- History:
We’re going to talk about reading but it is also helpful
sometimes to stand back and look at the Big Picture.
For instance, if you think about it a moment, how did reading start?
- We
say we are part of the Western tradition of education, that of Ancient Greece, but things
started much earlier than that. From when we
began to stand on two legs and cooperate to get food, we needed to communicate with one
another. Then there was the desire to
remember information – the location of food, how to hunt and to pass down stories. The caves at Lascaux are truly amazing to us
today. Depending on your interests, they
could be a story of the hunt, how to find certain animals, an inspiration for the hunters,
thanksgiving for the animals, the clan honoring the animals for the food they provide. Or it could be religious, social, or biological
records of early humans.
- Ancient
Greece: In ancient Greece, stories were told
orally. It was a time of transition between
an oral culture and the development of a writing system.
How many people have seen Troy?
As you may know, it is adapted from Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad,
written almost 3,000 years ago. There were
definitely no books or films around then. The
way the story and the knowledge encoded in the story was preserved over time was through
professional poets who would recite bodies of work to the public. Around Plato’s time, 350 BC, writing systems
began to take hold. Plato argued for getting rid of the poets and recording all our
knowledge in writing. Getting it down in one
version, clearly and rationally. There have
been a lot of mixed feelings about this ever since. It
is almost an echo of the debate on standardization in schools – the same texts and
education for all students – vs. the individual interpretations of material –
flavored by the personality and unique qualities and needs of her students. But, then again, even Plato believed young
children should begin their education by learning the great chaotic myths of the Greek
gods.
- Middle
Ages: From Plato’s time right on through
the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and up to about 1800, only the sons of the aristocracy
could receive an education. It took
Napoleon’s code to decree that all children should attend school. What a concept – even peasant children? They only need to know how to use their backs. But we might pinpoint this shift in thinking as
the root cause of modern society’s massive and rapid development.
- Today: So where are we today? That is what we are going to be finding out. The general view is that in most developed
countries in the world today, most students attend school up to sixteen years, and a vast
majority continue up to eighteen. Also, about
twenty-five percent go on to some type of higher education and about ten percent earn
Bachelor’s degrees.
- Statistics: A few weeks ago in The Vancouver Sun, there
was an article comparing the earning potential differences between levels of education. If I recall correctly, the article reported that
over a lifetime, the worker who had completed a Bachelor’s degree on average earned
more than $900,000 more than someone with no degree.
Also, someone who had finished high school, on average, made about $200,000
more in his lifetime than a drop out.
(Transparencies shown in class:)
WHY READING IS IMPORTANT
Reading is the most essential skill required for success in school.
Therefore, the biggest challenge for primary school teachers is to determine how
best to teach their students to read.
Our goal: to identify appropriate
methods of reading instruction for the different phases of development in students and
learn how to implement this knowledge in daily lessons and unit plans.
READING WARS: THE OPPOSING VIEWS
Two approaches to reading instruction:
1) Word
identification (parts à whole)
Teach the parts of words: phonics (sounds), letter sound relationships, put
parts together, C (“K”) + a (ah) +
t = Cat
Books use deliberate repetition of
sounds, add variations, build towards whole
2) Whole
language approach (whole is broken down into parts)
Start with what students know, analysis
of whole words, break down to sounds, put back together.
Variety of literature, work with the
words in that particular book
A MORE RECENT VIEW:
BALANCED LITERARY
INSTRUCTION
DEVELOPING READING THROUGH
EQUAL EMPHASIS ON:
- AUTHENTIC LITERATURE (USEFUL FOR REAL PURPOSES, MEANINGFUL TO
STUDENTS), AND,
- DIRECT INSTRUCTION
IN STRATEGIES AND SKILLS (WORD RECOGNITION, LETTER-SOUND RELATIONSHIPS, DECODING, ETC.)
TODAY’S VIEW
You cannot teach all children in the same manner.
Your instructional method is only as good as the child you are
working with.
Three Examples of Children
Entering Kindergarten
1) Linda has about 100 hours of exposure to print: she has been read to occasionally at bedtime, has
watched educational TV like Sesame Street. She
doesn’t write or recognize the letters of her name.
2) John
has about 1200 hours of exposure: From his
toddler years, he was read to regularly; he can sort out sounds, connect them to words,
and write his letters. He already reads at
the early Grade One level. He keeps a journal
with his mother.
3) Mary
is obviously gifted. She has a huge
knowledge of the world already, has a curious mind and her parents and grandparents read
to her often. She knows the alphabet but has
difficulty hearing and identifying the letters in connection to sound. She is not able to break down the words in a
sentence. Her family has told you her father
and aunt had learning disabilities as children.
LUCY McCORMICK CAULKINS:
CLASSROOM TEACHERS HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT WE NEED PHONICS AND
WE NEED COMPREHENSION. WE NEED TO PUT THE
BEST OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE HANDS OF KIDS, AND WE ALSO NEED TO TEACH THEM
THE STRATEGIES OF PHONICS.
YOU CAN HAVE ALL THE
PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD, BUT THE GOOD TEACHER IS WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE.
Interview in Washington
Post interview
Oct.
11, 2004
- Goals
of teaching literacy: Today many
educators mark another shift in the main goal of teaching literacy from that of fluency,
to comprehension. But as far as I’m
concerned, there is yet another higher goal. Certainly,
comprehension is second, but I feel the main priority in teaching reading is to foster a love
of reading in students. Knowing every
method in the book, how to use reading strategies, building the best library in your
school and classroom will not be worth a dime if your student is not excited, eager and
feeling a sincere pleasure about reading. It
starts when you realize all the children in the class cannot wait to find out what happens
next when you are reading a book together.
