Literacy Programs: I don't buy them!

"So you'd like me to go from being an outstanding teacher to a mediocre one?" (Gatto, 2007, p.73). 
This was Lynn Gatto's response to standardized reading and writing programs being enforced in her school district. After reading Gatto's chapter titled, Success Guaranteed Literacy Programs: I don't buy it!, I have a new appreciation for many of the learning experiences that I had growing up.

Conventional literacy programs being used in today's classrooms are full of meaningless activities. Students read about topics that are not interesting to them. They complete worksheets that are intended to enrich their learning. In classrooms, students are being prepared to take standardized tests. We are creating a society of auto-matrons. Students don't feel connected to the work that they are doing, and therefore we aren't reaching all of our students.

Lynn Gatto has fought against such literacy programs. Of course it doesn't mean that she hasn't been challenged along the way or that she doesn't believe that there is some good that can come from the work being done with those programs. She has been given grief by some of the other educators that she works with, but the administrative staff has been mostly supportive to her decisions. She has more than 30 years of success with her students. So why should she change what she's doing now?

This chapter was amazing. It makes me want to try all of the things that she did with this 12 week unit on butterflies. It's not your typical learning about butterflies that you see in most classrooms. Students each raised their own butterfly. They acted as scientists to observe and record information about their individual creature from larva to the butterfly stage. The class had to study specific information to create a vivarium. The students took field trips to the zoo to take notes on what a habitat was and how they'd have to go about designing one for their butterflies. All of the literature that students read in the classroom was related to the work that they were doing. Students were investigators looking for the connections between their reading and the butterflies. There were measurements to be made and calculations to be figured out in the building of the vivarium. And when they were all done, they opened a butterfly museum for 2 weeks to teach other students in the school about the butterflies and all of the work that they had done. The students had become the experts and were using their gained knowledge to lead the tours for the other classes. This whole project required students to use all kinds of literacy skills and develop those skills in a way that was meaningful to them. They had a purpose for what they were doing.

I hope to teach in a school that will allow me to create such learning experiences for my students. I think that students learn best from doing. This project taught them math, science, social skills, reading, and writing skills. The students had a real audience and were active voice in the creation of the project and the direction that their learning went. Students thoughts and concerns were listened to and discussed with the whole class.