2011 Grade 4 Literacy Test Results

Congratulations to the teachers and students in the schools falling in the top quintile in the Grade 4 Literacy Test, sat in June 2011, results of which were published in The Gleaner on Wednesday November 9, 2011. Special congratulations to three schools in the parish of St. James:

Salter’s Hill All Age, with 3 students in grade 4, all of whom achieved mastery, had a marvelous turnaround from 0% mastery in 2010 to 100% mastery in 2011.

Mount Zion Primary, with 5 students in grade 4, had an equally commendable turnaround from 0% mastery in 2010 to 80% in 2011, with 20% (one student) almost achieving mastery. (The total enrollment at this school has unfortunately fallen from 45 to 30 students.)

Mount Horeb All Age and Infant had only one student sit the exam, but since this student achieved mastery, that gave them 100%.

These were the schools I tracked in my post ‘Class Size and the Teaching of Reading’ on September 6, 2011, when I didn’t name them, because of their poor performance. I am now happy to highlight their good performance. Unlike The Gleaner, Thursday, November 10, 2011, which chose to write about poorly performing schools, under the headline ‘WEAK SCHOOL WATCH’, when they could have given prominence to the fact that there has been an overall 4% improvement in results over last year.

That article glossed over the fact that the schools with 0% mastery are all small schools. The statistics (published on Wednesday), and responses from the principals, to the charge of being called ‘weak schools’, published in the Gleaner on Friday, November 11, 2011, reveal the following:

Grades 4,5 and 6 students at Mount Vernon Primary School

 Mount Vernon Primary, St. Thomas: The school enrollment was 13, with only 1 teacher to teach grades 1-6. The number of children in grade 4 was 3. One of them sat the test and obviously didn't attain mastery. The school enrollment increased to 15 this school year, and there are two teachers, one of whom is the acting principal. The school is in a remote location, with no road. More students used to attend this school, but parents prefer to send their children to Trinity Ville Primary.


Rose Hill Primary, Manchester: The Gleaner’s statistics state that the school enrollment was 38, with only 2 teachers to teach grades 1-6. The number of children in grade 4 was 4, two of whom sat the test. However, according to the principal, 8 students were eligible to sit the exam, 2 were absent, 2 had no grade sent for them. Of the other four, one got mastery, 2 non-mastery and one almost mastery. He also stated that they have a serious attendance problem with the students. The current enrollment is 80.

Hamwalk Primary, St. Catherine: The school enrollment was 23, with only 2 teachers to teach grades 1-6. The number of children in grade 4 was 5. Four of them sat the test. A teacher’s comment “The previous principal was the grade 4 teacher and most of the time the students didn’t have any teacher… they were not prepared for the exam.” Where was the principal? He should have been able to do his administrative work after school was dismissed. The present acting principal, on secondment from another school, pledges to improve on this performance. I believe she will.

Juan De Bolas Primary: The school enrollment was 43. Pupil teacher ratio was given as 9:1 indicating 4 teachers to teach grades 1-6. The number of children in grade 4 was given as 5, while 6 sat the test (did one turn up who wasn't enrolled?)

For these 4 schools, the number of children who sat the test, and failed to achieve mastery, adds up to 13. Compare this total with a school with 68% mastery, a population of 1,067, a grade 4 enrollment of 205, and having 184 children sit the test. 32% of 184 means that 58 children didn’t achieve mastery. This school is not on the weak school list but clearly needs help.



However, I still think there’s a case for closing these (and other) very small schools and sending the children to schools where there is at least one teacher per grade, specialized in the curriculum for that grade. The minimum enrollment for a primary school, I think, should be 210—six grades with 35 children in each grade. Despite the challenges of teaching in deep rural areas, it’s really not fair that some teachers have such small classes, while those in urban areas have classes of 50. Furthermore, it's because parents move their children from these deep rural schools, possibly because teachers are not teaching as they should, that the rolls are falling and those in urban areas are increasing.

One other observation from this year’s results: Of the 33,148 students who achieved mastery, 56% were girls and 44% were boys. This highlights the challenge of teaching boys to read. Perhaps there needs to be more appealing reading material for the boys who aren’t achieving mastery.

Jamaican Children's Writers meet at JCDC Awards Ceremony



L to R: Diane Browne, Helen Williams, Hazel Campbell and
Jean Forbes after the JCDC Creative Writing Awards
Ceremony.

