By Teens, For Teens

Recently, I was introduced to a publication called Teen Ink (www.teenink.com).  This is a monthly magazine in which students can read poetry, short stories, nonfiction articles, book reviews, and interviews written by their peers.  Because publication relies solely on contributions from teenage students, and because the contributors are teenagers, the content of the writing is very easy to relate to and engaging to high school students.  I can’t recall how many times I've chosen what I thought was a high-interest article, just to be met with groans of boredom from my students.  Before purchasing a subscription, I did a test-drive.  I copied a couple of articles from a sample edition of Teen Ink and the feedback was positive. The students said that it really mattered to them that the authors of the articles were their age; they bought into it so much more.  I was thrilled with their response to the magazine, and needless to say, I have purchased a subscription for my students!  

"Beyond the Yellow Highlighter"

Today I read Carol Porter-O'Donnell's article "Beyond the Yellow Highlighter: Teaching Annotation Skills to Improve Reading Comprehension," and immediately thought of ways that I can incorporate these ideas with my students.  Because I teach Intensive Reading, I have many students who have difficulties comprehending what they read, so the title of the article hooked me instantly.  While reading the article, I especially liked the students' comments the author included, explaining that the annotation process helped them to slow down and think about what they read.

Students can benefit from the annotation process in many ways.  First, they obviously learn more being active readers, and if they share their annotations with classmates, they are teaching one another.  Even if the annotations are questions, predictions or reflections, it is very beneficial for students to be exposed to the varying perspectives of their peers.  Additionally, students begin to realize that reading is a process, and because they are actively thinking about what they are reading, they "discover and uncover ideas that would not have emerged otherwise."  The process of annotation is beneficial to both struggling and advanced readers.  Struggling readers will begin to understand surface ideas and also build the skills needed to read for deeper ideas and concepts, and more proficient readers will hone their literary analysis skills through the practice of annotation.

It's always difficult to teach students comprehension skills.  I always suggest that they be active readers.  I tell them to stop after each page or paragraph and ask themselves questions about what they have read, but annotation is a much better solution.  Teaching students this skill will help them become not only better readers, but more active learners, and also critical thinkers, and isn't that what we really want our students to gain?  We want them to be independent thinkers and problem solvers so that they can be as successful as possible once they leave our classrooms.  What a wonderful, insightful article!  I wish I had read it sooner!

Words as Art

Words can be really powerful.  Asking students to provide just a few words that define a piece of literature gives teachers a great insight into the students’ perspectives and understanding.  A great tool that uses words is Wordle (www.wordle.net).  This awesome website allows students to input words and then create a piece of artwork displaying those words in a visually appealing manner.  I've used these with my students in many different ways:

·         I've asked every student to provide a word (or a few words) that they feel best captures the main idea or essence of a particular piece of literature.  This works for novels, poetry, plays, short stories, or any text, really.  I suppose it would even work for a chapter in a science or history book as well.  Once I've compiled all words, I enter them into Wordle, and I’m able to create this amazing word cloud that I can edit by changing fonts, colors, and word arrangement.  One cool feature is that the higher frequency of a word, the larger it appears on the word cloud, so words the most popular words students provide are emphasized in the word cloud.

·         Wordles can also be assessment tools.  For example, students can make a word cloud using words that describe the main character and then present the Wordle, explaining why each word was included.

·         Students can choose especially captivating or enticing words that describe their novel to persuade fellow classmates to read it.

·         As a beginning-of-the-year ice-breaker activity, I’ve had students introduce themselves to the class by creating a Wordle in which they emphasize their most important characteristics or qualities by making those words appear larger in the word cloud.

·         I've also used Wordle for classroom decorations.  Just copy and paste the text or excerpts of a text into Wordle, and it creates a beautiful poster that you can get enlarged at a copy and print store.

There are really endless uses for this program, and I find that students really enjoy creating Wordles!  Any way I can assess my students without their knowledge is a plus!  Here is a Wordle I made that describes me.  I use this as a sample for my students:

“You mean I have to read and write??”

It’s not always enough for students to just read.  The writing component is equally as important, since reading and writing go hand in hand.  Good readers are often good writers, and good writers have often become good writers because they read.  A lot.  But, readers who don’t practice writing won’t improve their writing skills, and let’s face it: someone who cannot communicate well in writing is at a huge disadvantage.  So, when my students whine, “Why can’t we just read?  Why do we have to write something too?”, I try to explain the connection between reading and writing.  They may not buy it now, but hopefully they will thank me later.

So, for this reason, I think it is important that students not only write about what they read, but also reflect on it.  Anyone can summarize a chapter, but it requires deeper thinking to be able to evaluate the text and think critically about it.  I face a good deal of resistance from many students when I ask them to write reflections.  Perhaps they don’t like to write about their opinions, or perhaps it is easier to just write what happened in the story.  Nevertheless, reflecting, predicting, evaluating, analyzing and making connections are skills that students need to learn, and it also helps me to get a better understanding of their background knowledge and past experiences so I can help guide them. 

In keeping with this idea, part of the students’ literature circles assignment is to reflect on the section of the novel they read after their group discussion.  This way, they can reflect upon something interesting their group talked about, explore an idea they thought was intriguing or confusing, and make further connections with characters, ideas, or situations in the novel. Hopefully, this will help the students hone their writing, thinking, and reading skills while reading something of their choice.