Both the Ladson-Billings and the Gatto readings provide specific examples of the practices outlined by O'Brien & Dillon. For example, O'Brien & Dillon says that we must "Provide more compelling reasons to read." Both Carter, the teacher in the Ladson-Billings reading, and Gatto did this.
Instead of presenting reading and writing as an isolated exercise with no compelling reason to do it beyond the four corners of an assignment. The teachers profiled in these articles present reading and writing as one element of an overall project that engaged students. O'Brien and Dillon say to "Reduce anxiety over reading as a performance or process by focusing on reading as just one avenue towards activity or action." Gatto did this by organizing the butterfly project. Writing journals about the butterflies was one part of this overall project, which also involved research of butterfly development and migration, use of microscopes to study the butterflies, building a vivarium, and even an opportunity to work on translations from English to Spanish, in conjunction with another class. Writing was a vital element of all this, but students got to use the writing as just one tool in an overall project that gave the writing meaning and purpose beyond an exercise.
O'Brien and Dillon further say to "Provide explicit instruction leading to guided and independent practice." We see this strategy with Carter's class. He had students who were not confident that they could write a story. By giving them tasks, each building off one another, he guided them through a project. The Winton Marsalis song first got their interest and provided a hook, then each step, from character web, to writing snippets of dialog, helped build confidence. Thee steps formed the pieces to the final story that they produced.
O'Brien and Dillon say to "Provide ample opportunities for students to receive feedback from teachers and peers" -- Carter makes great use of this practice as well. At several points along the way, he has the students review their classmates drafts in groups. This is not just to critique them, but also provides support. The students help each other, struggle through the drafts together, provide ideas and help work out story elements together.
Gatto and Carter Forsay's work described in the Ladson-Billings article are exciting examples of what Friere advocates in her article "On Banking Education." It is the opposite of the banking method so prevelant in schools. These teachers are not force feeding knowledge to their students, they are making learning an active and lively pursuit. Gatto and Ladson-Billings both present interesting alternative methods to the banking of education.
What would a lesson plan like this look like in my future social studies classroom? The basic idea to Gatto and Ladson-Billing's lesson plans is that it places literacy in a context. literacy is embedded into the project. Instead of learning in isolated pieces of disassociated knowledge, these students are using literacy as a tool to accomplish a project.
In my classroom, literacy will always be a tool to learning history. Students will have to read, research, interpret primary documents, access the arguments of secondary sources, and write their own thoughts about history and its implications on the present and on their lives.
Here is an example of a project in the vein of what Gatto and Ladson-Billings both describe, that relates to a history class.
This is a blog about Harry Lamin, a British soldier in World War I who was stationed in Northern Italy. This soldier's grandson found his letters that he wrote home to his family during the war. The grandson posted the letters, word for word, as they were written, ninety years ago, to a blog -- introducing each letter on the anniversary of the day it was written. He did not reveal what ultimately happened to his grandfather, the blog's followers had to wait for each post to keep up with the story (Harry was a prolific letter writer, so there was usually a letter each day). The blog eventually had thousands of followers and it looks like it is ongoing, although the letters have now extended into 1919 (it looks like Harry stayed in the military after the war ended).
I could see this becoming an excellent lesson plan for a year long side project. I could introduce each letter day by day to the class, let them read it and then post it to the blog. Then they could keep their own journal about their thoughts about Harry (or whatever soldier or person is used for the project). They could reflect on what they would do in a given situation, and what they thought would happen next, and any other thoughts about the events that Harry was living through. Other projects could include research into the historical context -- the cultural and societal elements mentioned in the letters, the historical and political events mentioned. The overall picture that Harry finds himself in. All this research could be posted to the blog as well, as addenda, or as annotations to the letters.
A project like this would place students within the history itself, as experienced in real time by an average person who lived the events. Students would also see a practical use of writing -- the letters represent an important use of literacy in real life. It would also provide students with an opportunity to write and reflect on how people lived in another time. I think a project like this could offer dozens of opportunities to use literacy to learn about history.
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