I really enjoyed reading about the self-efficacy of a student and how to support this, but what really got me thinking was the challenge presented when we give students different genres of work. I feel that the common core standards really push non-fiction in the classroom and this leaves little time for other types of work. Sure, poems, essays, novels, movies, and songs can all be nonfiction and so I think providing this variation is crucial, but students miss so much when they're not exposed to fiction. One of the reasons I never read in high school was because I had not discovered a genre I liked. Even with books that were assigned, I would cliff note and spark note because nonfiction was just so boring. If my teachers would have taken the time to introduce a variety of genres and varying types of literature, I really think I would have enjoyed reading much more. Then again, I may not have acquired the "skimming" skills I have today :p. It seems so unfortunate to me that the common core does not allow much time for fiction because this type of literature also fosters creative thought which can translate to expanded creative writing. Thank goodness for creative nonfiction.
The chapter on group work was interesting. I feel like a lot of it has been talked about so much, but the feeling of unease is never going away from the participants of group work. I hear all time, "I hate group work" from college students, and it's usually because someone thinks that they'll end up doing all the work. What's interesting is that if everyone is complaining about the same thing (doing all the work), shouldn't people be excited to have 3 others in their group that want to contribute as much as they do? I think there is just such a negative stigma that a lot of people aren't willing to look at the benefits anymore. I'm glad Baca takes the time to outline how necessary group work is. I also have heard more times then once that assigning rules can be key to ensuring that all students are equally accountable. In my classroom, we have introduced group work by having students read parts of their book in groups. The next step was discussing the book in groups and doing small collaborative assignments that could be finished by the end of the class period. This is all leading up to having students work on a larger group project together at the end of the school year. For 8th graders, this has been a great progressive series in introducing them to group work and the expectations for working in a group.
I feel like we and our students are all part of the spark notes generation. We have, perhaps more than any generation before us, the ability to skim what we read for tidbits of information. I love to read, so even those difficult texts from high school were not an issue. But the reality is that literacy is changing. We read a little here and a little there and we gather what information looks good - scanning websites, glimpsing articles, and speed reading books. I suppose that might be part of the reason why short stories are so popular.
ReplyDeleteI confess that I am not a huge fan of nonfiction, but there are plenty of things out there worth reading.