• Background Is Key to Reading Comprehension
• Touching Film Shows the Harsh Life of Sweatshop Workers in China
• International Guests Share Lessons from Abroad
• AFT Communicators Talk Strategy, Pay Tribute to Tom Mooney
• QuEST Insights
  

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Willingham shares suggestions for instilling the kind of background knowledge that can improve reading comprehension.

Background Is Key to Reading Comprehension
With humor, exercises, videos and a smattering of research data, cognitive psychologist Dan Willingham laid out the case for why background knowledge is the essential ingredient to reading comprehension. Not that any of the hundreds of teachers in the room needed much convincing. As AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese noted in her introductory remarks, a consequence of No Child Left Behind has been a narrowed focus on reading and math curriculum, so history, art and other subjects have been pushed aside. "We know this isn't good for kids—not what we call an education."

Willingham, who is a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia, pointed out that while the skills necessary to read—that is, to understand symbols and decode words—are transferable to reading about any subject, comprehension is not a skill and is not transferable. It depends on background knowledge to understand the vocabulary of a given subject, to provide context that allows readers to fill in the gaps and to draw conclusions based on generalities.

In education, the relationship of background knowledge to reading comprehension is profound. Research shows that when students are learning to decode in the first few years of school, students from disadvantaged families and their more-advantaged peers can progress at the same pace. But when the students get to the third and fourth grades, a gap opens, which many associate with a shift in emphasis from the skill of decoding to the art of comprehension. Students who have been read to and talked to as very young children outpace those who have not received this early stimulation.

Willingham gave five suggestions for instilling background knowledge:

1. Start early—the place to pour in reading resources is in the early schooling years, not in high school.
2. Reading—or being read to—is the best early source of background knowledge.
3. Don't watch television. Research shows that TV, as compared with all print media, provides less than 25 percent of the content-rich vocabulary and information gleaned from books, magazines and newspapers.
4. Put knowledge in the curriculum. Don't make students memorize facts; factual learning must be meaningful.
5. Limit "strategy instruction." Don't use vapid reading materials and ask students to practice comprehension. Provide, instead, rich content that is grade-level appropriate.

Willingham's message was so resonant, he received a standing ovation at the end. You can read his regular column in AFT's quarterly magazine, American Educator, and don't miss his cover story, "Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard To Teach?," in the Summer 2007 issue. (http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/summer07/Crit_Thinking.pdf).

The movie "China Blue" is a gripping account of workers' reality in a Chinese sweatshop that makes blue jeans to be sold in the West.

Touching Film Shows the Harsh Life of Sweatshop Workers in China
"China Blue," a gripping film that tracks the journey of Jasmine, a Chinese girl who leaves her home village for a job at a jeans factory in the city, offers emotional insight into how the global economic system can exploit workers.

On July 14, QuEST participants had an opportunity to view the award-winning account of the harsh world of sweatshop workers—often teenagers—who make the clothes that many of us buy. Workers like Jasmine live in cold, cramped rooms over the factory and eat food provided by the company, payment for which is deducted from their already small salaries.

At 17, Jasmine is one of the older workers at the factory where she and other workers are forced to work long hours—sometimes around the clock—seven days a week, for months on end. And, though promised to be paid monthly, the workers often have to wait two or three months to get their money. As one worker puts it: "They pay when they feel like it."

When the international labor inspectors arrive, the workers are told to lie about their pay and working conditions.

"China Blue" also provides the perspective of the factory owner, who says he is forced to cut workers' pay and require them to work around the clock to meet the demands of buyers.

The movie, which was made without the permission of Chinese authorities, is an alarming example of how the desire for profit and financial pressures from Western companies result in the exploitation of workers—many of them children—in countries like China.

Following the screening, moviegoers were given a postcard to send to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China to protest the labor rights violations in that country and the imprisonment of labor activists there. For more information about the film and workers' rights in China, go to www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue.