 My previous post stubbornly refused to upload this photo. It must have wanted a post all to itself, so here it is.
Diane Browne is a multiple gold medal award winner in the JCDC Creative Writing Contests. In 1985, she won a gold medal for her children's story  "Debonair the Donkey". The Commission published this book in 1986 - their first publication.
Diane's most recent book is "Island Princess in Brooklyn" edited by Hazel Campbell, published by Carlong in their Sand Pebble Series.
Diane recently won the Special Prize for a Children's Story in the Commonwealth Short Story Competition 2011, for her story The Happiness Dress. Congratulations Diane. You can read it by clicking on this link. (I haven't yet discovered how to post a link to a link!)
http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=11NmjykBBao%3d&tabid=879
You can read more about Diane on her blog
http://dianebrowneblog.blogspot.com/

Hazel Campbell is a writer and editor of children's stories. She describes herself as a
retired, freelance writer of fiction for children, radio and video scripts, but she doesn't appear to be retired at all. She still teaches a writing class. Her latest books - A Goatboy Never Cries -LMH Publishing Co., Bernie and the Captain's Ghost - Carlong Publishers (Caribbean) Ltd. Bernie and the Captain's Ghost won the BIAJ best children's chapter book award for 2011. Hazel was awarded a Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica for 2011. Congratulations Hazel. You can read more about Hazel on her blog
http://jambooks-fiction.blogspot.com/

Jean Forbes is another children's writer who won an award at the JCDC Awards Ceremony, for a short story in the junior category.

JCDC Jamaica Creative Writing Awards Ceremony

The moment of the long-awaited Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Creative Writing Awards Ceremony and Exhibition Opening, at the Knutsford Court Hotel, finally arrived on Nov 2, 2011, at 5:30 p.m. We awardees seated in front of the audience anxiously scanned the list for our names in the various categories, and congratulated each other on our accomplishments. I was happy to see that I had been awarded a bronze medal for Delroy and the Marog Princess (sequel to Delroy in the Marog Kingdom). About it the judges—Ms. Cheryl Brown, Dr. Lorna Down and Dr. Kimberly Robinson Walcott—said,

This is a creative and imaginative story with echoes of other myths and legends. It appears too to be a Part 2 to an earlier tale with significant details missing. The fantasy world that is created has a consistency of details allows the reader to willingly suspend disbelief. The writer clearly has a talent for creating memorable characters, with distinguishing features; the plot is fast-paced and holds the reader's attention. Many adolescents should find this tale engaging.

The ceremony started promptly at 6:00 p.m. but we had to wait a little longer to find out if we had won any of the Class or Overall Awards. In the meantime we were entertained by the Vaz Prep Dance Troupe; and readings by the Gold Medal Winners—Stephanie Lloyd, Donna Hall, Fabian Thomas and Seon Lewis.



Bronze Medal and Trophy for
Best Intermediate Novelist

 I am happy to say that, in the Class Awards, I received the trophy for Best Intermediate Novelist for Delroy and the Marog Princess.

Congratulations to Seon Lewis—Best Overall Writer (1st place)—with 2 gold and 1 silver-medal- winning poems; and to Stephanie Lloyd—Outstanding Writer (2nd place) for her gold-medal-winning short story. Congratulations also to Hazel Campbell for having four past students from her writing class, including Stephanie, winning awards at this year’s ceremony.

After the ceremony, the Exhibition of winning entries was launched. It will be on display at Parish Libraries from Nov 8, 2011 to July 23, 2012, after which it will go on a World Tour.



Delroy and the Marog Princess in the Exhibition






Andrew Brodber, Speech, Drama and Literary Arts Specialist of JCDC,  presents me with
 a gift basket, courtesy of Yummy Bakery



Books for Boys at Bookland Part 2 - Non-Caribbean books

Before the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter series, publishers had been unwilling to accept such long books, assuming children would read only short books. We have to thank J.K. Rowling for not only dispelling that myth, but also for making reading all the rage for children and teens.
Since J.K. Rowling, many authors have successfully published fantasy series for children. Not all the books in all the series listed below are on the shelves at Bookland, but they will be able to get them for you.

1. Rick Riordan. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for children, which features a twelve-year-old dyslexic boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of a Greek god.

Books in the series are

i. The Lightning Thief

ii. The Sea of Monsters

iii. The Titan's Curse

iv. The Battle of the Labyrinth

He has a new series—The Kane Chronicles:

i. Book 1: Red Pyramid

ii. Book 2: Throne of Fire

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools. He now writes full time. His greatest satisfaction comes, not from being a bestselling author, but hearing from parents that reluctant readers cannot put down his books.


