Norah Colvin

Live Love Laugh Learn … Create the possibilities

Tag: education

  • Writing to order – done in a flash!

    Writing to order – done in a flash!

    In a recent post Writing woes – Flash fiction I wrote about the difficulty I experienced in responding to a flash fiction prompt posted by Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch Communications.

    While I did eventually produce a piece in response to the prompt and received some very generous comments (thank you readers), the difficulty I was experiencing made me think of all the school children who have ever been set a topic and told to write about it, sometimes without an opportunity for discussion, reflection or planning, and often without any consideration of interests or experiences. I was feeling particularly sympathetic that week as children in Australia were, at that time, sitting the NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) writing test.

    This week, while again struggling with the flash fiction prompt but this time unsuccessfully, I happened across a post entitled The dangers of a single story shared on dangerously irrelevant.  This post is an extract from a longer paper entitled Mitigating the Dangers of a Single Story by Nadia Behizadeh.

    While I have not yet read the entire paper, the abstract itself is quite interesting.

    Behizadeh begins by saying

    “The dangers of a single story in current U.S. large-scale writing assessment are that assessment practice does not align with theory and this practice has negative effects on instruction and students.”

    As shown in my previous article, large-scale writing assessment also occurs in Australian schools and, I believe, in the Education systems of many other countries as well.

    It is interesting to see that the practice, while widely implemented, is not, according to Behizadeh, supported by theory. One would have to wonder why. Oftentimes teachers lament that those making decisions about educational practices are bureaucrats with little or no training or experience in education. (Pardon me, we all went to school didn’t we?)

    In our data driven world where information can be collected on spreadsheets, compared in a wide variety of graphs and tables, and stored indefinitely, emphasis moves from qualitative to quantitative assessment. I believe that this trend towards valuing only that which can be scored numerically is having a negative effect upon children’s learning and their enjoyment of learning. It discourages creativity and imagination and forces everyone to squeeze into the same sized and shaped hole. Some manage to fit more easily and more comfortably than others, but I question the cost to all.

    Behizadeh goes on to propose

    “A new vision of large-scale sociocultural writing portfolios in K–12 education . . . that builds on the practices of past large-scale portfolio assessment … (and) also encourages students to write in multiple languages/dialects and modes for multiple purposes.”

    I love the idea of portfolios for assessment, rather than a one-off test. I would think most professional writers have a portfolio consisting of work at various stages: some as ideas jotted on slips of paper, some in planning stages, others in draft form, others completed and waiting for the next step, and others in publication.

    A portfolio allows a writer to work on different pieces at different times and at different rates. Rarely is it imperative for a piece to be completed in an hour or two. (Unless you’re a journalist I suppose.) You can dip in, leave to rest, go back, redraft, edit, start again, and not be required to churn something out for a reader, let alone assessment, more or less on the spot.

    As a teacher, too, I loved my children having portfolios of work. They would write a draft of many different pieces and store them in a folder. They would edit and “publish” those only they wished (which was usually most!).

    I would conference with them about their pieces, firstly about the content be it story, poem, letter or information discussing what they wanted to say, who they were writing it for and how they wanted the reader to think and feel. When they were happy with their message we might talk about choices of words and language structures. Finally, when they were ready to publish, we would look at the surface features of spelling and punctuation. No teacher’s red pen was ever used to mark their work. The children were engaged with the entire process of writing (we called it “process writing” back then) and had ownership of their work.

    We published by sharing our work with classmates, other classes, teachers and parents. We displayed writing on classroom walls, in the hallways and in the school foyer. Each term I would print booklets of the children’s writing for them to take home and share with their families. Many took pride of place on the family bookshelves.

    This type of portfolio clearly demonstrates a student’s ability to write in a variety of genres, to develop an idea, to express oneself grammatically, to use editing skills and to proofread for spelling and punctuation correctness. What better than that could be used to assess a child’s writing development?

    The two main points I am making in this article are:

    • a one-off writing assessment task does not give students an opportunity to show their best work and puts pressure on them to perform
    • a portfolio of work collected over time provides a clear picture of student ability, development, and next steps for learning

    While I began this article by expressing how I was feeling about responding to the flash fiction prompt, I am in no way suggesting that the flash fiction challenge has any similarity to the national writing assessment tasks that are set for children, for it does not.

    With flash fiction:

    • I choose whether to participate or not
    • I choose the genre in which I will respond
    • I hone my writing skills, paring away unimportant words to get to the heart of the story
    • I share my writing with willing readers
    • I receive lots of encouraging and supportive feedback on my writing
    • I have a sense of belonging to a community of other writers.

     

    This week’s prompt was:

    In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that begins with a twist. 

    I have spent a lot of time thinking about this one, making various starts and writing some drafts but the twist in this one is, I haven’t been able to come up with something I am happy with sharing. But that’s okay because, unlike the children sitting the one-off national assessment, I can choose not to contribute this time, a low-ranking score won’t be collected and placed against my name for all time, and I can get to participate next time, if I choose.

