Why me? Aren't the students able to read before they come to me? I teach Geography (or Math or Science) not Language Arts… isn't that their job… to teach reading? I have too much of my own curriculum to have to teach them to read too!
Does this sound like you? It sounded like me three years ago. I have been teaching four years this August. That first year was all about survival. I was too new to know that I didn't know what I was getting into. I wasn't an education major in college. I completed a Liberal Arts major, earning a Bachelor of Science degree. I went from school to coaching my favorite sport, soccer and working in retail. Coaching is teaching, so I did have that experience. Turns out most good coaches do what good teachers do… model, explain and allow for individual practice. In the retail world, I moved from part time sales to an assistant manager in a matter of a few years. I lived that life for 5 years. Then I decided to work with kids all the time. I earned my certification through my district's alternative certification path. I spent two years with a mentor at my school and asked tons of questions. I found a few teachers who I could turn to, ask silly questions and run ideas by just so they could patiently explain why it was a good idea, but not really practical. After a few required courses in education, I took the exams and earned my certification. Then this year, I noticed that the newer teachers were coming to me and asking the same kinds of questions that I was asking just last year. When did my role change? I wasn't ready for that! I have tried to be as helpful and friendly to everyone who is new to my school as people were to me my first year. I can credit a number of people who helped me grow, develop and, most importantly, survive my first year. I am continually trying to be a better teacher, which is what ultimately led me to FOR-PD.
I was raised in an upper middle class family and had parents who were interested in my education from the very beginning. I can remember reading as a young child and a teen. I am sure that my mother, a teacher, and my father, a computer engineer in the defense industry, had a lot to do with my interest in reading. I went to a private school and then on to a state university.
During my first year of teaching, I had difficulty relating to the kids who "could not" or "would not" read. Since I was trying to learn my curriculum and stay a step ahead of the kids, my teaching consisted mostly of, "read chapter so and so and answer the questions at the end of each section." I had no idea there were other ways to teach as I didn't make the coaching/teaching connection until later. Isolated in my classroom, I did not have the opportunity to see what other teachers were doing. My mentor teacher was good, but I saw no relevance in a Math teacher helping me teach Geography. I couldn't do what she did in her room as I didn't have the same problems. She used an overhead and demonstrated to her students how to solve a problem. In Geography, I didn't have problems to solve and couldn't show my work to get the answers, or so I thought. Luckily, I had some great Intensive Reading teachers who took an interest in my struggles and questions. "What do you mean you didn't read the chapter?" "Why didn't you finish the questions at the end of the section? All the answers are in the section!" "You can't find the answer? Did you look?" They corrected my assumption that every student entering my classroom could read. "You mean to tell me that there are 7th and 8th graders who can’t read? How did that happen? What can I do about it? I don't teach reading!" They gave me some suggestions to try; however, it was very late in the year before I could attempt anything. I knew I had tried my best that first year; however I was determined to do it differently the following year. After my second year of questions and attempts at making Geography relate to the kids in the "real world", I took the FOR-PD course in the spring as well as a CRISS workshop. I emerged from the FOR-PD course with a resolution to change my class dramatically. The students needed to be reading, learning how to comprehend an idea and relate it to the information in some way.
How do you expose these kids to the world around them? I asked my students what they did over the summer and they talked about "going to the city" as though they went to another country. I didn't understand why the kids would think that a 45-minute drive was equivalent to international travel. The way they described that trip, you would think that they were going to be gone for days, not hours. I was still teaching "from the book," but I started bringing in more outside reading material to expand what I was teaching. Better, but still not enough, in my opinion. I wanted to try something completely different. I asked my Literacy Specialist, "Why did I have to use the textbook as my main source of information?" Her answer was: "You don't!" I could use it as a resource, but not the main source - as long as I met the Sunshine State Standards. Now, five years later, it seems so obvious, but I didn't know it at the time. At the time, I was consumed with anxiety about having a job the next year as well as acing my evaluations.
So, a door was now opened for me and I was now inspired with an idea. I was going to teach literature and use what the students read in language arts as the basis for my geography lessons. I got together with my language arts teacher and shared my idea with her about what I wanted to try. She thought it would be a great idea and supported me 100%. I think it allowed both of us to go more in-depth with the material and the students got more from our classes. I was anxious to compare last year's grades with this year's after my changes to the "standard" curriculum, so I conducted a bit of research, which I will share later.
My school is a low income, magnet school. We are the Math, Science and Technology Magnet Middle School in our county. 56% of our students are on free or reduced lunch. We were a Title I school until the end of the 2003-2004 school year when the district changed its definition of a Title I school. We didn't lose any teachers that I know of due to that change, but I don't know where our principal is finding those funds. My school is home to three 6th grade teams, three 7th grade teams and three 8th grade teams. We have over 1300 students. We also have a large ESOL and ESE population. The ESE students range from EH, SLD to Gifted. Our teams are made up of a Language Arts, a Science teacher, a Math teacher, and a Social Studies teacher. We see the same 140 or so students all year long. We also have departments, which enable us to get together and share ideas between teams and grades. We are supposed to be a project based school and last year we changed our bell schedule to a modified block schedule. On Monday, Tuesday and Friday we have a traditional day. On Wednesday and Thursday we follow a block schedule. Personally, I love the block days, even though you miss a planning period, I can do so much more with my classes on those days (although I do know there are some teachers at my school who don’t share my opinions).
Brian Dorman is a 7th Grade Geography Teacher at Sanford Middle School. He is a founding member of Sanford Middle School Literacy Council, a FOR-PD Facilitator, and the Integrade Pro Electronic Gradebook "Resident Expert" at the middle school. Mr. Dorman also coaches soccer, and lives in Orlando with his wife Amy and two children, Sarah and Robert.
Mr. Dorman's favorite young adult authors are J.R.R. Tolkien and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Brian's Email Address is Brian_Dorman@scps.k12.fl.us
