Borderland

From Robert Eiffert’s excellent website, Librarian in the Middle, I found Guidelines for Teaching Middle and High School Students to Read and Write Well (pdf), by Dr. Judith A. Langer. Langer compared what she called “typical programs” with “those that get outstanding results.” Her analysis identified 6 features commonly found in effective Language Arts instruction. The report doesn’t say what the criteria for “successful programs” were, but the research methodology included “examinations of student work and test scores, classroom observations, and interviews of students, teachers, and administrators.”

If pretty packaging counts for anything, this document hits the bull’s-eye. The information is so well laid out that it gives the impression all you need to do is read it and go to work. Each of Langer’s findings are presented in a predictable pattern that includes an explanation, followed by an example. The 6 features of effective instruction she found:

1. Students learn skills and knowledge in multiple lesson types;
2. Teachers integrate test preparation into instruction;
3. Teachers make connections across instruction, curriculum, and life;
4. Students learn strategies for doing the work;
5. Students are expected to be generative thinkers;
6. Classrooms foster cognitive collaboration.

The report is formatted like a textbook aimed at teachers with a practical interest in the material. It has summaries in the margin, bulleted lists of activities that work, and don’t work, and realistic classroom examples.

The patterned presentation, though, caused some of the repetitious phrases to bother me after a while. I read several times that I might be a teacher in a “school that beat the odds,” or one that is “more typically performing,” and I got the message that typically performing was code for failing. Whenever I see a claim for anything “that works”, I wonder, “For what?” and “With who?” because whether something works, or doesn’t work, may be a judgment call that not everyone would agree with. But I’m being too sensitive about the hype.

From the Activities that Work sections the reader sees that effective teachers analyze, identify, design, develop, ensure, offer, model, encourage, plan, select, explore, extend, and weave. Pay attention to the weaving. With every classroom example we get a disclaimer: IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE SIX FEATURES IDENTIFIED IN THIS RESEARCH ARE INTERRELATED AND SUPPORTIVE OF ONE ANOTHER. This weaving business is important.

Another article about strategy instruction in the real world, Metacognition in Literacy Learning, by Michael Pressley, provides additional background that a teacher might want. Pressley describes how strategy instruction was meant to be applied. He’s wary of hype.

That is, when multiple strategies instruction has proven potent in the literature, a few strategies were taught, not the laundry list of comprehension strategies that is possible by listing every individual comprehension strategy ever studied!! In contrast, if you look in those books cranked out for professional development in comprehension strategies instruction, the implication is to teach many strategies and to do so using the teacher tips that overflow these volumes. (p. 10)

Remember, the weaving is important. Pressley stresses that strategy instruction is not simplistic, and it is a long-term project, requiring many years.

Strategies can be introduced one at a time, but as new strategies are added, it is essential for students to use the new strategies in an articulated way with the strategies learned previously. Even teaching a small repertoire of comprehension strategies can take a school year, with several school years of such instruction and practice likely for the students to internalize completely the use of the repertoire of strategies

I agree with Michael Pressley when he says “If there is one thing I am certain of with respect to comprehension strategies instruction, it is very challenging for teachers to implement, even when they receive excellent professional development and support.” Langer’s report should be read with realistic expectations. It points in the right direction, but the road is bumpier than the roadmap might have you believe.

Strategy instruction is a worthwhile project. It may be the only worthwhile project for teachers because what are attempting to do with this information is the critical job of teaching students to learn how to learn.

But we have to understand what we’re taking on. It won’t happen in a month or even a year. Look for little signs of hope, glimmers of insight and enthusiasm. Notice the students who tell you they are using strategies when they haven’t been prompted to do so. Those are the best indicators of your effectiveness.