Reading and Writing Books

Super Writing Scores 2010

2010-07-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Writing numbers for students using the 36 Stars program are again extremely good! Palm Springs Middle School in Palm Springs, Florida recieved its highest number of perfect writing scores this year. The Sting Rays scored 43 perfect 6's! This is an amazing number for a Title One school with 70% free and reduced lunch students. Congratulations Mighty Rays! Keep up the super work!

If you would like more information on how you can achieve such stupendous writing scores in your school or district, just click here: www.raygosabooks.com.

Here's wishing you the very best in academic excellence,

The Educator
info@raygosabooks.com

Rage & Retribution -- a new novel by Ray Gosa

2009-08-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

Attention! Attention! Attention!

Rage & Retribution is in print! This is the name of my new novel. It's an intriguing tale about passion and pride, about love and hate, and about families that trust without limits and that deceive without remorse. This is a read that is quick and easy, but will spell-bind with intrigue and surprise. I highly recommend it to teachers looking for something new and meaningful, and for young and mature adults looking for a bit of fascination.

For the teachers, it comes with a study guide that's available as a free download on this site: www.raygosabooks.com. If your school wants a preview copy, there's a number on the site to call and request one.

Sincerely,
The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com.

Thirty-Six Stars Does it Again!

2009-05-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

Stellar Writing Scores!

Palm Springs Community Middle School (PSCMS) in Palm Springs, Florida had stellar essay writing scores on the state of Florida FCAT Writing Assessment for the 2008-2009 academic year! This Triple AAA, Title One school with a 67% free and reduced lunch population out-scored all of her "sister schools" in the entire School District of Palm Beach County, Florida. In large part this great writing achievement stems from the use of an incredible writing program called Thirty-Six Stars (Gosa, 2007). This writing program, with its unique, research-based, and revolutionary implementation techniques and materials makes once struggling writers become skilled and proficient technicians with pencils in hand! Thus, they score right up there with the very elite.

Indeed, Palm Springs Community Middle School scored an average of 4.5 (out of a possible 6.0)as a combined writing score for all of the 508 students tested in this year's FCAT Writes! 95% of these students scored 3.5, which is considered "high standards" in Florida. And, 90% actually scored 4.0 which is an unheard of scoring percentage for a school with the population demographics and socioeconomically underprivileged status as the students attending PSCMS. This year PSCMS boasted thirty perfect 6's; fifty-three 5.5's; and one hundred and twenty 5.0's! What can you say but, "Go, Mighty Rays!"

If you know of a school whose writing scores are less than stellar, or you know of a school (system) that has struggling writers, direct them to this website: www.raygosabooks.com. They will find all the information needed to begin to meet the needs of their challenging populations, quickly and predictably. This writing program truly works! The principal of PSCMS was quoted as saying [The scores this year are] "Beyond Awesome!" I Agree!

Sincerely,

The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com
info@raygosabooks.com

The Reading Bee

2009-03-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

The Reading Bee: One more avenue to reading fluency!

Isn't it time to have a Reading Bee competition at your school? Read on and give it some serious thought.

With reading fluency in mind, we developed a Reading Bee competition. In format, it's much like the traditional Spelling Bees we're accustomed to, except the idea is for participants in the Reading Bee to study and practice their reading fluency skills in order to successfully compete.

Specially written selections are used in the Bee. These selections were designed and written as informational narratives, making them both informative and fun to practice read. The selections are taken from two separate textbooks: 42 Days to Reading Fluency and 42 Days to Reading Fluency (Book II). Both of these textbooks were written by Ray Gosa the developer of the Reading Bee.

The fact that reading fluency is transferable is what motivated and inspired this approach. In order for struggling readers to stop struggling, they must develop a fluency base. The Reading Bee is a great way to encourage the stuggling readers at your school to practice their reading skills, and thereby lay a fluency foundation upon which they can build at their pace, and one day in the not so distant future they will be able to leave the ranks of the struggling readers and join the ranks of those who read for sheer pleasure as well as meaningful information.

We've successfully had two years of Reading Bee Competitions at Palm Springs Middle School in Palm Springs, Florida. We're entering our third year of competition, and we're ecstatic about the possibilities this year. Our students eagerly participate in preliminary rounds and our principal, Sandy Jinks, ensures that great prizes await the winners. We are convinced that this Bee contributes to the great success that our school has had in recent years. We are a Title One school, with 67% free and reduced lunch students, and we're a AAA school also. However, you'd never know it by the success we've had. We're an "A" school for the past 3 years and we're working on 4 in a row!

