PLN 2 Chat with Mort (January 16, 2008)
(Includes participants from Lancaster and Harrisburg School Districts)
Question 1: Can you share with us any "lessons learned" (reports from field) on effectiveness of implementing PLN strategies in schools?
Dr. Morton Botel: For example: Gloucester City, NJ Schools is significant for several reasons: a strongly committed superintendent and leadership that is fantastic. The teachers chose the program given the choice by the state. The teachers themselves chose ours from a list of many professional development organizations. Longevity: They've continued to work actively on implementing the critical experiences and lenses for over 7 years.
Participant Comment: Teachers have the opportunity to participate in PLN if they choose. However, it is not administered across-the-board to all faculty.
Participant Comment: I see in Harrisburg that so far, we have support in PLN strategies at all administrative levels, and it is one of the few initiatives that has lasted more than two years.
Dr. Morton Botel: Our average district has worked with PLN over 10 years and we're very proud of that--it helps maintain continuity.
Participant Comment: It is encouraging to note that administration uses PLN language and strategies in modeling good teaching.
Moderator: It seems as if the high school initiative of which we are all a part is working in this direction.
Dr. Morton Botel: It seems to be important to have a common vocabulary when implementing a major change effort. It's economical of time but it also rallies the participants. Glad to hear it's happening.
Participant Comment: Our district has also incorporated the PLN language and strategies into their required lesson plan format. I find it helpful and supportive when trying out new techniques from our classes.
Dr. Morton Botel: From the beginning I have favored two things in implementation: 1: The strong support of top leadership and 2.teacher choice as to when to opt into the program. Now on to your next question...
Question 2: What "lessons learned" have you had, Mort, regarding the "learning to learn" critical experience?
Dr. Morton Botel: This is a very important question of course. In a way this is the most important outcome of the critical experiences in action. What it means is that our students have learned to become independent in their search for knowledge. This is a wonderful outcome.
Moderator: The common language that we spoke about earlier is crucial for this process to happen with our students.
Participant Comment: Faculty at our high school are encouraged to begin each class with a Do Now to focus students on learning upon entry into the classroom.
Dr. Morton Botel: How is that going? Say more about what that experience means to you.
Participant Comment: As a librarian I am not in the classroom, but what it means is that students have the opportunity to respond or interact with an activity without direction from the teacher. It creates independence.
Participant Comment: I'm supposed to be just an observer, but since there is a little lag time...In Lancaster, we started PLN strategies prior to the coaching initiative and it really changed the way the participants taught. Several years went by with new teachers signing on each year. When the Coaching Initiative began and there was a piece for math added, things really started to hum. The coaches became a constant reminder during meetings, professional development planning, etc to remind administration about the initiative and the PLN strategies. Now, in our third year of the PAHSCI our administrators have adopted the language and look for it now when observing staff that has had the PLN training.
Dr. Morton Botel: Excellent. Bravo. Very impressive. This really makes me thrilled to read. Naturally, like everyone, we are looking for the success of our model. Thank you.
Participant Comment: In Harrisburg, most classrooms implement "Do Nows" at the start of class and our students have come to expect them. It is an extremely helpful tool in focusing their minds on the lesson topic for the day.
Question 3: What has been the most rewarding success for PLN?
Dr. Morton Botel: Bonnie and I are noticing in the questions and comments today that your districts have had many successes over the many years of our participation in your districts. We hope this continues in the future and we think the other places that are newer to our work will have equally positive experiences in subsequent years. Thank you.
Dr. Morton Botel: PLN's most rewarding success has been teacher approval. It's gratifying to have so much of that kind of response like that in this evening's chat.
Question 4 (from Dr. Morton Botel): I have a question: How have the teachers in your districts that have not been part of PLN regarded the work of the PLN involved teachers?
Participant Comment: I have to say, that I was thoroughly impressed with my PLN 1 course. I appreciated taking a class that gave me usable strategies. So many grad and teacher training programs are filled with theories and fluff. Many of us who have taken the PLN courses, have sang their praises so highly, that the others are all jumping on board.
Participant Comment: Creating predictability and stability for students is very important in making connections for our students. The PLN strategies create intellectual opportunities where our students can explore their strengths. The PLN provides a solid framework of tools. PLN 1 was an eye-opener.
Dr. Morton Botel: GREAT. How exciting! This makes my day. We choose our staff (very often) from school districts that have been working with us for some time. This helps. Joe is a great example.
Moderator: Wow, this reminds me how I felt over 20 years ago when I took my first PLN course.
Dr. Morton Botel: So much of what has been said tonight speaks to predictable structure which is something that is often lacking in the various waves of reform.
Participant Comment: I agree with [chat participant], the teachers that haven't taken PLN know enough about it to try some strategies thanks to the coaches. The lesson planning piece has been changing each year for the last several years. We have the typical space for listing our objectives, etc. but also now have specific spaces in the template for the "B"efore, "D"uring, and "A"fter part of the lessons. Most people start lessons with Do nows, but may also have them inserted in the middle too. We noticed our students need lots of "talk time" so for some classes the goal is a 10-2 model. That means that the teacher talks for no more than 10 minutes before the kids get at least 2 minutes to do something or discuss something. The neat thing is that all teachers have the same lesson plan template with this verbiage and have a working knowledge of it even if they didn't take PLN. New teachers too.
