In a perfect world I would be writing this blog and hundreds of teachers and former students would be reading it and responding to it. I would ask this question: How much do you read in each of your classes in school? I'm going to write this entire essay, I wish that if people read it they would respond with the answers. If you're a teacher you may answer different than I answer. That may be because you are a teacher at a better school than I am. You might teach at an affluent school that isn't Title 1. You may work at a Public charter or Private school and the story might be different there. I hope the story is different at your school. People who read this and only experience of school is there own school from years ago, will, no doubt, be surprised by what I am saying. I am not trying to write with hyperbole or exaggeration.
You can go to school in America today without reading. A student should have English/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies in almost all grades. Math may be the one that gets a pass. The teacher instructs. The math problems aren't always text, although there is tons of word problems that are over emphasized all through school to make math seem more relevant. There is no excuse when it comes to the other classes. Science and Social Studies Content comes through text and ELA the text IS the content. I have been a part of my own class and have sat in, walked through, observed, heard about enough classes to know that there isn't significant reading going on in any of the classes.
Do children need to learn to read? Yes. It is the most essential building block of education from which all knowledge and understanding must spring. Literacy however, and vocabulary fluency is waning in this country. Expectations to read are going down. I am confessing and lamenting this problem in my class, in my school. In all the schools I have been a part of. In every conversation I have had about this topic. And it must be attacked and beachheads must be made.
It is my opinion that children should read and write everyday in class. The only way to make sure of this is to require it in all classes everyday. There must be overt, specific, concrete, and clear expectations to read in every core class. No ifs ands or buts.
In Social Studies and History their should be content read from the book and from notes. Every student doesn't need to copy notes everyday, but every student should read text and notes everyday. Simple expectation. Some schools and ages can require reading at home. I think a middle school students should be expected to read 1-2 pages in their text book each night. If there is no text book or if the teacher doesn't like the specific selection in the book then the teacher should assign something else of equal amount. All of this should not be concurrent to the information in class. However, there should also be reading done in class. Maybe 1-2 pages. Quietly or one student at a time. One paragraph at a time. In groups, to the class, one student take a turn each day. All of these are options so that each student is practicing this essential skill regularly. Students would be getting so much more content than teachers can teach in class. Teachers may also legitimately hope that students have the ability to read and the skill to do it without barriers to understanding outside of school. In high school the expectation should be increased. 2-5 pages out of class, for purposes of time you may have to limit in class reading, but there should be in class reading. Students refuse to read in middle school. They cannot read. There is an epidemic of teachers not expecting this, not teaching not, not practicing this. But isn't it our sacred duty to help them learn this and to never let them slip through the crack without this. Imagine if you will a student graduating high school with a diploma that reads at a 5th grade level. What if that was the average. A compilation of the top 40 books teens in grades 9-12 are reading in school shows that the average reading level of that list is 5.3 -- barely above the fifth grade. -HuffPost
In Science I think the same thing should be expected. 1-2 Pages outside of class and 1-2 pages inside of class daily. Both should be expecting a short response to a pertinent question of 4-6 sentences three to four times a week. Both should write a response to the unit they are in that encapsulates most of the information within the unit because synthesis is the best proof of understanding. If someone told me that I had to do this, I would freak out. Teachers used to grade essay questions. But, by and large, we don't anymore. Teachers love multiple choice because it's easy to grade or computer graded is even better. We love drag and drops because they can be visually checked. But this isn't education. We need to ask what is proof of knowledge and what is the intake of knowledge. That is reading and writing. The hope would be that if this became more endemic then Social Studies and Science teachers would be able to spend less time correcting grammar and punctuation, and basic stupidity. Them more that students practice this skill the easier it would be to grade them. Write now it is so difficult. Administration would flip out if this was suggested especially at a title 1 school. I am rarely able to expect any or any significant homework, let alone everyday.
If the Science and Social Studies are reading and writing everyday then ELA must be doing even more. Now after the primary years are finished with a fanatic study of phonics students are going to have to read more and more and more. There needs to be reading, call and response, choral, rhyming, and more all throughout elementary. I have heard of Public Charter schools with more emphasis on reading the classics. I am sympathetic to that, but I also believe in reading books self selected. But the principle needs to be promoting not limiting.
In secondary education students should be reading 1-2 pages in class and outside class in Science and Social Studies for a total of 10-20 pages/week. School is 36 weeks long for a total of 360-720 pages /year. Double that for ELA takes us to 720-1440 pages of text per year. Students who read, lead. Students who are voracious readers will be prepared for college. Students cannot slip through without essential knowledge and skills when the emphasis is on the knowledge and skills that they need to get the information.
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