Topic: Merit Pay

10-second review: Not too seriously—but then again maybe these are serious criteria.

Title: “The CLA$$ROOM.” RA Russell, Jr. English Journal (March 2010), 105-106.

Summary: On the question of criteria for merit pay: How about personal appearance? How about aesthetics of the classroom? How about handwriting on the white board, blackboard, etc. How about handouts? How about dealing with querulous parents? And, on a serious note, how long do students go after they have graduated, to realize the importance of what you taught them?

Comment: Ouch! There’s plenty to think about on the criteria listed above, most of which -–on personal appearance—I used to loosen my tie—on handwriting on the board—illegible—on the aesthetics of the classroom—bare walls, because other teachers used the same classroom—and best of all, my first teaching assignment was in 1956 with the Class of 1960—most of the students did not realize the value of what I taught them—but today, in 2010, on the eve of their 50^th reunion, they all do. RayS.

Topic: Portfolios

10-second review: Some questions students should answer in writing as they review their portfolios. The answers can also shed some light on the teacher’s writing program.

Title: “Overflowing But Underused: Portfolios As A Means of Program Evaluation and Student Self[assessment.” DA Gorlewski. English Journal (March 2010), 97-191.

Questions:

What are my goals for writing?

What writing habits do I have in terms of genre, length, paragraphing, and topics?

What strategies do I employ to improve my writing?

How do I typically begin a piece of writing?

How do I typically end a piece of writing?

What mistakes do I seem to make regularly?

What problems do I encounter when I write?

Which is my best work and why?

Which is my poorest work and why?

What are my strengths as a writer?

Comment: One good reason for using portfolios or at least collecting the students’ writing. However, make sure that the finished writing goes home before collecting or parents will think that students are not learning to write. RayS.

Topic: Mentoring

10-second review: For what it’s worth, here are the characteristics of becoming a successful mentor, which is no easy task. In fact, in some cases, says the authors, for some beginning teachers, no mentoring is better than misguided mentoring.

Title: “Designing A Mentor Program.” TM McCann and LR Johannessen. English Journal (March 2010), 94-96.

Characteristics of a Successful Mentor: demonstrated record as an exemplary teacher; strong communication skills; trustworthy and sensitive to obligations about confidentiality; experienced with a similar teaching assignment; easily accessible; responsible; empathic; supportive; open; resourceful.

Quote: “It is also valuable to devise a formative assessment procedure so that new teachers can alert a Mentor Program organizer when the mentor arrangement is not functioning effectively, e.g., the mentor is not available to meet , the mentor is assuming an evaluator role, the mentor is generally not supportive, etc.”

Comment: The guidelines for the mentoring program need to be clearly defined. RayS.

Topic: Prominent Positive and Negative Features of Student Writing

10 second review: Attempts to assess positive and negative features of students’ writing, a kind of global summing up.

Title: “Prominent Feature Analysis: What It Means for the Classroom.” SS Swain, et al. English Journal (March 2010), 84-99.

Positive Prominent Features: elaborated details; metaphor; sensory language; alliteration; vivid nouns/verbs; striking words; verb cluster; absolutes; balance and parallelism; sentence variety; subordinate sequence; coherence/cohesion; narrative storytelling; hyperbole; cumulative sentences; noun cluster; adverbial leads; effective repetition; effective organization; transitions; voice; addresses reader.

Prominent Negative Features: usage problems; garble; redundancy; faulty punctuation; shifting point of view; weak structural core; weak organization; list technique; faulty spelling; illegible handwriting.

Comment: The idea of listing strengths and weaknesses is a useful way to start comments—if students understand the terms used. RayS.

Topic: The Five-Paragraph Essay--Model vs. Process

10-second review: Interviews college teachers about the quality of instruction their high school graduates have received. The problem these college teachers perceive with their students’ writing is the model drilled into them of the five-paragraph essay with a thesis at the end of the first paragraph. Too rigid. Too limited.

Title: “Closing the Gap Between High School Writing Instruction and College Writing Expectations.” S Fanetti, et al. English Journal (March 2010), pp. 77-83.

Comment: It may be that students are being drilled in the five-paragraph essay, a model of the “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them” pattern of organization for expository writing. Expository writing, whether it is fifty pages long or one hundred pages long, consists of a beginning, middle and end and skilled writers know that stating in the beginning what they are going to say, using mainly topic sentences to provide the details and summing it all up in the conclusion is a pattern of organization that works. Teachers who drill on the five-paragraph essay are confusing the model with the process. RayS.

Topic: Teaching Machiavelli's The Prince.

10-second review: Why teach Machiavelli’s The Prince (or any classic piece of literature)? It stretches the students’ minds.

Title: “Teaching Machiavelli, or How I Learned to Love The Prince.” Alan E. Miller. English Journal (March 2010), 72-75.

Quote: “So why should one teach Machiavelli’s The Prince? It incites students to reach…. It both activates and stimulates their store of background knowledge. It forces all students to read carefully and critically. It invites them to look closely at the worlds they inhabit. In addition, they gain a framework to help them understand social dynamics—not only on the political battlefield but also in school, in the workplace and in interpersonal relationships. Machiavelli’s master work also introduces one of the enduring philosophical questions: Do the ends justify the means?”

Comment: Something like his justification for reading The Prince should be required of every teacher who plans to teach a classic or any work of literature. It is one of the best set of reasons for reading a work of literature that I have ever read. RayS.

Topic: Discussing Social Issues

10-second review: Nonfiction texts often involve unpleasant social issues and are therefore avoided by teachers.

Title: “Keeping It Current: Using Technology to Teach About Social Issues.” NB Sardone and R Devlin-Scherer. English Journal (March 2010), 61-64.

Quote: “In thinking about teaching nonfiction, we acknowledge that many contemporary and important nonfiction texts that students should be encouraged to read take up social issues that are not easy to talk about or even to think about.”

Comment: I present the problem. You need to think about reasons for discussing issues with the emotions that are likely to occur.

Long ago, I was present in a class that was designed to provide insights into group process. The instructor set up a simulation between an “administrator” and a “teacher” who had been given a bad review of his teaching. I watched in amazement as the “administrator” tried desperately to sugar coat the negative review and the “teacher” who literally exploded with anger as the situation became very real. The instructor did not know how to cope with the very real situation that that simulation had become.

I think one needs to consider very carefully how to deal with issues that will generate serious emotions. RayS.