Participant Comment: The PLN creates a common language among professionals and by taking the course I feel that I can connect better with faculty.
Participant Comment: And support what they do.
Dr. Morton Botel: I love that 10-2 model. Fantastic. The emergence of the partnership between the strategies of PLN and the strong implementation of the coaches' efforts have clearly taken us to a new level.
Participant Comment: The courses and coach support have been a critical piece to having the teachers buy in to PLN. The grant support has allowed all of our teachers that wanted to take the classes, the opportunity. I believe that approx 75% of our teachers have taken the classes, and actively work with the coaches.
Dr. Morton Botel: 75%? That's astounding. We want to include this chat on our website. This is a terribly exciting conversation for Bonnie and for me. Thank you. Any other questions?
Participant Comment: I'm not sure of the % of faculty at Lancaster that participate in PLN, but the number working with coaches has grown so rapidly in the three years of the grant. I really hope to see the district support the coaching initiative with our own money when our grant runs out - it is working and with more time could do so much more.
Dr. Morton Botel: We're as hopeful as you are that the new legislation from Harrisburg and Washington will hopefully support these efforts! Now on to the other questions...
Question 5: Dr. Botel, what has been your greatest "ah-ha" moment during the development of PLN?
Dr. Morton Botel: The framework itself was a great ah ha. It emerged as a framework as I reflected on how to make a difference in my own secondary social studies and English classrooms when I was a young teacher. In fact, I got a very important job at a very young age because I presented a version of the present framework as my goal and said that in five years I would work with the faculty to bring the framework to life. And it happened. I don't know if it was an ah ha but it was a gratifying experience.
Moderator: We should all have "ah-ha" moments. That are critical to our "learning to learn" process.
Question 6: Integrating technology seems to be an ongoing concern. How can we merge technological resources with PLN strategies, i.e. blogs, wikis, online resources (PowerLibrary, NetTrekker, UnitedStreaming)?
Dr. Morton Botel: All of us who teach in the content areas are delighted, amazed and overwhelmed with the new sources of knowledge. The library of the past has grown more than 10 fold. We now provide sources of knowledge from technology that elaborates the availability of ideas. It's thrilling for all of us and for our students. I should say sources that elaborate....
Question 7: How do you see the school library fitting into the PLN framework and supporting improved reading comprehension in students?
Dr. Morton Botel: I've always felt that the school library is the center of sources of knowledge. It continues to be so as it has evolved from a library to a media center. The fact that teachers and librarians can collaborate on good texts and information is a wonderful thing. The media facilitator can give greater support to the units of knowledge taught in every subject area.
Participant Comment: Our district is part of the Classrooms for the Future Grant. As a coach I want to support the involved teachers by showing them that the PLN strategies fit in with the technology resources they've been given. Do you have plans to incorporate sample lessons into the courses that incorporate technology?
Moderator: There is a PLN6 course that focuses on integrating technology.
Participant Comment: Ok, so I can recommend that to my teachers. Thanks.
Participant Comment: We just started the PLN 6 in Lancaster and we've had one class meeting. I'm really looking forward to learning more about the integration of technology with PLN strategies.
Question 8: Where does self-reflection (individual) fit into PLN strategies where most of the activities are group-oriented, e.g. pair/share, jigsaw, 4-person groups, etc.?
Dr. Morton Botel: Self reflection occurs and is cultivated best in a group and then it carries over to their individual, private work. Reflection develops best in the early days when there is considerable speculative talk and writing when students work on their own with the group work background. They become increasingly able to call up new ideas and connections in their writing which is what individual study is like; much more writing than talk, but well practiced when working with groups.
Participant Comment: I definitely see that our students are more confident with their personal ideas, after they have received peer affirmation.
Dr. Morton Botel: You're right. We're trying to encourage thinking and not just right answers. It sounds like that is happening in your classrooms. Terrific!
Moderator: Our time is coming to an end. What final thoughts comments might you like to make?
Participant Comment: Thank you Dr. Botel and Dr. Botel-Sheppard for taking time to visit with us - it was a pleasure.
Dr. Morton Botel: I want to say GO GUYS GO! Thanks for a wonderful evening. You are all awesome. I wish I could see all of you in person! Perhaps one day.
Participant Comment: I'm encouraged by what's been said, and with what PLN has given us. Thank you for sharing your time with us Dr. Botel and Bonnie.
Moderator: Maybe next time we can do a video chat.
Dr. Morton Botel: Great idea. Good night everyone.
Participant Comment: Thank you for chatting with us. I have enjoyed taking the classes, and have seen first hand how the students in my high school are benefiting.
Moderator: Mort, thanks for connecting with us. Bonnie, thanks for typing. Thanks to [chat participants] for joining us. I think we will all leave having learned something new.
Moderator: That's what PLN is all about as a community of learners.
Dr. Morton Botel: MORT: This makes all of our years of work worth it. Thank you also to [the moderator] who is another example of a faculty member who has come from one of our professional development experiences. She's fabulous.
Moderator: Everyone keep up the good work. You and your colleagues will be able to look at the recorded chat on our course Blackboard site. The link will be right next to where you clicked on to join.
