With the warmth and sunshine of December behind us
we have finally seemed to jump into winter with the arrival of the New Year.
Perhaps all of us can work together to convince our middle school students that
when the temperature dips into the single digits it is “cool”
to wear a hat and gloves! They may not listen, but we can keep preaching!
The New Year brings with it our continued focus to
make reading a priority at the middle level both within and outside of school.
We know that books are the fundamental engines of advancement,
illumination, and wonder. We need to get
books in more of our children’s hands much more often than we are. And by ‘we’,
I am referring to school and home. We can’t do it all at school between 7:45 AM
and 2:15 PM. Making reading a part of who our children are is essential for
their lifelong success regardless of what their interests are or what they
decide to pursue after high school.
In school we
talk about literacy in broad terms, across all grades and disciplines. People
are more cognizant of providing daily opportunities for our students to read
and write with a purpose; to teach content through reading, writing, and
inquiry. Reading is the magic bullet for maximizing student achievement
and growth. It’s not just about reading books, but newspapers, magazines,
blogs, journals, web posts, directions, word problems, lyrics, recipes, music,
etc. Getting those in the hands of our students is essential. We continually
reflect on our instructional practices: how much time are we spending each
period, each day, each week, each unit, reading and writing? What are the tasks
associated with the various texts that students engage with? Reading and
writing should be an essential component which everything else that we do is
built around. We must ensure that we are giving our students what they need for
their future, not simply walking them through a bunch of content in order to
pass tests. The ability to read and write well are gifts. As we prepare our
students for their future there is nothing more valuable that they can take
with them.
Frank Bruni
wrote a wonderful OP-ED for the New York Times in which he eloquently captures
the importance and power of reading: “Reading
fuels the fires of intelligence and imagination, and if they don’t blaze well
before elementary school, a child’s education — a child’s life — may be an endless game of
catch-up.” I encourage you to read the entire article here.
One way that
you can help promote reading at home is to encourage your children to get
involved with our 2nd Annual ‘Battle of the Books’. The Battle is
about to get underway with competition between teams beginning in March. Last
year was our inaugural Battle, with 68 students competing on 17 teams,
answering questions about 8 books which were focused on a theme of
"Journeys." Students had a great time using electronic buzzers, answering
questions, and wagering points to defeat their competitors. They had fun
reading and discussing great books!
This year's
competition promises to be even better with a visual Jeopardy-style electronic gameboard,
and book titles that have won several awards for quality writing and content in
middle-school fiction. The titles for this year can be found here.
The ‘Battle of
the Books’ is a great opportunity for your child to be on a team, in a
school-sponsored activity, developing their skills of teamwork, cooperation,
communication, all in a very fun environment! Competition will take place
during IT and there are still openings for teams and for individuals who would
like to be placed on a team. Please have your child see Mrs. Chemotti in the
library for more information.
Let’s continue to support and encourage our students
to read as we enter the New Year. Wishing all of you a happy and healthy 2016!
Continued
Success,
Stephen
R. Dunham
sdunham@westgenesee.org
Follow
me on Twitter: @Sdunhamwgms
