Food For Thought

It's safe to say that teaching is something I love. Even amidst pages and pages of standards, high stakes tests and jumbling up a schedule in attempt to fit everything in. Granted, all of these examples are causes for crazy gymnastics moves (somedays) and reconfiguring daily schedules at the drop of a hat. However, teachers are known for needing to be flexible. Whether this flexibility arises from a daily event, a state test, a student issue, technology not cooperating like it did five minutes before, or a lesson not quite turning out as planned. Those 26+ sets of confused eyes can definitely haunt a teacher at night and require him/her to have ample amounts of coffee the next day.

 I am currently working on my next blog post- The Importance of Justifying and upon doing some research I came across this quote from Karen Tankersley's book, Literacy Strategies for Grades 4–12:

"Content instruction should strive for depth rather than breadth. To process what they read with insight and a critical eye, students must be able to consider the text as a whole and understand what the author is trying to communicate."

This quote got my wheels spinning, sidetracked my "in the works post" and is actually making me practice my own flexibility.  Why are teachers feeling the pressure of teaching content an inch thick and a mile wide, when the majority of students  don't understand the said material on a deeper level. Why are we okay with allowing surface level understanding to occur for students? Why are we willing to be flexible with everything else around us, but yet struggle with being flexible with the stack of content we get through each day or our methods of teaching it?

Time. Time is the big culprit. We want to use the time that we have as wisely as possible.  So what do we do? How can we make the most of it, teach everything we need to and do so in way that children gain a deep understanding? Through brainstorming, the one idea I keep coming back to is content area integration. Granted this is a whole different topic and requires a separate post. However, it could be a possible solution. 

"With an increase in content standards that teachers are required to cover and an increase in expectations of student performance, teachers need to teach more material in the same amount of time. Integrating curriculum allows for this. When teachers integrate literature in science or other content areas, students can focus not only content but also reading comprehension strategies in meaningful and memorable ways. Students will not only achieve gains across content areas but also improve their attitudes in content areas." ( Ansberry & Morgan, 2010)

To me, it sounds like Ansberry and Morgan are on to something. At least providing a little food for thought and material for a future post.