McGraw Hill Offers Strategies for Success in Reading in the Content Areas

Check out this article Reading in the Content Areas: Strategies for Success.  It discusses that content area teachers have to tackle reading strategies of reading their text in order to see students success; the responsibility does not lie solely with the language arts teacher.  One valid point that made sense to me...someone with a Ph. D. in history may find a manual on building a car engine a difficult text for them.  But because they are a proficient reader they have the skills to read, reread, paraphrase, consider context of the words, infer, question, reflect and consult other authentic texts to reinforce learning that is occurring.  Struggling readers cannot read difficult texts because they do not have all the skills it took for the Ph. D. to make sense of the text.  Check this out! 

Be a Change Agent in Your School!

This article written by Jen Louden will motivate you to be that change agent in your school that will make the difference for your students!  We all want to do the best thing.  While it is not always easy, it is necessary.  Check out Being a Change Agent- An Inner Approach with Outer Impact.

Here is my motivation: Written by one of my most challenging students last year

Every year my principal asks our 5th graders to write letters to past teachers that have impacted them.  I get some each year and they are nice to read.  I get excited when I see the letters in the mail box and cannot wait to see who wrote to me.  This year was the changing year for those letters for me.  I got one letter that I will share with you that changed the way I thought about my students and how what I do can change them.  This student was the most frustrating student I have ever had.  She made me mad enough to cuss secretly inside my head.  She was one of those kids that could push your buttons in 5 seconds flat if you let her.  Here is her letter to me. I will include my thoughts in parenthesis for you.

"Dear Mrs. Engle,
            When I first found out I got you as a teacher I was happy (SWEET!).  After I spent the first week with you I hated you. You were gonna be like every teacher I already had (Oh my...I felt like throwing up as soon as I read the words.  I actually had to reread to make sure that is what she said.).  No one ever likes me so I might as well act like it (That she did.)  Then one day you were so mad at me that you started crying when I went out to recess.  I felt happy at first that I made you cry, but then I got sad when I got home (I didn't know that she knew she made me cry.)  I wanted you to like me and not give up on me.  I thought you cared enough to give me another chance so I decided I was going to try hard the next day (and she did).  I decided to like you and learning because you liked me and cared about your own learning.  You explored topics and learned just like we did.  You even wrote stories, poems, and persuasive letters.  By the way...did your husband ever get you a puppy yet?  He needs to cause that was a good letter.  You had nine reasons so it should have worked (she paid way more attention than I ever thought and no my husband didn't care about any of my reasons.)    You and I had our moments but you always treated me like a person and just because I acted up one minute you gave me another chance like ten minutes later.  You hardly ever kicked me out and I didn't get many detentions.  You did let me stay after school and work and that was nice.  You have good snacks.   Keep buying the chocolate animal crackers and your kids will be happy (glad she liked them).  Have a good summer.  Good luck next year.  I will miss the only teacher that ever cared about me enough to keep after me (I felt horrible that she did not feel that other teachers cared about her because I know that they did.  She was not easy to show attention and love towards though.  I struggled with it all year long.) 

Sincerely,
Your Student

P.S.
Thank you for working with me and believing in me.  You thought I could do anything if I tried enough times and now I do to."

This got me fired up to keep it up when it is hard to do.  Keeping yourself motivated will help keep your students motivated.  If you do not care then they will not either.

Barbara Gross Davis says what I NOW Know to be True!

"Unfortunately, there is no single magical formula for motivating students."  Isn't that the truth?  She offers much to say in her article, Motivating Students .   She provides information about general strategies, tailoring your instruction to engage students, changing your teaching style and demeanor to appeal to students and to motivate them, and other items like motivating students by simply responding to their work.  This lady makes sense.  You MUST read this article! 

Advice from Berkley University to its Professors

Berkley publishes on its website a list of links and pieces of advice that they give professors for motivating their college students.  I think that educators at any level can look at some of the advice and apply it to whatever age students that they have.  Most items make sense and would be something that all of us would want for our students no matter how old or young they are!  Below is the link for the website.  

Berkley Advice to Educators  

Reach Every Student

Reach Every Child

The name of this website appealed to me right way.  My number one goal as an educator...the reason that I got into this business was to reach children and to make an impact on their lives.  This website offers strategies and insights to motivating students.  I will be be upfront in telling you that not all of the links work for the information presented, but the many that do and the articles they offer make up for the few that do not have an active link attached.  There are many great articles attached to links provided that can help you understand motivation a bit more so that you can offer the best to your students. 

Wonderful, FREE resource to prep yourself to teach reading in the content areas!

I have found a link to one of my new favorite books, written by Judy S. Richardson, Raymond F. Morgan, and Charlene E. Fleener, Reading to Learn in the Content Areas.  This book is online in its most of its entirety for free!  I noticed like 3 or 4 pages missing.  The focus of the whole book is the role of literacy in across all areas of academics and non.  It focuses on writing to learn and vocabulary.  It encourages reflection and touches on technology and the concept as to why the textbook cannot stand alone!  You MUST check out this resources if you teach in one content area or across the board like I do.  You will have your eyes opened and your enthusiasm awakened! 

Reading for Real!- Appeal to their interests and Make Real Readers!