    Although I am not contributing a piece this time, I have still learned a lot by the process of trying different things, even if I haven’t found a way to make them work, yet

    … and it provided me an opportunity of sharing some of my thoughts about writing with children. There will be more to come!

    I’d love to know what you think!

     

    PS Make sure you pop over to the Carrot Ranch to see how others have responded to the prompt.

     

     

     

  • Child’s play – the science of asking questions

    Unknown source. Apologies. Happy to attribute if informed.
    Unknown source. Apologies. Happy to attribute if informed.

    I often say that children are born scientists. From the moment they are born they are actively finding ways of figuring out how the world works, and how they can get it to work for them.1

    Some people say children are sponges. But I say they are more than that. They are creators. They don’t just copy what they see. They don’t just repeat what they hear. They find new ways of working things out, new ways of expressing ideas, and new ways of thinking about things. Parents often remark, when children exhibit new behaviours or cute new phrases or ways of expressing themselves, “Where did they get that from? Where did they learn that?” Often the source cannot be identified, for the source is within the child.

    An important way to keep children creating their own understandings and ideas is to not only allow them to ask questions, but to actively encourage them to do so, and to help them seek answers to their questions. Adults can be quick to quiet children’s questions for a number of reasons including not knowing the answer, being too busy at the time to investigate an answer, or even considering the question unimportant or “dumb”.

    Unknown source. Apologies. Happy to attribute if informed.
    Unknown source. Apologies. Happy to attribute if informed.

    Remember, many things that adults may take for granted or that they may no longer question but simply accept (possibly as a result of not receiving appropriate answers or responses to their childhood questions) are new and unfamiliar to the child.

    Sometimes it is easier to accept than to question for questioning means that something is unknown; and not knowing can lead to feelings of insecurity, doubt and instability. But it is these self-same feelings which drive innovation and progress. If everything was known, there would be no room for improvement, no need for anything new, no need for greater understanding.

    This inspiring TED talk by Beau Lotto and Amy O’Toole, Science is for everyone, kids included emphasizes the need for children to be given the opportunity of asking, and exploring answers to, questions.

    Beau explains that what we see is based upon our experience, upon our expectations. But he asks,

    “if perception is grounded in our history, . . . (and) we’re only ever responding according to what we’ve done before . . . how can we ever see differently?”

    He goes on to explain that seeing things differently begins with a question and that questions lead to uncertainty. He says that

    The-best-questions-are

    and explains that the answer to uncertainty is play. He says that play “is a way of being” and is important for five reasons:

    • Uncertainty is celebrated in play and makes play fun
    • Play is adaptable to change
    • Play is open to possibility
    • Play is cooperative
    • Play is intrinsically motivated

    “Play is its own reward.”

    Beau says that science, also, is a way of being; and that science experiments are like play.

    He describes working with a group of 8-10 year old children, encouraging them to ask questions and involving them in an investigation of a question they posed.

    Amy O’Toole, one of the children involved, joins Beau and describes the experiment which investigated the ability of bees to “adapt themselves to new situations using previously learned rules and conditions.”

    The really exciting thing about the project, Amy says, was that they “had no idea whether it would work. It was completely new, and no one had done it before, including adults.”

    The process of taking the findings of the project to publication, as Beau explains, was rather complex with a variety of complications, taking two years to achieve. The experiment itself took only four months! Publication of the paper made Amy and her friends the youngest ever published scientists.

    The response to the paper, The Blackawton Bees is amazing:

    30 000 downloads on the first day

    Editor’s Choice in Science (a top science magazine)

    the only paper forever freely accessible on Biology Letters and

    the second-most downloaded paper from Biology Letters in 2011

    Amy wraps up the talk by stating that

    “This project was really exciting for me, because it brought the process of discovery to life, and it showed me that anyone, and I mean anyone, has the potential to discover something new, and that a small question can lead into a big discovery.”

    She finishes by saying that

    “science isn’t just a boring subject … anyone can discover something new.”

    We might not all make those big scientific discoveries, but it is the questions we ask each day which lead to our own discoveries, no matter how small; it is our curiosity which keeps us learning.

    What have you learnt today?

     Changing-the-way-a

    1 This is just my opinion formed from observations, discussions and reading. I am not supporting it with research references.

  • Writing woes – Flash fiction

    For the past couple of months, Charli Mills has been posting a flash fiction challenge on her site Carrot Ranch Communications.

    I have been really enjoying the challenges as I hadn’t tried writing fiction in such brevity before. I do like having a go at various genres but the main focus of my writing is education and literacy learning. I am currently developing resources for children, parents and teachers which I plan to make available on a future website.

     Having many years’ experience in writing these types of resources, I sometimes think I would be willing to develop any resource requested by an early childhood teacher. Participating in the Flash Fiction Challenge was a way of proving to myself that I could attempt any topic and genre.

     However, I have not found writing a response to this week’s prompt so easy. Charli’s challenge was to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a travel horror story.

     I am not a fan of horror (real or imagined) and I haven’t done enough travel to have experienced a horror story (thankfully) but I was still keen to have a go and keep up my good participation record.

