I say this because reading is changing. Some are familiar with BookTok (ahem), and others only read if it is on a video game. I have no problem with video game reading because it was the incentive I used for my boys to read because I grew tired of constantly reading the instructions for them, but at the same time, we need to encourage them to read more.

An article at Psychology Today reiterates the benefits that we get from reading. The increase in empathy, improvement of mental health, and an improvement in social cognition are all benefits to reading. With mental health being at the forefront of concern for middle and high school students, the push to encourage reading in this age group is founded.

When I was struggling with my own mental health and anxiety issues, reading was one of the suggestions give to me as a part of my health plan. Turning off my phone and TV to focus on reading at least a chapter before bed was a great way to destress and unwind. My bad habit was overstimulation from electronic devices (TV included) and the inability to sleep due to focus on external stimuli I had no control over. Reading provided me a way to calm my anxiety and focus on something other than those things I had no control over.

At one time, my biggest argument for reading was telling my students how little they would earn than those classmates who read, but all it took was one student to rally against that and state they didn’t care. They’d rather live in poverty and on welfare than pick up a book. That was their exact words. It didn’t matter. But this was the same student who later came to me to share a book that changed their life. Most don’t realize that they need the messages in books. Not the messages that parents feel are indoctrinating their children. No. Instead they need the messages of hope, love, and the ability to overcome.

In college, my professor had me keep a reading journal. In this journal, I listed those books read and made a note as to what students would benefit from reading that particular book. There were books that I wouldn’t suggest due to the material and the fact that as a mother, I don’t think so, but I did find books that I felt my students who were struggling with identity or loss of a parent might find helpful. These are books that the students found helpful because of the improvement in their mental health that they didn’t know they received.

Connections are everything…

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Nine years ago, the word rigorous was pounded into my head. I needed to make sure that my lessons were rigorous (challenging), but they also needed to be world based. In other words, the students needed to be able to apply this to the world around them. The principal who told me this started me down a road where I would constantly think about how to incorporate that into my lessons.

Socratic circles were incorporated into my lessons. Debates were incorporated. Research based on problems were incorporated.

Hands on activities were my students’ favorite. When giving them a project, it involved writing, research, and an output that allowed them to be creative. To keep things achievable, I let them know that being an artist was not the goal. If I saw them working diligently, using their time wisely, and producing a quality product, then they did what I asked them to do.

Prior to that time period, I was unsure how PBL would fit into an ELA classroom. There were plenty of ways for it to fit into a Science, Math, or even Social Studies class, but ELA? It took me realizing that utilizing a problem (an argument about pollution, overpopulation, and food choices in the cafeteria) fit into the curriculum. Reading a novel could provide students with an opportunity to create a project based on the reading. With Restart, they did a project around bullying. When I taught The Giver, they gave each other jobs based on their personality traits and researched those jobs.

In the past, we’ve created board games to teach grammar, movies to create book trailers of favorite books, and held character trials. These are all project based. The challenge isn’t in the what. It’s in the how.

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What happened during that time period?

During the time of Covid, we saw a huge jump in virtual education, but we also saw a huge influx of students who became as addicted to social media, such as TikTok. I remember having students in my class while I was trying to teach who were going through the motions of a TikTok dances. Guess what? TikTok is still popular amongst middle school students.

This influx of social media with its instant satisfaction (think of the constant scrolling and the fact that videos were extremely short) created students who were conditioned to expect that stimuli be short, quick, and satisfactory.

How do we compete with that in the classroom?

In our school district, we began to utilize this in our classroom. Mini lessons became the name of the game, and we could easily fit 2 or 3 in a 60 minute class. This meant jumping and transitioning from one to the other. Allowing students shortened writing and processing times. How did this help with reading? You were basically teaching comprehension in short 5 to 15 minute bursts. But building up stamina for reading? Not really.

We are going to have to move past just competing with social media. We are going to have to retrain students in building up reading stamina if we are going to have any success in the classroom. Among my students who tested well this year, it was learning to skim read that helped them with their tests. But here in South Carolina, we have new standards and new tests in ELA. Skim reading may not help, but teaching students how to read a question and then find answers could benefit them. Over all, finding a way to engage students into reading and incorporating the shortened lessons to activate their need for constant changing stimuli could benefit post-Covid students.