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Bellwood Antis and Keystone Central PLN 2 Chat with Mort
Question 1: Why did this initiative start at the high school level instead of elementary? (This question was paraphrased. Recording of the chat started with Dr. Botel’s answer to this question.)
Dr. Morton Botel: It usually is. But, Annenberg Foundation was struck by the great need at the secondary level and decided to put its full force and weight at that level. We have been given the go ahead to talk to participating PAHSCI district leaders about starting with elementary and middle school. We are getting some interest but not total. We think the continuity is very important. It would be helpful if you and other Annenberg participants urged your administration to develop a K-12 long term program.
Question 2: Is it possible that we at the high school level may be able to continue to take PLN courses? For example our teachers who are currently in PLN I don't want to stop there.
Moderator: I know I'm all for it!!!
Dr. Morton Botel: We offer any number of follow up courses. Many districts have been with us for as long as 10-15 years. We are waiting for information…about possible next steps.
Question 3: What [do you] think is better at evaluating the effectiveness of PLN. Traditional based assessment or performance based assessment and why?
Dr. Morton Botel: Performance based assessment is clearly better since it's correlated with the modes of teaching and learning that we advocate. The standardized tests do not inform instruction however they are needed for political purposes to compare general school district achievement against national norms.
Question 4: How do you justify using performance based assessments while still preparing students for traditional based assessment such as PSSA?
Dr. Morton Botel: [I]n the long run, implementation of the critical experiences will produce a higher score on standardized tests. That has been demonstrated over and over again in the research that I cited earlier but also in many of the districts in which we have worked over many years. For example, on the PLN website we have a description of Achievement data on standardized tests for some districts that have been involved with us over several years. The Gloucester City School District also found that their HS students' standardized test scores went up significantly over previous performance after a few years with PLN. I support both types of assessment.
Question 5: How can I incorporate more literacy strategies in my learning support math class when my students already hate reading? Most of my students are very low readers.
Dr. Morton Botel: Let me try to give you some suggestions. A short answer is that the problems should be read by the teacher (aloud). All the students follow along.
Then working in teams of 2 or 3 they go about collaboratively working to solve the problems. The least effective approach is to have students who stumble over the words read the problems aloud. In the long run, the earlier questioner made the point that the program should begin in the early grades. The result would be that you would not be facing so many students who are totally un able or uninterested in reading over time.
Moderator 2: I would like to add that in math we need to think of the text as more than words. The text might be symbols, tables, and other representations.
Question 6: We were just wondering about how many districts are involved with PLN. We noticed that you said some of them have been involved for several years. In the few years that Keystone has been involved it is clear to see how we have progressed and we would hate to think that this year might be our last.
Dr. Morton Botel: We have worked with over 26,000 educators (Prek to 12) over 26 plus years. Daunting but true. We work with approximately 30 districts a year. We certainly hope this won't be the last year. Our average group works with us for 10-15 minimum. In other districts, when funding has ceased, we have worked together to find other ways to keep it going and funded from local, state and federal funds. Keep encouraging your administrators. We are very excited about what you are learning and experiencing.
Question 7: If we are able to keep PLN going--are there any that would be geared towards math more and also incorporating technology into it.?
Dr. Morton Botel: We can work specifically with math. In fact on our web site you can see we have specific math courses. In the PAHSCI program everyone was combined so all were on the same page. In our regular PLN program we have math specific courses. We have a number of technology courses too--one that incorporates research and the internet with I-search as the focus (PLN 6) and PLN 8 which is a course on webquest. In the PAHSCI initiative we added a math specific advanced study group course which we are excited about too.
Question 8: In my content-driven AP Social Studies courses time is at a premium. Which PLN strategies do you suggest will most help my students?
Dr. Morton Botel: Two strategies are most important: The first is the Before During After approach to lessons. The second is the double entry journal.
Moderator: [I]n my past life, I taught AP English and had great success with journaling.
Question 9: Our teachers have truly embraced the strategies, the BDA model and even are required to use the effective model of engagement for our lesson plan design. One thing that they seem now to struggle with is transitioning from one activity to the next. Any thoughts?
Dr. Morton Botel: [C]an you give an example or two of what you mean? What is the specific difficulty? I want to be sure to understand.
Participant Comment: We know so many wonderful strategies, and think of them as tools in our toolbox. Yet when they are used in a lesson, they seem to be strung together in ways that are not always meaningful and in fact confusing for students. I know I'm not explaining this well...
Dr. Morton Botel: I would recommend that you and your PAHSCI coach sit down and analyze what's happening in these lessons. It's best done on the spot in the classroom. I suggest that the coach keep a record of precisely what you do and the two of you can review that observation together.
Participant Comment: Thank you - actually I am one of the coaches, and that's what we've been doing. I just wondered if this were a common problem at this point in PLN implementation.
Dr. Morton Botel: No one has presented a problem like this. I wonder if, over time, the procedures become better articulated through practice and reflection. What do you think?
Participant Comment Oh, absolutely. And it's one of the reasons why we hope we'll be able to keep coaching in our school.
Question 10: [I]s there any research to show that PLN works better with upper level student than lower level. This may seem like a silly question but it seems to me that PLN strategies work more effectively with upper level students who seem to retain prior knowledge.
