tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post1345238338764801689..comments2024-03-06T05:13:58.358-08:00Comments on Literacy in Leafstrewn: Emails from a studentEChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-36922378446904538492012-07-18T17:51:45.267-07:002012-07-18T17:51:45.267-07:00Guided reading would be great--for interested stud...Guided reading would be great--for interested students, that is maybe the best way to go. As wordnerd points out, different people have distinctly different needs. Postman's question is helpful, but also has many answers. As an English teacher, my answer is mainly: I want students to become more confident and able readers and writers. To achieve that goal, yes, I think this student might have been better off not going to high school. She is involved in lots of extracurricular stuff, so school overall has probably been good. But because reading and writing are THE key academic skills, and because the state privileges English class by requiring a full four years of it, we have a special responsibility, and we really should be making sure we are not wasting our students' time!EChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-11268328880796946952012-07-18T17:36:38.563-07:002012-07-18T17:36:38.563-07:00Yes, true. This kid is not going to be hurt too m...Yes, true. This kid is not going to be hurt too much if we do a bad job, but others will. But this kid's experience is interesting because it points up the somewhat farcical nature of a lot of what we do. If THIS kid doesn't take school seriously, and doesn't read her English class books, how can we possibly expect kids who are not able readers to do the assigned reading?!EChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-69690442180629013482012-07-18T16:40:10.490-07:002012-07-18T16:40:10.490-07:00A question I wonder about: is the work that a stud...A question I wonder about: is the work that a student must do in HS more important than reading for one's self? If a student took the four years off from classes (but not from socializing) and read instead, would they be prepared for college or life? Sort of a Thoreau-vian question, perhaps. How about guided reading? "You should really read the following books (a, b, c...) in the next four years; the rest is up to you"?<br /><br />A while back an intellectual hero of mine, Neil Postman, wrote a book called "The End of School," but which he meant not the termination but the goal. He offers a bunch of possible goals--and then rejects them, as he also rejects what have been the goes of HS in past eras. He concludes that before we can fix/change anything, we need to answer his question: what is the end of school?<br /><br />Once we answer that question, we would be in a position to ask, "would the time be better spent reading?" [Again, I'm not saying that kids should spend the four years alone, locked in a room. So much of what they gain in the four years involves learning to be with other people and to work collaboratively and deal with other points of view and perspectives. Instead, I'm asking about the school learning time.]<br /><br />At the very least, once we answer Postman's question, we'd be in a better position to ask, "Is the education we're providing suiting the desired end?"<br /><br />Thanks, as always, for a provocative post.MisterFischerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11477206660674134469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-4508032803665699032012-07-18T15:56:55.418-07:002012-07-18T15:56:55.418-07:00High pressure high schools aren't conducive to...High pressure high schools aren't conducive to recreational reading. College life probably isn't either. But she'll go back to being a reader, I bet.<br />It seems more urgent to help the non-reader never-was-reader get some enjoyment, and maybe some skills, that might turn them into readers.wordnerdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17629832285635475973noreply@blogger.com