For more information on having a Reading Bee at your school, contact the author of this blog at info@raygosabooks.com.

Sincerely,

The Educator
http://www.raygosabooks.com/.

"A"-Rated School -- One More Time!

2008-07-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

My school, Palm Springs Middle School (PSMS) has been rated an "A" by the state of Florida for the 2007-2008 academic year! This score is based upon FCAT (state assessment) results. That's wonderful news, though not entirely unexpected. The staff and faculty of PSMS worked diligently to foster student gains, and that diligence paid off! Congrats to all!

Though the "A" grade is based upon everyone's work, I take special pride to know that the writing program, Thirty-Stars: Writing perfect Essays (2nd Edition), that I wrote played a major role in the overall score that was earned!

If your school -- or, if you know of a school that didn't score well in its writing efforts, tell them about Thirty-Six Stars: Writing Perfect Essays (2nd Edition). They'll love you for it!

Sincerely,

The Educator

www.raygosabooks.com

Teaching Struggling Students to Write With Ease!

2008-06-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Rationale for Phrasing & Clausing

Note: All appendix references are from Thirty-Six Stars: Writing Perfect Essays (Gosa, 2007)

One of the most fundamental problems experienced by struggling readers and writers is their inability to recognize and manipulate phrases during their efforts to read and write. Because they don’t key phrases in their search for information as they read, they seldom, if ever, find it. They also aren’t able to create their own phrases during their personal writing efforts; thus, they don’t always recognize where their own individual ideas start and stop, and aren’t able to group their ideas in logical sequences. Finally, they aren’t aware that normal everyday thoughts and ideas are phrase-based.

The most effective method of teaching students to read in phrases is to allow them to read only phrases. This makes Appendix B a valuable tool to the struggling readers. Also, because many students today aren’t avid readers (nor have been exposed to classic literature), there’s a dearth of awareness of typical literary situations. This dearth of awareness causes typical, predictable situations to appear enigmatic and puzzling. This dearth, however, can be alleviated through the processing of the endless combinations of phrases in Appendixes A and B. For, in tandem, these phrases create endless situations, and offer glimpses into scenes that starkly represent those that avid readers might encounter in their regular treks through their volumes. Through these vivid glimpses, students will begin to develop a background, which can serve well as schema during subsequent reading experiences.

Likewise, writing in phrases is best taught by allowing students to write only in phrases. Again, Appendixes A and B have specific and foundational value. Writing in phrases gives students the power to understand how to properly combine phrases, forming unique constructions that they themselves can take full credit for creating. Such an understanding of phraseology will help the struggling writers better formulate their thoughts into more cohesive and intelligible structures. This should be a tremendous aid in alleviating the run-on sentence problem that tends to hallmark adolescent writing. Restrictive Phrase Writing will also offer fuel for deeper, more meaningful, and imaginative thought.

Finally, teaching students to think in phrases is achieved by having students think only in phrases. This is accomplished by simply limiting the literary fodder to phrases only. Through their own manipulations, students will begin to not only create simple literary constructions such as sentences, but also create complex ones, such as paragraphs and ultimately full length essays and narratives.

Also, Appendix C offers opportunities for students to manipulate and combine clauses into fascinating proverbial compound sentences. They at once teach the broad variety of possible compound structures and titillate and instruct the mind using the innate messages conveyed in them.

Appendix D provides a 200-sentence compendium of connotative definitions, illustrated in meaningful sentences. These sentences also serve as graphic paradigms. They were designed to be read, understood, copied, modified then mimicked.

The following packets were designed to create a means through which all of the fore-stated objectives might be accomplished. The prescribed activities, though simplistic in appearance, are dynamic interfacings that cause each objective to be accomplished in a creative and imaginative manner.

In sum, students will begin to recognize that ideas themselves – whether read, written, or contemplated -- actually exist in phrases, not in words alone. They will realize that they can modify a message through the manipulation of sentence parts. Finally they will see that learning to express the ideas that they have is as easy as following an outlined pattern. With these ultimate recognitions, students will begin to formulate and express their original ideas in meaningful combinations of phrases and sentence structures. And, this is an excellent launch point for more traditional literary exposure.

