I think I have heard "enough" more since I began the Special Education Program at OSU than I have in the previous 23 years of my life. We are told "make sure students get enough practice before you expect students to complete work independently", "make sure you collect enough data before making a hypothesis", "make sure you build in enough review for mastery", but really, what is enough?
That question, "what is enough?", continued to run through my head as I read "Is Being Wild About Harry Enough? Encouraging Independant Reading at Home". The article argued the Harry Potter craze was not enough to encourage independent reading outside of school, citing reading for pleasure drops from 43% at grade 4 to 19% at grade 8. This statistic seems to corrleate with the switch in curriculumn from learning to read vs. reading to learn. In grades K-4, teachers are instructed to make reading fun, give children choice in what books to read to help motivate them to become fluent readers. Once entering the upper elementary and middle school grades it is expected that students read in order to learn the content. They are no longer reading funny Dr.Seuss books, or nonfiction books over any topic that interests them, instead they are reading science and history text books and complex word problems in math class; no wonder they don't want to put down a text book and pick up their favorite fiction book in their spare time.
I am not arguing against the emphasis of academic reading, or the increased rigor of curriculmn, but simply asking is it really that surprising that a 7th grader is choosing video games over to Kill a Mocking Bird? When surveyed for class, the many of us admitted we did not read for pleasure, is it fair to hold our students to a higher standard? My question to you is, how do we get older students to read for pleasure? Is it even nesscessary that students choose to read outside of school if they are already fluent readers? Is it our job to inspire a love for reading in our students or is more important they can read various types of texts with fluency and understanding?
I think it is unfair to expect students to read outside of class when many people who plan to be future teachers do not. I think it was this class where we read an article where the author pointed out that students don't see the work that is put into various skills. To many students it may seem that the teacher has this magical skill to be able to read, do math, etc. when really they were in the same position 20 or 30 years ago. My point is that I think it is important to teach students that to get good at reading one must read, and it won't happen overnight.
ReplyDeleteGood point Micah. I wonder also.. I have been listening to books on CD a lot lately because I am just so tired! But perhaps teachers and their classrooms could work with students to record books on CDs themselves and then send kids home with their peers reading so they too could lie in bed, not reading but getting that vocabulary exposure! Plus it would be a fun project.. hmmm.
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