The Innovative Educator Dispels Popular Myths about Learning to Read and Write

"The little learning machines who learn to walk by walking and talk by talking also learn to read by reading and write by writing." Linda Dobson

You know that license plate, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”? What if the truth was you didn’t need a teacher to learn to read or write? What if in fact you might be able to read and write more effectively without one? There are many young people who are doing just that...learning to read and write without the benefit of schools or teachers.  

Don’t believe it or want to know more? 
Read on.

• How do kids really learn to write, 2.0 - Patricia Zaballos 
• You don't need to teach reading
  Unschooling mom and career advice expert Penelope Trunk shares five reasons why kids can learn to read without school.
• Only Half of Pupils Like to Read
  Standardized testing leads to a dramatic decrease in the joy of reading.
• Parents react with a promise to opt out in this post.
• How to create non readers - Alfie Kohn
  Kohn explains how teachers are killing students motivation to read by relying on coercion and extrinsic inducements..
• Why required reading needs to be removed from our vocabulary - Amy Milstein A look at how force kills the joy of reading.
• Learning to read without school
  The Innovative Educator (that’s me) shares her experiences about learning to read without school.

iPad Literacy Program Increases Reading & Writing Ability

Footsteps2Brilliance (F2B) is an impressive educational game platform that supports students in prek - 3rd grade in learning to read and write. Their Academic Language Program for Students (ALPS) teaches young children the 1,000 key words they will need to develop a powerful reading and writing vocabulary through animated ebooks and games. There is a back end management system tracks mastery of each child's vocabulary and comprehension development as well as standards-based concepts.  The program was developed in response to the landmark Hart-Risley study on language development that shows that an underprivileged child enters school with 25% of the vocabulary they need to succeed academically.  This program helps to rectify this situation by creating a language rich environment for all children.  

Research Supporting the Benefits of Technology In Reading and Writing

Despite the fact that we’re well into the 21st century innovative educators often still have to make a case for using the tools of the world inside school. This post was written for those looking to justify their decision to use technology to support readers and writers.  Below you will find a compilation of research that outlines the benefits of technology in supporting readers and writers.

Tool assesses student work more meaningfully with peer review

In traditional writing classrooms students write and teachers grade their work.  Usually the work isn’t written for an authentic audience but rather what I call the audience of one (the teacher) or perhaps some (classmates).  When we push students to do work that is not worth publishing and has no audience in mind, we are teaching them some bad lessons.  

1. What you have to say is not important enough for anyone but the teacher to read.
2. You are not good enough to have your work published.
3. Audience is not important.
4. Writing is not a tool to connect you with others who share your passions and interests.
5. What the teacher believes about your work is all that matters.

And, let’s face it.  If a secondary teacher has 180 students how much time are they really able to devote to student work?  One way to help this process is by using rubrics which is something I did in my practice as a literacy coach and library media specialist.  Students would self assess, then have two peers assess and turn that in with their papers.  This encourages students to take ownership of their work and have conversations with others about it as well.  

Today there is a cool product that helps automate this process. SWoRD is a free web-based, peer review system that was developed to help teachers organize writing assignments in a way that uses peer review as its backbone.  Students learn a lot from giving their peers feedback, and they learn a lot from getting feedback from multiple peers. SWoRD makes peer review so easy that teachers have the opportunity to assign writing without adding teacher work because the time restraints of teacher reviewing and paper grading is greatly minimized. Instead of assessing student work, teachers can be working with students to develop and grow their work.  

Stop and Listen to the Children

By Jacob Gutnicki

They say I gotta learn

But nobody's here to teach me.
If they can't understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they can't,
I guess they won't,
I guess they front,
That's why I know my life is out of luck, fool!

Coolio, Gangster's Paradise

Many students often feel that they are misunderstood; viewed as a misfit. To be clear, it does not start out this way. Children entering kindergarten are usually enthusiastic about going to school regardless of their socioeconomic stratosphere. Unfortunately, over time our failure to understand their passions and struggles can result in students becoming despondent and feeling that their life is indeed out of luck. Luckily, both our children and students often drop hints. With this in mind, I will share with you a few anecdotes that depict hints in action.