    The difficulty I was experiencing with this writing task made me think about writing tasks that are set for children in school. How many children have ever returned from holiday and been set the task of writing about “My Holiday”?

    Maybe that’s not so bad, they have all experienced it. But what about other topics that are of little interest to them.

     This week across Australia students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are sitting NAPLAN (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy) tests.

    Students in those year levels are set the same writing task . They are given “a ‘prompt’ – an idea or topic – and asked to write a response of a particular text type” 

    Information on the acara (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority) webstite explains that

    “In 2014, as in previous years, the Writing task will be a single common task for all students. The 2014 Writing test will require students to respond to either a persuasive or narrative Writing prompt. However, the genre of the prompt will not be disclosed prior to the test period.”

    It goes on further to say that

     “The provision of a rich and broad curriculum is the best preparation for NAPLAN, including the Writing task.”

    I think I have a fairly rich and broad educational background with a reasonable level of literacy skills; but I am not convinced that, on any given day, in a restricted amount of time, under the watchful eyes of supervisors I would produce my best work in response to a prompt about which I may have little experience, knowledge or interest.

     

    What about you? How do you think you would go?

     

    Below is my response to Charli’s horror travel prompt. I don’t think it is my best work.

     

    Travel woes

    She willed the doors shut forever, knowing that open they must, or she’d be left behind.

    She mentally checked and re-checked required items. Surely there was something she had missed?

     Dread gripped her ankles, threatening her balance.

    Fear squeezed her chest, constricting her breath.

     Heights and enclosed spaces were not her thing.

     She straightened, attempting to hide the tremble from fellow travellers.

     “Don’t be crowded. I need space, air to breathe.”

     The doors opened. She was swept inside.

     They closed, encasing her. No escape now.

    Would she make the distance, mind intact?

     Ding!

    Floor 35. Here already.

     

    The NAPLAN writing tasks are marked against a rubric of 10 criteria. I wonder what the criteria for flash fiction would be and how I would score.

     

    Please share your thoughts.

  • I Feel the Need, the Need to Read! by Tiffany Oppelt

    I Feel the Need, the Need to Read! by Tiffany Oppelt

    One reader’s story!

    Tiffany has a “read for fun everyday” policy. It’s a great one, don’t you think!

    CBethM's avatarNerdy Book Club

    Hello, my name is Tiffany and I am a reader.  Always have been and always will be.  Reading is more than a hobby or a pleasurable activity.  It is a true need in my life.

    It all started early.  I don’t remember learning to read.  I clearly remember the day the words began to make sense to me.  I was about five years old and sitting at the kitchen table with the Sunday comics.  I got up to ask my mom to help me with a word and I never looked back.

    From that day forward, I was unstoppable.  Aided in large part by extremely supportive parents and grandparents, as well as key teachers and librarians, I became a voracious reader.

    Books were my constant companion throughout my childhood.  I received countless books as gifts.  I haunted my public and school libraries.  I would lose myself in stories, making new…

    View original post 519 more words

  • Passionate about literacy education

    Education is my passion.

    I have spent almost my entire life thinking about how to educate, and the rest of it being educated.

    That is to say, just like everyone else, I began to learn about the world from the moment I was born, if not before; probably before.

    From age ten I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and worked hard through school to achieve that goal.

    When I completed school I was fortunate to receive a teacher’s scholarship which meant that my three years of training was provided by the state education system and, in return, I was required to teach within the system for three years. Without the scholarship that path would have been unattainable.

    I remember sitting in my classroom on, what I will say was, my first day of teaching. I gathered a group of children around me, each of us with a reader in our hands, ready for a reading lesson. Suddenly I realised I didn’t have a clue what to do.

    Realisation 1: Teaching reading isn’t as simple as putting book in the hands of children and telling them to read.

    This was a third grade class, so I’m hoping that most of them were already able to read and we figured it out together. Round robin reading seemed to be the method of the moment.

    During that first, and the following year, I put a lot of energy into sorting books into levels and children into groups to read the books at the different levels.  I’m not sure what the children learned but I know I was earning my pay. I was ‘teaching’.

    Realisation 2: Children learn to read at different rates.

    At the beginning of my third year of teaching I was listening to children read individually, in order to group them according to reading ability, when one of the children, considered a good reader by his previous teacher, informed me proudly that he could read the book without looking; and proceeded to do so. He had memorised it! He didn’t recognise any of the words and could not read any other book.

    Realisation 3: Reading is more than reciting the words on the page.

    Major realisation: There was something wrong with the way reading was being taught, and I still didn’t feel confident about teaching it.

    Fortunately most children learn to read despite how it is taught, and although I sometimes think I’d like to apologise to all those students I “taught” when I didn’t have much of a clue, I’d like to say “I hope they’re not reading this”, but I really hope they can!

    Not long after this I had a break from teaching for a few years. During that time I read a lot of books about education, especially alternative views of schooling. I continued to feel strongly about reading instruction and even wrote a series of readers (unpublished) based on instruction in phonics. (Such was my ignorance!)

