Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationship?
It seems to me that lost in the conversation about rigor and
relevance is the notion of relationship.
However, in my opinion (and I do not know a lot, but I suspect a great deal) it is impossible to develop rigor in the classroom without wielding influence
over your students. This influence cannot
be forced or bought, but it can be earned through consistency and
integrity. When students truly believe
that your desire is to help them attain their desires, then they trust you and
your opinion matters. Influence is a
result of relationship and until you and your students have formed a
relationship and developed a rapport, they will not work for you—much less work
rigorously. Relationship breeds
relevancy and relevancy encourages rigor.
My personal experiences validate my “radical” ideas but others have
spoken about this connection as well.
Visit the link provided below and join the discussion…How is
relationship related to rigor and relevancy?
Why We Teach What We Teach or The Purposes of Education & Critical Reading Theory
Today my colleagues and I had an interesting discussion
about the purpose(s) of education.
Others may or may not have hidden agendas, but my explicit agenda is
freedom and social justice. The primary
tool I employ to teach for freedom and social justice is Critical Reading
Theory. If you are not familiar, visit
the links provided below and join the discussion…Why do you teach?
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Persisting With and Understanding Texts
The reality is that our students will not enjoy or connect with every text, but our task as professional educators is to help our students internalize strategies for persisting with and understanding texts. Information—and skill instruction is information—is power and armed with appropriate strategies our students are empowered to make their own decisions about which texts they will approach (or not) but that decision will be based on their goals and desired outcomes and not due to a lack of reading proficiency.
~Reflections related to "Reading for Understanding" by Schoenbach,Greenleaf, Cziko, & Hurwitz
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