GILROY
– The process of examining Gilroy High School’s reading list may
become much more inclusive as teachers, parents and students
consider whether to delve deeper into the English instructional
program.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – The process of examining Gilroy High School’s reading list may become much more inclusive as teachers, parents and students consider whether to delve deeper into the English instructional program. The Reading Literature Advisory Group, formed to look at revising the reading list, will decide how the process will continue when it meets for the second time tonight.
Given the progress – and questions – that came out of the first meeting of the advisory group last week, GHS Principal Bob Bravo tonight will reiterate that the group can look into the curriculum as is needed.
“I’m going to try and answer some questions and concerns that I know have come up,” Bravo said. “I want the group to make some decisions as to what they feel they can do.”
Following the advisory group’s first meeting Sept. 24, some parents in attendance expressed concern that the English department lacks a solid curriculum and that revising a reading list without understanding the program would be difficult and flawed.
Tom Bundros, a member of the Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees, recognized those concerns after attending the first advisory group meeting and the parents forum that preceded it. Bundros used to be involved in the Alliance for Academic Excellence, the grassroots parents group that pushed to investigate the reading list.
“There seemed to be some softness about the curriculum,” Bundros told the board during last Thursday’s meeting. “What it sounded like was that, at some point, someone started creating (curriculum maps) but … it didn’t get done.”
Bundros asked that the board members receive updates from the group as the reform process moves forward.
“The good news is that we found some softness here. Now that it’s visible, it can be worked on,” he said.
Curriculum maps, which link teachers’ lessons to state standards, are undergoing a long development process, Bravo said.
At the heart of the curriculum debate is whether anthologies, or collections of literary pieces, should be approved at the freshman and sophomore levels. The anthologies provide a set of instructional materials that acts as a guide through the school year, which can include lesson plans for teachers, recommended exam questions and lesson supplies like overhead transparencies. The textbook provides supplemental readings and background on authors and subjects so teachers do not have to find them on their own.
“The book tells you what standards you’re addressing, what your objectives are,” said Sara Elliott, junior English and senior AP English teacher. Anthologies are sometimes criticized for limiting a teacher’s creativity, but Elliott disagreed.
“As a teacher, you can say, ‘OK, now I’m going to take my academic freedom and decide how I want to use this,’ but at least there is that structure there,” she said.
Anthologies would be a relatively fast and easy solution to support teachers until the department completes its curriculum maps and fills in the holes because the books are ready to use out of the box, Bundros said.
The advisory group hoped to finish its work by Thanksgiving so that changes could be implemented next semester. That deadline could be pushed back, Bravo said, if the group takes on more work.
GHS English teachers currently use novels from the reading list and connect them to state standards to develop lesson plans, often collaborating and drawing on other teachers’ experiences.
Anthologies are not all-inclusive, warned Peter Gray, head of the English Department.
“Some of the materials are really useful, some of them really aren’t,” he said. “They are not full of the kinds of activities and lessons that I would come up with with my colleagues.”
Anthologies are required for kindergarten through eighth grade, but not at the high school level, according to Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Jacki Horejs.
One foreseen drawback to using a textbook is the cost – between $65 and $90 per student, Horejs said. Some textbooks come with two of the suggested novels.
The advisory group will be allowed to discuss curriculum and anthologies tonight, although at the last meeting, members were instructed only to examine the reading list.
GHS parent Rhona Lee, who formerly worked as a curriculum developer for the Lawrence Hall of Science and is a member of the advisory group, said examining the curriculum may help the group establish the reading list criteria.
“If there is a piloted curriculum program, then we need to see that, so we’re not working backward,” Lee said.
“One of the things I learned at Lawrence is, if you’re going to get creative about a project, you look at all possible avenues and then one by one, look at what’s going to work and what’s not going to work,” Lee said.