Kathy Collins is becoming a new favorite in my teaching toolbox.  Her book, Reading for Real, talks about motivating students to read by putting them in book clubs based on interests.  We all know that learning is not a chore if we are interested in what we are learning about so check out this guide and source for how to run those book clubs in primary grades.  Students really can be in a  book club, even in first grade!  This is a valuable resource for primary and will give intermediate teachers some great ideas to expand upon! 

A New Spin on Differentiating Instruction that Could Help Get You Motivated to Differentiate More Often & in Content Areas

Here is a link to a weekly newsletter that I love to get each week from Choice Literacy.   They offer tidbits that I look forward to each week.  This is not one to use with students directly but something that will get you chuckling and thinking all at the same time.  Check out this article by Kathy Collins for a bit of humor and hidden wisdom!  A Thanksgiving Take on Differentiating Instruction 

Motivation to Learn...What can children teach themselves?

I attended an informal staff meeting today after school.  The topic was rigor in these changing times in education.  I went in thinking about what I knew about rigor, what I was making for dinner, if my son would have his homework done, and if I could get one more post in on my new blog.  I left the meeting with my eyes opened my mind brimming with these ideas of change that I have to implement for my students.  During the meeting we watched a TED talk, which I must say is becoming one of my favorite places to visit to be inspired (motivated) in this difficult profession.  In the clip Sugata Mitra talks of his "Hole In The Wall" project he has been leading where students teach themselves without instruction or education how to use a computer and teach others how to do it.  This leads to the question, "What else can students teach themselves?"  This really makes me think about shifting focus from the typical lecture approach in content areas to exploration and self teaching in the content areas.  One thing that Sugata Mitra states sticks out to me relating to motivation, "Children will learn to do what they want to learn to do."  This is so true.  You will be inspired and wanting to tackle your content areas in new ways after viewing this video.  PLEASE take 17 minutes to change your way of thinking.  Sugata Mitra on The Child Driven Education

Science! It does not have to be so hard!

I think science is the hardest area for me to teach.  I did not understand much of the textbook that I was given to teach from when I first got it.  I was going back often to reread and study ahead for the content I was teaching.  I remember in my first year of teaching, my husband and I had a daily running joke our house..."Honey, do you have your science homework done yet?"  I was studying more than the kids to get the material understood well enough to teach it to students.  This really got me thinking about the skills that I had to be able to give students so that they may be a bit more successful.  Success in content areas will lead to motivation.  There was a supplement to a book that I read early on that got me started with what skills I needed to be able to give my students in order to read and understand the textbook.  Teaching Reading in Science is a free supplement that you can access to give you more schema on how to teach your students valuable skills to be successful in reading their science textbook.  To me, these skills are first and foremost to teaching the material.  If students do not have the tools to succeed, then they often will not.  Start here to guide your teaching in this critical area of instruction. 

Something that I have been thinking about...

I was laying in bed last night thinking about what gets me motivated to read in the content areas.  I do not mind reading social studies now at my age, 28.  I actually enjoy it.  An exciting night with my husband is watching a historical documentary on WWII or Alexander the Great on the History channel (We are a wild couple!).  But at the ages of 10, 11, 12...24, I was not interested at all in content area reading either.  I really had to think deep at what flipped on the switch to enjoy those things rather than dread them.  The thing that got me started enjoying studying history was the fact that I was teaching it and I did not want to be boring my students the way that I used to get bored.  As a new teacher, I knew that I had certain standards to address and a certain curriculum to follow.  As I was figuring out what to do and what to teach, no where in all that technical stuff was this statement, "All social studies instruction must be boring, dry, and uninteresting."  I only found it boring, dry, and uninteresting because of the way that previous history instruction had been provided to me.  I knew that I had to change the way that I taught if I wanted to create a love for the content area I was teaching.  This is what changed my love of social studies.  I was entertained by my own teaching.  Previously, no one attempted to activate my schema.  No one took the time to hook me in before we opened the textbook by telling me a story.  No one gave me an interesting quote to think about.  There were no pictures showing me a battle scene.  There were no short video clips or reenactment scenes to look at.  There were no battle songs to listen to or short pictures books read aloud to me.  I think you get where I am headed here.  We have to get students excited about these items if we want to get them motivated.  They have to see social studies as an exciting part of their day.  No one gets excited when they see a social studies textbook.  There are no statements, "YES!  I cannot wait to be bored to death by my excruciatingly dull social studies textbook!"  You have to supplement the excitement to make the textbook a somewhat enjoyable experience.  Here is a link to a website that may help give you ideas on where to go with your supplementation.  A Book In Time  offers maps, book lists, craft ideas, games, etc to help drum up some excitement to add to the valuable information in your social studies textbook.  Motivation will come to learn from the textbook if you can appeal to students need to be entertained.  I am not sure how many people, especially younger students, are entertained by a lecture where they get little opportunity to discuss.  Give them something to look forward to and the learning and motivation will come! 

Reading in the Content Areas

Content area reading proves to be the most difficult of all.  If you give students a choice between reading their social studies textbook information on the Revolutionary War and  historical fiction material Johnny Tremain they will choose the latter most times.  Most students do not want to read in content areas because they think that is hard to do.  Who wants to do something that is difficult and not easily accomplished?  Steve Peha provides some insight as to how to get started working with students in reading successfully in content areas.  Here is a link to an article that will get you thinking! 

Teaching That Make Sense- Switching Gears