Who's reading this?

Recently, I've been reading Jim Burke's The English Teacher's Companion for my methods class.  He 
has a chapter titled "How to Teach So Students Will Learn, Use, Remember - and Enjoy!"  In this chapter, Burke quotes Schmoker who "calls for teachers to focus on a 'coherent curriculum, sound lessons, and meaningful opportunities to read and write."  The last part of this quote really struck me, the whole “meaningful opportunities to read and write.”  It is something so seemingly obvious – that English teachers should provide their students with such opportunities – and yet in the majority of my experiences in high school English classrooms, whether as student or observer, these opportunities have been starkly missing.  As strange as it may sound, opportunities to read and write in class aren’t a regular thing.  Most students in English classes are asked to do almost all of their reading and writing outside of class.  Why?  How are they supposed to become better readers and writers?  Though, it is not just about the number of opportunities, but also how meaningful these opportunities are for students.

Just the night before reading the Burke chapter, we had a guest speaker come to our Teaching with Tech class.  Reading the Burke chapter brought to mind the conversation that was generated last night with our guest, David Theune.  Theune, a high school English teacher, talked about his decision to essentially eliminate the use of rubrics in his classes.  In place, he has forged meaningful ties with both the local community and world at large as audiences for his students.  Every time Theune’s students write, they are writing for an audience, and one that isn’t just him.  Sometimes that audience is a friend or family member, other times it is a local non-profit or younger students in the school district.  Community members are invited into his classroom regularly to hear students read their work and he provides students with opportunities to get out of the classroom and share their work out in the community.  He also facilitates book clubs and community reads that are inclusive of all community members.  In sum, Theune is the man and has nailed Burke’s Ten Elements of Effective Instruction.  In particular, by having his students read and write for specific audiences, Theune makes explicit connections between students’ lives, the real world, and Big Ideas.  He also provides meaningful opportunities for students to practice, perfect, and perform all lessons in class and at home.

Without meaningful opportunities to read and write, without audiences to read or write for, what inspiration is there for students to read and write at all?  What motivation is there for students to produce their best work?  Burke also provides meaningful reading and writing opportunities for his students.  In the case of Burke's classroom, the reading and writing is meaningful less because of the audience and more because of its relevance and use in building toward the most difficult task.  He explicitly teaches them strategies for learning, remembering, and doing, one of his elements of effective instruction.  He models note-taking and has students formulate paragraphs from their notes in class - all in preparation for a final essay.

As is evidenced by Theune's classroom and his educational philosophy, the impact of audiences and meaningful opportunities to read and write extends far beyond his immediate students and has the effect of transforming both school and community climate.  Boundaries are crossed when the community is invited into Theune's classroom and when his students go out into their community.  Rather than co-existing as two separate spaces, the school and the outside community interweave and sustain one another - a symbiotic relationship.