Class #15--9th Age Reading

Wednesday, October 20, 8:30 A.M. 9th Age Reading Class. Class #15 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” marathon. WARNING: Get out your reading glasses, because this blog post is long! It has been a full week since my last observation. Time is really flying this school year. How can it be October 20 already? I am on my fifteenth class observation, so I am at 30% of my goal of 50 classes. The school year is not yet 25% complete, so my pace is good! I am in Mr. Howe’s reading class on this Wacky Wonderful Wednesday, as Mr. Howe describes the day. On Wednesdays, Mr. Howe explains to me, the class does some “out of the box activities.” Some fast facts about Mr. Howe: he is a Calvert graduate (Class of 1977), coaches baseball in the Middle School, and is a recipient of the Apgar Award for innovative teaching. The twelve students arrive and, clearly knowing the routine, open an independent reading book and begin to read silently. This is essentially a warm-up to get the students in the swing of reading class. After two to three minutes of silent reading, Mr. Howe explains that the students will be discussing a crucial “element” of every story—the title. Mr. Howe says to the class, “Studies show that the comprehension of the story begins with the title. The title influences how the reader thinks about a story. The title is a powerful part of the story.” A story about a whale, rabbit, and elephant is projected on the large screen on the wall. The title, however, is not given to the class. After a few students read the story aloud, the class offers suggestions about what the title should be, including: Small Animals and Big Animals, Rabbit’s Problem, The Elephant and the Rabbit, Big Animal’s Rudeness, and The Elephant’s Rudeness. Two stories are posted on red and purple paper on the classroom walls. Mr. Howe has the students get up out of their seats (movement is always a good idea in class), read one of the two stories silently, and then offer suggestions about appropriate titles. Their suggestions are outstanding! It is only 8:47 A.M. and the class is moving on to another activity. As I have said in prior blog posts, the pace is brisk but appropriate. The next part of class deals with another crucial element of a story—illustrations. Mr. Howe states, “Illustrations are powerful. They give information and draw the reader into the story.” The students take a piece of paper, divide it into quadrants, and then move into a creative activity I have not previously seen. Mr. Howe projects an image onto the screen for ten seconds, and removes the image. The students have approximately one minute to draw the image they just saw. There are three rounds, and the pictures are all different…but they turn out to be the different pieces of a jack-o-lantern shown in varying configurations! The students’ recreations are excellent! At 9:00 A.M., Mr. Howe, fresh off a bookmaking workshop he attended just yesterday, passes out sheets of paper and scissors and then walks his pupils through a variety of folds and cuts. The students will make a book out of a single sheet of paper. I am very impressed with their ability to follow Mr. Howe’s directions during this process. The class follows the same procedure again with a yellow piece of paper, only this time the directions are even more advanced as this version will be a pop-up book, made out of a single sheet of paper! Only six minutes remain in class and the students are working diligently to make every second count. Class ends at 9:20, with the students still fully engaged and wanting to do more. I honestly believe the students could have kept going for at least another 45 minutes. I look forward to coming back to see how the final versions of the stories look, with compelling titles and illustrations. Congratulations to Mr. Howe and his students for a wonderful class! I am sorry I do not have any pictures of the students' pop-up books to share today. I was so busy typing I neglected to take any pictures, but check back in the coming days as I plan to post some pictures.