Thinking about the task that lies ahead of us as educators, ending the readicide our nation's political leaders have created through legislation such a No Child Left Behind, is quite daunting. Gallagher's findings and the ideas he shares for combatting the issue are strong points we definitely need to keep in mind as we begin our journey. I found The 50/50 Approach (p. 117) particularly intriguing. Developing recreational readers should be a key practice and focus of all educators, but leisure reading has been relegated to the very back burner in most schools in exchange for more time focusing on test preparation. The story that Stephanie and Ryan shre about the GMC students reading too many leisure books during class time and the distraction that creates is an exciting problem to have, while my 7th graders can hardly stand the one hour of Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) time on Friday mornings during Academic Support. Students see this as a punishment and are constantly askng "why do we have to do this?" And I have to be honest, I know the answer to why this is important, but I have yet to fidn a way to explain its importance to my kids in a way that will make sense to them and get them as excited about the time as I am that they have that opportunity! This time fits in perfectly with most all of the "developing recreational readers" category. What students are reading for fun, enjoyment, to "build valuable knowledge capital" can be achieved through this time set aside for student-selected Silent Sustained Reading. It's not for a grade, but there are also no incentives for this reading time, and I could see that as a way to improve the DEAR time in my classroom.
One concern I have about this reading time is that many students are selecting magazines from the classroom bookshelf to read during this time on a weekly basis. Through this they are fostering that "thinner and broader" education. Instead of engaging in a cognitive challenging novel, they fly through page after page of newsworthy information or ground-breaking new information about our world. However, it is juts that--a lack of depth. This magazine reading during DEAR is a parallel to the "Internet reading producer shallower reading than book reading...there is more emphasis placed on reading headlines and blurbs" (112). In my classroom, I would immediately combat this with a "book flood" available to them. I have actually already begun creating my classroom library! The beginning of the end of readicide is going to have to start in each and every one of our classrooms through the strategies we implement, being reading role models, engaging in conversations with students about their reading, and having high-interest reading available at all reading levels to guide all students to deeper reading.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Overteaching Reading
Ok... I have to start by asking a few questions.
1. How many of you have ever heard the phrase "overteaching reading"?
2. How many of you have ever experienced the overteaching of reading?
I have to admit that I've never heard the term or explanation of "overteaching reading," but I have certainly experienced it many times over the years. As both a student in classes and as a student teacher I have seen this "overteaching" happen. I have had the same thought that Mem Fox's daughter Chloe uttered many times over the years---"I could have read four books by now!" (p. 59) Reading in class or for a class sometimes became ruined by teachers repeatedly stopping to recap, analyze, define words, etc. or assignments over the reading that require continuous question answering, passage marking, reflecting, etc.
In addition to the irony of this overteaching of reading, I find it ironic that Gallagher's somewhat humorous example of movie-watching (p. 61) has actually happened to me. I was in a college class watching a film incorporating many of the sociological concepts we had been learning in class and my professor did, in fact, stop the film multiple times for us to discuss these sociological themes and the director's tone and perspective.
The part of Gallagher's chapter 3 "Avoiding the Tsunami" that I was most intrigued by was the section describing how the overteaching of reading contributes to the destruction or lack of development of the reading flow. Since I am such an avid reader, I love the experience of being so engrossed in a book that I reach the end and have to reorient myself to where I am, what time it is, etc. That is a true testament to a great author and also to my ability to completely shut off and truly experience the story. Many teachers all killing students' abilities to find this passion for and enjoyment of reading by the incessant stop to analyze and/or reflect.
"The endless reading hoops placed in front of young readers to jump through are actually exacerbating the problem" (p. 61) made me consider disciplinary literacy once again. We are social studies content teachers need to keep this is mind for our reading asssignments. Primary documents are a great resource in social studies classrooms, and implementing the strategies we learned from the article in class earlier this semester can help us alleviate some of these hoops. Summarizing some wordy parts of primary documents and using lower-level vocabulary are two great options.
1. How many of you have ever heard the phrase "overteaching reading"?
2. How many of you have ever experienced the overteaching of reading?
I have to admit that I've never heard the term or explanation of "overteaching reading," but I have certainly experienced it many times over the years. As both a student in classes and as a student teacher I have seen this "overteaching" happen. I have had the same thought that Mem Fox's daughter Chloe uttered many times over the years---"I could have read four books by now!" (p. 59) Reading in class or for a class sometimes became ruined by teachers repeatedly stopping to recap, analyze, define words, etc. or assignments over the reading that require continuous question answering, passage marking, reflecting, etc.
In addition to the irony of this overteaching of reading, I find it ironic that Gallagher's somewhat humorous example of movie-watching (p. 61) has actually happened to me. I was in a college class watching a film incorporating many of the sociological concepts we had been learning in class and my professor did, in fact, stop the film multiple times for us to discuss these sociological themes and the director's tone and perspective.
The part of Gallagher's chapter 3 "Avoiding the Tsunami" that I was most intrigued by was the section describing how the overteaching of reading contributes to the destruction or lack of development of the reading flow. Since I am such an avid reader, I love the experience of being so engrossed in a book that I reach the end and have to reorient myself to where I am, what time it is, etc. That is a true testament to a great author and also to my ability to completely shut off and truly experience the story. Many teachers all killing students' abilities to find this passion for and enjoyment of reading by the incessant stop to analyze and/or reflect.
"The endless reading hoops placed in front of young readers to jump through are actually exacerbating the problem" (p. 61) made me consider disciplinary literacy once again. We are social studies content teachers need to keep this is mind for our reading asssignments. Primary documents are a great resource in social studies classrooms, and implementing the strategies we learned from the article in class earlier this semester can help us alleviate some of these hoops. Summarizing some wordy parts of primary documents and using lower-level vocabulary are two great options.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)