I always scan through my Technology & Learning News feeds for the latest in the world of education and technology, and I never miss the IntantPoll. Polls are fun. But beyond that, I believe that in a time of rapid change, what people think and believe can be as valuable as what we know.
This month the issue surrounds high schools and the potential cost of devoting more time to reading instruction for struggling students.
As more attention is focused on improving reading in middle and high schools, many districts are rearranging schedules to provide more time that can be devoted to reading instruction for struggling students. But given the demands of the modern high school curriculum, that time often comes at the expense of elective courses such as chorus, vocational classes or Junior ROTC. Do you believe such trade-offs are a good idea?
You can read more about the issue in a recent St. Petersburg Times article, To Pump Up Reading, Schools Cut Back Fun. The article describes how ROTC programs could lose their funding, because so many of their students will be pulled out for reading instruction. The military attitude seems to be alive, though, as John Leanes says, “We’re going to overwhelm our students with reading strategies,” about his school’s take-no-prisoners approach to literacy.
Now don’t get me wrong. Kids have to learn to read. But it seems to me, that a no prisoners approach to basic literacy instruction is not going to make teenagers suddenly love learning and want to stay in school. What’s going to turn a 17 year old around is the soul of a classroom.
The guiding experiences for my own children in high school were their band and ROTC teachers. Both of my children read very well, much better than I do. So they are not a fair comparison. But how much of the soul of teaching and learn are we willing to give up, for the sake of statistics. We are serving human beings and their futures, and human beings do not affect their futures with literacy skills, all though these skills are important. They affect their futures with passion. Without it, they just slide along — reading or not.
You can still participate in Tech Learning’s InstantPoll.
2¢ worth.
Addendum: One of the messages in The World is Flat is that the basic technical and academic skill jobs will be outsourced. The niche that U.S. workers will continue to fill are the high touch, interactive, and creative jobs.
David,
This is a difficult question to answer with yes or no. I think reading is the key to all academic learning. Even the days of learning a trade on the job are all most gone. Every job has manuals, computer functions, record keeping etc. that go with the work. If students can’t read well they are going to have low paying jobs or numerous short term jobs. That said I value the arts. Music, art, literature, poetry are the soul of any society. The question is to we have to choose between the two. Pull out programs at the high school level have not been shown to make a difference. So what good does it do us to pull students out of band and put them in a reading class. They will walk in resenting the class and will make sure that the instructor knows it.
We need to change the way high school teachers approach they subject. Ever teacher should be teaching students how to read in their subject area. How do I comprehend a math problem? What are the key words or structure of reading math? How do I read a scientific report or book? What are the elements of a research paper that I should look for as I read.
Recently I had the experience of examining several text books in science and social studies. I had a hard time reading them because of the layout and structure of the chapters. The pages contained charts, graphs, images and fact boxes that were some times difficult to relate to the text or I my opinion interfered with the flow of the text. It isn’t about de-coding works it is about comprehension.
This is a long comment just to say that I think we can’t graduate students without reading skills and that every teacher needs to be working to help their students become better readers.
jim
A agree, Jim. In a world where our children will be holding jobs that haven’t been invented yet, how will they prepare without basic reading skills. I guess what’s at the heart of this question, is…
Why are we having to ask the question?
Why are we being asked to make a choice?
How constrained our education system has become, that we are forced to choose between the basics, and helping our students to experience the richness that is at the core of our culture? I’m not speaking only of art and music, but technical training, ROTC, multimedia, photography, academic specialties, and more. Providing remedial reading instruction costs. If society, and those whom our society chooses to represent it, are not willing to pay for it by investing in education, then the cost is our children’s education.