Teaching Strategies
As an English teacher within the School District of Philadelphia, I am mandated to follow the Children’s Literacy Initiative Framework for reading and writing in a middle-school classroom. I remember the anxiety I felt my first day of teaching a 90-minute block, and the humbling experience recognizing my lack of practice and skill in managing a classroom with 25 plus students. The framework is based on the gradual release process for student-teacher collaboration: I do, we do, and you do. Like many of my colleagues within my school district and at Yale National Initiative, we struggle to successfully execute all segments of the CLI Framework for reading and writing for each class period. My students will not start to write their poems until after all selected poems for this unit are read. This will allow for a smoother transition into the writing portfolio. They can focus solely on their development of poetic forms based on the central themes identified in our canon of poems through the use of the writing workshop model: brainstorm, draft, review with teacher and peer, revise, self edit, and publication.14
One key strategy I will spend more time implementing and refining with my students is reciprocal teaching.15 Reciprocal teaching is student-led instruction based on the unit’s objectives and standards. A student demonstrates a lesson based on a literary skill for a small group or the whole classroom. I believe students’ ability to direct small group instruction for reading comprehension and editing poetic verse will foster a higher level of interpretation and peer conversation. All of the components mentioned below are part of the Children’s Literacy Framework.
Shared Reading: Whole Group Instruction
The teacher reads aloud and models close reading based on the objectives and standards. Close reading is the process of reading for a direct purpose based on the objectives and standards. Close reading is also known as text rendering: annotating the written material (informational or fictional) based on comprehension and self reflection. Sometimes, the students have the literary work in front of them, and sometimes they do not, depending on the length of the written material. My students will have the poems in front of them while I read out loud. Teachers model for students repeatedly through this shared reading approach, in order to show them how vocal inflection can communicate meaning. Students selected for reciprocal teaching will follow this model during small group instruction.
Collaborative Reading: Whole Group Instruction
One of the many exciting facets of teaching free verse poems is understanding the development of a line by the poet for a specific reason. The style and syntax of the line is heavily scrutinized because placement of words causes internal and end rhyme, enjambments, and shifts in tone. Through whole group instruction and collaboration, teachers can ask students about the structure of the line and what is the intention of the poet. This conversation will fuel analysis and help students with their own analytical renderings of the poem. Students demonstrating proficiency and advancement in analysis will be asked to reciprocal teach a poem from the canon.
Cooperative Pairs and Guided Reading: Small-Group Instruction
Teachers align students in a cooperative pair based on reading level and skill ability. While students are working with their partners, a teacher can have a guided reading section with four to five other students. Again, this guided reading group combines two cooperative pairs that need additional support with the main idea, vocabulary, or summarization. Our guided reading books are provided by Pearson and Houghton Mifflin, two companies contracted with the School District of Philadelphia. Through guided reading, teachers can assess the level of fluency and comprehension for each student and chart progress. The guided reading books do not contain poems, but I will correlate my selection of guided reading books with informational texts about poets or Muslim and Islamic traditions and culture.
Independent Assessment and Independent Reading: Digital Portfolio and Analytical Rendering
Students selected for reciprocal teaching demonstrated a high level of comprehension and critical acumen during whole group instruction. Once students teach other students within the classroom, they will reflect on their practice. Students leading small group instruction for the first time are often nervous and lack preparation, just like my first time teaching the CLI framework. Students will not be assessed on their reciprocal teaching success, but on how they reflect and plan for their next demonstration.
The CLI Framework for writing follows the exact same form of gradual release. Given the nature of this unit, students will spend more time with their cooperative pairs, so they will revise and edit their poems based on effective feedback. I want students to feel inspired by the universal themes presented in this selection of reading, and develop free verse based on a universal theme rooted in these poems. This is the first time this group of students will have samples of poetry in their writing portfolio, and hopefully select one of their writing sample for digital recording. Students are independently assessed with a final draft based on the writing rubrics of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.
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