Lifelong Literacy and the Changing Face of Reading

Last week was absolutely nuts...a good kind of nuts...but nuts just the same. 

Last week was so nuts that I'm going to continue my trend of breaking my own rules. 
This week my blog is going to be somewhat of an academic blog :)

But, in a good way, I promise.

The chaos started when several months ago I was notified that I would be receiving the Humanities Teacher of the Year Award for my school.  This award is sponsored by the Humanities Council for the state of Mississippi and I was honored and humbled beyond words to receive it.  I had to prepare a 30 minute presentation which took place this past Tuesday and I will also have to attend the statewide award presentation in February.  My parents attended the ceremony, reception and luncheon as did my middle and youngest child, Soccer Boy (representing my firstborn who was on a Senior field trip), the administrative cabinet from my school, faculty and students as well as a host of local media, a representative from MS Humanities Council and a representative from the governor's office.

Whew!

Now that you've got the facts, let me give you the "real deal" Peppermint style ;)

I am not a fan of acolades.  I'm going to do what I do no matter what.  It's nice to be recognized but not at all necessary in my book.  I almost get embarrassed...is that silly??

I LOVE a captive audience.  My students would roll their eyes at this statement.  I do not get nervous about speaking in front of people...not even this kind of crowd.  I think that stems from my passion about what I do.  I'm that sure that what I'm saying is what the audience needs to hear. 

The title of my presentation was "Lifelong Literacy and the Changing Face of Reading." 

I can talk about literacy with my eyes closed.

If I couldn't, then I would hope someone would show up to take my Ph.D. away.

I mean that.

My stand on literacy is not always popular with fellow teachers because I believe at least part of the problem is what is not going on in the classroom. 

Students enjoy hearing someone finally say that the problem is not because they are so "dumb," but faculty, not so much because that means they've got to examine themselves a little closer.

Effective teachers examine themselves and their classroom practices constantly and adjust things as needed.

Ineffective teachers...well...they don't.

Before any fellow teachers out there who stumble on my blog get their hackles up, I do not think the fault lies completely with ineffective teachers.  And, some ineffective teachers are ineffective because of local, state and national policy constraints. 

One of the local media asked me point blank "Whose fault is it that literacy levels nationwide are so low and that each year more and more students who graduate from high school need remedial education when they enter college?"

Holy Smokes! What a question.

A good question, but certainly a scary one to answer.

I told her there are too many variables to point fingers in one direction. 

But, the system itself seems to value test scores more than student learning.  Until that focus shifts, the literacy situation in our country is not going to improve.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Just for fun, here's a shot of me telling my story...

More tomorrow...