We're all struggling readers until the right book comes along.

Raise your hand if you loved The Scarlett Letter when you were 15? What about Huckleberry Finn? Seriously?

I was the worst for not reading the assigned classics when I was in school. I knew that if I sat still and quiet that I would get all the answers I needed. Luckily, the classics that I loathed as a teenager didn't turn me off from reading altogether. There were plenty of interesting books at my house. I never lost touch with a love for the written word.

That's not the case for so many of our students. They don't have books at home to remind them that reading can be fun. They don't have parents that show them what readers look like. And if they're dependent on what we sometimes insist on teaching in English class, then they aren't becoming readers there, either.

Teachers can encourage healthy reading habits among teenagers by simply being readers themselves. Many times students just need a nudge in the right direction. Its so important that teachers keep up with current young adult literature--being able to recommend a good book is sometimes all a student needs. And once you've given them something good, they'll come back to you for something else.

We're all struggling readers until the right book comes along. We all struggle with something--no matter how brilliant we are. Giving kids high interest books and time to read them in class will lead to a lifelong reading habit. And lifelong readers make good parents to the next generation.

Technology, Assessments, and Ownership, Oh My!

Students need options. There will always be times when paper and pencil is the right way to go, but there won't be a time when paper and pencil are always the right way to go. Options equal ownership and a chance for students to show off their hidden talents and love.

With the ever-changing world of technology, students are able to show their personality in more ways than just a unique power point slide background. Give them the chance to really show off what they can do!

One way to marry old school and new school is to mix their tastes and loves with the paper and pencil. When teaching Macbeth, part of the culminating project was to create a soundtrack and a video game case for the movie. Students weren't required to bring in a CD of pirated songs--they merely had to generate the list and create a cover depicting the major themes in the music. (A rubric is a great way to ensure success--more on that later!) Some students did go to the trouble of creating a music CD and they were able to share their labors with their classmates.

Students also created a video game idea that supported the major themes in the play. They drew on their own experiences with video games and worked to recreate the action in the play in this virtual world. The boys especially loved this option. And I bet they can all tell you at least a vague summary of the play and the themes explored therein.

Blogs are also a great way to help students with assessment. They can post essays, memoirs, and other pieces to generate feedback from their peers. As I said in an earlier post, don't count on students finding the drive to do this on their own--there needs to be some sort of accountability built in.

I'm currently exploring two new ideas--wikis and book trailers. Before November, all I knew about wikis was wrapped around wikipedia and the fact that it was not the best source for research out there. But then again, when you work with students who think Google is a source, then maybe Wikipedia is a step up. However, I've recently learned that students and teachers can use wikis for their own needs. A wiki is simply a space that allows for reading and writing by its members. Teachers can set up a class wiki and then students can post to it. I suggested this idea to our human growth and development teacher. Her students research drugs every year and do different activities to present their information. Her classes are very mixed across the levels and her options allow students to work within their comfort zones. However, why not push them into creating a wiki full of their information? Now its published for all to see! I've started working with a wiki for SCRI. Its packed with information and I, as the administrator, can decide who can change information on the page. You can check out our wiki at scri.wikispaces.com.

Another idea I'm working on is having students create book trailers using iMovie or Movie Maker. I picked up this idea from a speaker at NCTE this year and am interested in testing it out in some of our classes. Students have always been intrigued by video. When I was a student, we videoed scenes from plays we were studying and created commercials for both economics and Spanish. Video was cool. This year, our chorus teacher had students create their own rap videos. After studying the roots of rap and R&B in music appreciation, she gave them recordings of beats and had them create their own. Of course it was the most fun they'd had all semester--they were intertwining things that they loved! Now, students can take programs such as Movie Maker and iMovie and create their own trailers/movies using clips, pictures, and title slides. I'm still working on this one and trying to figure it out--but what more fun as a book report option than to get in the lab and create a book trailer. And I'm sure after about 10 minutes, most students would be able to teach me the program themselves.

Its important to give students ownership over their learning and assessments. I never wanted to read 150 essays and I'm sure that they don't want to write one every other week. By supplying them with options, the classroom becomes a more authentic place to learn, more real-worldly.

The New Kids on the Block

Let me start this by saying that power point is old hat.  Some teachers think that assigning power points for their students to complete is so very cutting edge.  I say that students learn power point about the same time they wean themselves off the bottle.  If we continue to limit ourselves to power point only, we are robbing ourselves and our students of great learning potential.

With that said, technology offers a great deal for both teaching and assessing--for pushing students in a new direction with their learning.  Let's look at teaching first.  I've noticed that many times teachers use power point slides and then lecture off of them.  How does is this different from old school notes on the board?  It isn't.  Not to say that power points aren't great--but they are better as talking points and most definitely better used sparingly.  However, teachers can use things such as Google Earth, Teacher Tube, and blogging to help push student discussion out of the classroom and into the real world.

Blogging is a great way to get students to talk about what they are learning, reading, and writing.  While I mainly use mine for reflection on my behalf, it was originally geared towards my students.  Students were required to respond to my posts at least 4 times a month.  This was a grade for them.  I've watched other teachers try to implement blogs on a volunteer basis from their students.  They got few if any hits.  Students need the requirement built in to push them past their innate apathy.  But once you push them, they will post for you.  The best way to get this set up is to walk them through the first through months as a class.  Its also good to post helpful links for them and then guide them to use it while in the library doing research.

Two other teaching tools that I haven't gotten the chance to explore yet are Google Earth and Teacher Tube.  Google Earth is one of the many programs that let anyone look anywhere in the world using satellites.  Google Earth, however, has locations loaded that are particularly beneficial to teachers and students.  For example, there is a tour, already created, of 80 sites mentioned in Shakespeare's plays.  Talk about making learning authentic for students--imagine starting them at their school and watching the world turn as they move towards Stratford-on-the-Avon.    Teacher Tube is a video site similar to YouTube.  Since most schools have YouTube blocked, there is now a video site for teachers to use.  I haven't thoroughly explored the site, but I know that I religiously used the Literature Launchers in my Glencoe teacher toolbox.  (Its really one of the only supplemental materials I used.)  Anytime you can show your students a short video on the material they are studying, you are tapping into their video-driven intellects.

We must continue to try to at the very least keep up with what our students are interested in.  If schools continue to be left out in the cold, then they will continue to be meaningless places for students who are simply wiling their time away until they can go do what they really want to do.  But if we stay current in our technology and on the cutting edge of cool, then learning can be fun again--just like it was when we got our first chapter book and could read all by ourselves.