The More Things Change
On Friday, PBS aired the final episode of Reading Rainbow, the landmark television show that invited a generation of children into the adventurous world of reading and books. While #savereadingrainbow climbed up Friday’s hashtag rankings on Twitter, my new students happily shared their favorite early childhood books— treasured titles like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Stellaluna, books which, incidentally, appeared on past episodes of the Emmy-winning show. Claiming that “research has shown that teaching children the mechanics of reading should be the network’s priority,” vice president for children’s programming at PBS, Linda Simensky, implies that teaching children why they should read is no longer as valuable as teaching them how. My students are blissfully unaware that their love for books is unimportant, and I intend to keep it that way.
As one more opportunity to spark a love of reading dies over at PBS, the New York Times announces that The Future of Reading is reading workshop. Describing one teacher’s journey to implement reading workshop with her middle school students, the article explores the messy challenges and smalls triumphs of a classroom environment where children choose the books they read. It bewilders me that reading workshop, first introduced to practicing teachers in works like In the Middle by Nancie Atwell (written in 1987), is still seen as groundbreaking or newsworthy. I continually wonder how activities like reading one book as a class, dissecting classics, and presenting book reports become entrenched in reading classrooms for generations while ideas like allowing student choices, reading contemporary literature, and writing authentic reading responses fail to gain a foothold in many English classes. When we do embrace ideas like using real books instead of the basal reader, we rush to fence in independent reading with computer-based tracking programs like Accelerated Reader.
While debating the merit of programs like AR is nothing new, either, it seems that a new voice is finally chiming in—parents. In the essay, “Reading by the Numbers,” (also in this week’s New York Times), author and parent, Susan Straight, denounces the arbitrary application of AR points to the contemporary and classic works her children read and bemoans how the hunt for high-point books restricts their reading choices. Straight writes, “The passion and serendipity of choosing a book at the library based on the subject or the cover or the first page is nearly gone, as well as the excitement of reading a book simply for pleasure.” Using programs like AR shows an inherent mistrust of students’ independence and teachers’ ability to assess what students know.
No matter how much we discover about teaching reading we seem to ask the same questions. Are we really teaching if we do not micromanage every aspect of the reading process, from the books children read to how they respond? Is inspiring students to read more important than sharing a common literary heritage? Does pleasure reading matter anymore? I believe we can create literate, educated citizens who also love to read. I know a lot of you believe it, too. Who decided that these were incompatible or impossible aims?
Comments
Our society is in a "quick fix" mode right now. People are trying to solve problems without asking all of the right questions first.
It's almost like we're all immersed in a sea of puzzle pieces, but no one is able to put them together. There are rare people like you who are able to see the big picture, and are trying to help others to see it too. Many of them can't though, because they're being pulled down by the weight of the pieces around them.
Until we break free of this destructive paradigm, our children are the ones who will suffer the most.
There are no shortcuts to teaching reading, or any other subject. Learning should be a gradual and fun process. Thank you for helping others to see that. The world needs more people like you!
Posted by: Dawn | August 30, 2009 10:33 AM
I also read the NYTimes article and was surprised that this was identified as a "revolutionary" approach (especially since this was the approach used in my own jr. high English classes, 20 years ago!) Glad to know I am not alone! As a kindergarten and first grade teacher, my students get to make reading choices for themselves every day, and I really believe THAT is what motivates them to learn to read.
Posted by: starsatnight | August 30, 2009 10:42 AM
Imagine if, as an adult, someone else told you what to read and when to read it and how to respond to it! We dampen the desire to read early and often in schools. Our responsibility as teachers is to create a thirst for learning. A love of reading is critical for the coming generations of "life long learners". When one chooses one's own materials one owns both the content and the contentment of learning. When we take from learners the inner drive to read and to learn we take their futures as well.
To those teachers who feel trapped by curriculum and by reading "systems" - I say, be brave, search for ways to add natural reading to your students' lives. Find corners of your day, moments in your calendar, and keep it in your heart that the love of learning must be ignited for students to be successful - and that the tools for learning remain greatly balanced upon a foundation of love of reading.
Thank you.
Posted by: Gail Lovely | August 30, 2009 11:01 AM
Thanks for putting into words what I was struggling with after reading both Times pieces (and a couple of other related articles from Durham NC and Boston). I just can't fathom why being educated and loving literature have somehow ended up, as you say, being viewed as incompatible aims. It doesn't make any sense. I'm glad that at least I can come here, and find you and the other commenters above to be voices of reason. Thank you all for working in the classroom every day, even when there are other pressures, to help kids love books.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | August 30, 2009 1:18 PM
My sister and I were talking the other day about how one of our fondest memories was when we went to the library and got to check out books. It was an older building and it smelled so good...even the books smelled old and antique. It was such an adventure to find good books all our own for a week. My mom was awesome for taking us. :) The fun was choosing our own books. We are both avid readers today...nearly 50 years later.
Posted by: Lori Lusk | August 31, 2009 1:01 PM
Surely we can give students a choice of what to read without abandoning books we think most children should read. I did an interview with children's literature laureate John Scieszka a while ago, and he advocated giving boys in particular greater choice over what they read. He also suggested that educators should use their enthusiasm for reading books of their choice to steer them towards books that form a part of our common literary heritage. That sounded interesting to me, but I've been out of the classroom for a long time. Does that seem like a feasible strategy?
The Scieszka interview is here: http://bit.ly/14IKqR
Posted by: Claus | September 1, 2009 4:13 PM
I have a message to share about AR - our son, Charlie, an avid reader since 3.5, was assigned a fairly large number of "points" as his goal in middle school. I had no problem with that. He came home, said, "Mom, I have a plan." I said, "Let's hear it".
"I'm going to read these AR books as fast as I can, take the tests and then read what I want to read." I thought that was a great idea. However, when he did so, the next semester, his points doubled! That wasn't a big deal for him but I was immediately in the principal's office. This conversation was not for Charlie; he would read any way. This conversation was for those who struggle. Are we sending them a message that will encourage them to read more when we take such mindless approaches? Or are we causing them more failure in an already difficult situation.
I have started a group on Linkedin (a professional networking website) called Presenters Passionate About Literacy. Because we in that world, parents of children and great teachers know the realities of creating readers, we must stand up and make noise. We carry the torch! Hurray to those of you that do!
Posted by: Cathy Puett Miller AKA The Literacy Ambassador | September 4, 2009 3:57 PM