Dr. Morton Botel: Upper level students by definition do better on everything. But, lower level students would be further outdistanced if they did not have the benefit of whatever it is they can incorporate into their learning processes. Frankly, we have seen that lower level students, across the board, benefit greatly from the PLN type of classroom that you are all implementing now.
Moderator: I've witnessed the kinds of lower grade classes Dr. Botel mentions here and the PLN experiences are invaluable.
Participant Comment: I just want to thank Mort for taking time out to chat with us and [Moderator] thank you for doing such a terrific job at mediating.
Moderator: Thanks much! It's fun.
Participant Comment: I also want to add our profound thanks from the folks at Central Mountain High School. We have benefited so much!!
Moderator: Thanks everyone for your participation. Technology is great, isn't it!! - Most of the time.
Dr. Morton Botel: Thank you everyone. This has been fabulous.
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Philadelphia PLN 2 Chat with Mort
Question 1: What vocabulary strategies work well with high school students who have a difficult time?
Dr. Morton Botel: In any subject, students examine a paragraph or larger unit to choose the word or words that are most significant to the meaning of that text.
This should be done, first of all, through teacher guidance and instruction, then with pairs and then students on their own. The weakest approach is to give kids vocabulary items in isolation asking them to memorize the definition given to them in the book or by the teacher. Finally, it's all a matter of context.
Question 2: What made you get involved in educational reform strategies?
Dr. Morton Botel: My experience as a middle grade and high school teacher. First, I had a 10th grade world history class. No one in the class could read my textbook which was Muzzey's world History. I had no idea what to do. I also had a seventh grade class of 48 kids in a core curriculum which meant that I saw the students 3 periods a day. I found out their reading levels varied from non-reader to 12th grade. Again, I was not prepared to deal with this range of differences. I took a course at Penn to see if I could get some help. I read voraciously in the reading program library, looking for strategies to help my students. This is how I began my career in reading.
Question 3: Can you give us details on the new holistic assessment system developed by Botel that is currently being used in the SE Delco Dist in Delaware Co. We are interested in holistic assessment.
Dr. Morton Botel: Certainly. I didn't realize they were using it. I'm delighted.
My view about assessment is that it should promote greater learning.
This is the learning that's embedded in our daily interactions with students.
These assessments are determined by their work while learning in our classrooms.
There is no shame in the fact that our tools for this purpose are imprecise.
They include teacher observation, documentation, folders and portfolios of students' dated work, records of self selected, independent reading and assessments to determine students' instructional level which are arrived at through informal reading inventories and assessments like the Botel Reading Milestones Test.
Dr. Morton Botel: Do you want specifics on the Botel Milestones Test?
Dr. Morton Botel: The Milestone Tests have two levels. A foundations level enables the teacher to determine the students' reading instructional level from pp to beginning 4th grade level. The advanced tests enable the teacher to determine students' reading instructional levels from beginning 4th grade to grade 13.
All of the tests are essentially vocabulary in context assessments. It turns out that vocabulary in context is correlated with general comprehension at the .85 level.
You can get in touch with me (Mort) if you want to see the tests more specifically. Go to my website: www.mortbotelassociates.com Or it might be mortbotel.com
Question 4: How can we help students in understanding mathematical vocabulary especially when answering constructive responses?
Dr. Morton Botel: Well, teaching mathematics involves understanding when students need to work at the physical level using manipulatives and real world experiences and artifacts. Students who are more able, can move to a representational level where these events and artifacts are pictured or represented. The level we hope our students will arrive at in their mastery of mathematics is the abstract level. When students have difficulty with vocabulary concepts, working at an abstract level, as in most textbooks, they need to go back to the representational or real world levels, otherwise, they end up memorizing vocabulary and rules without any real grasp of how they can be represented, pictured or observed in the real world. It's obvious that teachers need to go back to the first two levels when it appears that memorization is what they are doing.
Question 5: Since we have already established that the reading inventories/assessments are important, would you suggest repeating them throughout the year to assess student progress?
Dr. Morton Botel: … On the other hand the real assessments that promote greater learning are in fact continually available like teacher observation and documentation, folders and portfolios, etc. as I indicated earlier. But, standardized tests do not inform teachers about students' knowledge of their subjects.
Question 6: How can teachers help students to own their work through portfolios and folders during the 9th 10th 11th grade leading up to the senior project?
Dr. Morton Botel: Helping students own their work through portfolios and folders during 9th to llth grade leading to senior project: They need to know that teachers are committed to the role of these cumulative documents in learning their subject as well as to evaluate them in terms of a quality of their thinking about ideas.
Question 7: Knowing that students are over-tested, what ways would you suggest to keep students genuinely working to succeed on these tests?
Dr. Morton Botel: There certainly is a place but a minor one for testwiseness instruction. What has happened in recent years is that the entire curriculum has become testwiseness type of instruction. The net effect of this transformation from thinking about ideas in the disciplines has been the mind numbing focus on getting the right answer format characteristic of tests. So, doing testwiseness instruction might take 5% of the time to help students feel comfortable and connected. That's as much as I would want to see or that makes sense given what we lose in the process when we multiply that time in test preparation.
