The machine metaphor has positive implications for those who benefit from a tight structure. The superintendent in my district recently hired a new director of reading/language arts. She would like all intermediate teachers in the district to level their reading libraries in their classrooms in the same way. She chose Fountas and Pinnell as her model to use for a leveling system. Some of the teachers already were using alternate leveling approaches such as Lexile or DRP. The teachers now all have to conform to the same system. This will be favorable for the children when they move throughout the intermediate grades or the district and, it will be easier for professionals to discuss independent reading levels of children. On the other hand, she is asking that the books in the media center that were originally put aside for specific grade levels be broken up into groups of about five books instead of class sets of twenty-five or thirty. She wants them distributed across different, appropriate grade levels. This will prevent teachers from reading these books with a whole class and incorporating the wonderful divergent activities that they usually plan. I understand that our director is trying to make certain that children are reading on their suitable levels, but this will inhibit teachers from integrating reading with subjects such as social studies. Fifth grade teachers in my building often use My Brother Sam is Dead when they teach about the Revolutionary War. I’m hoping that she will step outside of this metaphor and allow them to use the book. Maybe the teachers will be able to convince her that they will not neglect to instruct their guided reading groups that are below-grade-level when utilizing this book with the whole class.

The First Idea

I am in agreement about the discussion we had today about nurturers as educators. I worked in one school in my district that contained many teachers who cared and all of our kids benefited. The atmosphere within the building was great because we all helped each other when necessary. The poverty level in the building was high and our kids needed all of the support that they could get. All of the teachers built a strong rapport with the children. Many of our children lacked background knowledge, and we were fortunate to have a family resource center in our building. This center received many grants that made it possible for us to provide field trips and after-school classes for our families. Many of the teachers participated in these experiences with the families. When I left that school to go to a different one in our district, my own children didn't understand why because they thought that I was needed. We all need to be part of nurturing our society!