As I read the "Success Guaranteed Literacy Programs-I don't buy it!" Chapter by Lynn Astarita Gatto, I wanted to move to her school district and enroll my children in her class and to apply to work with her. I can not believe the treatment that this teacher has received for such a successful approach to educating students. She ties all of the articles and chapters that we have read this summer into practice. She adds creativity, she adds diversity, students teaching and applying knowledge to each other and to other adults, she adds in community service, community involvement and so many other aspects of what we can only wish to have in our school systems, but is being forced to stop. I don't get it!
I do have to play devil's advocate though for one paragraph. I can understand using programs and company sponsored thematic approaches and programs to an extent. I get that not all teachers are like Gatto and plan out their lessons and units like she does, so a program that gives you everything to feed to the students helps someone like that. I get that some people don't want to take the time to add creative ideas to their lessons, (I may not agree with them, but I get why they don't do extra), I get that people like order and to plan, so having a lesson or unit develop at the same time as it is being taught could be a scary thing.
What I don't get is how someone who has been recognized as doing the right thing and is teaching her approaches, and teaching others to do what she does, has to stop what she is doing. Her statement, "So you'd like me to go from being an outstanding teacher to a mediocre one?"(Gatto, 2007, p.73). Summed up everything. I can't tell you how many teachers I know who aren't brave enough to keep doing their creative lessons that teach the same prepackage things that the bought programs do. I have watched them stop doing what they used to do so that everyone is on the same page on the same day for all of the same tests given on the same day. It's like they drank the kool-aid and joined into the teach to the test mentality. It's been sad to watch. I have also fallen victim to this powerful pull to come to the dark side! I used to do some units or lessons that I would have other faculty members in my department tell me, why are you doing that? It takes so much time and energy, just do this way like us. After you hear it for a few years, you sometimes fall for those lines. I don't have the same advantage as Gatto does to be able to move to another school, and honestly, I don't want to leave the building that I am in. I enjoy the staff, climate and students too much. But I understand why Gatto has transferred to other schools. I am so proud of her for doing so! She believes in what she does and has test scores to back her up. Her practices in the classroom should be the program that is bottled and served instead of being told to go backwards in time and do this other program.
Ken Robinson would have a field day with her district! Why would you stop what she is doing for something that isn't working? The process that she went through to teach them about Butterflies and the learning that went on in that classroom are things that those students will never forget! I do bet they get bored and may shut down when they get other teachers though who don't do the amazing things that Gatto does. She is looking at the whole child and incorporating the literacy from all content areas. She even gave the kids the chance to cook! I fell for the lesson way before that, but you know how I am about teaching kids how to cook, and she even did that in an elementary class. She is my hero!
I agree with her philosophy about "I cannot bear the thought of sharing only one chapter of a great book with children" (p. 79). I used to get so frustrated when a teacher would only read us one chapter of something. I also understand that they were probably trying to peak our interest and get us to go buy or read the book on our own, but what about the kids without access or resources available to the to get those books. I also think that this is a reason that kids can't read complete books, and give up before they finish the book. They are so used to only having snippets of books that they lose the whole intent of an author. There are peaks and valleys while you read, you have to enjoy all of them to get the true intent of the author.
The quote from Gee in 2003 "literacy is a practice, something that gets done, not skills to be learned for use at a later date"(p. 80) made me realize how too many teachers are teaching. We need to change the students thoughts about literacy so that it is something that comes to them in everything that they do. We should not just teach them words because that is what the books say are important. I do believe that there should be guidelines, and ideas given to help those who are not creative with what they do. I almost think that we need a new course in teaching people how to be educators. What about adding in a creative teaching course? What about showing people how to take these prepackaged programs and tweak them to be what the kids need. Life isn't prepackaged, we can't go to a store and say, hmmm, I'll take that career, that family, that car, and house. No, you have to go through life and make mistakes and figure things out as they come. If we teach them that everything comes perfect, and everything is done one way, then we are failing those students. I would rather take a chance on a lesson that I think is teaching the NYS standards correctly and have them remember what they learned and how to think and apply that to real life, than to just use a cookie cutter way of teaching.
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