Question 8: Feeling pressured to stay on pace with the curriculum timeline, it often becomes difficult to incorporate the 4 lenses consistently into our teaching strategies. Any suggestions?
Dr. Morton Botel: I would keep the 4 lenses posted on my desk and probably also on the chalkboard so that in preparing lessons or looking back on the completed lesson, you continue to ask the question about whether these lenses were dealt with. What could I have done to develop a lesson so that any lens not dealt with is reconsidered.
Question 9: Would you feel the same about NCLB if it was funded.
Dr. Morton Botel: The problem is that NCLB is wrong minded in the first place. It is already in its present form, overfunded. What is needed is the kind of framework represented by texts like PCRP II where the focus is on reading, writing, talking in every subject. NCLB is very far from that philosophy.
Question 10: Okay Mort, last question. What books did you read that has helped inspire your teaching philosophies?
Dr. Morton Botel: Books that have been most inspiring: The first two books at the beginning of my career were Mortimer Adler's How To Read A Book and Francis Robinson's Effective Study.
Moderator : Thank you so much for all of you that have joined us this evening
Philadelphia PLN 2 Chat with Mort
Question 1: What vocabulary strategies work well with high school students who have a difficult time?
Dr. Morton Botel: In any subject, students examine a paragraph or larger unit to choose the word or words that are most significant to the meaning of that text.
This should be done, first of all, through teacher guidance and instruction, then with pairs and then students on their own. The weakest approach is to give kids vocabulary items in isolation asking them to memorize the definition given to them in the book or by the teacher. Finally, it's all a matter of context.
Question 2: What made you get involved in educational reform strategies?
Dr. Morton Botel: My experience as a middle grade and high school teacher. First, I had a 10th grade world history class. No one in the class could read my textbook which was Muzzey's world History. I had no idea what to do. I also had a seventh grade class of 48 kids in a core curriculum which meant that I saw the students 3 periods a day. I found out their reading levels varied from non-reader to 12th grade. Again, I was not prepared to deal with this range of differences. I took a course at Penn to see if I could get some help. I read voraciously in the reading program library, looking for strategies to help my students. This is how I began my career in reading.
Question 3: Can you give us details on the new holistic assessment system developed by Botel that is currently being used in the SE Delco Dist in Delaware Co. We are interested in holistic assessment.
Dr. Morton Botel: Certainly. I didn't realize they were using it. I'm delighted.
My view about assessment is that it should promote greater learning.
This is the learning that's embedded in our daily interactions with students.
These assessments are determined by their work while learning in our classrooms.
There is no shame in the fact that our tools for this purpose are imprecise.
They include teacher observation, documentation, folders and portfolios of students' dated work, records of self selected, independent reading and assessments to determine students' instructional level which are arrived at through informal reading inventories and assessments like the Botel Reading Milestones Test.
Dr. Morton Botel: Do you want specifics on the Botel Milestones Test?
Dr. Morton Botel: The Milestone Tests have two levels. A foundations level enables the teacher to determine the students' reading instructional level from pp to beginning 4th grade level. The advanced tests enable the teacher to determine students' reading instructional levels from beginning 4th grade to grade 13.
All of the tests are essentially vocabulary in context assessments. It turns out that vocabulary in context is correlated with general comprehension at the .85 level.
You can get in touch with me (Mort) if you want to see the tests more specifically. Go to my website: www.mortbotelassociates.com Or it might be mortbotel.com
Question 4: How can we help students in understanding mathematical vocabulary especially when answering constructive responses?
Dr. Morton Botel: Well, teaching mathematics involves understanding when students need to work at the physical level using manipulatives and real world experiences and artifacts. Students who are more able, can move to a representational level where these events and artifacts are pictured or represented. The level we hope our students will arrive at in their mastery of mathematics is the abstract level. When students have difficulty with vocabulary concepts, working at an abstract level, as in most textbooks, they need to go back to the representational or real world levels, otherwise, they end up memorizing vocabulary and rules without any real grasp of how they can be represented, pictured or observed in the real world. It's obvious that teachers need to go back to the first two levels when it appears that memorization is what they are doing.
Question 5: Since we have already established that the reading inventories/assessments are important, would you suggest repeating them throughout the year to assess student progress?
Dr. Morton Botel: … On the other hand the real assessments that promote greater learning are in fact continually available like teacher observation and documentation, folders and portfolios, etc. as I indicated earlier. But, standardized tests do not inform teachers about students' knowledge of their subjects.
Question 6: How can teachers help students to own their work through portfolios and folders during the 9th 10th 11th grade leading up to the senior project?
Dr. Morton Botel: Helping students own their work through portfolios and folders during 9th to llth grade leading to senior project: They need to know that teachers are committed to the role of these cumulative documents in learning their subject as well as to evaluate them in terms of a quality of their thinking about ideas.
Question 7: Knowing that students are over-tested, what ways would you suggest to keep students genuinely working to succeed on these tests?
Dr. Morton Botel: There certainly is a place but a minor one for testwiseness instruction. What has happened in recent years is that the entire curriculum has become testwiseness type of instruction. The net effect of this transformation from thinking about ideas in the disciplines has been the mind numbing focus on getting the right answer format characteristic of tests. So, doing testwiseness instruction might take 5% of the time to help students feel comfortable and connected. That's as much as I would want to see or that makes sense given what we lose in the process when we multiply that time in test preparation.
