Quill Nov Dec 2010

The Quill
Serving Gloucester, Newport News, Poquoson, and York County
November-December 2010

Merry Christmas to one and all! What a wonderful time of year to snuggle up with children and read some great holiday books. My fondest memories were cuddling up with my own children and reading to them by the fireplace. I even have tapes of them “reading” the books to me when they were very young! It is touching to listen to them today and hear their childhood voices. So take time this season to cuddle up with a child and read to them. But also do not forget to read something fun for yourself too!!

Sherry Edbauer – President
Beth Guthrie - Vice President
Kelly Cartwright – Secretary
Cathy Huemer – Treasurer
Pam Gaspard - York County Membership Chair
Carmen Ellis - Newport News Membership ChairBeverly Becker – Historian
Marilyn Schempf - Legislative Liaison

On November 6, 2010, the Virginia State Reading Association Governing Board learned about the requirements for the International Reading Association Advocacy Award. In order to have advocacy a state must first ORGANIZE. We do that through governing board meetings and in having association with partnership organizations such as the Library of Virginia, book publishers, and Teachers of English. Then a state council must EDUCATE the membership. We do that through the VSRA newsletter, e-mails, and at state conferences. Then everyone must ADVOCATE for better reading instruction. In order to make the Virginia legislators aware of the VSRA goals for reading instruction, we usually have a Legislators’ Day in which members come to Richmond and go to offices of State Senators and Delegates. This year we are doing things a little differently. VSRA is going to hold a breakfast in the Capitol during the Budget Hearing on January 18, 2011 and invite legislators to come visit us. Children from Richmond City Schools will come read to legislators and we’ll present the VSRA Friend of Literacy Award to our local state Senator John Miller.

The International Project selected for this year is the Ghana’s Money for School Supplies.

A group of teachers from the US will be going to visit Ghana this summer to work with the teachers and the students there. They have school supplies and books that have been donated to take with them. Unfortunately the cost of taking suitcases filled with these items is about $250 per suitcase. We are going to be collecting money, in a suitcase, at all of our events this year to help defray the cost of taking a suitcase to Ghana. Then at our Spring Banquet we will be raffling off the suitcase!

Participating in an international project is one of the International Reading Association’s requirements to receive Honor Council status. This year the Board thought some of our members would like to participate by personally contributing to the project. Bring your pennies, dimes and dollars to help build supply books and school supplies to a needy area.

Do you see a duck or rabbit? That is the question that readers try to answer as they read Duck! Rabbit! by Amy K. Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. This story is about two friends having a discussion about whether the creature they see is a duck or rabbit. The characters share and defend their perspectives until the end of the story when they consider the other’s perspective. Through engaging text and illustrations, readers are reminded that there is more than one way to view an object.

Diane Ravitch, professor of education at NYU and former assistant secretary of education for George H.W. Bush, initially supported school reform: standards, accountability, and choice. In fact, she participated in their creation as a member of commissions and think tanks that developed these reform strategies. The Death and Life of the Great American School System explains her change of heart.

When it was published (3/10), much was made of who was voicing the critique. Ravitch’s doubts were significant because she had looked for and expected success. First a staunch supporter of No Child Left Behind, she deemed it a failure by 2006. One might expect such a book to precipitate other reconsiderations, but they are few and far between.

Though the effects of high-stakes testing are familiar to teachers, Ravitch offers a fascinating account of how they came about and the ramifications of each: the narrowing of curricula; teaching to the test; test preparation over instruction; the belief that one score effectively represents a student’s learning; the lowering of standards to increase pass rates; finding ways to not include students unlikely to pass; and cheating.

School choice has not yielded the expected results, either. Charter schools were expected to develop innovative programs. The remaining public schools would improve due to competition. Instead, Ravitch finds that charter schools look pretty much like all schools. And test scores for charter schools have not, as a whole, been appreciably higher. Yet the zeal of charter school advocates has not diminished.

Ravitch does cite some exceptional schools. Replicating them on a mass scale, though, is not an easy task. She likens it to telling baseball managers to all fill their teams with .300 hitters. It’s easier said than done.

Balanced Literacy and the teaching of reading strategies also have a place in school reform. That history will be of particular interest to reading teachers.

It is difficult for educators as well as the public to determine if schools have improved. Districts lauded for raising scores on state tests show no improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. There is a lot of contentious debate about why scores did or did not go up and what it means. Higher scores alone, however, would not placate Ravitch. “It would be surprising if scores did not rise when so much effort is expended to push them up…. And so we may find that we have obtained a paradoxical and terrible outcome: higher test scores and worse education.”

Author Sue Corbett, from Newport News, spoke to a group of interested participants on “RDG and WRTG in the TXTing World” at Page Middle School in Gloucester on November 17. She discussed how the world is changing and the students of today have such a different outlook on how to read and write. Afterward Sue’s books were available to purchase and have signed. Especially popular was her book, “The Twelve Days of Christmas in Virginia”, which highlights various aspects of Virginia and its history. Check out her other books, including “12 Again”, “Free Baseball” and “The Last Newspaper Boy in America”.

The Teachers As Readers grant applications have been evaluated and the following schools will be receiving money toward the purchase of books for their Teachers As Readers groups:

Begin thinking of people you would like to nominate for Reading Teacher of the Year, Administrator of the Year, Para-Professional of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. Nominations will be accepted now until March. Look around you at the great people you work with and who deserve recognition for their hard work and dedication. Nominations may be sent with a letter of recommendation to Kathy Bohince at Kathy.bohince@nn.k12.va.us.

Barnes & Noble Vote for Reader’s Choice Night Hosted by the Newport News Reading Council

On Thursday, January 27, Barnes & Noble and The Newport News Reading Council will be presenting an evening where parents and their children can come and read the Primary Virginia Choice Readers and vote on their favorite. These votes will be submitted to the state to be tabulated with the rest of the state. Parents will have the opportunity to purchase these books also, with a portion going to NNRC. Also flyers will be available to attend Chili’s that evening for dinner with specials for the families and a give-back to the NNRC also. Plan on attending with your own children and spread the word to your students and fellow teachers.

Our Newport News Reading Council Winter Conference will be on Tuesday, February 22 at CNU. Plan on coming to this informational event.

On Monday, October 26 the Hampton Reading and the Newport News Reading Council co-sponsored the Fall Conference at the new Pheniz School in Hampton. Approximately 100 participants enjoyed workshop sessions, visiting with vendors and seeing products and eating dinner. Door prizes donated by the vendors were given out to winners. Although it was a rainy evening, everyone left with new information and having the opportunity to see a brand new school concept.

At $25, membership in the NNRC and VSRA is a bargain. Here are some of the benefits of membership:

*Reading Council workshops are free
*Membership in the Virginia State Reading Association
*Reduced registration for the annual VSRA conference
*Four NNRC and Four VSRA newsletters per year
*Annual VSRA journal-Reading In Virginia
*Teachers as Readers groups
*Textbook Scholarships
*Legislative advocacy
*Professional networking
*Recognition through awards for outstanding teachers, administrators, and school reading programs

*The school with the highest percentage of members by November 11th will receive a $100 gift certificate to Parents Teacher Supply. One school from Newport News, one from York County, and one from Poquoson will win.

*All new members will be entered in a drawing. Five names will be selected to receive a $20 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.

NNRC is an organization that offers an opportunity for professional growth to the individual and the profession as a whole. Join today.

1. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. Lenore Look, Schwartz, 2008.

Students in school may read these books and vote on their favorites. What a great reading project for a classroom! See the VSRA website for more information.