International Guests Share Lessons from Abroad
Six of the international union leaders in town for the QuEST conference had a chance to  share insights from their own countries at a packed July 14 workshop titled "Lessons from Abroad: How Other Countries Educate Their Children." AFT vice president Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester (N.Y.) Teachers Association, opened the session with some observations about the differences—both good and bad—between the U.S. education system and those in other countries. He suggested the "selective borrowing" of the best ideas from abroad as a source of inspiration to improve American schools.

Polish labor leader Monika Konczyk and other international guests discuss education practices and the role of unions abroad at a July 14 QuEST workshop.

In addition to some general discussion about their education systems, members of the panel each had a chance to talk about a specific concern to educators in their countries: school safety in Poland, teacher compensation in the United Kingdom, early childhood education in Jamaica, language diversity in Ireland, and the union's role in reform in Algeria and Kenya.

Following is a list of the international guests attending QuEST this year:

Union National des Personnels de l'Education et de la Formation (Algeria) Mohammed Ider Conseil des Lycées d' Algérie (Algeria) Osmane Redouane Teacher Training Center (Burma) Thein Lwin Syndicat National des Enseignements de Second Degré (France) Roland Hubert University of Muenster (Germany) Wolfgang Boettcher Teachers' Union of Ireland Tim O'Meara Jamaica Teachers' Association Ena Barclay Violet Foster Garfield L. Higgins Juno A. Gayle

Kenya National Union of Teachers Frederick Ontere Teachers Service Commission (Kenya) Ibrahim M. Hussein Union of Education Norway Marit Dahl National Educational Section of "Solidarity" (Poland) Monika Konczyk Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers' Association Komaldi Chotai Davanand Sinanan Patricia Villafana National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (United Kingdom) Jerry Bartlett Amanda Haehner National Union of Teachers (United Kingdom) Arthur Jarman

Participants at this year's AFTCN conference attended workshop on topics such as e-mail communications and using video to get your message out.

AFT Communicators Talk Strategy, Pay Tribute to Tom Mooney 
How to plan for and shape communications and how best to communicate to members and the public were the aims of the 2007 AFT Communicators Network conference July 10-12 in Washington, D.C.

"Let's speak kindly of ourselves and be proud of our members—and say so every chance [we] get," advised AFT Connecticut second vice president Leo Canty, who welcomed more than 80 AFT affiliate communicators to the AFTCN gathering.

Canty, who is an AFTCN advisory committee member and a longtime member and leader of the AFT Communications Association, said that labor unions are going to be the major targets during the 2008 elections and, in fact, have been the target of "the conservative element" for the last few years. Canty said union communicators must frame our message about the value of public service and public workers and integrate that message into our communications.

The theme of the AFTCN conference, which was held just before the QuEST conference, was "Strategic Communications, Inside and Out." AFT affiliate members and staff whose primary role is communications came from as far as Guam and as close as Baltimore for in-depth workshops on topics such as planning and shaping internal and external communications, getting covered by the media, and using video and design software for better communications.

Participants also heard about the AFT's recent research on AFT member communications.

From left, AFTCN advisory committee member Leo Canty presents an award honoring the late Tom Mooney to Mooney's wife, Debbie Schneider, daughter Leilah Mooney and son Ruairi Rhodes.

Kris Kemmerer, communications director in the office of the AFT president, was on hand with researcher Jeffrey Levine of Financial Dynamics to describe the research findings. "Over and over again, we heard members say that if the union wasn't there 'I'd quit my job tomorrow,'" said Kemmerer. At the same time, the research shows that members want more personal contact, more interest from the union in what they have to say, and a more consistent and positive union presence in their daily lives.

At the AFTCN journalism awards banquet, where affiliates were honored for the best in print, electronic and Web communications, a special award was presented to the late Ohio Federation of Teachers president and AFT vice president Tom Mooney for helping to raise the standards of excellence for all union communicators. Mooney's wife, Debbie Schneider, daughter Leilah Mooney and son Ruairi Rhodes were on hand to accept the award. Current OFT president Sue Taylor commented that Mooney "leaves a legacy of being a passionate, persuasive and prolific communicator."

