reading/teaching

The 1 Million Word Challenge

Posted on by Mark Isero

1millionTeaching is about getting students to do big, memorable things they think they can’t.

My sophomores write a 40-page book and learn 500 SAT words. My ninth graders participate in a debate at UC Berkeley and conduct a mock trial at San Francisco Superior Court in front of a real judge, real court reporter, and real bailiff.

Big, simple, memorable.

So when I found out in April that I am teaching English 9 this year, I began thinking about what could be the course’s cornerstone.

After some reading, thinking, talking with colleagues, and looking at standards, I’ve come up with The 1 Million Word Challenge. In addition to the readings I assign, my ninth graders will read a minimum of 1 million words on their own.

My students — especially the ones who have never finished a book in their lives — may think I’m crazy. So will some of my colleagues. But one million words isn’t actually too bad. If a page averages 250 words, it’s just 4,000 pages, or around 15-20 books, depending on length. (I won’t tell them.)

Even if it’s difficult for my students, it’s absolutely crucial. Ninth graders enter our school an average of 2 1/2 years behind in reading. And the only way to get better, according to gobs of research, is to read a lot. (Nancie Atwell says reading must be voluminous.) The problem with the normal way of doing things — assigning books — is that students resist and end up fake reading them. It’s a game I no longer want to play.

Instead, I’d rather let my students choose the bulk of their reading and spend my time connecting them with good, valuable books. My message will change from “you must read this” to “I think you’ll enjoy this.”

Not all my students will miraculously, all of a sudden, become voracious readers, but I’m confident that inviting them to deepen their interests and to find new ones through reading will engage them in a new kind of academic experience.

reading

Getting ready for the $4 Book Drive

Posted on by Mark Isero

At the beginning of the summer, I pledged that I would add 100 books to my classroom library in preparation for the One Million Word Challenge.

I’m happy to report that I’ve reached my goal! My friends and anonymous donors have generously given to my projects. DonorsChoose, especially in combination with Facebook, has helped me get the word out, and it feels like a little reading revolution has emerged.

It’s time to keep up the momentum, so I’m thinking of getting my students’ parents involved this year. I’m going to encourage families either (1) to donate a favorite book to my classroom library, or (2) to give $4.

Why $4?

Well, it turns out that there are many, many excellent teen books on Amazon that cost 1 cent plus $3.99 shipping and handling (sometimes less). A lot of books. Apparently, used book sellers set the price so low because they can make a small profit by undercutting the postage.

There are many things I like about the $4 Book Drive idea. First, it’s not a huge amount of money. It’s doable. If you give me a $5 bill, you’ll even receive a dollar back! Second, families want to feel like they’re contributing to their child’s education, especially given California’s budget cuts. It’s even better that a book can be reread over and over again by many students. Last, it doesn’t require too many complex steps. Sure, I can direct parents to my new classroom library wishlist on Amazon, but that’s unnecessarily complicated.

Of course, I can’t require my parents to donate to the $4 Book Drive. We’re a public school, after all. But imagine if the parents of just half of my 80 ninth graders decide to participate. That’s another 40 books, another shelf to my classroom library, another 2.5 million words to read.

teaching/technology

Why does moving classrooms take me so long?

Posted on by Mark Isero

I’ve never liked moving, but because I’ve had 12 classrooms in my 13 years of teaching, it’s something I’ve had to do a lot.

That doesn’t mean that I’m good at it. It takes me forever.

This summer, my biggest problem is that I’ve spent too much time dealing with technology instead of first getting the room structure down. My classroom will have six Xubuntu desktops for students, my teacher desktop, and a tech cart that includes a netbook, document camera, and LCD projector.

Moving and setting up computers has taken a long time, especially because I wanted to update the Xubuntu machines to version 10.04. Weird things happened — like a monitor shut down randomly and Firefox didn’t always boot. While it’s fun to learn little Linux tidbits, it also drains time. Of course, I should be happy that my donated Pentium IIIs (with RAM of about 256 MB) are getting any use in the first place. They likely wouldn’t be if they ran Windows XP.

