Poor readers have a variety of characteristics in common.  Their purposes for reading generally focus on the task at hand:  to get done, to pass a test or because they were told to.  They read every text in the same way, whether it is poetry, a novel, an article, etc.  They tend to focus on the act of reading itself, decoding each word and then jumping to the next.  ‘Reading,’ for the poor reader, means decoding and finishing.  They cling to details and ignore ideas, concepts and themes.  Remedial reading programs who are purported to be improving the reading skills of poor readers, generally use methodology which serves to reinforce these poor skills.

First, they often contain a selection of highly controlled texts.  These texts often have been written especially for this population.  Authentic literature is not generally offered, or is rewritten with simpler words and edited for length.

The purpose of the reading instruction is to improve basic skills.  To achieve this, the text is often glossed.  Key words are written in bold, further encouraging the reader to focus on words rather than ideas.  The reader’s attention is also diverted to a vocabulary box, further breaking up the flow of the text.

In order to measure progress, students are tested frequently.  These tests are designed to prove whether or not a student read the material rather than to stimulate then to higher order thinking and expression.  The questions ask students to recall basic facts and details from the story, enforcing the poor reader’s tendency to focus on details and lose the meaning of the text.

A quick example:  From the Other Side, by Raymond Karelitze and T.J. Falcone.  The front cover looks like it is meant for the remedial reader and the description on the front cover confirms that the purpose of the text is test prep, not entertainment.

·        1600 critical SAT words used in context.

·        Includes in-context glossary

The back further alienates the student from the true purposes for reading.  In a highlighted sunburst we learn, “Reading is a key component in the new SAT Examination.”  The first sentence in the book’s description seriously limits the true scope of reading as a skill:

Reading requires two basic ingredients:  concentration and reading skills.

And the actual content, which is clearly secondary to this text’s ability to prepare the student for the SAT?

Thirteen year old Billy Steele is running away from home.  He has finally decided that he must seek greater freedom in the streets, away from parental pressures and school restrictions.  Nothing can stop his desire for this new-found freedom, not until he can discover what freedom really is like in the adult world beyond.

Truly inspiring subject matter for the student struggling in school.

Conservatives Against Intelligent Design (CAID) was founded to give a voice to Republicans, Independent Conservatives, and Libertarians across the country who stand opposed to the teaching of ‘intelligent design’ and other forms of creationism in the classroom. In recent years Republican legislators at all levels of government have authored, sponsored, and voted for various anti-evolution bills with perceived immunity, confident that those who vote for them are creationists like themselves. CAID is intended as a wake-up call to these legislators, to remind them that the teaching of evolution is not a partisan issue, but rather one of the separation between theology and science. (Read the rest here)

...Third, should children be allowed to be indoctrinated by their parents? While I agree that a child is the parent’s repsonsibility and (for instance) the parent has every right to keep them out of sex ed and stuff, do you not think that the outright lying, dissemination, and otherwise concealment of the truth from kids is not just as big a crime?

Fourth, mroe broadly on education. Parents aren’t saints. Children are not adults. Telling a child that his mommy and daddy are responsible for teaching him, then when he’s 18, telling him that no one’s going to help him fill the holes his parents’ shoddy job did strikes me as a bit silly. (not that i’m against homeschooling, just that there are a lot of parents who wouldn’t put any effort into it) Basically you’re saying you don’t care if the child is improperly educated for the first 18 years, at which point you’ll blame that child for the sins of his parents.

  I (and I thnk you probably feel this way too) feel the [public school] system is based on a faulty foundation and can't be fixed.

I would love to see everyone homeschool, but it's not gonna happen. Some parents, for financial reasons, or out of laziness or ignorance, will never homeschool their children.

What's wrong with encouraging adults to do what they can to improve the public schools, for the sake of those children who will not be given any other choice but to attend them?

The Carver Academy offers elementary-age children a challenging academic program featuring small classes, leadership opportunities, and a nurturing family-like environment based upon the foundation of Judeo-Christian scripture.  Graduates of The Carver Academy will be prepared for success in the nation's most competitive high schools and will display the highest levels of leadership, discipline, initiative and integrity.  The Carver Academy welcomes children regardless of race, creed or financial status.

Earlier, I posted a link to an article out of New Zealand about how the education system is “out of step” with what parents want.  In response, Miss Cornelius wonders if perhaps the fears regarding the efficacy of the public schools is not just an American phenomenon and if there might also be "blocs that are attempting to dismantle support for public education..."  My first reaction to that notion is that the public schools do well enough at that on their own.  Why would we need an organized effort?  Then, as is often the case with me, I began thinking about the word efficacy itself.

