Most of us that work at universities are trying figure out how to teach online in ways that honor what we do. We care about our students, our programs, and our subject matter. In reality, most of us love books and slipping into imaginary worlds (even if they are dystopian settings slightly suggestive of our own current situations).
Most of all, we are considering how to keep community.
Here are a few questions to consider.
This morning I read a short piece by Antero Garcia. I have known for awhile that he is smart than I am. He gave voice to some of the concerns I have with more clarity. You should check it out. Perhaps, instead of just canceling school, we should cancel instruction, tests, and the short sighted perceived goals.
My university has spring break from March 16 through the 22nd. We are to be prepared for online instruction of some kind on the 23rd. (Some flexibility to forego Monday and Tuesday classes). I emailed my faculty senator, my deans, and our college faculty chair. I suggested that they are implying that we work and forget our spring break. I asked if there had been any consideration for having students take two weeks while faculty take one week to care for ourselves and our families during this time social unrest. Then, let us have a week to prepare our course work. No, that hadn't been considered that they indicated. Essentially, they agree, but implied that we soldier on, that we do our best, that we think about our students.
Well, I think my suggestion does that. In fact, as educators we should stand up for correct pedagogy and for stepping back instead of rushing forward.
My labor union instincts what to rise up. Those who manage teachers always want us to do what they deem to be correct even when we might think otherwise. Let's remind ourselves how much testing schools have slipped into and how we use it to measure the quality of schools instead of considering "real" growth of students. For example. students might be behind at the beginning of the school year by several grade levels in reading. Then the teacher makes several levels of progress, but doesn't quite reach grade level. Has the teacher been successful? Of course, but by the results of the tests, the school and the teacher will still indicate a failure and receive an inadequate rating. Thus while the student, the teacher, and the school have experienced success the report will indicated that they have not.
Are we in danger of trying to maintain a false educational experience to keep things normal, especially when they clearly are not?
I offer the following ten past posts from contributors to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday. Perhaps, they will help answer some of the questions I have posed and perhaps others that you have been asking as well.
Most of all, we are considering how to keep community.
Here are a few questions to consider.
- How do we do this if all assignments are asynchronous?
- How long do we hold classes if we do synchronous meetings? Is it appropriate to maintain classes for the same length of time? Some of us have smaller graduate classes where we might imagine trying to do this.
- How can we continue to promote reading while social distancing?
- Is it now time to teach our students about OVERDRIVE and LIBBY so they can access books if libraries close?
- Do we acknowledge and deal with internet deserts?
- Can students in YA classes do more projects and self-selected reading around certain topics?
- Is it a time to reinvent book clubs in virtual spaces?
- Can we catch up with our reading by reading books from award lists that we missed in the past?
- What about starting a book club with your children--those at home or those who have moved away?
This morning I read a short piece by Antero Garcia. I have known for awhile that he is smart than I am. He gave voice to some of the concerns I have with more clarity. You should check it out. Perhaps, instead of just canceling school, we should cancel instruction, tests, and the short sighted perceived goals.
My university has spring break from March 16 through the 22nd. We are to be prepared for online instruction of some kind on the 23rd. (Some flexibility to forego Monday and Tuesday classes). I emailed my faculty senator, my deans, and our college faculty chair. I suggested that they are implying that we work and forget our spring break. I asked if there had been any consideration for having students take two weeks while faculty take one week to care for ourselves and our families during this time social unrest. Then, let us have a week to prepare our course work. No, that hadn't been considered that they indicated. Essentially, they agree, but implied that we soldier on, that we do our best, that we think about our students.
Well, I think my suggestion does that. In fact, as educators we should stand up for correct pedagogy and for stepping back instead of rushing forward.
My labor union instincts what to rise up. Those who manage teachers always want us to do what they deem to be correct even when we might think otherwise. Let's remind ourselves how much testing schools have slipped into and how we use it to measure the quality of schools instead of considering "real" growth of students. For example. students might be behind at the beginning of the school year by several grade levels in reading. Then the teacher makes several levels of progress, but doesn't quite reach grade level. Has the teacher been successful? Of course, but by the results of the tests, the school and the teacher will still indicate a failure and receive an inadequate rating. Thus while the student, the teacher, and the school have experienced success the report will indicated that they have not.
Are we in danger of trying to maintain a false educational experience to keep things normal, especially when they clearly are not?
I offer the following ten past posts from contributors to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday. Perhaps, they will help answer some of the questions I have posed and perhaps others that you have been asking as well.