2. Neil Gaiman – “The Graveyard Book” for grades 5-8. The title tells the setting for this fantasy story.

3. Cornelia Funke wrote the Inkheart trilogy, published between 2003 and 2009—more fantasy for 9-12 year olds

i. Book 1 is Inkheart

ii. Book 2 is Inkspell

iii. Book 3 is Inkdeath (which I saw in Bookland.) Next to it on the shelf was“Reckless” published in 2011, at present a stand alone fantasy story, but a sequel may follow.

4. Paul Steward and Chris Riddell: The Edge Chronicles Fantasy Series. 10 books in this series for 9-12 year-olds.

5. Suzanne Collins: The Underland Chronicles (5 books)

i. Gregor the Overlander

ii. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane

iii. Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods
iv. Gregor and the Marks of Secret

v. Gregor and the Code of the Claw

6. C.S. Lewis “The Chronicles of Narnia” (7 books) written in the early 1950’s, long before the current spate of fantasy stories, but reprinted and popular.

7. Lemony Snicket: A series of Unfortunate Events. There are 13 books in this series.

8. Jeff Kinney: Diary of the Wimpy Kid—many titles for 8-13 year-olds. These humorous books make a welcome change from the surfeit of fantasy.

Books for 12-15 year-olds, known in the publishing industry as young adult (YA).

9. James Patterson: The Witch and Wizard Series

James Patterson was selected by teens across America as the Children's Choice Book Awards Author of the Year in 2010. He is an internationally bestselling author.

10. Philip Pullman: His fantasy series “His Dark Materials” consists of 3 books:

i. The Golden Compass

ii. The Subtle Knife

iii. The Amber Spyglass

11. D.J.MacHale: The Pendragon Series: 10 books in this series of fantasy, science fiction and time travel.

12. Christopher Paolini: The Inheritance Cycle, starting with Eragon.
Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon at the age of 15. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters. His parents saw the final manuscript and decided to self-publish Eragon. They spent a year traveling around the United States promoting the novel. He has since written sequels to Eragon.

Montego Bay High School Book Club

While at Bookland on October 6, I met the President of the Book Club of Montego Bay High School. Since not many club members had come to my book reading and signing, she invited me to a meeting at her school. On Monday, October 24, I was warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic group of girls. They told me that their favourite books are romance novels and Stephanie Meyers’ titles.

Book signing.

Because of time constraints, I gave them a shortened version of my usual reading from Delroy in the Marog Kingdom, but they heard enough to know that they want to read the book! I signed the copy which they had purchased for members to read, after which they will donate it to the school library. I took the opportunity for a photo with the group.

Book Club members pose with the frog and the pot!

We had very little time for discussion, so I have accepted and invitation to attend another meeting, next term, when we will talk more about the writing process.
In the meantime, girls, please put your comments and questions on my blog. Click where it says ‘comments’ and a box should pop up for you to write in. You will need to identify yourself with an email address. You will also need to copy the strange sequence of letters which comes up. If it doesn’t work, it’s the system’s fault, not yours. Try again the next day! I’d also like to know what you’d like to see on my blog. Would you like competitions, puzzles or writing tips? Or would you like a forum for discussion with other students, in Jamaica and abroad?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Books for boys at Bookland will continue in my next post.

Books for Boys at Bookland, Part 1 - Caribbean Books



Reading at Bookland


Bookland is well-stocked with ‘reading books’ for children, teenagers and adults. They do not sell school text-books. Bookland is located at 34 Union Street, Montego Bay, on the right between the intersections with East Street and King Street. There is extra parking at the rear.

After my book reading and signing there on October 6, 2011, I browsed the shelves in search of books which would appeal to boys.



Caribbean books

I have to start with the Island Fiction Series, a mix of fantasy, folklore and science fiction, set in the Caribbean, written for 10-15 year-olds, but appeal to children as young as 9. The stories move at a fast pace and are easy to read. The series includes my book Delroy in the Marog Kingdom, which is set in an imaginary village in Jamaica, and features River Mumma.

