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"Literacy"... But with a Healthy Dose of Realism!

7/18/2012

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What is it with American Literacy Teachers?  Do they not teach health, physed and the Arts down there?  I know schools don’t have the mandatory 40 minutes a day of french that we do, but for goodness sakes, man, at what cost are their classroom literacy empires built?!

After experimenting with the Daily Five last year, a method for fostering independence, especially for younger learners, I am keen to refine my Literacy Block this year.  So, I have begun delving into Boushey and Moser’s “Literacy Café”, a sort of follow up to their Daily Five book.

The Café offers a toolkit of sorts for effective classroom management of the Literacy Block, with a particular emphasis on assessment-driven instruction.  The format is attractive, the writing style very readable.  And yet, after just a cursery perusal of the various sections of the book, I already felt uneasy. 

It didn’t take me long to figure out why: Here was yet another book written by teachers who appear to have nearly three hours uninterrupted each morning for literacy!

The “sample timetables” in the book included very little emphasis on Math, Social Studies and Science, and no Phys.Ed or Arts at all!  Even if the school you teach at does not offer music, drama, dance or visual art (for shame!), surely at least some of the other curriculum areas are so robust as to require some intensive instruction beyond 40 minutes every other day, no?  I had to laugh at their curriculum calendar template, which included 8 spaces for literacy-related focus topic (comprehension strategy, writing form, phonics/spelling skill, etc.), and only one for math, (“math strategy”)!  Having just embarked on a major math and technology project in my own classroom this year, I can assure you that to do even a basic, no-frills job that acceptably addresses the many, many curriculum expectations in the five strands of math will take up considerably more space in my “curriculum calendar”, tee hee!

Many of the strategies and the ideas presented in the Café Book are sound, practical ideas for most teachers, and the book is written, as I said earlier, in a friendly, invitational manner.  However, I will have to read Boushey and Moser’s offerings with a critical lens and a healthy dose of realism as I consider the rich curriculum context in which the Ontario Teacher applies the learning from this text.

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    About Vera...

    Vera & her Sons, April 2021
    After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB,  "Learn to Fly with Vera!"  and SMARTbansho .  Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina.  She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw)  than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) 
    DISCLAIMER
    The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about.  These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects.  They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog.
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Vera C. Teschow, OCT, M.Ed., MOT
Toronto, ON & St Peter's Harbour, PE
www.verateschow.ca 2021
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