A key aspect of both L3 and Accelerated Literacy pedagogies in the K-6 Australian classroom is providing ‘quality texts’ for a learning focus as a whole class. No matter what pedagogy is the flavour of the month in a given educational setting, utilising quality texts is the key to unlocking student potential.
In answering the question, ‘what makes a quality text?’ we must keep in mind that it is closely related to ‘what makes a good writer?’ In many classrooms over the last 5 years, I’ve witnessed teacher and administrator despair at the low quality of writing being produced by students…and yet the instructional texts being chosen by schools or educators have most recently been phonics based, ‘guided readers’ or ‘decodable’ readers / texts (see my previous post regarding my feelings about texts used to teach children how to read).
What makes a quality text? Well, I present the idea that: if you give children boring, out of context, un-relatable, poor quality texts in which to learn to read, you will get boring, out of context, un-relatable poor quality writing produced by students.
So, what makes a quality text / quality writer? See the quality book: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore (2012) by W.E. Joyce. (This was also adapted as an award winning short film (Joyce, 2011). This book is something I try to show every class that I teach while being a casual teacher (and otherwise). I show the movie, then I ask the students, depending on time, to explain why some books fly and some do not – ergo, what makes a quality text. They explain: its a book that is funny, exciting, interesting, takes them places they’ve never thought of or been to before, or that creates a picture inside their heads. In one class, they were using the 7 Steps of Writing strategies and could see the link to quality texts and quality writing clearly, answering ‘sizzling starts,’ etc.
Its not hard to help students make the link from quality reading to quality writing…we just have to work on getting rid of those boring books being used exclusively by educators and administrators…
A key factor that is often overlooked in the teaching of reading (such as the L3 / Reading Recovery / Phonics / Decodable readers debates) are the objectives of the K-10 English syllabus:
Image: K-10 NSW English Syllabus Objectives (NESA, 2012).
Of specific interest to me as a prospective teacher librarian, and indeed, all who attempting to grasp the content outcomes of literacy, are the concepts of
‘Students will value and appreciate the importance of the English language as a key to learning‘
‘Communicating through speaking, listening, reading, writing, viewing and representing’
‘The personal enrichment to be gained from a love of English, literature and learning’ and
‘The independence gained from thinking imaginatively, creatively, interpretively and critically.’
As educators, we can get caught up in the content / outcomes / assessments / learning progressions / teaching students ‘how’ to do things like read and write, that we forget the ‘why’ objective(s) of teaching English in the first place: to unlock the door of learning, enabling enrichment of life through independent thought and communication.
Bitmoji Christy – Swoon
While reading Barone (2011), I was impressed by the determination of reading being more than just learning how to decode and learning how to comprehend – something that has been a bugbear of mine over the years while attempting to implement first, the Accelerated Literacy pedagogy, followed by the L3 (reading & writing) pedagogy in my stage 1 EAfS NSW Far West classrooms, the NSW Learning Continuums, followed by the ACARA Learning Progressions, as well as the recent push for teaching synthetic phonics and using decodable readers – leading to the question of whether the school library collection should be ‘levelled’ based on ability. (Learning to read / Reading to learn is something I discussed in a previous blog post). We must engage our students with texts and enable them to become lifelong readers! We must not just focus on the ‘how’ to read, but also the ‘why.’
So often, we explain ‘why’ or ‘what’ we are learning when it comes to writing or math outcomes…why do we not explain the purpose for reading lessons?