Question 8: Feeling pressured to stay on pace with the curriculum timeline, it often becomes difficult to incorporate the 4 lenses consistently into our teaching strategies. Any suggestions?
Dr. Morton Botel: I would keep the 4 lenses posted on my desk and probably also on the chalkboard so that in preparing lessons or looking back on the completed lesson, you continue to ask the question about whether these lenses were dealt with. What could I have done to develop a lesson so that any lens not dealt with is reconsidered.
Question 9: Would you feel the same about NCLB if it was funded.
Dr. Morton Botel: The problem is that NCLB is wrong minded in the first place. It is already in its present form, overfunded. What is needed is the kind of framework represented by texts like PCRP II where the focus is on reading, writing, talking in every subject. NCLB is very far from that philosophy.
Question 10: Okay Mort, last question. What books did you read that has helped inspire your teaching philosophies?
Dr. Morton Botel: Books that have been most inspiring: The first two books at the beginning of my career were Mortimer Adler's How To Read A Book and Francis Robinson's Effective Study.
Moderator : Thank you so much for all of you that have joined us thisevening
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Erie PLN 2 Chat with Mort
Question 1: My question is how to encourage higher level thinking in mathematics.
Dr. Morton Botel: I'd suggest building a library of books and periodicals that deal with the biographies and experiments of top mathematicians. I would read some of these accounts to the students and make the materials available for extra credit.
Participant Comment: Like a resource center for teachers and students?
Dr. Morton Botel: These authors are the people doing the higher level thinking and becoming acquainted with their work will build these ways of thinking in our students so that when they are doing the abstract manipulations involved in higher level math they will have some background for seeing the value of these manipulations. Yes, like a resource center for teachers and students. Excellent idea.
Participant Comment: My experience is that the students do not have the vocabulary to utilize such materials.
Dr. Morton Botel: The teacher needs to select from these resources the understandable parts and elaborate on them to make them more understandable. The teacher is in the best position to interpret complex texts to his or her students.
Question 2: How can we improve literacy among learning support students, now that many are included in regular classes?
Dr. Morton Botel: Self selected reading of books and periodicals that are related to the major themes and topics offer a way of providing a diverse set of reading materials to students. Companies like Scholastic, Inc., have any number of high interest easy to read materials that are correlated with major topics in the subject matter areas. Your most important asset for building these collections is the librarian, of course, both school and community librarians are eager to help teachers construct units of work involving multiple texts.
Participant Comment: We have used Scope in the past as an introduction and the public library has helped find low level reading books, thank you for the idea.
Moderator: This leads nicely into a question from a librarian. What do you think or where do you believe libraries are in relation to the student of the future?
Dr. Morton Botel: As I indicated in my earlier response, librarians are key to helping teachers in the content areas develop classroom libraries of books related to the themes of that subject. To multiply the use of such collections, they can be rotated from teacher to teacher as the themes are being taught in the various subjects.
Moderator 2: I don't know if it's a trend or not, but my former school district has significantly slashed the budget for both librarians and library books/periodicals.
Dr. Morton Botel: This means, in some cases, that themes need to be staggered in terms of time but ultimately each teacher should have collections of books and periodicals at many different levels for each unit taught that year. A curriculum committee needs to point out that textbooks alone do not serve the higher level thinking we talk about so often. Ideas in textbooks are very limited. They are limited by the nature of textbook selection; that is, companies are ultra conservative with respect to critical issues in the disciplines. How, without many different points of view can students be expected to do critical and creative thinking?
Question 3: How can I measure the success of implementing literacy in math better?
Dr. Morton Botel: One approach would be to help students compose the verbal problem from the mathematical sentences or equations. Teachers usually work in the opposite direction presenting students with the verbal problem, having them construct equations or mathematical sentences to solve the problem. Working the opposite way greatly strengthens students' sense of what a real problem is. That's it.
Question 4: As an administrator, what are some easy strategies that I can pass on to new teachers to use in their classroom?
Dr. Morton Botel: Clarification: Do you mean just for math or for cross curriculum literacy?
Participant Comment: Whole curriculum.
Dr. Morton Botel: Let's begin. The easiest and probably most helpful things an administrator can do is to support the continuing professional development of teachers. While engaged in this professional development, they should be reminded often that you as administrator would like to know how you can be helpful to them in applying the strategies they are learning in the (PLN) seminars, for example. Visiting classrooms and reading aloud to students from powerful texts found in current books and periodicals and asking students what stood out for them as they listened to your interpretation is a wonderful way to engage with teachers. The other administrator contribution is to bring books in that relate to work under way in the classrooms and loan them to the classroom library letting students know you are doing so.
Participant Comment: We should look into using assignments for learning. Taking our assessment tools and using them to develop better ways to teach. Learning does not end with an assessment, that is just the beginning.
Dr. Morton Botel: Right on the nose! I'm reminded here of former US Secretary of Education Richard Reilly's statement...
Moderator: Mort, I have noticed on our discussion board, some teachers are referring to the fact that their high-school students have very poor reading skills.