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Then, this year happened.

This year, things changed in my thinking process because we switched over to another data system that revealed to us some cold hard truths about our students: Many were far behind. We had 7th graders whose reading skills were between Kindergarten and 3rd grade level. How could I possibly expect everyone to understand the theme of Poe’s poem, “A Dream Within a Dream,” when they couldn’t grasp the meaning of words in context or sound out words they didn’t know or identify the speaker? We’re talking about a lack of vocabulary and phonics skills. We’re talking about reading something and not remembering what they read.

The problem became clear when we first started reading a text. I asked a question about a character and the students were clueless. They couldn’t identify which details were about the character. They couldn’t identify which details were about the setting.

Example: “A man was traveling at dusk…” “The primrose were just beginning to blossom…”

Question: When did the story take place? Answer should be in the evening and the time of year is beginning of spring. Answers I received: Morning. Fall. Early in the morning. Summer.

The sad part is that we talked about what dusk meant. We talked about primrose, and prime meaning first, etc.

So I went back and retaught using colored highlighters. One color for character. One color for setting. Still there were struggles.

I’m back to the drawing board and we are in October. I realize that I have to abandon my ideals of teaching texts for teaching reading skills. Using those graphic organizers to keep track of identification. Teaching how to use the organizers. Teaching how to find the information when it is not right in your face. How to connect the dots in the middle when all you have is the beginning and the end.

When I was in college, I didn’t think about teaching students how to read. I thought about teaching those classic stories that I loved so much. Teaching reading was for elementary, right? Wrong! As teachers, we are having to go back and teach students how to read. Teach them how to find information in a text. Teach them to skim. Teach them what it means to find the information in the “context” of the paragraph. To read before and after. To re-read something multiple times to pull out all of the information and not just what they think it might say.

Some of this I feel came from that Covid bubble, but much of it can be traced back to how we once taught reading. It’s the same as when we moved away from teaching writing. We decided to do it prescriptively and only teach what was needed. Now we have students who lack writing skills. No punctuation. No paragraphs. Just words on a paper. No capitalization even. And then these students enter middle school and we have to teach them all over how to write. I told a student that a paragraph should be about the same thought. They didn’t know how to read their own writing and distinguish what information talked about a similar thought. It’s their writing. You would think that they would know what they wrote. Alas, no they can’t.

What about you? What instructional strategies are you discontinuing, and why?

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As I stood at the front of the classroom with my copy of the article in my hand and the one projected on the board, I looked out at all of the confused faces. Even the journal prompt had stumped them when I asked them to “define” bullying and what is “unintentional” bullying? The words “define” and “unintentional” were lost on them. If these words confused them, how could I manage to get them to understand what it was that they were reading? Even my honors students struggled with some of the vocabulary.

In the long run, it set me back in my plans. I needed to find a way to unlock the skills needed so that they could understand. I needed them to know that reading word-for-word wasn’t always necessary if you knew what the questions were or you were given a set task. In this instance, I asked them to find some facts in an article. We even made a list of what facts would look like. Skimming through to find those facts should have been easy, but they gave up quickly.

Is this the trend? If it seems too hard, you just quit. We will be reading a novel soon, and I need to know that they can push through. Their stamina is at an all time low when it comes to reading. Their motivation is non-existent. It’s time to teach some new skills that will help keep them motivated in the long run.

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I think I have tried everything possible with these students, and it had become clear that what had worked in the past would not work with these students. This is a different generation of student. One that has come through Covid. One that no longer has the intrinsic motivation necessary to become successful students, and extrinsic rewards do not appeal to them. Plus, behavior is horrible.

Now, not all teachers have the issues with the students that I have. Those teachers have either another teacher in the room with them, or they have taken on the role of a stern teacher from the beginning. My mistake is that my reputation precedes me. I have tried to be the one who seeks out the problem and take a kind approach, but what I’ve learned is that my reputation is one of a “pushover,” and you can do what you want in her class.

