Why haven't I read this book sooner?

Reading When Kids Can't Read has been both engaging and valuable. I found the book to be well-organized, theoretically grounded, and immediately applicable. I will be able to bring many of these strategies into my classroom as soon as tomorrow. I just wish I would have discovered this book sooner.

Beers' argues throughout the book that reading is a process and that teachers cannot simply assume that all students know how to do the complex work that critical reading requires. Much too often, we tend to think that if students have made it to middle school they should "know" how to read. For many of my students, however, reading is not a "lived-experience", and this is where the problem lies. I have a degree in English not in education. I was never taught how to help students improve their reading. My undergraduate coursework focused mainly on reading literature not on ways to help students use literacy as a tool for thinking, learning, and accomplishing tasks.

I don't know how much has changed since I was an undergrad preparing to teach secondary English. I hope there has been a shift in they way pre-service teachers are prepared to work with their students. Hopefully, these new, bright young educators realize that not all students know how to read critically, and they have been given the tools to help their struggling readers succeed. I hope that instead of focusing on the end product they will help their students recognize the complex processes which lead to successful reading. I hope they have already been exposed to the work of Beers, of Rosenblatt, of Vygotsky, of Mercer, of Meyers, of Applebee, of (I could go on). I've waited twelve years; I hope they don't have to wait as long.

Push

My reading has for the past year been grad school heavy. I'm thankful to get the opportunity to read a novel for a change. I entered this reading experience from several perspectives. I read as a lover of literature, a teacher, a grad student, a writer, a middle class white male. I found it interesting how each of my "identities" informed my reading experience, and while I read, I noted my different emotional responses as I experienced the text. This novel hit me in the viscera. At times I was absolutely repulsed by what I read. While other times, my eyes teared. How different this story would be if told from the third person.

How YOU do'in?

"The question arises: to what extent do environmental pressures-- home, school, societal-- lead the child to focus attention on the efferent handling of language and to push the richly fused cognitive-affective matrix to the fringes of consciousness?" (40).

I was drawn to this question while reading Rosenblatt. Current school culture dictates efferent thinking. Weekly (or daily) bundling (read: bungling) of curriculum, teaching to the test, rubrics, multiple choice tests, etc all contribute to developing a habit of mind which encourages students to detach personally from the learning experience. I can not help but be reminded of Applebee's notion of knowledge out of context and his discussion on the listing of curriculum. When we privilege quality over quality, students have a tendency to reject schooling. I understand why the schooling culture has developed this way, but I don't have to like it, and I will do my part to counter this myopic system by returning the "heart" to my classroom.

I spent the entire morning on Saturday bundling the 6th grade Language Arts TEKS into weekly plans. The district now wants us to make a specific TEKS our weekly focus. On Mondays, they want us to collaborate as a 6th grade Language Arts team. By Friday, we must turn in a plan which outlines how we will teach and assess the specific weekly TEKS. We have been told that they want to be able to walk into our rooms and see the same instruction occurring. Yeah right!

I'm not done thinking this out, but alas I must go and plan with my team; it's Monday. [Insert pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth here]