Self-Consciousness in the Teaching of Reading

In today’s keynote, Prof. Lucy Calkins asked the audience (who are about 760 teachers/graduate students from 38 states and 11 countries) a question -- “When was your learning curve sky high?” In addition to this question, we were also asked to think about our own journeys as readers. The process of recalling our own journeys as learners and readers is important to make our teaching better. Being self-conscious about my own learning curve can help re-affirm myself what good teaching might look like. Being self-conscious about my own favorite English books can help recognize my preferred genres, which further ensure me to make a better decision in selecting literature across genres to teach.

Looking back on my learning journey during my formative years in China, I started to learn English as a second language from middle school. At that time, mathematics, rather than English literacy, was my favorite subject. My passion in mathematics never reached such a high level that math was my first choice in doing homework and I often couldn’t help discussing math problems with boys in my class, although at a sensitive teen age that boys and girls didn’t talk much to each other in class in the early 1990s in China. I set up a high expectation in math for myself and I was the top one female student in the subject who won district math prizes together with all other boys for our school. Why? There was a secret behind. I adored my math teacher Ms. Tang. She was a smart, artistic, humorous, but also rigorous middle-aged lady. I never saw a female math teacher as smart as her. The instruction she gave was succinct. She had the “magic” ability which could change complex problems into simple and clear interpretations…As Prof. Calkins mentioned in the keynote that U.S. DOE’s recent report showed that the access to a good teacher is the most likelihood that can increase children’s success, I was fortunate enough to enjoy the “sunshine” from Ms. Tang through my middle-school years, however, I was unfortunate to experience an ignorant math teacher in my high-school years who most of the time tried hard to “feed” students with textbook knowledge, like most teachers in China did/are still doing today. The big contrast directly caused my decreased interest in math which eventually influenced my choice of future career. Coming back to the discussion at the beginning of this reflection, what is good teaching about? Good teaching should come from the facilitator of the classroom, the teacher. Good teaching should be succinct, guiding, motivating, and involving. Good teaching should be interesting and creative in a predictable way (Calkins, 2001, The Art of Teaching Reading) so students can be self prepared. Good teaching should be constructive and social. Good teaching should be collaborative, differentiated, and open to new possibilities…

I read limited English literature before coming to the U.S. My favorite ones in mind include Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women. Jane Austin is always my favorite author whose writing style influenced me a lot. The conversations she wrote were models of succinct but powerful writings. I noticed that my favorite books were all fictions and all feminine. As an individual, I admired some glittering points of the female characters within the books: Scarlett’s undefeated spirit and persistence, Elizabeth’s intelligence, confidence, and courage, and Jo’s independence and pursuit of personal life goals. All of them conversed with me and created a beautiful world, full of imagination, colors, and lights, during the later stage of my formative years. I realized that I tended to use the limited flexibility (under a national curriculum) to do storytelling about fictions and fantasies with elementary students I taught in China. Being aware of my own preferences, as a teacher/educator, I need to pay more attention to other book genres and make sure that students will be able to read across genres in their English class. I need to develop more passions in other genres to facilitate students’ learning.