    I worked with groups of upper primary remedial readers who made great progress ostensibly using a phonics program. However they also received lots of individual attention, encouragement and opportunities for reading real books.

    At the same time I watched my three year old son become a reader without any formal instruction. I read to him, talked with him, wrote stories for him and transcribed his stories which we read together. We played games with language making up rhymes, playing “I spy”, singing songs and talking about print in our environment. Before I knew it he was jumping into bed in the mornings, prising my eyes open and begging to read to me!

    I struggled to make sense of what I was observing.

    Then the serendipitous moment arrived: I saw an advertisement for a graduate diploma in reading and language. It sounded tailored to my needs exactly. And it was.

    We packed up the family and moved across the country to enable me to undertake the study.

    It was one of the best things I have ever done. Suddenly everything made sense. The course about developing literacy skills also supported my developing beliefs and understandings about learning in general. I was at last in a place I felt comfortable. This was where I belonged. The course reignited my passion and provided the knowledge and skills that would underpin everything I have since done in education. Time has moved on but the essential understandings are timeless.

    The coordinator of the course, the person who deserves my sincerest gratitude, is just as passionate about literacy education today as he was then, influencing new generations of teachers and students. His name is Brian Cambourne, Principal Fellow on the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong. He is affiliated with the International Reading Association and the Australian Literacy Educators Association.

    Recently a friend sent me a link to an article about reading on The Conversation. It is titled “The seven messages of highly effective reading teachers” and begins with a caption under a photo:

    Teaching kids to read isn’t just about learning the alphabet or “sounding out”, it’s about making sense of what’s on the page.

    I read the article and quickly responded to my friend saying that I agreed wholeheartedly and that I was, in fact, writing a book about those very same ideas, right at that moment!

    Then I checked the author. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was Brian Cambourne! I am delighted to be able to share his wisdom with you.

    In the article Brian explains the seven messages that highly effective reading teachers share with their students:

    1. A reader’s major focus should always be meaning

    2. Effective readers draw on all sources of information in the text

    3. Effective readers are always predicting

    4. Effective readers self-correct

    5. Effective readers have a range of strategies

    6. Effective readers know how they read

    7. Effective readers love reading

     

    Please read Brian’s full article on The Conversation.

     

    I welcome any feedback.

  • The magic effect – why children need books

    Nor and Bec reading

     

     

    Children can be read to from the moment they are born, if not earlier. Preferably earlier!

    One of my favourite picture book authors and passionate advocate for reading to children is Mem Fox. I own, and have given as gifts, many of her wonderful books. I have attended her seminars and been mesmerised by her reading from her selection of stories. “Read more!” the adults beg. There are no children at these literacy seminars. This time it is a treat for only us: parents and teachers, literacy educators all.

    Currently Prince William, Kate and baby Prince George are visiting Australia. I was delighted to hear that they were given a gift of books by Australian authors, including some by Mem Fox. Over the years I have given many of Mem’s books as gifts; and kept just as many for myself!

     Reading magic

    One that I have given to many new or expectant parents, as I consider it a “must read”, is Mem’s book “Reading Magic – Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever”.

    I would love to quote the entire book for you, but it is better you read it for yourself. I will provide you with this quote from the foreword as a taster for the richness to be found inside.

    “It stands to reason that if we’re able to raise happier, brighter children by reading aloud to them, the well-being of the entire country will ramp up a notch. Children who realize in their first few weeks and months of life that listening to stories is the purest heaven; who understand that books are filled with delights, facts, fun, and food for thought; who fall in love with their parents, and their parents with them, while stores are being shared; and who are read aloud to for ten minutes a day in their first five years, usually learn to read quickly, happily and easily. And a whole lot of goodness follows for the entire community.”

    Mem's website

     

    Mem’s website, too, is a treasure trove just waiting to be explored by writers, teachers, parents, children and children-at-heart.

    You can listen to Mem read from her selection of books on the Current Read Aloud page. She reads three different books each month. Currently the books are Possum Magic, Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! and Goodnight, Sleep Tight. Be quick to listen to these, though, as they will change at the end of the month. But never mind, there’ll be another three to enjoy next month!

    Mem even gives a read-aloud lesson! Now there’s no excuse! As she says,

    “. . . let’s get on and change the world, one page at a time.”

    Yes, Mem, let’s!

     

    What are your favourite read-aloud books? What did you enjoy as a child? What do you enjoy now?

  • This is nice

    If you haven’t yet visited Brain Pickings by Maria Popova, this week’s newsletter is a great place to start.

    Maria Popova describes herself as “an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large”. She gathers up all sorts of things that you didn’t know you were interested in, until you are.

    Brain Pickings — “is a cross-disciplinary LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces spanning art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, and more”.

    I’m sure you will find something of interest to you!

    This week’s offering If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice to the Young on Kindness, Computers, Community, and the Power of Great Teachers  provides ideas, quotations and excerpts from speeches made by Kurt Vonnegut at college graduation ceremonies between 1978 and 2004.

