Alan Lawrence Sitomer at AASL President’s Program
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
Sitomer is an author and an English Language Arts teacher in an urban California high school.
Tells story of Brijonea, who missed two weeks of school and asked about make-up work. Turns out she had been shot - bullet fragments still in leg. “She doesn’t need make-up work; she needs therapy.” Her make-up work was to write her story. Adults in this room know how to get back up when trauma hits; kids don’t always know how to get back up.
Got him thinking - why does a student like her still come to school? Why do any kids still come to school? It’s NOT for the bubble tests or the textbooks.
Why does she come to school? Because of the people in the room.
We have to take drastic action and fight the good fight to save libraries [my note: and librarians! It’s more than the stuff!].
“Today’s boys are starving to connect.” Gangs give you that connection, but they lead to death or jail.
“Real books empower us to build real connections.” Rock on.
The new 3 R’s: relevance, relationships, rigor.
“Real books empower us to build real relationships.”
“Real books open the door to authentic, meaningful rigor.” - critical thinking, etc.
Real books energize our students!
Everything is changing. “It’s all on the table.”
The school of the future looks like what? He shows pictures of students learning socially, collaboratively, in multicultural teams.
“Libraries are still on the cutting edge. I only wish more people would recognize it.”
Too many architects put the library on the sidelines. [Mine is like that!]
Reach 21st century students with real books. “It’s proving to be an incredibly sticky technology.”
“The textbooks are not engaging. Scripted curriculum does not work.” One-size-fits-all education doesn’t work.
“Books are core. The textbooks are supplemental.”
Look at research from Kelly Gallagher, Nancie Atwell, Alfie Kohn, Allington, etc. [Don’t forget Stephen Krashen!]
www.TheBookJam.ning.com or www.alansitomer.com for info on connecting kids.
New literacy requires that our students are able to compose and comprehend documents that are 30,000 words, 3,000 words, 300 words, 30 words, or no words. [He quoted someone … didn’t catch who.]
Sitomer is an author and an English Language Arts teacher in an urban California high school.
Tells story of Brijonea, who missed two weeks of school and asked about make-up work. Turns out she had been shot - bullet fragments still in leg. “She doesn’t need make-up work; she needs therapy.” Her make-up work was to write her story. Adults in this room know how to get back up when trauma hits; kids don’t always know how to get back up.
Got him thinking - why does a student like her still come to school? Why do any kids still come to school? It’s NOT for the bubble tests or the textbooks.
Why does she come to school? Because of the people in the room.
We have to take drastic action and fight the good fight to save libraries [my note: and librarians! It’s more than the stuff!].
“Today’s boys are starving to connect.” Gangs give you that connection, but they lead to death or jail.
“Real books empower us to build real connections.” Rock on.
The new 3 R’s: relevance, relationships, rigor.
“Real books empower us to build real relationships.”
“Real books open the door to authentic, meaningful rigor.” - critical thinking, etc.
Real books energize our students!
Everything is changing. “It’s all on the table.”
The school of the future looks like what? He shows pictures of students learning socially, collaboratively, in multicultural teams.
“Libraries are still on the cutting edge. I only wish more people would recognize it.”
Too many architects put the library on the sidelines. [Mine is like that!]
Reach 21st century students with real books. “It’s proving to be an incredibly sticky technology.”
“The textbooks are not engaging. Scripted curriculum does not work.” One-size-fits-all education doesn’t work.
“Books are core. The textbooks are supplemental.”
Look at research from Kelly Gallagher, Nancie Atwell, Alfie Kohn, Allington, etc. [Don’t forget Stephen Krashen!]
www.TheBookJam.ning.com or www.alansitomer.com for info on connecting kids.
New literacy requires that our students are able to compose and comprehend documents that are 30,000 words, 3,000 words, 300 words, 30 words, or no words. [He quoted someone … didn’t catch who.]