Anecdote 1- Several weeks ago, I hosted the 3rd day of our High School Macintosh Certification Program. Students from East NY, Brownsville, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and the Rockaways were in attendance. Throughout the day various conversations were taking place. Topics included the best web sites for student research, running batch installations, software tools for cloning computers, and other topics. At one point of the day, several students asked me for a copy of the troubleshooting guide dispersed at the last session.

Anecdote 2- I have a nightly ritual during which I ask my son what he did during the school day. On one particular Thursday night this routine was a bit different. My son stated, “Daddy I think you should ask me what I did in school today.” Naturally, I asked him the question. He responded that he watched a video that discussed Earth Day. I then asked him, “Who is the president of the United States?” He told me that it was Abraham Lincoln and told me Abraham Lincoln built the first transcontinental railroad. I asked him, “So who is Obama?” He said, “Barack Obama he is also the president. He is a nice guy.”

Anecdote 3- A few weeks ago, I was watching my younger son play with toys at a playgroup. I noted to my wife, "Isn’t it interesting that he is choosing to play with the toy refrigerator and stack it with play food?"

Anecdote 4- My son has been playing Timez Attack (software that helps children learn multiplication) for the past few months. He also frequently visits the Big Brainz web site to investigate if the company is releasing any new versions of the software program. Naturally, he became very excited when he discovered that the web site was promoting a new screen entitled “Ruins”. However, there was no download available to update the software. With this in mind, I had a brief discussion with him during which I suggested that he write an e-mail to the company asking how to download the new screen. Needless to say, he was very excited and could not wait to compose the e-mail.

What does it all mean? These four anecdotes are very different, yet they are the same. All of the stories describe brief interactions with children. More importantly, each of these stories represents a chance to learn what motivates your child or student. In the second story my son discussed in great detail about Lincoln’s contribution to the railroad system. This turn of events is motivated by my son’s interest in trains. Similarly, my other son’s choice of toys speaks to what motivates him. Likewise, the conversations that took place with the High School students provided a glimpse of what motivates our youthful teenagers.

Finally, my son’s experience with Timez Attack shows how important it is that we listen to our children with an open mind. At first I did not understand what my son was referring to. Subsequently, I asked him to show me “the new feature” he was mentioning. He then logged on to his computer and showed me the “Ruins” screen. It then occurred to me that I should have him write an e-mail asking the company about the new feature. With this in mind, as parents and educators it behooves us to capitalize on their interests and use it as a springboard to motivate them to learn. So… Stop and listen to the children.

Innovative and Personalized Idea for Student Writing

Walk Score touts itself as a site that ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to help you find a walkable place to live and that alone is pretty cool, but for innovative educators in these large cities, this site provides a fantastic and FREE resource to inspire writers. Educators with students in large cities can have their students type in their address and students will instantly receive a map indicating neighborhood parks, schools, restaurants, stores, libraries, bookstores and more that are in walking distance. Students get a score of their neighborhoods walkability rating which is based on a metric measuring a number of items identified as those that make a neighborhood walkable such as does the neighborhood have a center?

Walkable neighborhoods have things like a discernible center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space. Walkable neighborhoods have plenty of public places to gather and play. The Walk Score site analyzes these factors and provides a map breakdown neighborhood hotspots, attractions, features, parks, and more. Innovative educators immediately can see lessons that can be developed based on each student’s particular neighbor. An obvious lesson a literacy teacher might think of is that students can use the walkability map to inspire story ideas about a personal experience they had in various places in the neighborhood. A social studies teacher may have students investigate the history of the neighborhood investigating what exists there today verses in the past and how and why the neighborhood transformed and/or stayed the same. Students can learn about economics by exploring density. A walkable neighborhood is compact enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to run frequently. A math teacher might have all students plot their walkability scores in an excel spreadsheet to chart the most and least walkable neighborhood while coordinating with the social studies and/or literacy teacher to investigate the factors that lead to their results.