Moderator 2: I've noticed that as well...it's a common concern through all of my discussion board comments.
Participant Comment: Just thought I would mention that the GE grant will be providing some training on this idea in Jan. The idea is to build learning teams within the school that focuses on how, when, what, and the why of assessment.
Dr. Morton Botel: "the growing public reaction against testing is fueled by excessive testing. Testing that is not aligned to curriculum and the increasing pressure on teachers to teach to the test at the expense of real learning....I think Reilly has said it all here. The problem is that his successors have paid no attention to this statement. Just wanted to mention that.
Question 5: What can be done, said, to convince them of the importance of helping their students become better readers?
Participant Comment: The program also looks at reading and the construction of open-ended questions. If students do not spend a lot of time reading for comprehension, how can they write their thoughts.
Dr. Morton Botel: We all know that if you can't read the text and no new teaching procedures are used the students will fail to do their work. That's why approaches like the BDA strategies and the Cornell method-double entry journals, for example, guided slowly by the teacher to enable students to grasp and engage with their text in ways that cannot be done by the traditional oral reading around the class can be helpful. It's also helpful to stop from time to time to talk about what has been read.
Moderator 2: Just as an FYI, this month's issue of Educational Leadership is devoted to Mathematics. Lots of good articles, one in particular talks about using reading strategies to teach mathematics.
Dr. Morton Botel: Again, making it possible for students to read other than text material at their level, in self selected books along with opportunities for students to write about ideas that have been read or lectured is important.
Moderator 2: I just wanted to point out to the math folks that the current issue of Ed Leadership should be of interest to them.
Moderator: I just got mine yesterday.
Dr. Morton Botel: On this note, it's quite useful for teachers to have access to the professional journals in their subject areas.
Dr. Morton Botel: The example [Moderator 2] gave comes from the Arithmetic Teacher. Braden actually shared something rather than asked a question, right Braden? All of the professional associations have journals which on a monthly basis provide new research and teacher sharing of their best practices.
Moderator 2: Yes.
Dr. Morton Botel: These periodical references are available through the internet, of course.
Moderator: That is why I think it is important for teachers to read their professional journals.
Moderator 2: We're hoping that our PLN 2 students share concerns, readings, successes as part of their Independent Activity hours.
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Reading PLN 2 Chat with Mort
Question 1: So the question is, how do you instill the same or some kind of affection for reading for kids who carry the weight of their negative experience?
Dr. Morton Botel: Regretfully, the kids you guys are working with have had years and years of being expected to read their textbooks with very little success. Any notion of reading reminds them of these frustrating years which made them feel badly about who they are and the idea of reading connected to it. Ideally, in our school, if we had one, kids would be choosing books even before they could read in the conventional sense and would be encouraged to read the pictures and read to each other along with being read to by the teacher with appropriate skill development...these kids would grow up "readers". [A] few suggestions: First of all, teachers need to show that they are readers themselves by bringing books in which they have read and make them available to kids who are interested after chatting about their significance to them, that is, to the teacher. Second, there ought to be a class period in English every week and in the content areas every 2 or 3 weeks devoted to reading self selected books related to the units of study they are experiencing. The school librarian, and the community librarian can be very helpful assembling these content related books and periodicals. All we should expect from the student in the last 10 minutes of these periods is to say something in a sentence or two about what stood out for them in the books they chose.
Question 2: How would you manage the student who becomes bored with what they have chosen or has so much difficulty reading that they refuse to participate?
Dr. Morton Botel: There are books available called "high interest easy to read" books. While there are many publishers of these books, Scholastic stands out as one who offers a huge number of these books. They typically are written about a second to fourth grade reading level but the format does not turn off high school students. It would be very important to meet with such students individually to examine some of these books and to encourage them to say which of them they might read in a study period or in a self selected reading classroom. A book conference of this sort will open up many of the feelings that kids are experiencing that have come from the years of frustration, particularly those things that led to their being branded as "stupid".
Participant Comment: This is certainly something worth trying. Thinking of them as individuals and promoting individual success. Thanks.
Question 3: How would you get students to complete more of their homework assignments?
Dr. Morton Botel: Am I correct in believing that for the most part these students cannot read the course text at an instructional level which is to say that for them, they cannot read the text for fluency and with good comprehension. For that group of students, you will typically not get them to do their homework related to these texts because they cannot read it. If I were you, I would meet with these students one on one and monitor what they do when they try to complete the assignment. If I am correct, they will not have a clue. Therefore, it seems more reasonable to give these students and perhaps all students alternative assignments, one of which can be completed by students working independently. You will only know if they can complete such an assignment by observing what they do as they work on it--like practice sessions in school with you observing and giving feedback (or perhaps after school one on one.)
Question 4: I find our kids lacking motivation. True, they dislike reading, but they seem completely apathetic about the learning process in general. Any suggestions on lighting the fire?
Dr. Morton Botel: Everything I mentioned so far--self selected reading, reflection on what they do when they do assignments is related to "lighting their fire." Additionally, finding out what interests them by giving them choices of books (high interest/low readability). I hope that's a bit helpful.
Participant Comment: Yes. Thank you.
Question 5: What do you think about the nonstandard ways our students communicate: u instead of you, cuz instead of because, etc.?
