I've often thought to myself that working with students and parents is NOT the most challenging part of my job. (Heck, in most cases, its a downright blast! See pic to right which is a poster from our school's annual literacy intiative--I've pixalized the faces and names to protect the innocent, and me!) The toughest thing educators, regardless of position, need to deal with is the seemingly pointless bureaucracy that creates an environment in which there are minuscule gains for enormous effort. For example, committee work. By my estimate, nearly 87.5% of all committee work is an exercise in listening to many people discuss their opinions, only to have one or two people, generally those "in charge," initiate their intentions while creating the "feeling" that all stakeholders had a role. In the end, they turn out to have been a waste of time.Today I am happy to share an example of the 12.5% of the time committee work... well, works!
Although I have been on vacation, and away from, school for the past seven days, some of my responsibilities back at work have not been far from my thoughts. (Well, my fleeting, "nothing to worry about" thoughts, anyway.) Yesterday morning, I took the opportunity to drop into school to complete one such "job": to verify a shipment of books I had received on behalf of the seventh grade Language Arts department, and divvy them up for distribution. "Seventh Grade Language Arts Department" sounds much more important than it really is--there are three teachers including myself!When I arrived to my classroom, I had four large-ish boxes which needed to be unpacked, the contents checked against the requisition, and organized into three equal piles. As I read through the titles I became very excited for my students, some of whom would have the opportunity to read them! You see, in our school, students are permitted twenty minutes for lunch before being ushered back into classrooms for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). In the classroom, students are expected to read self-selected materials for twenty minutes. This is a tremendous challenge for some seventh graders, to be sure!
Up until this point, the only "classroom libraries" teachers had were limited to what could be found at discount stores and/or purchased by the teacher with their own funds. Consequently, those folks who taught other disciplines, like Math or Science, had few options for students, many of whom would not bring their own things to read. But, now...
Thanks to the participation of myself and two other colleagues on a district-wide classroom libraries committee, we had used a paltry grant to procure a fairly exciting (albeit small) collection of high interest books for students at a variety of reading levels (abilities).
Huzzah!
Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!
NOTE: Two more pics are posted at My Magic Lantern. Check 'em out!
7 comments:
Ohhh, this post was fast! haha.... I do agree with you on the 87.5% committee work. I volunteer in the Parents Support Group in my son's School and most of the time, there's lots of talk and little work done. And when I want to do something for the needy students in the school, I have to go through so many levels for approval. That usually leaves me quite tired out.
I'm interested in what you do in your school so I can learn something from it and maybe try it in my son's school. I have noted the titles of the books you ordered. hehe.... Thanks.
What an excellent post! I was interested in this:
"You see, in our school, students are permitted twenty minutes for lunch before being ushered back into classrooms for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). In the classroom, students are expected to read self-selected materials for twenty minutes. This is a tremendous challenge for some seventh graders, to be sure!"
I think it's a brilliant idea! However, knowing my students, it would be a difficult task. One boy just cannot sit still for more than five minutes. He can't seem to focus on anything long enough :(
Anyway, I just became a member of the library board in our township. I know...MAJOR geek :) I love it!
when I was in school, it was just called "Silent Reading". LOL Sustained Silent Reading sounds so official. good for you for making books available for them. now you just have to figured out how to keep them awake. :D
Great post. Your description of the 80-something-percent of committee work--the illusion of teamwork--hit the nail on the head. Looks like you made great use of that grant. Oh, to go back to seventh grade (and read rather than daydream with a book open)!
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thanks for the great response to the post... the concept of SSR has been around forever--called DEAR (Drop Everything And Read)--i think the big difference for my school is that the original intention was not instructional, but disicplinary... students were being bad in the 55 min lunch period so... let's have them read!?!?
in my opinion great idea, but not necessarily instructional, especially when no one is "teaching" how to read, just giving a space in whcih studenst are granted tthe opportuniy to read (if they choose)...
more to come, i reckon... and thanks again for commenting!
The students at the local high school here also have DEAR. I think it's a really great concept. Again, in theory it's excellent, but practically sometimes a challenge. I think it would work very well with students who love reading and with students who do what you tell them to do! LOL! Some kids here just read a magazine or a comic book instead of a novel...which irks me...but as long as they're reading, what can ya do?
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