Now that I have a handle on the tech, it’s time to envision The Reading Zone. This year, I’m unveiling “The Million Word Challenge,” where my ninth graders will read 20-30 books of their choice in a hybrid reading workshop. That means that my classroom has to feel like a place to read. I’ve decided to put my classroom library next to the door so students can’t enter without the constant reminder. I’m also hoping to create a prominent and comfortable reading area in the back corner (a couch, a chair, a rug, a lamp) so students can curl up with a good book.

Unfortunately, my vision and my action aren’t yet in sync. There’s still so much to do, like figuring out the best place for my extra rubber bands. Though I’m usually a focused person, clutter makes me crazy and gets me off track quickly. Cleaning and putting stuff in order leaves me doubting my progress.

Then, coming up soon, there’s the scary part — decorating and making the room colorful. I once snootily derided this step as unnecessary in the high school classroom, but ninth graders definitely appreciate the effort. Instead of trying to deal with this drudgery alone, I’ll likely get some arty people to help me.

There’s still so much to do — what about a place for the student writing files? — but I’m excited and remain hopeful that things will get done, maybe, before the students arrive on Aug. 16. 

teaching/technology

Staying in contact with my students over the summer

Posted on by Mark Isero

Summer is for relaxation, but for many students, it’s about credit recovery, summer school, and catching up.

That’s why it’s so crucial for me as the students’ adviser to stay in contact and to encourage them to take care of their business.

(At our school, an adviser gets 16 new freshmen and works with them until they all, hopefully, graduate.)

But keeping in touch is not the easiest thing. Calling takes a lot of time. And no student is going to check her email. That’s why group texting is so crucial.

Up until last March, because my phone (Palm Pre!) didn’t allow for group texting, I used to text my advisees over email. The problem was, students liked to change their numbers, and each time that happened, I had to make sure to get the correct phone carrier.

Google Voice makes things a bit easier, but GV lets me text only five people at a time, and I have 16 advisees to track.

Then, thankfully, came TXT Group, a Palm app that lets me group text my advisees all at once. Even better, I can create different groups, so if I need to text the students’ parents, that can happen, too.

But I’ve found that even with TXT Group, students don’t necessarily text me back, especially in the summer. I’ve gotten pretty good at writing messages that require a response (rather than just giving information), and sometimes, I’m successful in tricking my advisees into thinking that my message was intended for them alone.

Still, I’m not always successful. For example, I recently sent out a message, and I didn’t get a response from four of my advisees. This was infuriating. Guess who the four were? Yep, the four who are struggling the most and may not graduate on time unless things turn around.

Sure, I can call these students (and I did), but it’s fascinating to me that denial and avoidance are so strong. (Of course, it’s up to me to build a better relationship.) Meanwhile, summer is vast, and there is a lot of space to get lost. 

reading

Building my classroom library with DonorsChoose

Posted on by Mark Isero

After 10 years, our school is no longer offering the interdisciplinary World Studies class that used to combine World History and English 9.

This means that English 9 is a new course for me, and I’m excited.

One of the biggest challenges is that ninth graders say they don’t like to read, that reading is boring, and that it’s pointless. The bigger problem is that they’re entering our school two and three years below grade level, in general. No wonder why they don’t like reading! (I don’t like things I’m bad at.)

So I’m thinking of adopting a hybrid reading workshop approach, where students will get to choose a large part of what they read. Although a popular and established practice, reading workshop has only recently received a lot of press. And not all of it is positive.

But I’m going for it, which means that this summer, I’ve begun to build a classroom library. The point is to get really good books really close by so that students don’t have an excuse not to read.

It’s been fun to check out used bookstores and Salvation Army stores. But my favorite — and most productive — way of getting books has been through DonorsChoose. I keep things easy: I bundle up books 15 at a time, change my proposal just a bit to keep things new, and wait. It’s been amazing. All five of my proposals so far have been approved, usually within 10 days of posting. Even better, I seem to have an anonymous donor who likes me and who strikes on Sundays.

I can’t wait to get all these books in September and put them on my bookshelves. I also can’t wait to read some of these books. (The research says that students read much more if their teacher has read every title in the classroom library — a daunting prospect.)