Notice and Note

So I've had this blog set up for over a year, with great intentions to write.  And like many of my former students, I felt like I had nothing worthy to say.  Poor example. Convicted. No excuse.  But in my Twitter ventures, I find gentle reminders by folks such as Steven Anderson and his Web 2.0 Classroom; I'm going to follow the advice--write when you can.  Here I go.

Yesterday, my colleagues and I spent a wonderful day with Kyleen Beers and Bob Probst learning about reading signposts that they describe in their lastest book Notice and Note.  The comment that struck me the most throughout this wonderful day of learning was this: Rigor without relevance is just plain hard.  So true.  Rigor without relevance creates disengagement--painful for both student and teacher alike.

How do we make works by Shakespeare, Henry David Thoreau, and Toni Morrison relevant to 21st Century digital learners? What I learned from Kyleen and Bob is that we as teachers don't create relevance by providing texts that match students' interests necessarily, rather we provide the conditions for reading complex texts so that students create their own relevance for reading.  Simple concept, but not necessarily simple to facilitate.  Fortunately, Beers and Probst have, through years of research, provided tools in the 6 signposts and accompanying anchor questions that not only aid students in creating their own relevance for reading, but also to keep them engaged in close reading.

I encourage teachers who hear their students say things like, "Thoreau is too hard." "Why do we have to read Shakespeare?" "This is boring." to take up Notice and Note and learn how to change students' minds.