Dr. Morton Botel: When there is a new spelling for text messages, nothing will influence users to change their spellings but writing for other audiences (letters to senators, letters to the editor, articles for the school newspaper) are held to a different standard. Since most of our students now write using a computer, they should be expected to use the spell and grammar checks.
Question 6: I teach science. The books have a high reading level. I am using vocab notebooks to introduce new words before reading. Any other ideas?
Dr. Morton Botel: One of Penn Literacy Network's main strategies is the BDA strategy which you've learned in class. My question to you is, what are some of the before reading experiences you provide for your students to draw upon their prior knowledge and to introduce concepts and related experiences (some of them in the real world) to provide a structure for their During reading. I guess this question is part of my answer. I have another suggestion. Instead of giving them a vocabulary list and definitions, you might ask them to browse through the reading assignment to identify the key words and the context in which they are used in the book as the basis for choosing the best definition from a dictionary or some other source. This would be a much more active experience and it goes particularly well when two or three students work together to make such identifications.
Question 7: I teach Wellness and Gym of course but do try to get the reading in. We take most of the reading from the text. Any suggestions on finding related material for a Wellness class?
Moderator: I have a Probable Passage Example I use in my PLN 5 course.
Participant Comment: A Probable Passage?
Moderator: Let me know next class... I will show you. It's a lot like a word splash.
Moderator 2: In our next class we'll be doing an Anticipation Guide activity. One of the readings comes from our local newspaper and it's about the caffeine in decaffeinated coffee! It's a short article and the anticipation guide works well with it.
Dr. Morton Botel: What a great opportunity to use Google or another search machine on the computer. When I write, I find it essential at the beginning of my survey of text material to find out what I can learn from the Google search. I hope that's helpful re: your wellness class.
Question 8: What is it that high school students do read? Newpapers, magazines?
Dr. Morton Botel: I think they mostly read each other's writing as in text messaging and instant messaging on the computer or phone but precious little else unless it's assigned in school. Sorry to say.
Question 9: How to we get kids to develop stamina in reading, to be willing to read paragraphs instead of sentences, pages instead of paragraphs?
Dr. Morton Botel: Interesting question. They need to feel greater confidence in their strategies. For example, they need to know how to turn headings into questions. They also need to read the related content to answer those questions from the headings. They should do this answering in their own words. They need guided practice under the teacher's tutelage.
Participant Comment: I come across a lot of students who do not care to take things to another, higher level. They could care less about questioning anything
Dr. Morton Botel: One of the most important things to do under the teacher's supervision is to read and write about text using the double entry journal which Carl can show you if you don't know about it. Some of you know it as the Cornell method. It is not enough to present students with an outline of this approach. They need supervised, long term guidance and then work in pairs before they can be expected to take full responsibility for producing an appropriate text.
Moderator 2: This has been a great conversation; I've loved the questions...and the answers! One thing I've learned about poor or reluctant readers as I've gotten older and wiser is that they need to see how good readers work their way through difficult text - Think Alouds, for ex., which show them our own processes at work. Sometimes poor readers think that good readers are good just because...they're good; they don't realize the work involved in making sense of text. We need to show them how.
Question 10: How do you turn headings into questions?
Dr. Morton Botel: To turn headings into questions you need to model that experience for students. Many text headings are already questions. It is not very difficult to take a statement and turn it into a question. Presumably, such a headed section points the mind to the key idea(s) in the section.
Moderator: You have all given us a number of ideas to review for future sessions... Any last quick questions?
Participant Comment: None from me. I look forward to your info and will consult Google for some reading we can do in Wellness that's outside of the text.
Participant Comment: Thank you for chatting with us.
Moderator: This was fun. Thank you all for participating in the chat. This was my first experience with this. I thank you all for your patience in letting an old dog a new trick. Thank you Bonnie and Mort for chatting with us. Would any of you like to stay on to ask questions of [the moderators]?
Question 11: I have a question about grading the writing assignments I give. Since I am not an English teacher and sometimes spell a word on the board wrong, (quickly corrected of course) I have a difficult time being critical of my students. What should I do?
Participant Comment: I just admit that I'm human. :)
Moderator 3: I have a word wall in my classroom. With that in mind, I hold my students responsible for the correct spelling of any word on it.
Participant Comment: I also give them extra credit for finding my mistakes. :)
Moderator 2: Remember when we did Document Review? Reward students for what students do well. We all make spelling mistakes...kids need to see that we're understanding and flexible...but when writing goes to the publishing level, they need to know that spelling becomes a courtesy issue to their audience.
Moderator: Let's have a conversation again about FCA's...
Participant Comment: FCAs?
Moderator: What do you think [moderator] can we do some review of Focus Correction Area (FCA's) at one of our future sessions?
Moderator 2: Sure, no problem. I think it came up when we talked about Document Review but we can go over it again.
Participant Comment: Oh FCAs, thanks.
Moderator: I like the wordwall idea... I would tie it to content specific words...
Participant Comment: I used a Word Wall last year. This year, I'm sharing space, so I have no WW, but the kids really do look at it.
Participant Comment: ... and if you cover those words, they'll still look in that direction.
Participant Comment: I think I teach in 3 different classrooms.
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