Sincerely,

The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com

Teaching Students to Write With Ease!

2008-06-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Teaching Writing Skills Through Mimicry

Understanding the utility of this approach hinges on an ability to grasp this concept: The Language of Writing. Writing ostensibly has its own language, and this language evidently exists on two adjoining though distinct and separate planes. These planes are complementary, both being essential and integral components of this language. The overt plane of this language (which is the obvious one) is comprised of concrete grammar rules and tangible regulations that govern its mechanical uses. The subliminal plane (which is the unsuspected one) is comprised of subtle understandings, senses, and impressions of those same rules and uses. Because these understandings, senses, and impressions are primarily subliminal, they are indirectly and incidentally imparted as byproducts of constant, meaningful exposure to typical American writing.

Importantly, these understandings, senses, and impressions act as primers and catalysts, aiding and abetting the comprehension of the rules that govern the overt plane. Because some students have constantly been exposed to the application of the rules (though not necessarily the legalistic rules themselves), these students invariably develop a deeper understanding at an early age of the subliminal plane of this language. Thus, the apprehension of the concrete plane during formal schooling becomes infinitely easier for them.

There are routine phraseologies which tend to typify our methods of expression. The punctuation patterns necessary to convey these expressions also tend to become routine and typical as well. If one is not aware of these phraseologies and punctuation patterns, one would be hard pressed indeed to write with clarity and ease according to the normal standards which govern American writing.

This language of writing is first and best learned on an intuitive level as the verbal expression of this language is being mastered. Our mainstream children are exposed to it somewhat fortuitously during early childhood by way of bedtime stories; these are the children who tend to know it best. They have a sense for the language. However, those children of ours who are not a part of the mainstream / middle class culture, those whose parents don’t read Snow White and Cinderella to them are not adequately exposed to the phraseologies which typify and comprise this language of writing. These are the children who struggle most with their writing efforts.
Consider the following phrases: A long, long time ago…there lived a great and mighty king…once upon a time…in a distant and far away land. For the children who were taught the language of writing from their infancy, ordering these phrases would be a relatively easy task. After just a short time they’d figure out that they should be ordered thusly: Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a distant and far away land, there lived a great and mighty king. Though there are alternate arrangements which would be grammatically acceptable, there is only one that sounds right. For the children who were not repetitiously read to in their early childhood, who weren’t impressed with the subliminal component of this language of writing, this arrangement doesn’t sound any better or any more right than one of the alternate arrangements might.

When children are read to during their pre-literate childhood, they have conveyed to them on an intuitive and impressionable level this language of writing. These children aren’t necessarily cognizant of this impartation as it happens. They are enraptured by the plot and fascinating characters in the stories. Nonetheless, through repetitious, constant exposure to the patterns inherent in most early childhood literature, the lessons are indelibly impressed (taught). These children will forever know what sounds right and what makes sense.

So, what of those children who were not so taught, not so impressed? Is it too late to teach them? The answer to the latter is no; it’s never too late! Though most of them won’t actually sit still for bedtime stories anymore, there is still a way to impress this language in their minds. The method is deceptively simple. It is the same approach used by the parents. Consider carefully what the parents did. They read the stories repetitiously, the way the stories were written, adding a bit of emotional flavor, periodically. This process imparted the understanding of the subliminal plane of this language to these children. This impartation can yet be accomplished now in older children through mimicry writing.

Mimicry writing is essentially what the name suggests. It is mimicking writing – writing that is designed to demonstrate itself, modeling the typical flow and patterns of expression, writing that illustrates the combining of related ideas and the concise expression of single thoughts.
Students have experienced excellent success in developing writing skills by mimicking the writing of others. The sentences in Appendix A can not only be used to illustrate the connotations of the target synonyms which are located there, but also can be used as sample sentences to mimic. Those sentences can and do function as graphic paradigms (patterned examples designed to be imitated). If students (1.) listen to the reading of these sentences; (2.) reread the sentences themselves; (3.) copy the sentences as they are; and (4.) are instructed to write shadow versions, substituting the target denotation for the italicized words, the same impressions that were made through the repetitious reading of the fairytales can be made through the repetitious writing of these (or similar) sentences. These exercises in tandem become multilayered reading, writing, and vocabulary exercises.