QuEST Insights
Ten teachers from around the country who serve on the AFT's t-source advisory committee are attending this year's QuEST conference, many for the first time. We asked the teachers to write about their experiences at QuEST. Here are some of their latest contributions:

Barrow

I teach sixth-grade math and often find myself in workshops that miss the mark for my students. It is difficult to find applicable and interesting new ideas. I also tend to be quite a critic because, ironically, I was a terrible math student. It is difficult for an instructor to catch my attention and keep it without eliciting flashbacks of high school math. However, the presenter at the Friday workshop on "Secret Weapon for Word Problems" held my attention, presented relevant and applicable ideas, modeled how to teach them and walked us through a "minds on" interactive session that allowed us not only to learn from her but to exchange ideas with each other. I spent the following hour outside reviewing all the information she provided.—Amy Barrow, sixth-grade teacher, St. Tammany (La.) Federation of Teachers

Harrison

Being a kindergarten educator, I was pleased to see a strand of workshops on early childhood education. Because this track focused on a narrower audience, I found myself wondering how many people would be attending these workshops. The first workshop I attended Friday was "Successful Kindergarten Transition: What Pre-K and Kindergarten Teachers Should Know." Because I arrived early, I was surprised to find myself begging to be allowed in because the room was already full. They tried to turn me away, but I snuck in and found a comfortable spot on the floor. (No problem, most of us kindergarten teachers teach on the floor throughout our day.) As discussions began, I realized I was not alone in my quest to improve the kindergarten situation in my district in Montana. It was obvious that all of us at this workshop were facing challenges to meet the needs of these young learners—challenges that should not be ignored in the face of strong research that indicates implementing effective early childhood programs benefits all children.—Patti Harrison, elementary school teacher, MEA-MFT (Mont.)

Sparks

I find myself becoming increasingly distressed over the concept and implementation of evaluating and rewarding teachers on the basis of their students' test scores. No wonder I was drawn to the July 13 session titled "Innovative Compensation and Teacher Quality Initiatives." In St. Francis, Minn., the union has worked with the district administration to develop a salary plan that does not include bonuses and is not based on student achievement on the state standardized test. Imagine! Instead, they have a finely tuned system that requires teachers to develop a portfolio that demonstrates the effectiveness of their teaching. The teacher decides what he or she will include in this portfolio that will determine the teacher's salary category. I'm excited about the idea that the teacher gets to decide what to present to administrators and peer review teams to determine the level of effectiveness. Coming from a state that implements mandatory bonuses, I can tell you that the money is not worth the pain. Our system (in Florida) provokes teachers to teach to the state test, and administrators demand that they do so. Then when students in the lower quartile don't perform well enough, the school is punished with a school grade of D or F that is published in the local newspaper. Nobody wants to go to those schools because they've been labeled by the state.—Carla Sparks, high school journalism teacher, Hillsborough (Fla.) Classroom Teachers Association

Gibson

The July 13 afternoon workshop I attended was the best so far, not because it offered more or better information, but because it was fun, interactive and fast-paced. In fact, we had to stop one of the activities short because our noise level was disturbing the workshop next door. I got to thinking about why so many professional development opportunities for teachers are presented in a way that we know is ineffective. We would never dream of lecturing students for two hours, giving them an hour for lunch and then lecturing them for two more hours. But what did you do today at QuEST? Did your presenters ask you to keep sidebars to a minimum? Isn't it possible that people need to talk to each other to synthesize new information, and since there's no official time to reflect and discuss, people talk over and under the speaker. They don't mean to be rude; they're just doing what they need to do to learn.—Robin Gibson, elementary school teacher, Albuquerque (N.M.) Teachers Federation

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AFT Online coverage of the QuEST 2007 conference is prepared by the AFT editorial department. Photographs are by Michael Campbell.