The Book Fort
Instructional Ideas for Immediate Implementation
Welcome to The Book Fort! Vol. 1 Issue 12
Missed previous issues? Find them below:
Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 Issue 10 Issue 11
Week Twelve: Be an Inspiration
“The great teachers fill you with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.” Pat Conroy’s line from My Losing Season opens the Introduction to Jim Burke’s 3rd Edition of The English Teacher’s Companion (2008) and it perfectly captures the reason I became a teacher myself. I was inspired by some of the best educators, no matter their tenure or content area expertise. I was lifted up instead of tolerated. I was an integral part of their classrooms, and I felt as if I was important to their lives, too.
It is because of this inspiration that I returned to an old friend for this week’s edition. Don’t be put off if you’re not an English teacher; this text transcends content area and reminds us that we are all, indeed, English teachers in a way because we are all responsible for furthering our students’ abilities to communicate effectively. I hope that you’ll find these practical applications useful and apt reminders that you, too, can be the inspiration for students by assisting them in reaching academic goals they never thought possible. Sometimes all it takes is a little care and a few new tricks.
Burke, Jim. The English teacher's companion: a complete guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession. 3rd ed., Heinemann, 2008.
Practical Applications
Strategies to Improve Reading Skills
Burke categorizes the reading students do into three types: reading they “have to do” because it is required for school, “get to do” because it is interesting, but still tied to school, and “need to do” because it is integral to who they are as human beings. The most important thing, he says, is to be model readers, “If students don’t see us reading, don’t hear us talking about what we are reading, then we run the risk of losing credibility” (98). To help them navigate all of this reading, Burke suggests several simple strategies and shares instructional tools to assist you with implementation. Examples are below.
Bookmarks
Students as Teachers
Read for Patterns
Use Study Questions
Reader Response
Annotate Text
Not a new idea, for sure, but Burke suggests photocopying text and leaving wide margins (104-108) to teach students how to “mark up” texts intentionally and for various purposes. Using several colors of ink for these purposes is a great way to make thinking visual through multiple lenses. This can be done with digital texts through Google Docs, Adobe Acrobat DC, and Foxit, among other digital annotation tools. Burke suggests that annotation doesn’t end in the marking of text, however, but instead is the basis for peer-to-peer comparison and class discussion.
The Components of an Effective Writing Program
Burke reminds us in Chapter 7 that “writing is the heart of the English class” (151), but I would argue that it should be the heart of any class (along with reading of course!). If writing became the centerpiece of every class, students would only benefit. Burke shares components of an effective writing program in this chapter which are featured below.