    Here are just a few that I found particularly interesting or appealing. Please visit Brain Pickings for a more complete synopsis.

    Teaching-is-the-noblest

     “But I say with all my American ancestors, “If what Jesus said was good, and so much of it was absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?”

    If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being.

    I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.”

    “But in our personal lives, our inner lives, at least, we can learn to live without the sick excitement, without the kick of having scores to settle with this particular person, or that bunch of people, or that particular institution or race or nation. And we can then reasonably ask forgiveness for our trespasses, since we forgive those who trespass against us. And we can teach our children and then our grandchildren to do the same — so that they, too, can never be a threat to anyone.”

    “I recommend that everybody here join all sorts of organizations, no matter how ridiculous, simply to get more people in his or her life. It does not matter much if all the other members are morons. Quantities of relatives of any sort are what we need.”

    “By working so hard at becoming wise and reasonable and well-informed, you have made our little planet, our precious little moist, blue-green ball, a saner place than it was before you got here.”

    “When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”

    If-this-isnt-nice-what-is

    Which ideas of Kurt Vonnegut do you find interesting?

    With which do you agree or disagree?

  • Empowerment – the importance of having a voice

    In a previous series of posts I wrote about science inaccuracies in a picture book and questioned with whom lay the responsibility for providing young children with correct information.

    While this post builds upon those posts, it also takes a divergent path: the need for children to have a voice; to be empowered to ask questions, to state their needs and report wrongdoings.

    On a highly respected educational website Scholastic, with the by-line “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life.”, in an article about Eric Carle author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, children are told that

    “Eric already knows that a caterpillar emerges from a chrysalis, not a cocoon! So don’t bother writing to tell him.”

    This seemingly innocuous statement may be easily overlooked but packs a powerful message.

    What does it tell children?

    The author has been told many times, already knows and isn’t going to do anything about it.

    The author is tired of being told he is wrong and doesn’t want to hear it any more.

    The author is “right” and not to be questioned. (The book, with its misinformation, is highly acclaimed by millions around the world. However if, in answering a question on a test, children were to write that a butterfly comes out of a cocoon, they would be marked wrong. Explain that to them.)

    For me the most insidious part of this message is

    He already knows, “so don’t bother writing to tell him”!!!!!!!!

    You can’t change it.

    You know it’s wrong, but you can’t change it, so don’t bother trying.

    Although many societies are now moving to eradicate it, child abuse is still far too common worldwide. Not only must the attitudes of societies change, but children must be empowered, they must be encouraged to speak up and they must be listened to: their voices must be heard.

    In a recent child abuse case that occurred at a Queensland primary school, the student protection officer reportedly said that she couldn’t understand why the children who had been sexually abused did not come forward.

    couldn't believe 1

    The accused had continued in his role as child protection contact for a year after the first complaint was made. The student protection officer found it hard to believe that her colleague was a paedophile;

    couldn't believe 2

    and still she says she doesn’t understand why the children didn’t come forward!

    Click here to read the complete article.

    It seems to me the children did come forward if the first (indicates there were more) complaint was made more than a year before anything was done about it.

    The children tried to say, but were not believed. The predator was believed and protected while the plight of the innocent victims was ignored. The report states that parents who complained about the abuse of their children were ostracised by the school community and made out to be the “bad guys”.

    Is it any wonder that, if not listened to and not believed, and if more is done to protect the offenders than the abused, the children become increasingly reluctant to tell?

    After the first children had come forward and not been listened to or believed, may not they have said to others, “There’s no point in saying. They already know. They won’t do anything about it?”

    Or what about the parents who were ostracised and made out to be the bad ones?

    Doesn’t it make the message very clear – you are powerless. Your voice won’t be heard. Your opinion doesn’t matter.

    Carry this message over into countless other situations and you have a population who is afraid to speak up, fearing the disdain of reproach, the embarrassment of being unvalued and the helplessness of one’s message being unheard.

    How many times have you felt you must remain silent for fear of ridicule, rejection, or worse?

    How many opportunities for creating a positive change have been missed because the task seemed insurmountable or the personal repercussions too unpleasant?

    When have you stepped up and made that change happen because you were not afraid to speak up or speak out when faced with an issue you felt strongly about?

    What changes can we make to empower children (and adults) everywhere?

    By the way, in that article on the Scholastic website, it is reported that Eric Carle believes that “the most important part of developing a book . . .is working with editors to revise it.”

    Would it make any difference to the magic of The Very Hungry Caterpillar if, after all these years, Eric Carle rewrote a corrected version with a butterfly emerging triumphantly from a chrysalis?

    What would that act tell all the countless children who have written to tell Eric about his mistake, and the many others who wanted to but were told there was no point?

    The Very Hungry Caterpillar

    Please share your thoughts.

