I really do not like to read. As a child, I assume, I was quite bright because my grandmother would always put me on display at family functions by asking me to spell very long words...and I would, flawlessly. School was never a problem for me and I don't remember having to study real hard in order to get good grades.
However, although I am over 45 years old, I am more of a visual person. I would rather experience a story on the silver screen than from a book. I have often beat myself up about this because, as an educator, I feel I should read more and have a greater desire to do so.
Though I have not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the last book I read happen to be the biography of JRR Tolkien. I wanted to know about the man that created such a great piece of literature. We have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, which I read and enjoy far better that the regular newspapers that detail every horrible occurrence in our communities. I enjoy reading any 'home' magazine and I read the Bible. But it seems as though every time I pick up a book to read, I suddenly get sleepy and the next thing I know, Zzzzzzz .
I learn how to read through the phonetic approach. I feel this is what is lacking in our students' ability to read better, today. Someone years ago had the bright idea to teach kids the 'whole language' approach to reading. And as a result, in my opinion, a great injustice has been done to a generation of kids. We need to get back to some basic fundamental ways of learning. Many kids today have no decoding skills because they don't know what words are suppose sound like. They are not familiar with the rules that govern words and the formulation of words.
We as educators are so busy keeping up with all the mandates, that we don't have time to teach what the kids really need. What happen to sight words and syllabically pulling words apart and sentence diagramming????
At present, I am teaching reading using the America's Choice model. This model is really not meeting the needs of my special needs students. I can't remember the last time I gave a spelling test or taught students how to diagram a sentence. Because each DAY, I'm given something to teach; not something of my choosing.
Each morning we do a WORD OF THE DAY in my class. I would usually give the sentence after the principal has given the word over the intercom system. But our intercom system has been inoperable for about a month (if not longer) now. The students look forward to the WORD OF THE DAY; they are use to the "ritual and routine". :) (For those of you who know what I'm talking about). So I have continued with the WORD OF THE DAY. Instead of my giving the word, definition and sentence, I let the students do it. Invariably, when it is time for them to use the word in a sentence, they have great difficulty because they have little or no basic knowledge of parts of speech. I would like to spend a month on just grammar and grammar usage. After the all mighty GEPA and NJASK exams, I intend to do just that.
I love the English language; I find it fascinating. I enjoy listening to people who speak well and love words. My favorite professor in college was a linguistics specialist. Linguistics is something I always wanted to study.
Lately, it seems as if I don't have much patience for reading. In that respect, I feel sometimes, I'm as bad as the kids I teach. At home, when it comes to reading diagrams for putting something together or a new gadget, I let my husband handle it. It's all gibberish to me. I always tell him, "Baby, just read it and tell me what to do!"
4 comments:
Hey, very interesting point about the whole language approach. I also disagree with this. We definitely need to use a variety of approaches to teaching reading. Since there isn't just one type of student, why then only one type of reading program in school.
Whole language!--agh-- I think that approach to teaching not only puts some lower level readers at a disadvantage later in life, but it also drastically affects their writing skills. Because of whole language, I see students (even now) that are horrible spellers. I was a product of the whole language movement. I can identify basic parts of sentences/parts of speech, just from my knowledge with English, but I wouldn't be able to diagram a sentence or point out direct objects, etc. I teach "Reading" class and we don't really focus on grammar---that's for "Language Arts" class...by the way, it's stupid that they're separated but anyway... I agree with you...there needs to be a mixture of teaching methods.
I honestly think that we should just mix it up-a little bit of this...a little bit of that and we'll have little perfect linguists at the end of the assembly line.Two weeks ago I felt so empowered when I squeezed in a mini -lesson on types of sentences.The lesson was a 'breath of fresh air.'The students enjoyed it because it was a 'diversion' from the regular routine.So from time to time I'll throw something into the writers workshop-going back to how things used to be! roots!
It must be very difficult not having the choice as an educator to just have that moment where you just want to pull out something of your choosing to do with your class to extend an activity. I would imagine that it is very hard to just have to do as the 'book says' than by going with your experience and with the teachable moments to extend your students experience in the classroom. Kudos do you for doing all you can do with what you are 'given'.
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