Traditional thinking touts the five-step writing sequence (prewriting through publication) as the primary means to teach writing. The problem with this traditional approach is that it assumes that the writers already know how to write. It assumes that they have a mainstream background. What if they don’t? What if the students are emigrants from another place, another culture – a place where Little Red Riding Hood never ventured? What if they don’t know what sounds right? What if they aren’t even sure what a complete sentence is? What if double negatives sound perfectly normal to them? It seems an obvious conclusion that these would-be writers in order to develop facility as proficient writers must first be impressed with the knowledge of the language of writing as it exists on the subliminal plane. These impressions are nothing less than foundational to any hope of building writing facility in any student at any age.
The adage, A picture is worth a thousand words, is borne out rather starkly. The sole reason that this adage is revered as a truism is that the picture has been observed time and again by scrutinizing eyes taking the place of the thousand words. This fact has become axiomatic. Hence, the necessary lesson is conveyed through observation, not necessarily through overt traditional instruction. Thus, the picture becomes an illustrative model or paradigm of what the student needs to know. The lesson, in effect, becomes tacitly and intuitively imparted through directed repetition.

The instructor should surely explain to the student what the process involves. This will not hinder it from working; it will actually facilitate and foster it. Just as the teacher would explain the theory of echo reading to the echo readers, this is simply a form of echo writing which should also be explained. Echo readers are told by their teachers, “I want you to read the way I do. Read after me.” Mimicry writers are told by their teachers, “I want you to write the way I write. Write after me.”

Allow the illustrative sentences in Appendix A to serve as intuitive models and graphic paradigms for your struggling writers. You will be astounded at the understanding that will be imparted by these word pictures. These sentences will aid the underdeveloped literates in learning how to think in the language of writing. Once they start to think in that language and develop a sense for the language, writing in that language will be a matter of natural expression for them, just as it is for those who were earlier impressed.

Sincerely,

The Educator
http://www.raygosabooks.com/

A Poem That Honors Change!

2008-06-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

Below, is a poem written in honor of a new school being built. This school is a place I have labored and loved for two decades. And, indeed, I continue there to this day. It was formerly called Jefferson Davis Middle School; but, it now hails Palm Springs Middle School. JD as it was commonly called had crumbling walls, old pipes, and a facade that bespoke longevity and unmistakable wear.

As I witnessed its golden pillars rising so high into the sky just above Kirk Road -- an image that no doubt will outlive most of my generation -- I was asked to write a poem in honor of its epic dedication. I needed little inspiration to do such a thing; for, the message of my school had been engraved in me as it had been engraved in my fellows over many years as we wrestled with social issues and a student population that challenged the most tenacious of educators. Read below and see what wonders time has wrought!

When Golden Towers Rise

Yesterday she held her own, weathering tides of wind and storm
But, alas, her crumbling bone showed forth the ravage in her form
Her hue waned and was wan, as did the glory of times marched by
Yet, there is whose glory’s born, who rises and makes a steepled sky! 4

Nobler than all that past embraced of those wanton years of yore
Stands the mighty monument that long destiny fated ‘fore
Named of isles -- the turgid seas, the misty seas washed o’er
Promises the youthful fount’s sweet tricklings ever more. 8

Hailing the wayward wanderer, a writing wall’s rapped
Causing him to wonder, the wooden station’s tapped
“What say ye?” the stern pedagogue does quest.
“Perhaps, I say,” the clever rapscallion does guess. 12

Cubs and kits will daily romp; fledglings will often play
Their games of tease and make-believe till timely dusk of May
Those whose hearts -- whose heads yet with wonder team
Ah, see the reason; watch the cause that raised her pillar beam! 16

Of this our new, our christened house is said
Tomorrow’s sun’s risen; the future’s yours instead
Stand ho! ye sentinel and silver rapier raise
Mark sure this scene, and carve it deep with praise. 20

Spread broad your arms with bristled tones galore
Shout your beckoning, with welcome words implore
All who pass, who trek nigh upon our opened door
Within, patient wisdom is – zealous wit -- and more! 24

Ray Gosa
2006

Sincerely,

The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com

Thanks for the Recognition!

2008-06-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks a Million!