    Related posts:

    Searching for meaning in a picture book — Part A

    Searching for purpose in a picture book – Part B

    Searching for truth in a picture book – Part C

    Finding power in a picture book – the main event

  • Finding power in a picture book – the main event

    Finding power in a picture book – the main event

    Teaching critical literacy through picture books

    This is the fourth is a series of posts about the role of picture books, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

    The purpose of this post is to discuss the importance of critical literacy and the necessity to teach children to

    • think critically
    • not accept everything that is presented in text (oral, visual or print)
    • evaluate the source of the information and the intent of the author
    • match incoming information with prior knowledge,  and
    • question, question, question.

    In these previous posts

    Searching for meaning in a picture book – Part A

    Searching for purpose in a picture book – Part B

    Searching for truth in a picture book – Part C

    I suggested ways of including The Very Hungry Caterpillar in an early childhood classroom and discussed the responsibility that authors have in differentiating between fact and fiction in story books.

    In Searching for truth in a picture book – Part C I pointed out the inaccuracies in The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the pervasiveness of the misconceptions, if not totally attributable to the book, then at least in part. This is verified by Jacqui who, in 2011, wrote on the Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust website

    “When speaking to teachers I often find raised eyebrows when I explain that butterflies’ larvae do not make cocoons. The teachers refer to Eric Carle’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, where he refers to a ‘cocoon’.”

    Note that Jacqui refers specifically to this book, rather than to sources in general.

    As shown by Jacqui, though, it can be difficult, even for teachers without specialist entomological knowledge, to sort out fact from the fiction.

    These are two pieces of misinformation contained in the story:

    Misinformation 1:

    Caterpillars eat a lot of different food

    Fact

    Most caterpillars are fussy about their diet, some eating only one specific plant, others eating a variety of plant foods.

    Misinformation 2:

    Butterflies come out of a cocoon.

    Fact

    Butterflies emerge from a chrysalis.

    Moths come out of a cocoon.

    Watch these two videos:

    This one by Strang Entertainment shows the caterpillar becoming a chrysalis.

    This one shows a silkworm caterpillar spinning a cocoon (about 2 mins in).

    They are two very different processes.

    However a quick glance at these Google search results shows just how pervasive the misconceptions are:

    Cocoon to butterfly

    butterfly cocoons

    Even seemingly authoritative educational websites misinform. Look at the way these two websites promote themselves, and consider the misinformation they are peddling.

    The website Math & Reading Help

    Maths and Reading Help

    states that The Very Hungry Caterpillar is “factually accurate . . . teaches your child to understand this biological process … a butterfly. . .(is) a caterpillar that has emerged from its cocoon”

    Primary upd8 which promotes itself as “UKs most exciting science resource”

    primary upd8

    also suggests using The Very Hungry Caterpillar for teaching about the life cycle of a butterfly.

    primary upd8 knowledge

    If self-professed “authorities” can’t get it right, how are we laypeople meant to make sense of it. Suggestions like these reinforce the need for the skills of critical analysis to be developed.

    Unlike those above, I contend that this book has no place in the science curriculum. Its greatest value is as a tool for teaching critical literacy.

    When children have learned about the life stages of a butterfly and then listen to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, they are very quick to pounce on the inaccuracies and immediately want to write to the author and tell him of his mistake.

    When told that he already knows and that he isn’t going to change it, as confirmed in an interview reported on the Scholastic website, they are incredulous.

    “Why would he do that?” they ask.

    Why indeed.

    When told that he doesn’t care that it isn’t right, they are indignant.

    But herein lies its value:

    I am able to affirm their learning: they know more than Eric Carle; and, more importantly, I am able to reinforce with them that just because something is in print, doesn’t make it true.

    In addition, it is important for them to realise that misinformation does not occur only in picture books, nor only in this picture book. It is just as common in news media, as shown by this article from Brisbane’s Courier-Mail on December 7 2013

    Butterfly emergingtext for photographs

    Nor is misinformation restricted to caterpillars and butterflies.

    This article, again from the Courier-Mail, on January 26 2014 also contains inaccuracies:

    Deadly thirst for glidersFurry flyers text

    Squirrel gliders don’t fly, and they don’t have wings.

    Suggestions for teachers and parents:

    • point out inaccuracies and inconsistencies
    • encourage children to think about what they are reading and hearing and to evaluate it against what they know
    • support children to verify the source of the information and to check it against other more authoritative/reliable sources
    • help them to recognise that every author has a purpose and to identify that purpose
    • invite children to ask questions about what they are reading and to interrogate the content
    • encourage them to question, question, question.

    As demonstrated by the Google results shown above, there is a good deal of misinformation available, often cleverly disguised as fact. Being able to navigate one’s way through it is a very important skill.

    Eric Carle says “If we can accept giants tied down by dwarfs, genies in bottles, and knights who attack windmills, why can’t a caterpillar (sic) come out of a cocoon?”

    What do you think?

    Do picture book authors have a responsibility for informing their audience? Is a butterfly coming out of a cocoon in the same realm as giants tied down by dwarfs? Would we accept a child hatching out of an egg? What parts of a story should be based in reality and which parts can be imagined?

    “Why can’t a butterfly come out of a cocoon?” asks Eric.

    Well, Eric, they just don’t.

