THE WORLD’S WORST READING STRATEGY

THE WORST READING STRATEGY IN THE WORLD—and one of the most common—is round robin reading. For decades, literacy experts have warned against this method; yet teachers continue to practice it. Sadly, building leaders fail to challenge them when they do. What is round robin reading? You probably remember it from your own school days. The class will open a book and Miss Chilblain will ask a student to read aloud. Johnny will read a page, stumbling over many words as Miss Chilblain supplies the correct pronunciation of each. Meanwhile, the other students are doing one of the following:

• Daydreaming
• Reading ahead to examine the page they’ll read when it’s their turn
• Complaining that they can’t hear or can’t understand Johnny
• Causing trouble (anything from spitballs to fistfights)

As a staff developer, one of my lifelong goals has been to put an end to the use of this most useless of pedagogical strategies. I have failed. Round robin reading is alive and well—and it’s hurting our kids.

When teachers use this method, they labor under the illusion that something productive is happening, but students are not gaining comprehension strategies, decoding strategies or content knowledge. They’re tuning out.
http://web.wm.edu/education/599/06projects/carrubba.pdf?svr=www

If round robin reading is being used in your school, I recommend that you gather other PTA members, visit the principal and throw a fit. Round robin reading is a waste of instructional time and a waste of taxpayers’ money. There are alternatives.

GUIDED READING

Teachers (or parents) model comprehension strategies by giving a child a book to read and then assessing how well he/she is using the strategy. Predicting is one such strategy. Adults can use a model reading passage to demonstrate how they use characters’ words and actions to predict what will happen later in the story.

SHARED READING

The teacher reads aloud as students follow in their own texts. Periodically, the teacher “thinks aloud” how he/she interprets the text. For example, the teacher can demonstrate how to interpret a characters’ feelings by saying, “The hero said (fill in the blank) or did the following (fill in the blank) so know I know he must be feeling (fill in the blank).” Later, young readers can try the same type of comprehension strategy in texts of their own.

ECHO REDING

The teacher reads a short passage, demonstrating how he/she uses punctuation marks as cues to modulating his/her voice. Students then build their fluency skills by reading aloud the same passage.

A NATIONAL EDUCATION PLAN

I believe there should be a national information bank of lesson plans and
units in all content areas.  Communities could then use these units as-is or
modify them as they see fit.  The units should cover all content areas and
incorporate best practices.  Such an initiative would head-off the political
infighting that would inevitably occur if the Dept. of Education were to
impose a national curriculum on the populace; yet it would also allow
districts around the country to quickly and easily adopt an array of units
that would fit their students’ needs.  

I recommend that the US Dept. of Education form curriculum writing
committees for early childhood curricula, upper elementary curricula, middle
school curricula, high school curricula, and college preparatory curricula.  
I also recommend the formation of an alignment committee to interface with
all the others.  This committee would ensure that the content and critical
thinking strategies of each curriculum builds upon those taught at previous
levels.  This will allow communities to adopt(should they choose to do so) a
complete soup-to-nuts, grade-by-grade curriculum.  We would have, thus, a
National Curriculum that is available but not imposed on individual
communities.  

As for No Child Left Behind: We shouldn’t throw out the baby with the
bathwater.  I’m no fan of 24/7 test prep; but NCLB has led communities to
identify research-based intervention programs that have a track record of
success. Some of these programs have effective systems of data collection,
allowing for meaningful differentiation of instruction. This is much better
than the blind and hysterical test preparation now plaguing the nation.  The
Dept. of Education should find a way to enable every state to purchase some
of these programs at very low cost–or at no cost.  Additionally, the Summer
2008 edition of the Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy (JAAL) provides
a review of several reading interventions.  The interventions outlined in
this edition should be included in the programs made available across the
country.

OBAMA’S FIRST MISTAKE?

The Huffington Post reports that NYC’s Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein, is rumored to be on the President-elect’s short-list for Secretary of Education. Blogger “godrummer” speaks most eloquently on the topic:

Joel Klein has single-handedly–well, with Bloomberg’s help–made a bad system much worse. His complete dependence on high stakes tests, his manipulation of school principals, his packing the schools with unprepared teachers, his Draconian approach to budget making, his consistent lies about serious matters like the NYC drop our rate (close to 70% for African Americans and Latino’s according to the best respected expert–Gary Orfield), and his utter disrespect of parents by excluding them completely is a partial list of why making him Secretary of Education is the worst possible move for Obama on education. I suggest Linda Darling Hammond or almost any other talented educator–we don’t need a lawyer.

>>>>>

It is also to be noted that under Klein’s watch, the NYC Department of Education:

>>Adopted an unproven literacy program that ran contrary to federal guidelines;

>>Set up new bus routes in midwinter that left children stranded;

>>Failed to prevent schools from lying to parents who were told (falsely) that their children had to transfer to GED programs because the youngsters hadn’t accumulated sufficient credits in high school;

>>Set up an accountability system that failed to articulate with Federal and State standards;

>>Spent millions on a data-analysis system that is so overloaded that most teachers can’t access data unless they get online in the middle of the night;

>>Continues to hire new, inexperienced teachers while forcing experienced, skilled and highly-paid senior teachers to serve as substitutes and hall-monitors;

>>Spends five-million dollars a year on couriers;

>>Failed to keep tabs on a Deputy Chancellor who pressured a school district into giving her unqualified husband a high-paying job.

Last week, the City’s Comptroller charged the DOE of submitting misleading numbers when reporting cost-cutting efforts.

Chancellor Klein’s leadership is questionable, to say the least. I’ve never heard a teacher speak well of him. President-elect Obama won the election because he is an inspirational leader. Joel Klein has drawn the ire of teachers and parents alike. Choosing him as Secretary of Education would be a provocative move.

