Throughout her book, Ellin Oliver Keene is pointing out the seemingly obvious when it comes to literacy education. However, I say that with a grain of salt because if it is so seemingly obvious then why are educators not following it. I think it is very easy to point out the flaws and declare what should happen in education, but what we see, say, and do are three completely different things.
I think that Keene is absolutely correct when she tells of adversity as a means for stimulating ones intellect. Keene used her own battle with cancer in the previous chapter to explain how adversity actually stimulated her intellect. Gripped with a life threatening illness, Keene went through great lengths to research her condition. She wanted and needed to know answers. Similarly in Chapter 5, Keene tells the story of Reynolds Price (Keene 100). Price had a tumor that developed on his spinal chord. As a result of his battle and experience Keen wrote multiple stories of his journey. In order to come to a better understanding of his condition and place in life he wrote. I really enjoy stories like this and their are so many out there. Adversity and understand adversity are certainly a means for intellectual stimulation. For me this adversity was my friends battle with OCD. In order to help my friend I went through great lengths to research OCD and ways in which I could help. It was very stimulating, rewarding, and fun. Long story short, adversity helps build ones internal drive to learn (Keene 104). A common flaw in today's classroom is that kids are so driven by external rewards--a pizza party for reading so many books, a prize for reading all your sight words. The external rewards overpower the internal gratification (Keene 106).
Although I agree and understand much of what Keene is advocating, I am struggling with her ideas in regards to the current grade I am teaching--first grade. First grade is when we are really pushing students to read and write as this is the foundational year. In first grade there is a lot to cover. I agree when Keene states that there is far less essential material then we perceive, however I still don't understand what is essential even after being exposed to her "what's essential model" (Keene 108). Of course their is the 6 blocks that she proposes, which I fully understand and believe in. However, what is the most effective way to incorporated these 6 blocks into the classroom. I know that Keene herself admitted that this was not a how to book, I almost wish there was a little more of how to.
One thing that I disagree with Keene on is when she mentions that graphic organizers do not facilitate learning (110). The first grade teacher that I am working with right now is a huge proponent of graphic organizers, thus I have been using them in my own classroom. I truly believe they are very helpful for students as we have been using them for every writing piece we have done so far this year. I think that there is a huge benefit to them and I think it helps students use specific skills that might not otherwise be taught.
Keene's book and thoughts constantly make me rethink my own teaching. As I am reading I am always making notes of things that I could change to promote student understanding. This is my first year teaching so I am constantly looking for ways to improve and so far Keene's book has given me a lot of insight. Keene mentions that a lot of educators are not teaching enough of the deep structure in regards to the cognitive strategies she uses (Keene 118). A lot of the time we focus on the surface structure but do not provide a lot of deep structure teaching. I can see this in my own students. When reading the are like robots, just reading the words, not constructing meaning and not self monitoring--which Keene says are examples if not enough deep structure (Keene 118). However, my first graders are just learning to read so shouldn't this be expected? Or am I not having high enough expectations?
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