Its first recorded appearance in English was in 1527.  It comes from Latin efficacia meaning “effective” which itself derived from efficere, meaning “work out, accomplish.”  According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, it means

EF'FICACY, n. [L. efficax.] Power to produce effects;production to the effect intended; as the efficacy of the gospel in converting men from sin; the efficacy of prayer; the efficacy of medicine in counteracting disease; the efficacy of manure in fertilizing land.

What does this mean when applied to the public schools?  To answer this, we need to answer two questions:  What is the purpose of public education?  Does the outcome match this purpose?  Also of interest to the discussion might be who gets to determine the purpose of education in the first place.  I offer here a brief synopsis of the historic purposes of public education and how this has shifted since the early 1900s, leaving parents and schools with differing purposes.

April 13, 1635, the Puritans established the Latin Grammar School, thereby creating the first free public school in the Colonies and laying the foundations for what was to become the public school system of America.  Their vision?

…to secure a body of learned scholars and ministers who, by acquaintance with Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac, could obtain knowledge of the Scriptures in their original langugages.[1]

This purpose was reiterated in some of the colonies’ first laws.  In 1642, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony became the first state in the history of the English speaking world to require its citizens be taught to read.  Why?

…one chief project of the old deluder, Satan [is] to keep men from the knowledge of Scriptures—by keeping them in an unknown toungue.”[2]

 This reflects well the chief purposes in the founding of our free and public education system in America.  Knowledge of the Scriptures was also viewed as fundamental for keeping our nation and its citizens free.  While some of the purposes of education had begun to shift by the early 1800s, this concept was still reiterated by Abraham Lincoln in a speech in 1832.

…That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves.

Here the primary reason has shifted to the ability to read the history of our nation and appreciate the value of our free institutions, with a mention of the advantage of being able to read the scriptures for ourselves.

Today, the purpose of education falls more into John Dewey’s goals, outlined in School and Society  (1916).

In a complex society, ability to understand and sympathize with the operations and lot of others is a condition of common purpose which only education can procure.

 This spawns the ever popular question posed to homeschoolers, “What about socialization?”  It has become the primary purpose of public education.  Unfortunately, this has left the primary purpose most parents have for their children in education.  Most parents are concerned that their children will grasp the fundamentals:  reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and science.  They worry about the practical abilities of college and career.  Socialization may be a factor, and may be part of a reason they have decided to achieve these goals via public education rather than homeschool, but it is not the driving force behind their purpose in educating their child.  The purposes of public education have left the purposes of its clientele..

So we see reports highlighting how our educational system is out of step with what parents want.  But instead of addressing the issue and bringing the schools into line with the purposes of the parents of the children attending these schools, we strive to further educate parents into the social goals of education.  And bring about legislation to make alternatives more difficult, including the increased regulation of homeschools and the banning of certain types of curriculum in private schools.  We completely nationalize our public school system so that our central government mandates the education system in individual districts, a power that was never given to our central governemnt.  The parents are silenced and their support of public education wanes.  And those who question this are accused of forming blocs to undermine the efficacy of public schools.   

1) Give the assignment before viewing. Expect students to look for particular events, images, details, etc. and record them while watching. Teach them to take notes as they would during a lecture or while reading a book for research purposes.

2) Do not turn off the lights.

3) Remain next to the television.

4) Interact with the video. Direct the students' attention to particular parts of the screen and give information, pose questions and encourage students to reflect.

5) When appropriate, watch only a brief segment of a video as an introduction to a lesson. If you are studying hurricanes, for example, you might begin with several minutes of a video showing a hurricane's landfall. Stop the video and have students write down what they saw, thought and felt. Ask what they think will happen next. Go on with your lesson. You might choose to come back to other parts later as your study progresses. You do not have to watch an entire video, and you do not have to watch segments in order. This is much more effective than doing a lesson and then watching a video for review.

6) A few minutes of a video can also be an excellent writing prompt in that it does appeal immediately to the emotions. The child can then write the story and never needs to see the rest of the video.

7) With longer selections, pause the video frequently. Keep the students minds engaged by stopping the video, asking questions, rewinding to look at a certain aspect and answering student questions.

8) Watch a selection (even advertisements work for this exercise) without comment. When it is done, have students reflect and write about the emotional impact of what they saw. Encourage them to identify what made them feel the way they did and why the directors chose certain elements. Watch it again and help draw out the emotional elements...expressions, music, lighting, etc. Analyze it as a piece of artwork and engage students in reasoning how these elements work together to present a powerful image left in our mind.

9) Try this with the sound turned off. This was a very powerful lesson on the holocaust for me in junior high. I still remember the impact of the images and the sense of disgust, horror and physical illness that accompanied 30 minutes of video without words.

10) Let the students know they are going to watch a news broadcast. Let them know they will be expected to come up with five (varied according to age and length of broadcast) questions for the newscasters regarding the story. Teach them to watch the news critically.

