Build a Literacy Toolbox for SBP

This past June, I had a chance to do an inventory of the equipment in the Chemistry lab.  At around the same time, Chelule and Fr. Mark brought to my attention that the equipment in the Physics lab is no longer sufficient, in both quantity and usability, to support laboratory activities associated with that senior course.  As a result of the two inventories, we decided to re-equip both the Chemistry and the Physics labs with the necessary and updated tools to be able to deliver quality education in our courses.

During the same period, I was involved in my reading as suggested by the Critical Reading Committee; we were learning about how to improve the reading skills of the students at SBP.  As I juggled the two activities (reading and taking inventory/ordering equipment), I kept the two tasks seemingly separate in my head, not realizing until today that they both have usefulness in accomplishing our Middle States student performance objectives.

Just as Chelule, Fr. Mark and I went about ordering and gathering equipment for our labs/classrooms, we shall assemble a literacy toolbox and deliver this ‘equipment’ to the content area teachers.  In a very real way, it’s the same process that Dave Cincotta went through with me as I prepared to take over his course and classroom four years ago.  The equipment was there, their locations described to me, and a quick orientation completed this transition from one instructor to the next.  It took me four years to realize the value of the equipment that already existed, and by adding a few items that I thought would help me to fully utilize the tools that I inherited, I believe that my teaching will be more efficient than it had been.

The SBP literacy toolbox will contain the instructional routines that will allow teachers to incorporate more reading into their respective content areas.  The toolbox will also contain routines for allowing more writing in the content areas.  These routines may already be familiar to some teachers, while they will seem foreign and strange to others.  But just as one may be bewildered upon entering a craftsman’s workshop and seeing all the various tools, it is with familiarity with those very tools, careful instruction in their use, and in seeing wonderful products that one’s bewilderment can be turned into satisfaction.

Just as ‘power tools’ can be useful, efficient, and effective, they can also be dangerous when used improperly.  It is extremely important that the necessary ‘instruction manuals’ be included in the literacy toolbox that we will assemble.  Perhaps the use of any tool or piece of equipment might be intuitive, just as for instance not many people even bother reading their cellphone’s instructions when the equipment arrives.  And yet when the owner wishes to learn how to use the more nuanced functions of the phone, he turns to either the instruction manual, or maybe to ask another cellphone user how to access those deeper functions.

There ought to be ‘experts’ in some of these tools in the literacy toolbox.  Their expertise may have come from their use of the tool, or through their receipt of instruction from other experts, or from their deeper study of either the tool or the instructions that came with it.  Just as a master carpenter may have his apprentices to whom he imparts his expertise, there could perhaps be similar ‘master’ teachers willing to help colleagues to learn new skills in using unfamiliar but powerful tools.

Within the literacy toolbox, supporting materials will be provided that clearly demonstrate the research-based evidence of each tool’s usefulness.  Such evidence is important to attenuate the natural skepticism of those unfamiliar with strange-looking tools.  And just as any effective instruction manual contains helpful illustrations and examples, the SBP literacy toolbox will contain samples that prospective users can turn to when analyzing how to use the tools in their classroom.

Wherever new tools are introduced to consumers, there are demonstrations (‘workshops’) presented to show the tools at work.  These demonstrations are conducted by experienced users, having learned how to safely employ these tools to their maximum benefit.  Our literacy toolbox should be accompanied by similar workshops, presented by experienced users, and attended by those who are interested in effectively using the tools in their courses.  In the absence of such an experienced presenter, prospective users can come together and learn from each other, or each can perhaps experiment with tool use on their own and later share their experiences with their colleagues.

The form of the tools in the literacy toolbox will be both printed and electronic.  There are many of us who are still comforted by the feel of a paper page and the immediate ability of leafing through a reading, and then writing annotations as needed.  The benefits of the electronic form of the tools (pdf documents, MS-Word files, JPG photo files, Powerpoint slides) arise from the ease in customizing the tools, and in quickly printing the necessary parts, thanks to the networked ability of the faculty printer/copy machine.  The tools should also exist online, where they can be accessed by those who might not be at the school at the time; this will have positive effects on our ability to think about these tools if we choose to do this after-hours.

These tools that will be in the toolbox already exist.  A teacher who might be eager to use literacy tools should not have to dig the tools up from a confusing array that one might encounter in a bookstore, or on the internet.  The literacy tools must be available at-hand.  This is one goal of assembling such a literacy toolbox.

As for the use of the tools, they ought to happen at the discretion of the prospective user/teacher.  It would be unreasonable to expect that one should use all the tools all at once; this is when tool use becomes haphazard or even dangerous.  The presence of the tools in the literacy toolbox, and the instruction in their use, should stimulate a responsible teacher to contemplate using the tools in an effort to achieve our student performance goals in critical reading and in writing.  The school’s investment in assembling the toolbox, and in presenting training in the use of these tools, should come with some inducement into their use.  By leaving to each teacher the choice of what tool will be used and when it will be used, we can ensure each colleague’s comfort in incorporating it in their instruction strategies in the classroom.

In this way, we take a shift in our instruction repertoire rather than impose a radical curricular change.  We ought to have faith that with the presence of such a literacy toolbox, we shall all lift up a tool or two as we all, together, build our student’s skills in writing and in critical reading.

But just as tools at Home Depot need to be purchased by an interested homeowner, so too must we predict that some cost will be associated with assembling a toolbox and teaching us how to use the tools effectively, safely, and efficiently.

More on that as we contemplate which tools will be included in the SBP literacy toolbox.