SED 407 Reading Response: Daniels & Zemelman ‘Subjects Matter’ Chapters 9 & 10

D&Z present two more excellent structures for learning in these chapters: content-area book clubs and inquiry units. I definitely see the benefits of both and plan to use them in my future classes – but before I get into the details, a note on time. As I was reading, I made a mental note that I wanted to avoid going down the “These strategies are great but there’s no time for them due to curriculum demands and high-stakes testing!” path. I am a pre-service teacher with little understanding yet of how I will experience time in my future classroom, but there is definitely a gremlin in the back of my head screaming about how I won’t be able to teach the way I want to teach, the way I believe is good teaching. It’s easy to get stuck on the idea – but what a terrible starting place. I believe that in order to meet my responsibilities as a teacher and provide meaningful learning experiences for my students, I must make time for strategies such as book clubs and inquiry units. As D&Z say, “the effect [of such strategies] on students’ approach to learning and reading is just too large and too important” to not be doing such projects. To return to my response to chapter 6, making time for meaningful experiences means to “do less better”, to prioritize the curriculum in order to go deeper into fewer topics. (It’s interesting that D&Z note that this is what the NGSS suggest … the NGSS seem a bit overwhelming in terms of how much they cover – but they do emphasize cross cutting concepts and scientific practices…) Again, the idea is to engage students in real learning, to help them connect to the content and build transferable literacy skills – while a strategy such as a book club may not be teaching to the test, I think the benefits should carry over into test results. And anyway, as D&Z note the Common Core and NGSS are “desperately pleading” for students to be doing this kind of work (although maybe the tests are still not testing for it). So, don’t worry about time, just teach well.

We have looked at the use of content-area book clubs or literature circles in MLED 330 this semester and I am definitely sold on the idea. In science, I can see using literature circles with challenging primary source texts, biographies of scientists or historical texts about important scientific discoveries, and content-relevant fiction (such as the two books I read in my MLED 330 literature circles: The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly). I did a quick Google search for “literature circles in science classes” and found that there are many teachers doing this and sharing resources and lesson plans. This teacher blends the structure of a literature circle with the process of keeping a scientific notebook. Some of the roles given to students in this strategy are similar to traditional literature circle roles, but others are tailored to scientific literacy, such as the Inquiry Organizer whose role is to provide prompts for each part of the notebook (such as the hypothesis, materials, procedure, etc). As this other science teacher using literature circles says, “As adults, we know that scientists read all the time. In fact, scientific journals are the major way that scientific knowledge is spread. It is important for students to learn to read and interpret scientific knowledge as well. Literature circles are one relatively simple way to help students learn to read challenging articles and advance their scientific knowledge and excitement about the topic.” I appreciate this quote because I don’t think people realize that reading – and talking to other scientists about what you’ve read – is a huge part of science. Even if all my students don’t become scientists (I’ve almost accepted the fact that not all of them will ;)), I want my students to be scientifically literate citizens, to be able to read about science in the news, to have discussions with their family and friends about scientific issues, and to make scientifically informed decisions in the voting booth.

A few points that D&Z make about literature circles stick out for me. Role sheets should be used as “brief initial training” – the idea is that students are practicing specific strategies used by good readers individually so that ultimately they will be able to apply all these strategies more naturally when they read. D&Z point out that if role sheets are overused they “can swiftly morph into stultifying and mechanical make-work”, counteracting one of the greatest benefits of book circles, the development of a love of reading. I also really appreciate the guidance D&Z give on assessment of literature circles (most of which can be applied to inquiry projects too). I especially like the four part essay they describe on page 253 that asks students to reflect on the process as well as demonstrate knowledge they gained from the book – compared to a traditional book report, this essay is so much more valuable. I also really like the observation sheet they suggest teachers use as they observe students at work in their literature circles – I see the value of assessing students through such observations, but it’s good to have something to structure and document those observations.

I am a little confused by the concept of “backmapping” which D&Z discuss early on in chapter 10. It’s interesting incomparison to UbD – it almost seems like the opposite. With UbD, you begin with your desired results and then plan specific activities that will get you there. With backmapping, using the example D&Z use in the book, a project is planned and then the teacher works backwards to assign the standards the project addresses. Of course, this is only the opposite of UbD if you totally equate learning objectives with standards. In planning her inquiry project and all the activities that would be a part of it, the teacher used in the example likely started with her objectives and planned activities to meet them. I understand that standards are not the same as objectives, but there should be a relationship between the two, correct? Wouldn’t it be good to have an idea of the standards you want to address in mind as you are planning lessons? (Though the standards certainly should not limit your objectives.) I guess I am just confused as to what benefit D&Z see in backmapping. Anyone have any thoughts on this?