Researchers have found that once the television set is switched on that left hand side and all its faculties tends to switch off. Instead the image from television's 300,000 little dots (which make up the picture) go straight to the right brain. The switch from beta to alpha waves shows this. Alpha brain waves are the ones we associate with meditation and sleep. By no means does this mean that we are not taking the information in - we are taking it all in, we are just not able to critically evaluate it as we would with information coming from other sources.

Parents report they can quiet squirming tykes instantly in long lines and waiting rooms by flipping "Sesame Street" clips or Discovery Kids streams into their line of sight.

Training is done before the need to discipline arises. Training is what you do in the moments when all is well and you take time out to condition them to obedience. Your well-spoken words of praise and instruction will prevent many possible acts of disobedience or foolishness. Impart an understanding of why obedience is important. When you cause children to understand that you will hold to your authority firmly, you are pre-conditioning their hearts and minds to obedience.

1) Describe what you would like.
2) Give a reason.
3) Practice.

We have controversy in this country over saying the pledge of allegiance in schools.  I'm not even sure how many schools do that any more, although the one I taught in did.  So much fuss over such a little part..."one nation, under God."  I don't like the defense of it...claiming this little phrase as part of our cultural heritage and that there is nothing religious about it.  At this point, that is probably true, but if that is all it is, who cares whether it is there or not?  But that is just me.  At least we have the right to stand silently and not participate.

Some controversy is arising out of Japan over recent requirements by their Department of Education to have students learn to respect the kimigayo (a hymn to the Emperor) and the hinomaru (the "rising sun" flag), reports the New Zealand Herald.  In 1999, Japan made standing for the anthem compulsory.

"If Germany did this they would call it what it is: Naziism," said one of the teachers, Eishun Nagai.

Teachers and students alike have protested the curriculum guidelines, resulting in warnings, pay cuts, suspensions and termination.  One retired teacher was arrested after heckling parents to remain seated during a graduation ceremony.

Here are the words of this little song, causing so much controversy.  According to the above article, a Christian music teacher sued the government for requiring her to play this on her piano. 

Kimigayo

The Emperor's Reign

Ten thousand years of happy reign be thine:
Rule on, my lord, till what are pebbles now
By ages united to mighty rocks shall grow
Whose venerable sides the moss doth line.

This site outlines the history of the anthem up to 1880.  The controversy lies in more recent history, however.  Those teachers and adminstrators most strongly opposed to this legislation are pacifist and protest the connections of these symbols with Japan's involvement in World War II.

Essentially, this highlights the difficulty with activism on any front.  Passing a law to show respect for national symbols in order to promote patriotism seems destined to fail.  How patriotic are those who have been disciplined now?  Those who have seen friends, colleagues and teachers disciplined?  Standing for fear of punishment does not promote respect or patriotism, but rather rebellion. 

I recall a story a woman told my German class from her childhood in war-torn Europe.  If I remember correctly, she was from Czchechloslovakia.  Each morning, students and teachers were made to stand, raise their arms in salute and declare, "Heil, Hitler!" (Hail, Hitler).  In protest, they did it sloppily.  I couldn't hope to reproduce what they said here, but it sounded like "Heil, Hitler."  However, in her native tongue, it meant, "I won't do it."

Japan desired a more patriotic citizenry, which is not in and of itself a bad thing.  To do that, the government forced an external show of respect for its national symbols.  This, however, is really a matter of the heart.  Love of country must come first, and then respect for its symbols will follow.  And perhaps they are going about it all wrong.  In such a case where these symbols have such a difficult history, disrespecting them does not necessarily mean that protesting teachers and students have no love of country. 

It is like that in all manners of life.  Even parenting.  And educating.  We can exercise our authority to force external compliance with our desires.  Without a change of heart in our children, however, we really only incite rebellion.  That is why it is so important for us to learn to parent as leaders, teaching our children "in the way [they] should go," as Moses lead the people out of Egypt and Christ lead us out of sin.  It is too easy to slide into the dictator position, expecting our children to follow our directives for fear of punishment rather than because they desire to imitate our good and loving example.  I do not always provide such an example, and that must change before any behavior in my children will.

Here is a lesson plan for older kids on the Japanese national anthem.

Here are three views of this controversy that might prove interesting conversation.

btw, for anyone who got this far, why is my font now suddenly smaller than it has been previously?  And someone left me a comment in a previous post asking me to check grizzly mama's blog on education reform but did not leave a url.  If anyone knows who she is, please let me know.  I'd love to read it!

kimigayu, hinomaru, education, parenting, homeschooling

For those not familiar with attachment theory, this final phase leads to an Internal Working Model of beliefs about relationships.  Relationships with other people are not viewed as places of security, but rather are to be avoided.  These children "develop the inability to form secure attachments and react in a hostile, rejecting manner with their environment" (Pickover, 2002).  Sounds like a lot of kids in schools today.