There was a change this week. My newly medicated self (thank you, ADHD meds that make me feel like I’m on top of my game) has taken a complete 180. I’m fully aware. I have my stuff together and organized. I am more than capable of pulling myself together rather than feeling like a tightly wound ball of anxiety.

I started on Tuesday reading and discussing Cisneros’s “Eleven.” It’s short enough to keep their attention. They can easily identify the fact that the teacher shouldn’t have pushed the sweater onto Rachel. They can also empathize with Rachel’s feelings about Sylvia who states the sweater belongs to Rachel. Plus, they can think about why Rachel states the fact that the teacher is right because she’s older. Later we will read an article on intentional and unintentional bullying by teachers and discuss that in reflection of this story. My biggest purpose is to make them think outside of the stereotypical bully by hinting at a teacher could bully or someone you don’t expect could bully.

Wednesday we talked about the problems around laws that address bullying. We also started a first glimpse at South Carolina’s Safe School Climate Act. They started talking about some of the forms of bullying, and I had them look into some vocabulary that they may not know. Friday we will completely unpack the law that addresses what schools need. From here on out, the SC law will be a frequent piece in the classroom as we read and discuss several text pieces. We have a Fall break coming up starting next week, and when we return from break, I am planning to start our novel study.

Today they started building a case for how they feel about the punishment for bullying and whether that should be more strict. I pointed out on Wednesday that an author who was interviewed on NPR stated that labeling a bully could be a stigma that they couldn’t get rid of. My hope is to help them understand that all of us tend to bully, and we don’t want to be labeled as a bully. We want prevention. We want conflict resolution. We want to change the climate within the classroom and school. Not just “Here’s a law and if you don’t abide by it you will be punished.” The Safe School Climate Act specifies that schools have a set of rules in place, but how do you teach them? Just saying don’t do it isn’t the clear answer. Because of this, I love to teach this unit. It makes them think. It makes them take ownership in what we are doing and why we are doing it.

With that said, I can’t do it if they are not willing to listen. I had to put students out of my class this week because they were disrespectful. Not just to me, but to each other, as well. And some had to learn that what they asked for is a two way street. You can’t say to me, “You never stop so-and-so when they say stuff to me,” and then when I deal with it, you say something rude to them. It doesn’t work that way. Me handing out a consequence to them doesn’t give you a free pass to do it back thinking you won’t have a consequence.

I just hope that this new backbone holds strong. They’ve pushed me into a corner, and I don’t do corners.

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When I taught 8th grade, and 8th grade honors, I utilized Socratic Circles frequently. When I began teaching 6th and 7th grade, I moved away from them, but after this past year, I have decided that I want to incorporate Socratic Circles in my classroom once again.

Socratic Circles can be quite scary in the beginning. A teacher’s job is hands off. You are not in charge. You are merely a facilitator, not the teacher. You maintain the time, beginning topic, and make sure that the students are cordial with one another. The prep work for the first one can be quite laborious, but once you get the ground work laid out and have students do a practice run, it gets easier.

The Prep

Many things need to be introduced before you can have a Socratic Circle. Students need to know:

1. What it looks like?
2. How to participate?
3. What types of questions they need?

What it looks like?

Most students have worked in groups before, but they really haven’t participated in Socratic Circles. Sometimes I will have them do Fishbowl Discussions as a precursor to Socratic Circles, but not all the time. I make sure to share with them video of students in Fishbowl and Socratic Circles so that they know what it should look like. We discuss what they notice (believe me, most students love to share what they see). We talk about the importance of it. For example, there were questions. Why did they need a question? To keep the discussion going. To add to the discussion. To question what they just talked about.

How to participate?

Students need to understand how to participate in a Socratic Circle. While students understand the concept of talking, they may not understand social cues when talking. They will need to learn how to listen for someone who is finished speaking. They need to know how to take over in a conversation. With a first time group, I may choose to give them speaking cards until they understand how to ease into a conversation. If they have something to say, they use a card rather than raising their hand. (They are used to raising hands)

I even offer sentence stems to give them an idea of how to go about participating in the discussion. They need to know how to refer back to a comment, or how to add to a comment. They also need to understand that it is important to have come prepared to the circle.

