How do we create a reading culture in our schools? Part 3

[Kelly Gallagher]

When the strands get too long, we'll begin anew.

I'd like to hear some thoughts on "word poverty." Have you read Mark Bauerlein's "The Dumbest Generation"? I do not like the title because I think older generations often fall in the trap of erroneously thinking that their generation is smarter. These kids in front of us are often exceptionally smart (though not always skilled). But Baurerlein makes an interesting assertion: that this generation of students is the first generation that do all of their socializing laterally. They text each other. They communicate via MySpace. They talk incessantly on the phone. As a result, Bauerlein argues, they have sort of surrounded themselves in a giant entertainment bubble. They have insulated themselves from important knowledge. They have cut off much of their pipeline to wisdom: parents, grandparents, relatives. And there is less time to read.

As I mention in Readicide, I think the largest reading problem facing my adolescents is their lack of prior knowledge and experience coming to the printed page. They can read the words, but they often cannot comprehend the words because they don't have the background or context to make meaning. Lack of prior knowledge goes hand in hand with word poverty. They feed on each other. If they don't understand words, they will stop reading. If they stop reading, they will understand fewer words. And the cycle begins---a cycle made worse by spending three hours a day on MySpace.

One example: I gave my students a political cartoon that made fun of Vladimir Putin. I chose Putin because I knew that my 9th graders would not know him. The point? You can know every reading strategy known to humans, but there is no way you will comprehension the Putin cartoon unless you come to the page with the "right" prior knowledge. Questioning the text did not help them. Visualizing did not help them. Marking the text did not help them. If you don't know Putin, you will NEVER understand this cartoon---there simply is not enough context.

It seems to me that one of our biggest tasks if we are to save some of our students from Readicide is to develop a very intentional plan to shore up their large gaps found in their prior knowledge. I also feel this does not get any where near the attention it deserves in our schools.

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts? Approaches?

[Alan Sitomer]

There is a great deal of merit to these points, Kelly. On the other hand, there are arguments which have merit on the opposite side of the fence and the more I think about matters such as these, the more I feel non-committal.

Books like Everything Bad is Good for You and the work of guys like James Paul Gee really stretched my thinking about this subject. And though each of them has faults, in no way can they be dismissed.

Ultimately, like most things in education, I wish the answers were clear cut... but they are not.

The lexicon of My Space has merits but to gain them at the expense of suffering from Word Poverty makes little sense. It dawns on me that perhaps the digital immigrant is thus at an advantage over the digital native for the first time in my perception of each camp because we have had the benefit of both worlds. By that I mean we were brought up with the ability to converse in the growing vernacular of the 21rst century digital world but it did not come at the expense of being reared in a rich word environment, a world of books, literacy, the canon, a ton of meaningful text and so on.

Funny, but for the longest while I've always considered myself at a disadvantage this this young generation as I am perpetually wrestling with how to keep up with "technology". Now, maybe I am not so bad off?

Quite interesting these discussions. Quite interesting.

[Linda Reed]

I agree, but I don't think this "ego-casting" is limited to teens. I think all of us, increasingly, find news channels, newspapers and news magazines with which we feel comfortable, and we stick with those. We find podcasts, blogs and online writers that we enjoy, and we stick with those. too. It is very easy, as a result of technology, to limit the information we consume. I agree that this is not the "dumbest generation," but it is a generation devoid of knowledge that does not interest them and that sort of worries me. I would love to hear from others of specific ways to fill those knowledge gaps!

[Karyn Gloden]

So much to consider in this strand of conversation, but I am most struck by Linda's comment that while not the "dumbest generation" this is a generation "devoid of knowledge that does not interest them." This worries me as well. I wonder, and hope, that it might be more a sense of being overwhelmed by all the possibilities in knowledge accumulation rather than a lack of interest. Honestly,I feel a bit overwhelmed just trying to keep up with the "pre discussion" of this book and in view of all the resources regarding literacy that we can access immediately, it is frightening to consider how far a single thread could go if not stopped! (Thank you Kelly) So perhaps the answer is to focus our students on background knowledge that adds to their understanding of today's world and their place in it---the weekly articles that Kelly uses in his classroom/school are an example of how this could be done. In this way we can help them to build connections and meaning that I suspect will lead to interest. Too much to think about......Karyn in NC

[RHE]

I agree there is tremendous word poverty. It amazes me when I ask my 7th graders about a word to see how few know the word. Just yesterday as I read "Sea of Monsters" to them, I stopped on "cinder block." Only 2 out 28 could come up with a close approximation of the meaning.

