Heather, how very cool to have had Doug Fisher for a professor. His talk was excellent and he was clear, personable, and helpful. I think it is the high school that is a 90/90/90 school - is it Hoover HS? But maybe it is benchmark assessments. Whatever, I was impressed with what he said and with the book, which I'm still reading. The book focuses on the high school rather than the middle although he did mention they're working there too. If you read the book, let's share some ideas. I was quite struck by his saying that 2-5 minutes of either a read-aloud or shared reading every day in every class made a key difference. He stated the person paid to be there should be the reader. I wish we could get everyone at our school to try this out, just as an experiment for a certain amount of time. He says many students do not see teachers as valuing reading, either because students are not really aware teachers actually read and/or because teachers don't assess kids' reading of content assignments. Sometimes even when reading is assigned, the teacher "tells" everything, leaving the kids with the message that you don't have to bother reading for yourself. I found all that thinking quite interesting. I also really like some of the lessons that are included in the book - there's a great math lesson using Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices (Pappas, 1991) for a Reader's Theatre type activity.
Ginny On Dec 13, 2006, at 10:52 AM, Heather Poland wrote: > Yeah, just looked up the stats. In English Language Arts, an average > of 26% > of the students at that middle school scored proficient or advanced. I > bet > he was talking about their own benchmark assessments. > > But, they have done great things with that school, and it is doing a > lot > better than other schools in that same area! > > On 12/13/06, Heather Poland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> I love Doug Fisher!! He was one of my professors and he has done some >> work >> with some of my schools here. But, I don't think that middle school >> he works >> with has 90% scoring proficient. It is still a low performing school. >> I >> wonder if he was talking about the benchamark assessments they give? >> Hmm. No >> matter, because he is great, and a gret speaker. I will have to check >> that >> book out since I am now going to be working with content area >> teachers on >> literacy strategies. >> >> On 12/13/06, Ginny White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> >>> On Dec 12, 2006, at 9:12 PM, Beverly Maddox wrote: >>>> Such heartening stories--our principal is calling for reading in teh >>>> content areas, but I'm not sure he understands exactly what he >>>> wants--and I know teacher resistance is high in about half the >>>> faculty, who feel pressured to "cover" their curricula. >>> >>> Bev, our principal asked us to create Reading Partnerships this year, >>> pairing language arts teachers with content teachers in small groups >>> of >>> 3 or 4. I wrote a little about our efforts previously. We are using >>> Doug Fisher's Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work as a >>> book study with good responses thus far. Doug spoke at FCTE in >>> October >>> and was quite impressive. They transformed a low-performing school >>> in >>> San Diego to a 90-90-90 school (90% free/reduced lunch, 90% minority, >>> 90% at or above proficiency on testing). The book is very >>> reader-friendly and includes examples in each chapter of how a >>> reading >>> strategy was applied in various content areas (ie ways to "cover" the >>> curricula by increasing comprehension of concepts). You might want >>> to >>> take a look at it. >>> >>> I hope to come to Little Rock some time this year - will let you know >>> if I get there. >>> >>> Ginny White >>> Fernandina Beach Middle (FL) >>> _______________________________________________ >>> The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org >>> >>> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >>> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. >>> >>> Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> - Heather >> >> "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of >> man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments >> fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; >> new races build others. But in the world of books are >> volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet >> live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were >> written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men >> centuries dead." --Clarence Day >> >> "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little >> good evidence exists that there's any educational substance >> behind the accountability and testing movement." >> —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds >> >> "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose >> funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase >> funding. " >> —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate >> > > > > -- > - Heather > > "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of > man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments > fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; > new races build others. But in the world of books are > volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet > live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were > written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men > centuries dead." --Clarence Day > > "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little > good evidence exists that there's any educational substance > behind the accountability and testing movement." > —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds > > "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose > funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase > funding. " > —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