What types of questions are needed?

Before your first Socratic Circle prep, you need to teach students about the different types of questions. I teach them about Costas levels of questioning and go over as a class building questions. We may do this several times before we begin with a Socratic Circle they will be graded on.

The Socratic Circle

When I do Socratic Circles, I tend not to do one giant circle. Instead, I have smaller ones. To cut down on the noise on the outer circle, I give them a job. They are to observe a student in the circle. These are chosen by me. I’m also observing both circles.

They sign up for a topic ahead of time. For example, when I taught Romeo and Juliet, I had topics such as, How is love portrayed in the media? and students must tie that in to the play. These topics are usually based on one of the themes of the text we are reading. When we read “The Most Dangerous Game,” we also read articles about the ethics of hunting, and one of the questions was on the feelings of animals. Or after reading “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” I asked a Burning Question, “Who sacrificed the most?” My hot seat was on fire for that one.

I do include a Hot Seat for Burning Questions. This is an empty seat that anyone from the outer circle may enter into the discussion. They can ask a question or make a comment. They may not stay in the seat for the discussion. They may also not line up behind the seat. They can only approach the seat if it is empty. In doing this, they have to do several things: pay attention to body language both around the inner and outer circle, know when they can enter into the conversation, and know how to add without disrupting the flow of what is already happening. To make it easier, you can always have a person who is in charge of the Socratic Circle. They turn everyone’s attention to the person who has approached after they finish the discussion they are in. This worked wonderfully with my honors group because they would finish their discussion, and allow the person who joined to discuss their question before they left. The person in charge also had access to the timer. They knew how much time they still had to discuss.

I always give them a time limit for discussion. This gives them several benefits. One, they know they have to have questions to keep the discussion going. Two, they also know how much time they have and to wrap it up if discussions are getting to in depth. Of course, as the facilitator, I do keep questions written down to make sure they do meet their time goal and also to make sure that they discuss what I want them to discuss. I may know a question that may come up on a test or TDA or once they are in high school (for honors entering AP classes).

The most important thing that they need to know is to come to the circle prepared. They have to refer back to the text. That may mean a marked up text or their textbook with post its placed on certain pages. If they say something, they have to back it up with the text if it is necessary. Defend it with text, Define it with text, and Explain it with text. This is the one reason why I have decided to go back to Socratic Circles. The 8th grade teacher talked about students not knowing how to find textual evidence. I realized that the one thing that my Socratic Circles did was to force them to back everything with textual evidence. I have 6th grade and 7th grade students back to back. Going back to Socratic Circles gives me the opportunity to teach them to find text evidence to support questions and comments.

If you would like to try Socratic Circles in your classroom, I have a zip file that includes all of the things that I use. When I first was told about Socratic Circles, I wasn’t given any information. I had to search the internet, and over the course of 10 years, I have narrowed things down. You are more than welcome to use them in your classroom or adapt them to your own needs.

Socratic Circles

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I began teaching in 2012, and I was shocked to realize that I had 8th grade honors students who did not know how to sound out words in which they were unfamiliar. I’m certain that if that student had been able to sound out a word, they would have been able to answer the question correctly on a test. It was not a new word. It was a word that I’m certain they had heard in everyday conversations, if not, on television or movies.

Somewhere along the line we stopped teaching phonics. We reverted to a new method of teaching reading titled, Balanced Literacy. This approach to reading involved teaching students to look for cues to unknown words and to build a love for reading. The problem with this is that students who struggle to read do not enjoy reading. It’s like trying to decode an unfamiliar language.

An article in The New York Times by Sarah Mervosh titled, “‘Kids Can’t Read’: The Revolt That Is Taking On the Education Establishment,” brings to light the reform that is taking place in certain states and is being fought for by parents in many other states. Mervosh states that the Covid-19 pandemic made many parents aware of the reading problems of students. With parents in charge of their child’s education, they realized that there was a problem.

