So I decided to look for engaging and challenging articles
One of my favorite aspects of teaching is the creation of a unit. There is just something about building a unit that is engaging and challenging at the same time. I have found that as I continue my doctoral journey and my research into reading and writing integration, I am becoming more aware of the decisions I make in planning units. There are many who will disagree with me and suggest that reading and writing should be split. I have experienced both cases, and yes, there is research in both camps. However, I am a proponent of reading and writing integration based on my own experience and based on the research that is building the foundation of my future dissertation.
I have been involved in many conversations where teachers have different views on what it means to teach language arts. I even went though a phase in my own career where I just taught writing (no reading). I was a writing teacher for two years. I taught essay formations, the six-traits of writing, grammar, revision, etc. I taught it until I was blue in the face. That’s just it. I taught with every fiber of my being. I gave heart-felt lectures, hands-on experiences (yes, with writing), and used humor to engage students. The problem was the students were more entertained by my teaching than they were retaining the skills I was so eloquently trying to teach them. Wait a minute… there is definitely a problem if I am working harder than my students work.
When I moved to 7th grade, I began to reflect upon my teaching experiences and my learning experiences. Man, I did not like language arts in 7thgrade. I hated copying sentences out of a grammar book, reciting the spelling of words, and reading stories with short answer questions at the end of each and every passage. If I didn’t enjoy it, why in the world would my students enjoy it? Then something clicked in my brain! Why am I not integrating reading and writing in a challenging and engaging way? Sure, we have textbooks. But should the textbook be the primary source of my teaching? Well, that depends on what the school and the district believes. I decided to flip the concept, however. The textbook became a resource, not the foundation of my teaching. My foundation became the standards. Novels, textbooks, articles, poems, etc. became tools to meet these standards. It was a different way of thinking for me. Instead of using the textbook to teach the standards, I was using the standards to select the tools that would push my students to meet them.
People have asked me how I lesson plan. How do I get students engaged in what I am doing? Well, friends, there isn’t really a secret. I just go about the whole planning “thing” a bit backwards. I start with a novel, something I know has a topic that will pull the readers in, something that will sustain my students for an entire unit, and something for which I can find a wealth of interesting texts on The Googlé (as I like to call it – Makes it seem a little more professional.) I search and search and search… until I find texts that connect to my novel, texts that are challenging, and texts that will engage my students. Sometimes these articles are full of controversy. For example, in an upcoming unit, I have found news articles showing two different sides to police brutality. You better believe that is going to get them reading… and talking… and writing. I teach everything together. My reading and writing lessons all tie into the same theme, and for the most part, my students are fully engaged. There are occasions when I have to tell them my Mt. Everest story or the day that a flock of pigeons carried me off to Italy. I mean who doesn’t want to hear about that?!
My point? Kids like to be challenged. Students also like to know that the teacher believes that they can meet that challenge. So, I find these texts and I tell each class the same thing, “Hey, you are doing high school level work here. Guess what? I am giving you this text because I know you can handle it and because I know you are ready for the challenge.” So far, every class has rose to the challenge. My 7thand 8thgraders were reading texts above grade level, and they believed in themselves because the opportunity was given to them. That is the secret to my planning. So, when I am lesson planning, one of the first things I decide to do is look for engaging and challenging articles, something the kids want to read about (and write about).
Check out this article about students reading challenging texts:
https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/five-keys-helping-students-read-difficult-texts