LOSE WEIGHT FAST! READ A BOOK!!

A recent study out of Duke Hospital offers evidence that reading books can help obese girls lose weight.  Yes, I said reading books!  How is this possible?  Working with pediatric specialists, the publisher of Lake Rescue produced a book that provided girls, ages 9-13, with a character who overcomes her self-esteem issues and learns how to follow a healthy lifestyle.  Even though the character is fictional, she managed to exert positive peer pressure, encouraging the girls in the Duke study to take control of their lives and to lose weight. 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081004080918.htm

 

The implications of the study are powerful.  If this approach works for obese, preadolescent girls, it could work for preteens dealing with other issues.  Think of it.  The gay teen dealing with internalized homophobia, the young woman or man trying to recover from abuse, the kid with alcoholic parents, the boy who is trying to resist pressure to join a gang, even the math-phobic child who doesn’t think she can succeed in school; all of them might find their lives improved through a combination of support services and good reading.

 

I hope publishers, authors, mental health experts and educators begin working together to develop books that teach young people how to manage life’s complicated issues.  Right now, this is most likely to happen in fantasy novels, like the Harry Potter series.  Such novels often center on the adventures of “nerdy” kids who discover their own inner resources.  What a blessing it would be to flood the market with realistic YA fiction featuring young characters who learn how to negotiate life’s vicissitudes. 

 

Authors and publishers:  Take note!

SECRETARY SPELLINGS’ “GROWTH MODELS”

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is experimenting with a new and (potentially) promising model of accountability: the Growth Model.  Some states are experimenting with this model in order to meet the NCLB requirement that all children be proficient in reading and math by 2014.  What is the model?

 

Simply put, each child’s progress is tracked from year to year.  The idea is to assess whether individual kids’ skills are advancing, and to implement strategies for improving their skills if sufficient movement hasn’t occurred.  On paper, it’s a great idea.  I hope that some of the states that are piloting the model succeed and show the rest of us the way.

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/growthmodel/index.html

 

I do, however, have concerns.  I’m most assuredly in favor of the Growth Model but I wouldn’t want to see the same results that I’ve seen, thus far, in my hometown: NYC.  This year, a Growth Model was implemented—sort of.  There was a big announcement in the media and the chancellor and mayor spent a lot of time before the cameras patting themselves on the back.  And then…

 

Those of us on the front lines discovered that the program wouldn’t come online on time in all schools.  The start-of-the year assessments never appeared.  In the high schools we received them at the end of the year: just a tad late. 

 

There was another problem.  Those who did have student data on the system couldn’t always retrieve it.  Why?  The system couldn’t handle the volume of individuals trying to retrieve data.  Try the system at off-peak hours, we were told.  4 AM might be a good time.  (You can’t make this stuff up.)

 

As always, the teachers’ union added to the problem:

 

United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said that the money might be better spent elsewhere. “You can lower a lot of class sizes with that money – or buy a lot of supplies,” she said.  

http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2007/0316/news/017.html

 

Weingarten, a master at defending teacher mediocrity while appearing to support children, didn’t like the proposed system.  Of course she didn’t, because her real problem was that:

 

Some of the data may be used to evaluate Principals’ performance and to determine if Teachers get tenure.

http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2007/0316/news/017.html

 

While the system has lots of glitches, if NYC or any of the states involved in Secretary Spellings’ pilot program succeed in developing an efficient Growth Model, teachers unions will have fewer excuses when defending incompetent teachers.

 

So while we’re experimenting with Growth Models, here are my concerns:

 

Ø      How will we ensure that these systems are developed and implemented in an efficient and cost effective manner?

 

Ø      If Growth Models are used to evaluate teachers and principals (a move I do not oppose) how can we ensure that we are measuring all teachers equally?  How can we factor-in differences in student populations when evaluating teachers, since research shows us that children from poor and transient environments consistently do worse than middle class kids?  And will we provide re-training for struggling teachers before we take the costly (though sometimes necessary) step of casting them adrift?

 

Ø      How can we ensure that the training of teachers and principals is sufficient?   

 

Ø      How can we ensure that school teams are given time and paid for the use of their time when they retrieve and analyze data?

 

Ø      If students are struggling, will the Growth Model then link them to well-researched, field-tested programs to improve their skills?  Will funding be made available to all schools across the country so that they can buy these programs? 

 

Ø      If individual tutoring is needed, will the money and manpower be available to provide it?

 

Ø      Will the nation be able to put a muzzle on the teachers unions as they balk at the increased level of accountability?

 

Unless these questions are addressed, the Growth Model of accountability will quickly degenerate into the latest costly and meaningless fad.  Time will tell which way it will go.  Meanwhile, I’m crossing my fingers.  If it’s managed well, it’s a great idea. 

Excerpt from READ WELL, THINK WELL

Comprehension is a reader’s ability to understand the meaning of a book, a play, an article, a poem.  This is a very complex human skill involving many different types of thinking processes.  Many parents are familiar with programs that address…phonics.  Programs like Hooked on Phonics do a great job developing these skills.  There are far fewer resources available to parents who want to build vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills.  That’s where I come in.  Read Well, Think Well, is for parents—and teachers—who want to help children build vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

            Gone are the days when a youngster could leave high school and support a family by going to work in a factory.  Today, the ability to read critically is a basic economic necessity—a survival skill.  An unwritten rule of modern American economics is “read well or starve.”  Ours is a knowledge economy, one that stresses the finding and disseminating of information rather than the manufacturing of goods.  High-level reading is now an entry-level skill.