Ten Post to Reconsider
Expanding Options as We Teach and Advise from a Distance
1. My first selection is a post by Michael Macaluso. Michael and his wife Katie are a pair of young scholars worth listening to at almost every opportunity. In this post, Michael discusses diverse literature.
Reading Word and World… with Diverse YA Literature
Reading Word and World… with Diverse YA Literature
2. Next, I turn to one of my colleagues and valued writing partners, Gretchen Rumohr. Alas, I should have spend last Friday presenting with her at the MCTE. Gretchen channels Penny Kittle and Book Love as inspiration for a YA Methods course.
Beyond How We Were Taught: Using "Book Love" to teach YA Literature Methods
Beyond How We Were Taught: Using "Book Love" to teach YA Literature Methods
3. This post is one of the older ones from 2016 when I hadn't quite figured out how to label everything in a consistent way. This post is by Angela Insenga. Angela is an expert at mingling popular culture and YA. I believe this is the first post she wrote for the blog.
Between the Bookends: YA and Critical Collaboration
Between the Bookends: YA and Critical Collaboration
4. My own children loved doing mutligenre projects associated with their reading and their popular culture interests. They worked with topic stimulated by The Giver and by the blockbuster movie the Titanic. I jumped at the chance to host how my good friend, Mary Warner, approached this with her students in a YA course.
Discovering (Rediscovering) Karen Hesse’s Witness and Its Multi-genre Potential
Discovering (Rediscovering) Karen Hesse’s Witness and Its Multi-genre Potential
5. I constantly find myself thinking about cross curricular activities. This is quite easy to do with the Social Studies. One of the first to write a post addressing this connection was Paul Binford. In this post he suggest activities associated with Out of the Dust.
Before the Dust Settles!
Before the Dust Settles!
6. In one of the questions above, I put forth the suggestion of reading past award winners or books from the short lists that you may have missed in the past. Lisa Scherff has been a member and a chair of the Walden Award committee. Here she writes about her experience and provides some valuable insight.
Lisa Scherff Explains the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award
Lisa Scherff Explains the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award
7. I am just guessing, but I am assuming that some of us are reconsider our summer travel plans. I know that is happening for us. We had hoped to visit my daughter and her family--hurrah for grand kids!-- in Scotland. That seems to be off the table. In this post, Katie Dredger talks about teaching YA on a study abroad program. Katie has some great ideas and maybe we can take a vicarious YA reading trip.
Current Young Adult British Literature: Student Choice and Engagements
Current Young Adult British Literature: Student Choice and Engagements
8. One of my YA heroes is Marshall George. I have been reading his work long before I meet him. Since meeting him, I have never been disappointed by a conversation. In fact, during this social distancing, I should probably give a call. Marshall reminds us that YA comes in a variety of genres. While your children and adolescents are at home taking on their own studies, parents and other care givers need not worry about reading that might be narrow. Every genre is available and Marshall provides some direction.
The Sometimes-Forgotten Genres in Literature Written for Adolescents and Young Adults: Short Stories, Essays, and Poetry
The Sometimes-Forgotten Genres in Literature Written for Adolescents and Young Adults: Short Stories, Essays, and Poetry
9. One of the most prolific contributors to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday is Lesley Roessing. I hope some of you are sitting around with some prolific readers. Following on the heels of Marshall's suggestions, I hope you will look at Lesley's post on MG and YA verse novels.
30+ MG/YA Verse Novels for National Poetry Month: Engaging Reluctant Readers, Enriching Enthusiastic Readers, and Appreciating Story, Form, & Language by Lesley Roessing
30+ MG/YA Verse Novels for National Poetry Month: Engaging Reluctant Readers, Enriching Enthusiastic Readers, and Appreciating Story, Form, & Language by Lesley Roessing
10. One final post from Lesley. Again, I love YA literature that connects us to History. Among these ten po sts are several that connect to history. I hope that some of your readers will love the books connecting to an historical event. After reading, I hope they are prompted to do some research and make some connections that will lead them to other books and other topics. I would argue that the best learning comes when adolescents are engaged in something that interest them for more than a few minutes.
Learning History through Story by Lesley Roessing
Learning History through Story by Lesley Roessing
Above are ten excellent post from among over 200 post. If these post don't meet your particular need check out the contributor's page and find one that does. When you do, share the post with others. As educators we are in this endeavor together. Let's keep discovering and sharing together.
Until next time.
Until next time.
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