“Let Strategies Serve Literature” by Diana Senechal

Synopsis by Krissy Brown

Students need to learn reading strategies, but have literature teachers been neglectful of teaching the text by placing more emphasis on how students read rather than on what the students read?

When a teacher approaches a literature unit, she will most likely focus on teaching her students reading strategies to help them find the main idea, visualize the details, make predictions and inferences, make connections to one’s own life, and summarize passages. These are certainly skills that all students need to learn; studies even show that learning these skills help students solve problems. When a teacher uses strategy instruction as a main form of teaching; however, she is at risk for neglecting the actual content. Studies reveal that when the teaching focus is on strategy alone, students do not read the text for actual content comprehension. E.D. Hirsh Jr. explains that before students can “activate background knowledge, it must be built first.” (Hirsh 2010-2011)

Another problem with concentrating too heavily on teaching strategy and not enough on the actual text is that strategy alone treats text as being interchangeable. Students, thus, do not learn and are not exposed to specific works of literature that cultivate knowledge of cultures and demonstrate particular literary interpretations.

Strategy instruction has its undeniable place in a literature curriculum. As Diana Senechal points out, however, it must not become the curriculum. Literature curriculums need to be rich in the study of complex works that generate whole-class study and analysis.

Reference: Senechal, D. (2011, March). "Let Strategies Serve Literature". Educaitonal Leadership , 68, pp. 52-56.

Evaluations That Help Teachers Learn

Why are evaluations of teachers so important? Teachers offer a service and it is important that the public receive a high quality service. One of the challenges of teacher evaluations is how to evaluate properly in a way that is beneficial to improve teaching. This article discussed the Framework for Teaching method of observation that has proven effective for both teachers and administrators. There are 3 areas of the teacher evaluation system that will ensure teacher quality.
1. A consistent definition of good teaching. – Good teaching practice should be defined. It is not enough to just “know good teaching when I see it.”
2. A shared understanding of this definition. – Teachers, administrators, supervisors, coaches, and mentors must know and understand the definition. The common language of the definition must be discussed and understood so that all parties involved know what is expected.
3. Skilled evaluators. – The evaluators must be trained in good practices in order to be able to assess teachers accurately.

Another reason that teacher evaluations are important is to promote professional development. To foster the professional development the teacher must be a part of the assessment. This can happen in 3 ways.
1. Self-assessment
2. Reflection practice
3. Professional conversation
According to the Framework for Teaching method, the evaluator should take notes and make comments during the lesson and then give those notes and comments to the teacher before the post observation meeting. This allows time for the teacher to self-assess the lesson before just listening to the evaluator give his/her thoughts. This also allows time for the teacher to have some self-reflection of good and bad points of the lesson. Teachers have a tendency to be just as critical of themselves as the evaluator. Finally, during the post observation meeting, a professional conversation can occur between the teacher and evaluator rather than the conversation being just one-sided by the evaluator. The professional conversation can stimulate teacher development.

The Framework for Teaching evaluation method focuses on 4 domains.
1. Planning and preparation
2. Classroom environment
3. Instruction
4. Professional responsibilities
There are some challenges to using this type of evaluation system. The first challenge is training for the evaluators. This training will take some time and practice. Another challenge is finding the time for the professional conversations.

Danielson, Charlotte. (2011). Evaluations that help teachers learn. Educational Leadership, 68(4), 35-39.