    Please share your thoughts.

  • Paying it forward – a Liebster Award!

    Paying it forward – a Liebster Award!

    Last week I was intrigued, surprised and delighted to find that I had been nominated for a Liebster Award.

    I was intrigued because I had never heard of a Liebster Award; had no idea of what it was for or why I should have been nominated for it;

    I was surprised because I’d had no inkling that such an honour was about to befall me;

    and I was delighted to receive the nomination from fellow blogger, Harriet the Bloom whose blog is “A place for educators to reflect, recharge, and revive.” Thank you, Harriet, I am indeed honoured.

    In reality, before feeling delighted and honoured, I felt a little confused. Confusion, if acted upon, leads to learning. So I headed over to Google and Harriet’s blog to see what I could find out.

    It appears that the purpose of the Liebster Award is to:

    • provide encouragement for new bloggers with a following of fewer than 200
    • promote communication between bloggers,
    • recommend blogs to others.

    Nominating others for the award is like paying a compliment forward.

    According to Harriet, the

    Liebster rules

    Answers to the 10 questions posed by Harriet:

    1. Congratulations! You just won the Liebster Award! What are you going to do next?

    The immediate answer is contained in this post. The longer term answer is: keep on blogging!

    2. Describe yourself in three words.

    Happy. Thoughtful. Loyal.

    3. Describe your thoughts on your very first job.

    In my early teens I swept out a carpenter’s workshop on a Sunday morning. It was hard, dirty, tiring work. The head of the heavy wooden broom was about 60 cm long and difficult to manoeuvre. It would take about 2 hours to sweep up all the sawdust and I would go home and sleep for about the same length of time to recover. For hours I would be blowing black dust out of my nose, but the crisp $1 note I received in payment was sufficient encouragement for me to return and do it all again the following week.

    4.If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

    I would love to visit Monet’s garden. I would love to sit on a seat near the bridge overlooking the waterlilies and ponder the big questions of life. I would like to share my contemplations with the artist, his contemporaries and philosophers from all eras. I love the works of Impressionist painters, especially Monet’s Waterlilies and Van Gogh’s Starry Night. The mood evoked by these beautiful paintings is especially conducive to philosophical musings.

    5. I like food. What is your favorite recipe?

    Whenever we have a family get-together it is expected that I will make a pavlova. It is enjoyed by all generations, and although I make a double (using 8 egg yolks) there is rarely any left over.

    However, for birthdays and Christmas with my immediate family (husband and children) I usually make a strawberry torte. It is a special treat that I have been making on these occasions for almost 40 years. While the in-laws find it a little rich for their taste buds, the grandchildren are taking to it in true Colvin fashion.

    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

    strawberry torte

    6. Give a short summary of the book you are currently reading.

    As usual I have a few books “on the go” at the moment, but the one of which I have read most at this stage is “Why ‘a’ Students Work for ‘c’ Students and Why ‘b’ Students Work for the Government: Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Education for Parents” by Robert Kiyosaki. Of course it appealed to me because of its relevance to education and because I had read others of his books years ago: “If You Want to be Rich & Happy: Don’t Go to School” and “Rich Dad Poor Dad”. In this book Kiyosaki contends that schools don’t educate students for financial success and urges parents to teach children about finances at home. He suggests that playing “Monopoly” is a great way to start. He is greatly concerned about the “entitlement mentality” which he considers to be so pervasive in our society. Some of his ideas are challenging and confronting; others make perfect sense. I recommend the book to anyone wanting to achieve financial independence. I would love the opportunity of discussing his ideas with others.

    7. What inspired you to start blogging?

    Blogging wasn’t a goal, or even an idea, initially. My intention is to create my own website to market teaching resources that I produce. I have a lot of learning to do before I am ready, and part of that learning involves attending seminars. Some of these seminars recommended having an online presence and building a “brand”. Blogging was suggested as one avenue for achieving this. I decided to give it a go, and have found it rewarding in itself – an unexpected pleasure, delightful detour and amazing adventure.

    8. How did you come up with the name for your blog?

    My blog is simply my name; that wasn’t difficult.

    9. What do you do when you experience writer’s block?

    Eat. Procrastinate. Go on with something else. Push through it. Write around it.

    10. Which post are you most proud of and why? Provide a link.

    This is tricky. I don’t think I’ve written it yet! However I very much enjoyed the comments and discussion that ensued from my series of posts about “The Examined Life” by Stephen Grosz.  The series includes:

    A book worth reading: Stephen Grosz “The Examined Life”

    Seeking praise – Stephen Grosz revisited

    and a guest post by Anne Goodwin in response:

    Examining praise: Stephen Grosz – the third instalment!

    The discussion stretched my thinking and learning and I am grateful to all participants in the conversation. Learning is what life is all about!

    Nominate 10 bloggers for the Award:

    As the rules appear to be blurred rather than definite e.g. Harriet’s rules differ slightly from those on Wording Well , which differ again from those on Sea Play Photography, I decided to nominate 13 bloggers.