If I had a thousand tongues, surely I'd say thank you a thousand times with every one! With much humility and gratitude, I say a public thank you to those who considered me worthy to receive the Dwyer Award for Excellence in Middle School Education in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2006-2007. Also, as many thank you's go to those who nominated me and those who selected me as an "I Make a Difference" teacher for 2007-2008 for Palm Beach County, Florida. As I muse upon these honors, what strikes me first is how many other teachers could easily have won these awards. There are so many others who are so hard working and so very worthy also. Again, I say thanks a million!

Sincerely,

The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com

Reacting to the 2007-2008 Reading Scores

2008-06-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

Reacting to the 2007-2008 Reading Scores

When the scores for the 2007-2008 reading assessment (FCAT) came out, they were met with several points of interest. Many were very interested in the overall scores of the state of Florida; others were concerned with the overall scores of Palm Beach County (PBC); still others, including yours truly, with the overall scores of various Title One schools in PBC; and, my teaching family and I with the overall score of our middle school, Palm Springs Middle. The overall scores of the students that I personally taught left me mostly satisfied.

For those that don't already know, one of the greatest monsters to slay for teachers in Title One or AAA schools is the beast called APATHY. This beast is given life and sustenance through no legitimate claim it can make. It exists simply because the students who have the greatest needs also tend to have the greatest degree of misunderstanding about life and the possibilities it offers to those prepared to take advantage. Struggling students, in large part, are not usually aware that they are struggling! For them, the status quo, while not perfect and pleasing, is the same now as it has always been. One must conclude that habituation makes the strange and unusual seem normal and, through that normalcy, proper. Thus, when some well-intentioned teacher comes along and offers struggling students a cure for what ails them, they simply say, "No thanks!" Their ailments are not seen as such by them. After their initial declining of the offer, which typically happens in elementary years, their subsequent attitude of disinterest and sometimes downright hostility becomes the welcome-mat message to all who would impart to them any meaningful instruction.

Now, with that being said, the cause of the lack of complete satisfaction is two-fold. The majority of my students did well (66% high standards); however, some that could've done better, didn't. I am very pleased that the Bridging the Chasm program produced higher-than-average reading scores for many struggling students; however, I'm still concerned that the stifling grip of apathy held back some much needed effort that the students could have put forth.

Sincerely,

The Educator
www.raygosabooks.com

Students' Writing Scores!

2008-05-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Teachers of Struggling Students, Give Ear!

When this year's state of Florida (FCAT) writing scores were published, there were many loud and boistrous cheers. Some came from the administrators, some from writing teachers, but most came from students. This used to be an unusual sound in this school and many other schools, but as of the last few years, it has become an expected one. All of the students in question are proud denizens of Title One schools, with free and reduced lunch populations ranging from 50% to 85%.

These kids are not usually expected to do well because of the pervasiveness of their social and economic plights; albeit, these as well as many other students in some of the Palm Beach County, Florida schools have learned new lessons! They've learned that their expected plights don't have to be their realized plights. Thanks to a writing program called Thirty-Six Stars (Gosa, 2007), they have discovered that the power to write well is indeed a power also granted to them.

Students in Palm Springs Middle School, one of the Title One schools in question averaged 4.2 and 4.3 on expository and persuasive prompts respectively. Those in this school using Thirty-Six Stars restrictively averaged 4.6 overall. That 4.6 is higher than the county's overall average of 4.3 and the state of Florida's overall average of 4.3. That is a noteworthy difference! If you know of any teachers, or district personel whose student writing scores have been sub-par, direct them to this website: www.raygosabooks.com.

It's time for struggling students to stop struggling! Don't you agree?

Sincerely,

The Educator

Improving Literacy Class by Class

Reading and Writing Books for Struggling Students!

2008-05-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

These innovative textbooks employ new and powerful strategies that teach struggling students to stop struggling and become fluent and skillful readers, writers, and thinkers. They use techniques that cause immediate and measurable growth in struggling teenagers. If you know of a principal, a teacher, or a parent that's been looking for something to help their struggling, unmotivated students become high achievers, here it is!

These teaching tools are all research-based and classroom tested. They are all a part of the Bridging the Chasm Literacy Program developed by Ray Gosa (an award-winning educator). Students who use these materials and methods have found great success in learning quickly, deeply, and permanently, and have been scoring far above the norm on standardized tests. Please visit the website and investigate for yourself. You'll be greatly rewarded!

Click here: http://www.raygosabooks.com/.