Well this has been an exciting week at Fuller Middle School. First, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have been taking MCAS. It is so hard to watch the students in the overtime rooms sitting until 12 or 1 o'clock, valiantly struggling through the test. I am proud that our students did take the test seriously and gave each reading their best work.
I was thinking about all the time students spending sitting in their seats when they are finished, and I am wondering if we couldn't use that time better. Perhaps students could review books for the summer reading list, or they could read and review books for a book club selection. It seems like a perfect time to promote silent reading; however, we need to be careful not to make it too enticing so that students won't give the test their best work. Does anyone have any ideas???
On another note, we have spend the rest of our time defending our jobs as literacy specialists. Fortunately for us, our principal realizes the impact we make and fights hard for our positions. Yet, in this climate, every position must be accounted for. We prepared a report that illustrated how we have reduced the percentage of students reading two or more years below grade level in sixth grade (33%) to half that by the time they enter eighth grade (14%). We are hoping that this will illustrate the impact of the work we do.
Lastly, I recently learned about a website called Literacy Matters www.edc.org/LiteracyMatters. Check it out and leave a comment, what do you think? Is this a useful resource for secondary literacy folks?
