Chalk Talk: If We Want Our Voices Heard, We Have to Engage in the Conversation

We are strong proponents of growing readers through interest and choice. Our reading workshop is filled with opportunities for authentic interactions with text.  Unfortunately, we sometimes find ourselves in difficult conversations about the teaching of reading.  We have to speak back against scripted programs, assigned reading, and extrinsic motivators.  We have to defend the amount of picture books and graphic novels we have in our classroom.  It is SO important that we are able to have these conversations in a thoughtful, intelligent manner.  We want to have open dialogue with our colleagues.  We strive to be well-read on the research and prepared to engage in dialogue about our practice.   

If you have not checked out Heinemann’s series “Not This, But That”, we highly recommend you take a look.  (http://www.heinemann.com/series/72.aspx) This is a great series to help us grow our practice and provide some intelligent points when we find ourselves in conversations with colleagues and parents.  I know that when I read No More Independent Reading Without Support it didn’t change my practice in a revolutionary way, but it did help me refine what I was already doing in my classroom.  It also, and possibly more importantly, refined my ability to speak to what I was already doing in my classroom.  I am currently reading No More Reading for Junk and really wishing it had been in my purse during a recent conversation with a colleague and friend.  She was so excited about her campus’ (my former campus) newly adopted points-based reading program.  When she saw the look on my face, she knew how I felt about it.  When I was still at that campus, I spoke out about adopting the program.   I was familiar with some of the research and I knew that the program, while showing results in the short term, hasn’t shown success in growing life-long readers.  Back then I didn’t have an easy way to convey the rationale for keeping the program off of our campus, but as I dig into No More Reading for Junk I find it all laid out for me.  The majority of the book is focused on what we should be doing instead.  This is an essential (and more important) part of our professional conversations.  We need to be proactive if we want to be agents of change.  We can’t just say “that’s bad” and then have nothing to lay out as an alternative.  It is our responsibility to engage in conversation in a way that encourages reflection and an exchange of ideas.  We can’t outright reject other ideas, but instead need to open a dialogue that allows us to share informed opinions.

The two of us have had countless conversations about our obligation as professionals to act as such.  As teachers, we complain that our profession is undervalued and underappreciated.  We must take it upon ourselves to be informed in order to grow our practice and speak intelligently about it.  If we want our voices to be heard, we have to say something important.  In order to do that, we must take the time to do our own research and engage in conversations that push us to think critically.  We also need to step into leadership roles and position ourselves in ways that allow us to listen, speak, and consider the many ideas out there.  We can’t allow others to speak for us.  We have to be the strongest voices because only we can truly speak about our profession from the classroom perspective.  We are doing the hard work, so we should be engaged in the dialogue.