Free summer reading helps kids

This NYT article about a three-year study by the University of Tennessee has my mind spinning with the possibility of charities aimed at getting books into the hands of low-income kids over summer. The study showed that low-income children who were allowed to choose 12 free books (reading, not activity books) to take home over the summer avoided the typical summer decline in reading skills that happens to most low-income students. The books the students chose were generally not academic or classic -- more like biographies of Brittany Spears, or whatever appealed to them.

It reminds me (and my husband -- he remembers it too!) of the RIF (Reading is Fundamental) program that used to come through our hometown schools. Each year (or maybe twice a year?), the school stage was filled with tables piled high with books. We kids got to come through and shop for a free book of our choosing, to keep. I remember trading my RIF book, after reading, with my best friend; it was like getting two free books.

RIF was a big deal because the town where I grew up only had one big, downtown library with no neighborhood branches (which is still the case). My parents worked during the day, and I never got to visit that library until I was old enough to drive there on my own to do research for a high school class. This was in the day before school book fairs and big chain bookstores, too.

So what we need now is RIF times 12, every year in late May, targeted to our low-income kids.

Photo: by me, copyright 2006

So Much Depends Upon a Poem

If school were still in session, I'd share this photo with my students. Shiny red wheelbarrows caught my eye outside Lowe's the other day.

In October, my students and I wrote poems inspired by William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow." We listened to a recording of Williams reading the poem aloud. We talked about word pictures. Some students memorized the poem for reward tickets. We wrote a "so much depends upon" poem as a class. And then students wrote their own Williams-inspired poems (some worked with a friend).

Here are a few of the teacher-guided class poems.

THE OAK TREE
by the students of Mr. H's homeroom

so much depends
upon

a tall oak
tree

swaying in the
wind

beside the old
school


THE BLACK SPIDER MONKEY
by the students of Mrs. S's homeroom

so much depends
upon

a black
spider monkey

jumping tree
to tree

in the damp
rainforest



THE RED-EYED SPIDER
by the students of Mrs. P's homeroom

so much depends
upon

a red-eyed
spider

fat and
furry

beside the cracked
window



THE RAINBOW PENCIL
by the students of my homeroom

so much depends
upon

a rainbow
pencil

smudged with
crayons

beside the ripped
paper

The Boys are (in the) Back

It's not just my imagination. The boys are behind. Check out Nicholas D. Kristof's latest New York Times column about the widening educational gender gap as it relates to boys in the U.S. and other countries. What's missing from the column -- because, I'm guessing, we have no answers yet -- is how to remedy the situation. 

In a sad way, I'm temporarily relieved by this information; I thought only I was losing the boys. I see less academic confidence in my boys, which I believe leads to their acting out as way to detract attention from the frustrating tasks at hand. Out of all my students I worried about potentially failing the writing TAKS, 85 percent were boys. Of the four students I've referred to the office this year, three have been boys. All three fourth graders sent to our district's disciplinary school this year (for 20 school days of doing book work in an isolated cubicle) have been boys. Two-thirds of our fourth-grade dyslexic students are boys. And the list goes on.  Maybe public school as it is today just doesn't work for boys. 

The question is: What works? Something will work. I hope researchers are studying this right now: What works for boys? Why is the current educational system failing them? These would make great thesis topics for someone in graduate school. 

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leitakma3y/ / CC BY 2.0

Be Better

Today on the English Companion Ning, I read this post: To Be or To Be Better, an inspiring reminder by Tgraff11 of Maine. Her reminder to

be better 

for our students 

and to never, ever 

take 

their actions 

(or lack of action) 

personally

made me contemplate my attitude toward one student in particular -- and think about how "better" might look coming from me. The entire post, linked above, is worth reading for anyone who works with students of any age. (Formatted text and coloring above added by me.)
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbn1/ / CC BY 2.0

Today's Tooth Tally: Two

Two of my students lost a tooth today.

Losing a tooth at school means you get to write out a yellow nurse pass. If you are bleeding and have to hold a Kleenex in the tooth hole, you may have a friend write your nurse pass. On your way out the door, you drop your tissue on top of the trash, with the blood displayed like some kind of announcement.

In the nurse’s office, you swish with warm salt water from a white paper cup. The nurse gives you a purple plastic tooth box, and you place your tooth securely in it, but on your way back up to class, you can’t help opening it twice, just to look. It’s a molar.

You shove the tiny box into your jeans pocket, where it forms a bump that you can’t stop touching, just like the tooth hole your tongue keeps finding, smooth, like a pecan from the playground. Later, at the window, you open the box again, hold your tooth up to the light, and show your friend.

Photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradleyallen/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

New Research Proves Very Touching

Being a mom, I have a hard time not scruffing students fondly on the head. But I restrain myself, not wanting to mess up hair, cross an invisible boundary, or make anyone feel like a baby. (Not to mention: I wouldn't want anyone touching my hair at school -- it's such a germy place.) I was pleased to see this story in yesterday's New York Times spotlighting research findings that "students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not." Little arm pats are O.K.!

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarora81/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Do these test scores make my butt look big?

You know that something is not right with your mind when the smell of the school cafeteria nachos convinces you that processed corn topped with liquid cheese would be a better choice than the apple, cheese stick and homemade veggie soup you have waiting in the teachers'-lounge refrigerator. You go, zombie-like, to the chow line, pick up your carton of milk and your pack of little plasticware, order your nachos to go, add on a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, a chocolate chip cookie, and a styrofoam cup of iced tea, then take it back to your classroom and consume it in a trance.

This, my friend, is February. We are over halfway through the school year, and some students have not made it to the halfway point in terms of learning or behavior. The writing TAKS is two weeks away. The sky is perpetually gray. The school hallways are 45 degrees. The Coke machine eats 75 cents for every $2 you feed it, but by gosh, that Diet Coke might just get you

through the afternoon.

I am not the only one whose pants are getting tight. Last Monday, my mentor teacher, a 35-year veteran of public schools, said she could not button her khakis that morning. She was wearing a cute sweater and jacket, so the pants problem was not noticeable. Nor did it seem to bother her. She shrugged as she slid a bag of cookies onto the table where we were meeting. "TAKS season," she said, the same as one might say, "the holidays," or "freshman fifteen," or "steroids."

And so, I eat my way through February -- trying to get some fruits and veggies, stay away from the Coke machine, and pack lunches that, at 11 a.m., will outshine the cafeteria nachos in my skewed mind. (How can they get away with serving nachos, anyway?)

Dog photo: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21206761@N00/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Cupcake photo: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakka/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0