    Belinda Pollard of Small Blue Dog Publishing (Australia)

    I’m starting with Belinda Pollard of Small Blue Dog Publishing because it was Belinda’s recommendation that prompted me to enter the world of blogging and tweeting. At a seminar hosted by Queensland Writers Centre last year Belinda urged all writers to have an online presence. She said that Twitter was like the water cooler for writers. I’m beginning to see that she was right. Belinda’s posts about all aspects of writing and self-publishing, including blogging, have been a great source of information for me and I appreciate what I have learned from her.

    Belinda, I know you have thousands of followers on Twitter but Word Press tells me that you have fewer than 200 followers on your blog so I hope you are happy to accept this award.

    NANNY SHECANDO (Australia)

    Next I’d like to introduce you to Hope who blogs at NANNY SHECANDO. Hope blogs about her experiences as a nanny, cooking and craft. She says, “We’re staying young, Peter Pan style, by embracing the creativity and sunshine in life.”

    Anne Goodwin (UK)

    Anne Goodwin’s website is rich with things to read: short stories, interviews with authors, book reviews, blog posts and more. Anne is one of the writers I met at ‘the water cooler’ and we have had many interesting and thought provoking conversations since then. I love the way Anne has called her website Annethology and her blog Annecdotal. She tweets @Annecdotist. Very clever!

    Caroline Lodge (UK)

    Caroline Lodge blogs at book word . . . about books, words and writing. She joined with Anne and me and we stood around the water cooler sharing ideas and exchanging thoughts. I’m certain you will find much of interest on her blog including suggestions for blogging, great books to read and writing tips.

    PS Cottier (Australia)

    For a little bit of poetry I recommend PS Cottier who posts a poem every Tuesday, and occasionally writes prose.

    Teachling (Australia)

    Teachling is a blog dedicated to improving education with ideas about teaching, learning and parenting. Teachling believes that “Improving a child’s life-chances is everyone’s responsibility” Along with me and millions of others, Teachling is a big fan of Ken Robinson.

    I have always enjoyed reading philosophy and engaging in philosophical discussions. I support the teaching of philosophy as an active thinking subject in schools and am excited about the benefits of a thinking population to the future of our world. I have two great blogs to recommend in this category:

    Peter Worley’s philosophy foundation (UK)

    Michelle Sowey at The Philosophy Club (Australia)

    Note: Last year I reblogged one of Michelle’s posts:

    Can you kill a goat by staring at it? A critical look at minimally invasive education

    There’s No Food ( Australia)

    A bit closer to home (actually much closer to home, it’s my daughter’s blog) I’d like to recommend There’s No Food. Bec blogs about “wholefoods, vegetarianism, slow living and their existential friends.” She has interesting thoughts about the impact of our food choices on the environment and practical suggestions for changes we can make to our everyday routines.

    Obscure Pieces (Australia)

    Glenn at Obscure Pieces expresses himself through black and white photography. His special interest is urban and landscape photography. He frequently offers support and comments on my posts and has generously allowed my use of some of his photographs. Thanks Glenn.

    Cultivating Questioners (USA)

    On her Cultivating Questioners blog, Nicole posts about her experiences as a teacher, especially encouraging her young students to use higher-order thinking skills . I love to see a young teacher so passionate about education.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter (UK)

    Nillu Nasser Stelter is a fiction and freelance writer and her blog features short stories, flash fiction and tips for writing. I love the ways she uses words effectively in her writing to create a picture or emotion.

    Carrot Ranch Communications (USA)

    Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch Communications also blogs about writing. As of Wednesday 5 March she launched a flash fiction challenge. Each week writers have the opportunity to accept the challenge to write a 99 word “story”. This is something I haven’t done before so I’m hoping to join in the fun. What about you? I’m sure it’s not as easy as it sounds!

    Now my nominees, it is your turn.

    These are the things I would like to know about you:

    Note: Although I have listed 13 questions, you need answer only 10. You may substitute one of your own if you wish.

    1. What do you value most in life?
    2. What activities do you enjoy and why?
    3. What is something you wish you had more time for?
    4. What is one change you would like to make in the world?
    5. What is something you would like to change about yourself?
    6. What surprises you most about your life – something good in your life that you hadn’t expected, dreamed of or thought possible?
    7. What ‘big” question do you often ponder?
    8. What sorts of things amuse you?
    9. What do you like to collect?
    10. If you could talk with anyone and ask them to explain their ideas and/or actions, who would it be, and why?
    11. What is something you can’t do without?
    12. What is something important you learned about life, and how did you learn it?
    13. What is your earliest memory?

    I look forward to reading your responses and continuing our discussions at my place or yours!

    Happy blogging!

    Footnote:
    How to find out the number of followers on a blog:
    For Word Press blogs:
    View the blogs in the Reader
    Click on the blog name at the top of the blog
    Lo and behold, you will be provided with the number of followers. Easy for Word Press.
    For other blogs
    I wasn’t sure how to find out for others not using Word Press so I sent them a message on Twitter asking their numbers. Simple.