There was a moment in class this past week that spoke
directly to what I have been reading in “Choice Words,” as it was a reflection
of the importance of teacher language in the classroom.
In
one of the classes that I observe (not one of the ones I have “taken over”, the
students are reading a whole class text called “Hanging on to Max.” From a
general perspective, I would say, the class is struggling as a whole to read
this book, as reading comprehension is low across the board. This was most
clearly shown this past week, as the students took a VERY basic quiz on the
book and only 3 students passed. 2 people scored a 100, 1 person scored a 90,
and the majority of the rest of the scores were between 0-60.
With
that in mind, however, there has been a girl in class who seems to have really
engaged with the book and enjoyed reading it. On surface value, she comes
across as a student who does not care, has some issues with authority, and
generally does not want to be in school. She has had several behavioral
incidents at school so far this year (but not so much in our class) and there
is definitely some concern throughout the administration that she could have
some gang involvement. Long story short, it has been a wonderful experience
watching her engage with this text (albeit, as “sneakily” as possible so other
students don’t notice). I have gotten to know her very well over the past
month, and I know that she has the potential to be a “good” reader (as everyone
does), so my hope is that if she gains a sense of ownership and pride in her
reading she can feel a sense of legitimate agency. I think the quiz was a good
first step towards building this confidence and agentive purpose, as she was
the student who scored a 90. This is quite the accomplishment, especially when
compared to the rest of the class.
The
moment I mentioned in the first paragraph, however, occurred just after the
quizzes were returned. Most of the students did not seem to care at all that
they did so poorly on the quiz, so my CT wanted to give them a “wake-up” call
in the form of a soft rebuke. Within this wake up call, however, she mentioned
that the book the students have been reading was written for a 6th
grade lexile level. The purpose of this comment was to reveal to students the
fact that this book should be easily manageable, and I am sure that had an
impact on the many kids who were not having any success engaging with the text.
But I also think this language had a negative effect on the aforementioned
girl, as her reaction was rather depressing. She immediately locked eyes with
me and mouthed the question, “this is a 6th grade book? For sixth
graders?” And with one motion she shut her book, pushed it out in front of her
so it was out of reach, and slumped down in her chair. I think this small and
non-malicious revelation served to devalue this girl’s learning experience, as
she felt like the successful reading she has just engaged with had less worth
because it was not “meant” for her grade level. I think this can also serve as
a learning experience for the concept of lexile scores in general, as they can
connect a sense of shame or embarrassment to the reading experience, which is
certainly not a productive emotion to connect with such a personal activity.
Long
story short, I agree with Johnston that teacher language and the manner in
which the teacher positions the learning experience is critical, and I really loved
his book.