Other books in the series are:

1. The Legend of the Swan Children by Maureen Marks-Mendonca, set in Guyana.

2. The Chalice Project by Lisa Allen-Agostini—science fiction set in Trinidad.

3. Escape from Silk Cotton Forest by Francis Escayg—fantasy and folklore set in Trinidad.

4. Time Swimmer by Gerald Hausman—a boy travels through time on the back of a turtle, throughout the Caribbean.

5. Night of the Indigo by Michael Holgate—science fiction set in Jamaica. This book appeals to older readers who are lovers of science fiction.



Other Caribbean Books

For 9-12 year-olds

6. The Cay by Theodore Taylor—an adventure story set in Curacao and a small island in the Caribbean in 1942, but still relevant today.

7. Blue Mountain Trouble by Martin Mordecai—an adventure story set in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.

8. The Boy from Willow Bend by Joanne Hillhouse.

9. Hurricane and Earthquake by Andrew Salkey. Both these books were written in the 1960’s but are still popular.

10. A Cow Called Boy and other books by Everard Palmer. Most Jamaican readers are familiar with these books, set in rural Jamaica.

For younger children, suitable for reading aloud or for them to read by themselves.

11. Mauby’s Big Adventure by Peter Laurie

12. Mauby and the Hurricane by Peter Laurie (I didn’t see this on the shelves but it was used by the Jamaica Library Service in their reading competition so should be available.)

13. Tales of Immortelles—A Collection of Caribbean Folk Tales by Norma McCartney

14. A Goat Boy Never Cries by Hazel Campbell. Her book Bernie and the Captain's Ghost won the Book Industry Association of Jamaica’s Best Children's Chapter Book Award for 2011. (I didn’t see this book on the shelves, but it should be available.)

Part 2 will focus on non-Caribbean books.

Do you do your children's homework?

   I've edited my original post, in which I confessed to doing an assignment for a seven-year-old 2nd grader, I help from time to time with homework. The assignment was to draw a skeleton. Being given no other information, I assumed this to be a human skeleton. In my thirty plus years of teaching biology, I never attempted to draw a human skeleton, nor did I ask my students up to and including 6th formers to do so. Individual bones, yes. A whole skeleton, no. Drawings and charts of skeletons, seen from different angles sufficed to understand the working of the skeleton. To my shame, I drew one, so the child would get a grade.

However, it turned out that the homework was not to draw a skeleton but to make a model of a skeleton. Experimenting with a ping-pong ball and some straws, I realised that the child could cut the straws, and staple them at the joints and to the rest of the skeleton, so they can move.

I gave 'drawing a skeleton' as an example unmanageable assignments which are given every day. Why did I condone cheating, which is what it is? The assignment was non-negotiable. Teacher set it and it had to be done. The teacher had set it because skeleton is on the syllabus for grade 2 term 1, specifically, the student should draw or make a model of bones… using the material provided. Fortunately, in this case, the assignment was not unmanageable and I was able to provide materials from which the child could make the model. I have also learnt that assignments can be negotiable.

I’m not for a moment suggesting that homework shouldn’t be given. I think it’s important for parents to be involved with children’s school work, and for them to supervise homework is one of the ways this can be achieved. Appropriate homework for parents to supervise include

• committing to memory such things as spellings, definitions, and multiplication tables.

• Doing practice exercises to consolidate what has been taught in the classroom.

• Listening to the child reading.

• Age-appropriate research.

All of these can be supervised by a parent or caregiver who has little or no knowledge of the subject matter. What is important is the interest they show and the attention they give to the child. The homework routine is an opportunity to teach self-discipline. Ideally, homework should be done at the same time every day, in a quiet place, free of distractions. (Certainly no TV on). There is a danger of homework becoming a battleground, so it may be necessary to offer some incentive, such as allowing the child to watch some TV programmes when the homework is satisfactorily completed.

The length of time children spend on homework is another bone of contention. Recommended times are

20 minutes for grades 1and 2;

30 minutes for grades 3 and 4;

a maximum of one hour for grades 5 and 6.

Of course these times will vary, as some children work more quickly than others. The top homework scholar in the U.S.A., Harris Cooper of Duke University, concluded that homework does not measurably improve academic achievement for children in grades 1 to 5. He also found that children in grades 6-8 who do up to 90 minutes, and from 9-11 who do up to 2 hours do better on standardized tests than those who do more.

I put out a call for teachers to give manageable homework assignments, with clear, unambiguous instructions. When somebody other than the child does the homework, it’s sending the wrong message, i.e. that it’s okay to cheat. We have to remember also that unmanageable homework penalizes the many children who are already at a disadvantage because they have nobody to help them.