Reading Class and Survival Skills

Just finished the book called The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner (2008). The premise is that we are teaching our kids to be great fact-memorizers and high-stakes test takers, but we are not preparing them for the future where they will need what Wagner calls the "Seven Survival Skills" (1. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, 2. Collaboration Across Networks & Leading by Influence, 3. Agility & Adaptability, 4. Initiative & Entrepreneurialism, 5. Effective Oral & Written Communication, 6. Accessing & Analyzing Information, and 7. Curiousity & Imagination). I thought it was really good and it has given me some ideas that I might be implement into my high school reading classes. I am lucky to have a lot of flexibility in my curriculum, and all of the items above would not only help students improve their reading skills, but help them be able to use what they read and comprehend; therefore, I in particular should be doing more to help students improve in these areas.

1. I want to offer more rigor along with choice. In years past I encouraged students to read things they were interested in. This is good, but I want to up the ante a little by having them work toward some sort of knowledge or achievement goal with what they learn. This will be with respect to the nonfiction reading we do. Maybe instead of me selecting all of the articles we use to practice reading strategies, I can let them select an article and use it for practice. This will take a little additional time, but it will also allow me to provide more practice and instruction at evaluating sources and focusing reading / reading with a purpose.

2. I want to have fewer "tests" and more projects. I already do a lot of projects, but why not turn current unit tests into projects too. Students could collaboratively come up with a way to present/teach the strategy and its application to the class. This would be better than a review and would also offer better evidence of their mastery of the concepts and their ability to do it.

3. I want to try to go to the local grade schools more often. In years past we have gone as a whole group to the kindergarten classes in December, then to the second grade classes in April. This is a big "one shot deal," and although the kids love it, I think it would be to their benefit to go more often. Maybe I can work out some sort of arrangement with the local grade schools so that a few kids could come each period of the day. Transportation would be an issue, BUT, maybe I can work with the Driver's Education teacher to arrange transport? Don't know if there is any liability associated with this option. I'd probably have to get parental permission at the least. Definitely worth exploration, though.

4. Finally, I want to offer some sort of incentive for FINISHING books. This idea did not come from the O'Connell book. It actually came from a book called Differentiated Instructional Strategies for Reading in the Content Areas (Carolyn Chapman & Rita King, 2003). They provided many ideas for "Celebrating Reading Achievement." It dawned on me while reading this chapter that I don't really do anything to celebrate when one of my students finishes a book. I should be, because my students have a higher "non-finishing" percentage than regular students and those who do finish a book always come up to my desk eager to talk about it. Why not capitalize on this eagerness and let it affect the rest of the students as well! They could earn something for finishing a book, or we could even have mini-celebrations (treats, etc.) when someone finishes a book. The finisher will be encouraged to share his/her opinion of the book and give a recommendation.

Those are just a few big ideas I've gotten from some of my summer reading. Many more are written in my "ideas" notebook, but they need further thought and weighing.