- Literature: Literature allows us to move outside ourselves,
into the world and learn about other people and other places and times. We see ourselves in others and through reading
literature we are permitted to become more intimate with people who are very different
from ourselves. The shock of recognition
occurs when we identify strongly with a character in an experience very far from our own. Reading goes a long way towards human
understanding.
- Technology: There is a lot of talk today surrounding teaching
technology and computer skills. It is true
that in the future students will all need this knowledge and the earlier they can be
exposed to computers the better it will be. But
I am concerned about a shift in thinking that goes along with this and that is that we
really can afford to give up time for telling stories and the feelings children need to
work through. One line of thinking goes that
children will develop their emotions anyway through daily living. I don’t think this is true for many students
and I worry that taking from the feeling realm of school time in order to give time to
more thinking-based skills will create more problems than solutions for their future
lives. The more we whittle away at
“feeling” time and undervalue emotional development, the more we reduce our
humanity. That is why reading quality
literature with the class, and more importantly, discussing how the students feel about
the story, is critical to their concept of themselves and others as people. In our busy modern lives, parents may have little
time for reading and discussing at home. If
students don’t have this experience regularly in school, where else will they get it? That said, I would also like to add that
technology can be used for many valuable purposes and later in the semester we will take a
look at some wonderful software for children. But
I feel it is important to mention that teachers need to carefully consider how to balance
all the needs of their students, especially not sacrificing the time that ought to be
devoted to self-development.
- Being
the teacher: Sometimes it feels as though we
are teaching a way of being, or a way of seeing the world, as much as we are teaching
curriculum. Your students are watching you
very carefully and you are a strong role model. This
should be something that gives pleasure to the teacher.
The main reason is, as we have heard from Lucy McCormick Caulkins, is that a
good teacher can make an enormous difference in a lot of children’s lives.
-On to another subject now. I’d
like to talk about how I would like to teach the course. In my PDP experience, I had truly creative and
informed FA’s. Right from the beginning
I had this weird feeling that I was in two roles at the same time – that of a student
sitting in the class learning as well as being a teacher who was picking up ideas and
activities that I could adapt to my future classroom.
I hope that you don’t mind slipping in and out of those two roles in
this class as well. It is meant to create a
dynamic atmosphere that will stimulate your imagination and help you learn more.
- Now
I’d like to give you a brief overview of the some of the ideas key to teaching
reading in this course. (Transparencies).
Educ 473 Designs for Learning: Reading
Introduction: The
Template
BEFORE:
1) Everyone
has learned to read and most teachers in training have also had experiences with young
children who are learning to read. Many of
the ideas in this course will be familiar and even the new ideas will make perfect sense
to you as you consider them as teachers. Reviewing
children’s books, reading our textbooks and articles will call up many memories about
reading. (Prior Knowledge)
2) Reading: the ability to say words, understand the meaning
of individual words as well as what they mean together in a sentence. Word
Identification: saying the words
aloud or in your head. Comprehension: Understanding what the words mean together. (Vocabulary)
3) This course
will enable you to understand how children learn to read and to determine which strategies
will best help a variety of learners at their different levels. It is assumed that everyone has at least some
general knowledge of how classrooms and schools are organized, the developmental stages of
children in each grade, and how teachers set aside specific time each day to focus on
reading but that reading also takes place across the curriculum. What we will do today is to look at an overview
of the course and get an idea of what we will talk about.
Later this afternoon we will go to the CET and cover the course
requirements. (Purpose)
4) From this
overview of the course you will be able to see how the classes will build upon knowledge
and deepen your existing knowledge. You will
be able to organize your time so as to complete the required reading and your projects. Shortly you will be able to envision yourself in
your own class and confidently begin to plan your own reading lessons. (Prediction and Imaging)
DURING:
5) We will
engage in a number of activities, such as discussing the key ideas in the textbooks as a
class or breaking into small groups. I will
visit the small groups and ensure everyone is comfortable with the concepts and clarify
any questions. Sometimes you will work as
partners and you will share ideas and verify understanding.
Groups will be invited to read sections orally from the text that appeal to
them or present their findings; some articles may be read silently but everyone will be
given a chance to discuss them afterwards. All
of the activities are multilevel; that is, they have been planned to cover as many
interest areas and experiences as possible. (Reading
Formats and Comprehension Strategies)
AFTER:
6) Towards the
end of the course we will revisit and/or summarize many of the key ideas that we have
learned over the semester and follow up on how our thinking may have changed. In comparing and contrasting these ideas to our
own teaching experiences, we will evaluate whether they have practical value. We will decide if we have met our goals for the
course and propose ways to continue learning in the field of literacy. It is hoped that you will recognize that your
knowledge has improved markedly and now feel that you have an array of concrete tools to
take into your future classrooms. (Follow up on purpose, making sense of the whole)
(Break?)
Activity: Read
the article, “In Pursuit of an Illusion: The Flawed Search for a Perfect Method”
by Gerald Duffy and James Hoffman, in Reading Teacher, Sept. 99, Vol. 53, Issue 1,
p. 10.
Move to CET to cover website and course syllabus.
*** Reminder: Next class
is in our usual room, EDB 8620 B
