Dr. Andrea Fishman

Partner, Strategic Literacy Partners, enhancing literacy assessment and instruction K-12 and in all content areas

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@HelenProulx2 Even what counts as “solid research” differs depending on who’s using the term. There is no one best wayor silver bullet to teach anything. But acknowledging that requires acknowledging that teachers are not programmable delivery devices - not a useful administrative admission.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@NinaTotenberg I have an impulse to hug each if you when I hear your voices. “Hi! So glad to hear you again. It’s been too long. Tell me what you’ve been up to, and don’t leave anything out!”

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

#literacy

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@ShawnaCoppola This same parts-to-whole approach has been touted for teaching writing, too. Has the same counter-productive effect there, in some ways worse because it denies that students might have complex thoughts worth expressing. Simple sentences in 3-5 sentence paragraphs stifle thinking.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@ShawnaCoppola Beginning with the meaningless and mechanical, then waiting until there’s “mastery” of the meaningless and mechanical, only insures the need for extrinsic motivation. Why else would students persevere in something meaningless and mechanical? And we wonder why kids don’t read…

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@GiftedTawk Find the nearest National Writing Project site.
Teachers K-12 and across the curriculum can all find a collegial, collaborative home there.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@GiftedTawk 11th grade English. Loved it (except the first day when I used his at-home nickname in class. Never made that mistake again!)

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@DrKChilds In ELA, standardized tests are reductive and counterproductive. Reading a “passage,” answering multiple-choice questions, or writing a three or five-paragraph essay should never be the main focus of instruction. That only produces test-takers, not readers or writers.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@SangareMLLteach The professor(s) making this assignment need to hear from your school or district about how to proceed now and in the future if they want student placements. This is their responsibility, not their students’.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@JuliaBNations @edutopia Yes. PE teachers, Art teachers, primary-grade teachers may have different needs when it comes to clothes. But middle and high school teachers of most subjects don’t. The money argument assumes jeans are cheap and more professional clothes are expensive. Neither is true.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@HacVale @edutopia Are you contending that the role of teachers and schools is to reinforce students’ belief that lived reality is what they see on social media by trying to make their daily lives match those images? Next do we let VR trump real life? How does any of that help our kids?

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@HacVale @edutopia How many kids see tech folks in their daily lives? How often do kids watch them interact with others, manage difficult situations, solve intellectual or social problems, or - more important - have personal relationships with them? How much do they learn from Mark Zuckerberg IRL?

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@JeremieOBrien @edutopia ;)

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@JeremieOBrien @edutopia And as to social pressure, for sure. That’s one reason we switch, but it’s not always a bad thing to do. It often facilitates communication, prevents misunderstanding, provides a way in to something important, including friendship that overcomes those barriers.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@JeremieOBrien @edutopia Dressing differently for different roles in different contexts is like code-switching in speech for the same reasons. Is dressing to go to a football game no different than to a wedding or a job interview? Is school no different than home? Are teachers no different than kids?

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@JeremieOBrien @edutopia “Looking good” to kids doesn’t have to mean looking like them. Part of our job is to help them move comfortably in a world that doesn’t always look like them, especially when it comes to authority figures. Like that term or not, that’s what teachers are.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@CarolJago I remember reading Carol Chomsky on this back in the early 80’s. So cool to see it IRL.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@mrbgilson Monty Python and the Holy Grail. My Brit Lit kids loved it.

[Dr. Andrea Fishman @andreafishman2]

@edutopia Looks great on paper or video. In real life with a 42 or 50 minute class period, the idea that every lesson will have beginning, middle, and end per its lesson plan suggests that teachers teach without student input that might not follow that perfect plan.