think bigger.  How can they make a HUGE difference for student who really need it?  How can they expand out of the school?  Its all exciting, especially because this was 100% student driven.  I only report and support.  We really do have some amazing things happening at our 1 to 1 school here in the tiny town of Wabash, Indiana.

Kony 2012 and Student Engagement

Last Wednesday night (3-7-12) four students emailed me in the evening--this is typical email traffic in our 1:1 school.  However, these were not typical emails.  These emails were from kids who had seen the Kony 2012 documentary and who trying to convince me to watch it--they had been moved by what they had seen and they wanted to share it with the whole class.  After I watched the video, I was both sad and excited.  It is heart wrenching to see human brutality, especially when it is aimed at children, but it was exciting to see a grassroots movement that would inspire people.  And inspire it did.

When I watched Kony 2012 there were 9 million views.  Twenty-four hours later there were 40 million.  Kony 2012 worked well to meet my state standards (current events, current conflicts, international organizations), so I decided to show it in class the next day.  I have never seen 100 kids so glued to a video in school. As soon as the movie ended they were making plans about what we were going to do.  I told them we would continue the conversation, but regular class had to go on.  The next day they had started a conversation on my Edmodo page (now 32 comments long), built a website, a few PowerPoints, several posters, T-shirts, a Wabash-based Kony bracelet prototype, designed fundraiser ideas, and made plans for April 20th to "Cover the Night" in a way consistent with curfew laws. Many of my students then went to art class.  On Friday, I received the following email from our art teacher:

"Hey, Mr. Vail,
I just wanted to share some wonderful learning that went on in my class Friday..........The 7th graders have been working on their 3-D models and ..........they were on display in the art room on Fri.  The kids came in fired up after hearing about Kony...........and printed out posters to decorate the walls of their models.............When other classes came in...........they asked why so many posters in the room talked about Kony.........Not only did you get the message out.........and encourage the kids to think and feel and take action........but when it was combined with an art project......I could talk with the kids.......that art is about expressing your beliefs........not just creating a pretty picture!!!!!!!  Yahoo!!!!!!!" 

Of course with any movement, there is criticism.  One could argue that our fight is too little too late against Joseph Kony, Invisible Children doesn't report all their financials, US intervention is not the answer, Kony has moved on, Uganda is corrupt, etc. etc. etc.  None of this matters.  Today there are 73 million views--people are aware, people have a way to organize, people are taking action, people are empowered to do the right thing.  Young people are focused on using technology to improve the human experience without concern for national borders.  This is what matters.  This is why I teach social studies.  This reminds me of a great quote I tweeted by Joe Bower--"Homework should be inspired, not assigned". 

Income and Education

Recently, several studies have been published concerning the income gap between rich and poor and how it relates to success in education.  I suppose we have the Great Recession and the election season to thank for bringing this issue to the forefront--where it needs to be.  I work in a school where about 70% of the families receive free or reduced lunch--a relatively high measure of poverty, so I see the relationship between income and education on a daily basis.

http://directaction.org.au/issue37/on_occupations

I once read that standardized test scores are a great way to measure one thing--the size of the houses in a school district.  Though hyperbolic, there is truth in this statement.  The link between income and education is probably stronger than in any time in recent history.  Why is this?  Why is the amount of money your parent(s) make such a determinate of your likely success in school?  One study gives a clue, "affluent children spend 1,300 more hours than low-income children before age 6 in places other than their homes".   This means that children from higher income homes are getting more life experiences.  Think of the implications of this...  more exposure to interesting geography, architecture, art, road trips, air travel, family vacations, museums, libraries, etc. All of these experiences expose kids to life's possibilities--careers, forms of success, literacy opportunities, and the general intriguing things about life.  All of this translates into a deeper and more intrinsic interest in learning and working hard for what you want.

What can we do as teachers to provide a counter balance?  We can't change their past, but we can affect their future.  We can create more intriguing learning experiences in our classroom.  We can build an inspiration to learn and rebuild a positive concept of their future.  We need to expose our kids to the amazing possibilities the world has to offer and cultivate their confidence so they have the courage to work hard for what they want.   Textbooks, worksheets, and standardized test scores will never break down the wall in the picture.  If we can get our kids excited about learning and working toward their future, the test scores will take care of themselves and that wall will crumble.