Barone (2011) explains the ‘why’ we read, something we should be clarifying in our ‘W.e A.re L.earning T.o’ lesson introductions, in greater detail: “Reading to learn to read: Young children and adults alike engage in reading in order to learn to read. Teachers, parents, or tutors carefully select books that are just right for independent reading or a bit challenging for reading supported by a competent reader. Reading for pleasure: Adults and children read just for the joy of entering an imaginative world. Or they read just for the pleasure and satisfaction of learning something. Reading to enjoy vicarious experiences: Some books allow readers to discover what it was like to participate in a historical event, live in a different environment, or survive hardships. Readers are able to take on the persona of a character to better understand an event beyond their personal realm. Reading to develop background knowledge. Frequently, readers pursue topics that inform them about the world and important events. It is not possible for adults and children to experience everything directly; books offer these opportunities. Reading to understand: Adults and children often read biographies and historical fiction to understand an event or person. Others read to better understand an aspect of science or a scientist and the motivation behind a discovery. Reading to understand who we are: By exploring how characters solve dilemmas, readers can reflect how they might respond to similar circumstances and thus come to know themselves better. Reading to ponder: Adults and children read to explore ideas and beliefs—for instance, the beliefs of a culture or community—to compare them with their own. Reading to appreciate: Adults and children read to appreciate the quality of a book or the art within. They reread a favourite phrase or explore an illustration for the pleasure they derive from it. Reading to engage in conversation: Reading opens opportunities for adults and children to exchange ideas. They argue about a character and why he or she did something. They disagree about whether they both liked the same book or author. Importantly, this exchange allows readers to enjoy and appreciate a book more fully. (and) Reading to solve problems: Books can help readers solve a current problem they are facing” (Barone, 2011, p. 4-5).
We need to consider our ideas of childhood as teacher librarians, because we will be struck by conflict within ourselves and in our school contexts when it comes to 1. curation of resources, and 2. 21st century pedagogical approaches such as curriculum and behavioural ideologies. As stated in my teaching philosophy, I support the view, based on Piaget’s theories, that ‘childhood’ is a social construct and that human beings are, across the world, simply at varying stages of our physical, mental and social development. In terms of nature vs nurture (sometimes referred to as Locke vs Rousseau) I prefer Rousseau’s view of childhood as something curious, charming and valuable…something to nurture.
What is a child / Why as the question? “Events such as the development of mandated curriculum for the non-compulsory years, the implementation of diagnostic tools and assessment regimes in the first years of school, and moral panic of paedophilia are all under pinned by certain views of the child and ideals of childhood” … “(Thus,) it might be timely to re-examine our understandings of children and childhood” (Woodrow, 1999).
What is a child / Then and now / Plurality: “Ever since JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS (1592–1670) published his Didactica Magna (1649) and JOHN LOCKE (1632–1704) produced his treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693), observers of children have been occupied with attempting to understand, document, and comment on what it is and what it means to be a child. … A child has been defined as any person below a notional age of majority, but this has been variously interpreted and there have been many differences throughout history in the ways that societies have come to recognise the exact beginning and end of childhood. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has for its purposes identified childhood as that stage of life experienced by any person between birth and fifteen years. Article 1 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that a child is any person under the age of eighteen. … The eighteenth-century philosopher JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712–1778), in constructing an ideal childhood, described what he termed the “age of nature” as occurring between birth and twelve years. For the Austrian-born philosopher RUDOLF STEINER (1861–1925), childhood was a state of physical and spiritual being roughly between the ages of seven and fourteen years, indicated initially by certain physiological changes such as the loss of the milk teeth. … Biological-anthropologists, taking a bio-cultural perspective, regard childhood as a stage in development unique to humans, the function of which is the preparation for adulthood. However, advocates of a new sociology of childhood such as sociologist Alison James have pointed out that: ‘chronological age is sometimes of little use when comparing childhood across very different cultures and societies. A ten year old may be a school child in one society, the head of a household in another. As such, the new sociology of childhood prefers to identify a “plurality of childhoods” rather than one structural conditional term’‘ (Bourke, 2008-emphasis added).
What is a child / Plurality in the law: “This plurality, it has been argued, is partly reflected through the prism of children’s own definition of themselves. … The age at which a person can be considered capable of moral reflection upon their actions has altered over time according to changes in the understanding of childhood. Thus, for example, according to nineteenth-century English common law, it became established that children should be exempt from criminal liability under the age of seven. This was raised to age eight in 1933 and to ten in 1963.” (Bourke, 2008).
