Article 3

I. Title: The Second Time Around
II. Author: Sherry Guice
III. Author’s Purpose: The author wanted to present information/findings from CELA
and the ways she can implement her findings in her 8th grade reading club to assure
student success on high stakes tests.
IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? Do they support
the need for the study?
A. Strategic curriculum requires ongoing consideration of students’ knowledge and
needs—base curriculum on student interest and needs.
B. Knowledge from action engages students in meaningful conversation within the
fields of study. Guice will focus on folklore including pulling in folklore form their
own families and communities.
C. Thinking communities understand that learning is a social activity. Learning
communities are both supportive of learning and challenging for students. Students
and teachers interact developing ideas, challenging one another, encouraging risks
necessary for new learning to occur. Quite an interesting way to manage a class. In
this case, all students will read different books that lend themselves to discussion on
broad topics with big ideas and questions. The questions the teacher asks must
model her thinking and stretch students to go beyond what they think they are
capable of doing.
D. Orchestrated connections create coherence and continuity within what students are
learning. Again the teacher must model for the students. S/he must create and
orchestrate situations for students to make coherent connections rather than just
presenting isolated skill land knowledge. By making these connections, students will
learn and retain the information more easily. For this Guice will have the students
write and talk about how books connect to their personal lives, other books they
have read, and their lives beyond school.
E. Generative learning allows students to go beyond what is taught. Students must be
able to transfer these new skills to other learning, take it beyond the language arts
classroom. Guice wants the students to participate in an oral history study focusing
on the post World War II boom of the late 1940s and 1950s. For this students will
interview members of the community after writing their own interview questions.
V. Author’s Inquiry Question: How can I help my students prepare for high stakes
tests when I return to a middle school classroom after an absence of 10 years and reach
their full potential as learners, readers, and writers?
VI. Author’s Methodology: I am assuming the teacher would observe students during
discussions and keep copies of their writing for analysis.
A. Who is being studied? Students in a 7th and 8th grade reading club who need
extra help to pass high stakes tests will be studied when this is put in place.
B. Over what length of time? A school year
C. What data is being collected? Student writing, participation in discussion, and level
of answers to discussion question.
D. How is it being analyzed? Guice will observe her students during discussion and
reading time and read their essays to determine progress.
E. Any other interesting or pertinent data? The author studied various aspects of
literature, writing, and reading as a doctoral student, as a co-director of a five-year
longitudinal study, and as a director at CELA. She wanted to put these ideas and
practices into place with a group of reluctant 7th and 8th grade reading club
students.
VII. How the author collected information: I assume the teacher would keep
anecdotal records of observations and copies of students writing.
VIII. What the Author Discovered or Conclusions/Implications: There were no
conclusions given since the study had not yet been put in place. I did not find a follow-up
article to know how the study turned out.