English Journal and How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

For the first two days of winter break, I couldn't focus for long enough to even read an article in Reader's Digest.  Now, after almost a week, I am catching up on the last three issues of English Journal and am a third of the way through How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough.  At the start of a break, I would usually be reading fiction, but for some reason am thoroughly engrossed in these non-fiction texts. 

How Children Succeed has been both interesting and discouraging up to this point.  I do like that it goes beyond the poverty issue and looks at causes for low academic success across socio-economic lines.  Those of us who teach have seen successful young people who grew up in poverty and unmotivated students who appear to have everything they need in life.  I think this book explains some of the causes for that.  What I am waiting for is solutions.  This is where I would prefer a printed book rather than my Kindle -- I'd be flipping through pages right now trying to find the "good news" to keep me motivated to keep reading the very important and informative research.  I need a glimmer of hope as, once again, so much leads back to those critical first years of life.  How do we overcome that (or help our students overcome that) at the high school level? 

Much of what I read so far in English Journal addresses the pros and cons of Common Core.  When my husband and I compare the stories we read when we were in our early teens to the books that some of our students read, we have to wonder just when students started reading less challenging texts.  Of course, we both love to read, so maybe we are comparing apples to oranges when looking back to our high school days.  I firmly agree that we need to ask our students to read more complex texts, but that goes hand in hand with our students coming to us reading at grade level.  Many of my students are unable to follow a story line that includes flashbacks or multiple narrators, even in a movie.   On a recent test, students (sophomores) asked me to define "factual" and "affectionate."  As I read through articles and books, I keep trying to reconcile the advice of a good friend to "meet the students where they are" and the mandate to teach complex texts "appropriate" to each grade level.  I will keep reading and gleaning ideas for scaffolding and engaging students.  I have been surprised at the effectiveness of some new methods I've used this year.  Some were far outside my comfort zone, but students both learned from those "wacky" ideas and reported that they found the method(s) helpful -- even when they found them as odd as I did! 

At some point, I will have to stop reading material of my choice and read the plays that I will teach my IB seniors this semester.  I've read one in the past two months, one back in the 1970s, and the other two not at all.  I'll be happy when next year rolls around and I have materials and experience with all of the curriculum for the classes I'm teaching.  I will be prepared for my classes this year before I teach, but it will be another six months of working almost every weekend.  But, for at least the next couple of days, I will read whatever my whim leads me to and not feel guilty for taking a break from lesson planning!