Read First

readfirst.net
Site maintained by Jack Farrell
Retired Teacher, Conejo Valley Unified School District

Important Announcement: I have filed papers to run for a two-year seat on the Mammoth Unified Board of Education. The election will take place during the regularly scheduled Presidential Election on November 4th.

Follow this link to the Statement of Qualifications which will appear in the voter pamphlet: Statement of Qualifications

Follow this link to my platform: Statement of Platform

Contact the candidate: e-mail: jfarrell709@hotmail.com
Home Phone: 924-8865

I strongly support Measure "K" and urge all voters to support it on November 4th. For more information, contact Gloria Vasquez: globob12@aol.com or Shanna Bissonette: shannab@verizon.net

Brief Biographical Background: I taught high school English in the Conejo Valley Unified School system for 27 years after beginning my teaching career at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica where I was a teacher and administrator for 4 1/2 years. I also served as a full-time released teacher in the BTSA Program (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment), supporting new teachers, during two 3 year rotations. During this time I had the unusual opportunity of observing hundreds of hours of instruction from 4th through 12 grade and in multiple disciplines. I had a chance to evaluate the latest eduational theories in practice. I considered this a research opportunity and much of the work detailed on this web-site was a result of the conclusions I drew and the alternative theory I put into practice in my own classroom when I returned to teaching English for two years between my two rotations as a Consultant Teacher.

First-time visitors should begin here.

This is a Summary of Findings, a brief two-page document with all the major findings of the research articles on this site: Summary of Findings.

Introduction: This site was primarily used as a way for me to communicate with my students and, to a certain extent, their parents, in my classes at Newbury Park High School. After implementing new ideas and testing them in the clasroom, I returned to the position of consultant teacher for 3 additional years. I left the web-site up as a communication tool with teachers and administrators about the perils of forward teaching and the benefits of teaching backwards. There are links below to the research articles I've written. I also left up artifacts from when the site was used as a classroom tool.

NEWEST ARTICLE

The following is a link to the newest article I have written, entitled "How to Raise Test Scores Without Spending Any Money." The article may be cynically interpreted as a cunning way to gain the attention of district office and site administrators. However, there is more than a kernel of truth in the title. The pedagogy I am recommending is a powerful one with implications for raising scores at minimal cost. Click on the following link to accesss the article: "How to Raise Test Scores Without Spending Money."

Reading Weblog

During my second 3 year rotation as a full-time released consultant teacher, I maintained a reading weblog. Occasionally I wrote up observations of secondary reading pedagogy in practice and its implications for implementation of the language arts framework and the California content standards. The entries are listed in chronological order with the last update as follows: Updated Wednesday, August 23, 2006: A table comparing the standard 7 step lesson plan, a classic scaffold for 'forward teaching,' with a lesson plan utilizing a 'teaching backwards' design. Forward teaching vs. teaching backwards

Professional Educators click here. This is a link to several articles I have written, primarily on reading pedagogy. If you have questions, or would like to respond, please use the e-mail link at the bottom of this page.

Parent's Letter

If you found your way to this site by way of NPR Boston, here is a brief orientation. This is not a commercial website. Rather it exists as a medium of communication for students and their parents in my high school English classes. It also has a section for professional educators which contains links to about a half-dozen articles I have written on reading pedagogy and the methods used in my classes. Look for the link below: "Professional Educators click here." And, if you would like to e-mail any comments or questions, there is an e-mail link at the bottom of this page. The remainder of the site is bascially for student use.

NPR contacted me for an interview based on a letter to the editor I wrote in response to an article published in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, May 19, 2003. The links below are to the original Times article and my letter to the editor in response. The Times holds reprint rights.

"2 R's Left in High School"
Letter to the Editor, L.A. Times

Welcome, CATE Convention!

The article related to the presentation "Teaching Backwards" can be located here: Teaching Backwards.

The power point presentation can be accessed here: Cate Presentation.

The domain name for this web-site is the key to understanding the philosophy of my classes. I begin with the notion that all students should encounter text first, with the idea being that students, over time, will become self-starters and independent learners. The first step on this path is independence as a reader.

In order to achieve these goals, the class will focus on the following:
1. Essential content standards chosen from the grade-level standards.
2. Self-assessment on these standards using specifically written rubrics.
3. Limited peer assessments.
4. Maintenance of grading logs and rubrics.

Many of the readings and assignments will be posted on this web-site and students will be routinely directed to access and print these pages for use in the class. The homework assignments will be posted daily as well. Parents are encouraged to monitor this site on a daily basis and to discuss homework readings and assignments with their students. Parents are also encouraged to use the e-mail link below to ask for clarification on the assignments and to monitor the progress of their son or daughter.

This site is presented very simply to help underline the focus of the class, on independent mastery of authentic text, which is black type on white paper. Any search of the library stacks will reveal this to be true. Students will be encouraged to mark up the text features as a way into the text and will have daily opportunities to closely read authentic text.

The following is an example of a textbook page, which, by its color and graphical content, is artificial, rather than authentic text, followed by an example of authentic text, as presented to the class, and, finally, the same text whose text features have been marked up by a student:

Here is some brief background on myself. I have an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Southern California and a Master's Degree in English from the Universityof California, Los Angeles. I taught at Thousand Oaks High School from 1974 to 1999. The last twenty-two years at Thousand Oaks I taught Advanced Placement English. From 1999-2002 I was a Consultant Teacher for the Conejo Valley Unified School District, on full-time release from the classroom. I worked with beginning teachers from 4th-12th grade. Currently, in addition to teaching two classes at Newbury Park High School, I am employed in the afternoon and evenings as a Consultant Teacher for the Ventura County Office of Education, working in the New Teacher Program.

During my time as a consultant teacher I also became involved in the Governor's Reading Initiative. I have co-directed two reading institutes with California Lutheran University and was involved in a Leadership Institute in August,2002 whose focus was reading, writing and literature.

I have written several articles about reading in the secondary schools; they are linked on this site, and I have developed the pedagogy for English 9CP and English 11S based on essential standards chosen from the English-Language Arts Framework and Content Standards, as well as the California Standards for the teaching profession.

Follow the links below to the articles and the essential standards.

Professional Educators click here.

Pedagogy for the class

Essential Content Standards

Stories

"The Chaser" by John Collier
"Charles" by Shirley Jackson
"Luck" by Samuel Clemens
"The Upturned Face" by Stephen Crane
"The Lost Soul" by Ben Hecht
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
"Houseparty" by Walter Bernstein