[LIT] democratic units

[Bill IVEY]

"A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades."
<lit at literacyworkshop.org> on Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 11:36 am -0500
wrote:
>Does everyone hit all the genres? For example, we have to teach
>expository,
>persuasive, narrative, and poetry. Do you get all of those in? And how? Do
>you have strugglers in your class? Are you self contained or block
>scheduling? How do you teach specific strategies to the class? Do you do
>it
>individually or in small groups?
>
Hi!

Everyone does hit all the genres, including the ones you listed. They do
two types of exposition, compare-contrast and literary analysis. They also
collaborate in writing a play, which they then perform through the Theatre
7 class. Poetry and theatre units are pre-designed for late February and
early April. 

As for the existence of strugglers in my class, I guess I'd have to say
yes and no. I've had students with fairly significant learning differences
regarding both reading and writing (one girl this year hasn't yet read a
book on her own; one girl two years ago had never written a paragraph on
her own), but all of them have been very smart, motivated, hard-working
kids with loving, supportive homes and experienced, private tutors. So it
is a legitimate struggle for them, but the odds are very much on their
side. I know they they, and I as their teacher, are lucky.

Our schedule is kind of odd; I'll try to keep it simple. We have two block
periods in the morning separated by a period used either for school
meetings (middle school only on Mondays, grades 7-12 on Thursdays) or for
advisory meetings (Tue., Thu., Fri.). Those blocks are used for Humanities
or for Math/Science. Our afternoon classes are single period and comprise
language, vocal and instrumental music (each meets twice a week), Visual
Arts/Health/Theatre (one course each trimester), and a study hall (with
the option of joining upper school Chorus or Big Band). They also have
dance once a week in place of study hall (Chorus and Big Band kids do this
on Tuesday, the one day Chorus and Big Band don't meet).

Most of the time, I teach specific strategies to the class as a group, and
then reinforce them as needed on an individual basis. As much as possible,
I try to have them come up with checklists of good writing practices based
on model writing. Reading strategies - let's just say I'm good at pointing
out when kids use them spontaneously, but I need to be much more
consistent in my instruction.

Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School