What is a child / Then and now: “…proper perspective is something that is sorely missing in debates about the state of children and childhood today. It is easy to forget, for example, that only a few hundred years ago, children could not even be said to have a childhood” (Guldberg, 2009, p.46-47). “Whether or how much parents in medieval times could be said to love their children, today’s separation of a distinct world of childhood with its own clothes, games, entertainment, literature and education is undoubtedly modern. Over the past century or so the family has become increasingly focused emotionally and financially on the welfare of the child in ways that would have been unrecognisable to people in previous centuries” (Guldberg, 2009, p.48). “The modern view of childhood is understood to have been built upon the ideas of two great philosophers, JOHN LOCKE and JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU. Locke’s idea of a tabula rasa – the mind as a blank slate at birth – presents adults with the responsibility for ‘what is eventually written on the mind,’ writes Postman (1994, p.57). From the ‘Locke-an’ conception comes the view of the child as an ‘unformed person who through literacy, education, reason, self-control, and shame may be made into a civilised adult’ (Postman, 1994, p.59). Rousseau, on the other hand, put forward the Romantic view of the child – highlighting the charm and value of children, arousing ‘a curiosity about the nature of childhood that persists to this present day’ (Postman, 1994, p.58)” (Guldberg, 2009, p.50). “Only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the drastic decline in child labour and the advent and extension of compulsory schooling, could childhood really be said to exist in the modern sense. It was not until the 1870 Education Act, which gave rise to a national system of state education, that schooling became a priority in the UK” (Guldberg, 2009, p.51). “In the distant past, people had no choice but to treat children as little adults. Now that we have a more advanced society, it is up to us to protect childhood as an important stage of development rather than ‘pathologising’ it as a dangerous, unhappy time; and to help children on their way into adulthood, rather than seeking to keep them infantile for ever” (Guldberg, 2009, p.56-emphasis added).
What is a child / Children’s rights: “A ‘right’ here is defined as a claim to treatment, according to law or policy; a ‘child’ is defined as a person under the age of 18 years, as per the Children Act 1989” (Daniels, 2000, p.8).
What is a child? “Socially, the child is receptive to the different biases of the culture (they are) born into, and the particular ways in which these are transmitted to (them) by (their) parents or caregivers. Because of this, any search for the ‘natural child,’ over and above the minimum common ground, faces difficulties.” … “ Receptivity to a prevailing culture is itself a constant characteristic of all childhood” (Tucker, 1977, p.99). “The dividing line between ‘childish’ and ‘adult’ behaviour is constantly being redrawn both in minor and major ways, so emphasising the essentially relative and social nature of these terms.” … “In the early nineteenth century…the audience for Punch and Judy shows would consist of people of all ages; it was only by the end of the nineteenth century that children would make up practically the whole crowd” (Tucker, 1977, p.103). “At the same time, typically childish clothes—the sailor suits and frilly dresses of affluent children in former times—are giving way to more adult fashions at increasingly early stages in a child’s life. Soon it may only be the baby in the first year who has his own distinctive outfit” (Tucker, 1977, p.107). To quote PIAGET (in Tucker 1977, p.114-115-emphasis added): “With regard to mental functioning, the child is in fact identical with the adult; like the adult, he is an active being whose action, controlled by the law of interest or need, is incapable of working at full stretch if no appeal is made to the autonomous motive forces of that activity. Just as the tadpole already breathes, though with different organs from those of the frog, so the child acts like the adult, but employing a mentality whose structure varies according to the stages of its development.”
What is a child? / A socially constructed stage of life: Viewing the child as existing through its relations with others and always in a particular context…there are may children and many childhoods, each constructed by our ‘understandings of childhood and what children are and should be’ (Dahlberg, 1999, p.43). “Childhood is understood not as a preparatory or marginal stage, but as a component of the structure of society—a social institution—and important in its own right as one stage of the life course, no more or less important than other stages” (Dahlberg, 1999, p.49-emphasis added).
References
Burke, C. (2008). Theories in childhood. In Encyclopaedia of children and childhood in history and society. Retrieved from http://www.faqs.org/childhood/So-Th/Theories-of-Childhood.html
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P. & Pence, A. (1999). Constructing early childhood: What do we think it is? Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Postmodern Perspectives. Falmer Press.
Tucker, N. (1977). Summing up: what is a child? In What is a child? London: Fontana/Open Books.
Woodrow, C. (1999). Revisiting images of the child in early childhood education: Reflections and considerations. In Australian Journal of Early Childhood, Vol 24, (4).