Across the nation many states are starting to see that the reading curriculum is falling short with many students. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to reading instruction. Our school district implemented a more science based reading approach, but they also use the READ180 and System44 programs for our low readers who have IEPs (individualized education plans). The program is great with our older readers, and I’ve seen students make great gains while in the program. The downside? It is not a great fit for those students who have dyslexia. The only program that supports dyslexic readers the way that they need reading support is Gillingham-Norton.

As for me, I’m a huge supporter of phonic instruction and the science of reading approach. Phonics instruction supports reading and writing. Students who have phonemic awareness can decipher text and write unfamiliar words that can at least be understood.

Despite all of this, it is clear that reform needs to happen. Illiterate students are a growing concern because these students are fast becoming illiterate adults faster than alliterate adults. While trying to inspire a love of reading is important, having students who know how to read and can decipher unfamiliar words to comprehend written texts is even more important.

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I sat there and stared at that article for a long time. For some reason, it made my teaching seem inadequate, and that I somehow was falling short in what I should be doing. In some of my classes, I was lucky if I managed to get students to listen as I read, much less read a book they chose and comprehend on their level. Plus, I need them to write? All this in 55 minutes? While accommodating 15 IEPs? And monitoring 22 No Contact Orders? How? When?

Truthfully, this is the first year where I feel like I’m merely refereeing instead of teaching. Many of these students do not want to try. They misbehave and avoid the work, and in the long run, they are hurting themselves. They are losing out on an education. They are missing opportunities to expand their world.

All of this leaves me to wonder whether or not I’m doing them an injustice by not trying to squeeze all six of these elements into my daily lesson? Did I read to them? Did they pick a book to read? Did they write about something personal? Did they comprehend what they read? It’s not easy. They don’t make it easy. Not at all.

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Except, it wasn’t that class that did me in. They were engaged in the lesson. They participated. I circulated the room and redirected, and offered assistance when they were stuck. They were fabulous, so I had high hopes for the rest of my day.

My next class, it went well. I redirected a few times, and students were surprised when I suddenly announced after the 5th transition that class was nearly over and they could pack up.

My honors class came in next, and I didn’t have to redirect as often. They are more capable of reading on their own and following directions with fewer explanations. It went smoothly. I began to feel this sense of great accomplishment. I had found the perfect lesson to keep students engaged from bell-to-bell and it was perfect.

Y’all, I got too cocky.

My last class rolled in after lunch and recess (basically free time), and immediately, I had to gain their attention 6 times to start my anticipatory set. I had to settle them down 5 times during that activity (which involved moving from one side of the room to another based on whether they agreed or disagreed with a statement).

When we transitioned back to their seats, I had to try 4 more times to get their attention and even raise my voice over theirs because they refused to quiet down. Once I explained what to do (with of course 5 more disruptions), I set my timer. They were reminded again that they were not to talk, but rather they were to be reading. Time was limited. Were they quiet? No. Same four students the entire class. I had chosen to stay near my student who constantly was up and down, but I’d go to the other side of the room, try to redirect before escorting my jack-in-the-box back into his seat.

The entire class, those students disrupted with talking or throwing things. Anything to avoid reading and writing.

I wonder why?

As I sat during my planning and looked over my list of students to pull for reading help, those 4 students were my lowest in the class.

Has it been so long that I have forgotten that many times disruptions come from those students who struggle, so they will act out to avoid doing the work? Only, I didn’t give them a free pass. I left jack-in-the-box with a classmate who started an intense debate on the subject, and I stood over those who weren’t working and reminded them that they were writing for the entire time (really only 10 minutes), and they were not allowed to stop. When I told them that spelling didn’t matter, but getting all of their ideas out onto the paper was the important part, two of the group decided to truly buckle down and write. This led the way for the others to follow.

I’m not sure why this one particular class is so difficult. They trash my room. They talk. They cut up. Not just those four. There are others who do the same. It’s frustrating. It makes my job feel like I’m living through a nightmare. I think to myself, “At least they will be 8th graders next year, and I won’t have to teach them again,” but I know that I have another group coming up that are the same way. New group. New needs.

Is it June yet?

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