I think they just read past the words and hope it will mean something, but it never does. Thus they think the book is boring or confusing. They are living in a fog of half-understanding, which does explain their responses on my book report form. I am sure they think I am a nut because I stop on the "strangest" words. But then look at what is on television. Last night, we saw a news story about a series of earthquakes in north Texas. The news producer cut the interview of one professor mid-sentence, did not show the contrasting opinion, and left the broadcaster to say we know nothing conclusive. Other news production is very incomplete, so I rather imagine a lot of people are in a fog.

My approach is random, unscientific, and incomplete. I stop on random words in text and fill in the meaning. I almost see it as too large to be completely overcome. I sure try though.

[Mary Thomas]

I agree totally about the lack of prior knowledge. I have taught high school students who have lived 60 miles from the Florida beach their whole lives without ever going there. We are fortunate to have a second year history teacher who grew up as a migrant in a nearby community and knows what it is like to come from poverty. His classroom is one of the richest in experiences that I have ever seen, probably because he lived their lives not so many years ago. As reading coach I have the privilege of working some with him and being in his classroom. Too bad others do not have that opportunity (or do not take the time during their planning period.) He has also grasped the best use of technology I see on my campus. I wonder how much impact his past has had on that.

It seems that some teachers don't understand that this is what is really lacking for their students to comprehend text. They plod along complaining that the kids don't know anything but I don't see them trying to enrich their student's lives. My approach is planned experiences in the classroom to widen their horizons, yet I try not to let any teachable moments slip by-- no matter how pressed I feel about getting the work completed in time for testing. Those background knowledge blanks we are filling in just might be the pieces needed to actually comprehend a passage on the test. I also agree that My Space and others are preventing them from reading and these are not the poor kids. Unfortunately, they ARE experience poor. We cannot give up trying to help fill in the gaps whenever and wherever we can. It is too important.

[Kelly Gallagher]

I met an elementary teacher once whose school's first grade was going on a field trip to the zoo. Because of budget cuts, they could only take half the students. Who did they take? The top students. Who is it they should have taken? The bottom students, I would argue. These were the kids that most likely had larger gaps in their experiences with the world. These are the students who really need their school to help shore up what they aren't getting at home.

[Julie Pennabaker]

Could you describe more about the history teacher? What makes it a rich experience? How does he use technology?

[Mary Thomas]

Julie- He uses United Streaming to bring in lots of video "snippets" that are related to concepts that he is teaching in either History or American government. He purchased his own document camera to be able to show pictures and books to everyone. He uses PowerPoint daily. His students also make presentations in this way. His use of debate is awesome-- many topics of relevance in our world today as well as some of great interest to the students. They prepare inside and outside of class. They actually dress up on the days of their debates and you can see them gathered together at lunch or in the library the period before getting ready. The class and visitors (faculty and administrators who have time to go) can vote on the winners. These kids really love him because they know he takes them to places within themselves that makes them think about what really matters in life-- for now and later. He cares and it shows.

[Julie Pennabaker]

That sounds like an amazing, meaningful class.
Thanks for sharing specifics! :)

[Ron Shapiro]

I observed a seminar today concerning Orwell's 1984 in which no student could find any modern day relevance to the novel; rather, they viewed the novel as Orwell's statement about Lenin and Hitler along with totalitarian governments. This, strangely enough, after I had spent the last several weeks connecting aspects of the novel to modern day America. Students seem more interested in the next generation of Ipod or Iphone rather than developing an awareness of current issues. It seems that if the information does not directly impact them,it holds no value. Makes me wonder what's happening in history class where reading, usually more than writing, takes center stage.

[Kathryn LaPointe]

What strikes me, Kelly is your last paragraph: we need "to develop a very intentional plan to shore up (our students') large gaps in prior knowledge." We know Vocabulary lists don't teach words--they are a practice exercise in memorization. Concepts, rich in language and the context that builds knowledge seem the answer. Our carefully chosen literature embeds the concepts, vocabulary, and word knowledge that we will teach. But we don't do it in isolation!

An "intentional plan" means we vertically plan, as in Curriculum Mapping. As I look ahead to next year, I need to know what my kids dove into the previous year, where they will go the year after that (for example, what year of elementary school did they read Out of the Dust , being introduced to the Great Depression? I need to know as I plan my novel studies for next year.

Do we begin with our basal series' themes? Do we "claim" favorite areas of expertise/interest? Do we revisit curriculum choices and look at them with our new eyes (most were written years ago, by others long gone)?

As I approach summer, this is my burning question: What literature will my classroom instruction be built upon? And why?

[Debbie Mitchell]

What about your grade level social studies and science curriculums? Is there a way to plan novel studies around the topics students are studying in these classes? There are many great tie-ins for social studies and some for science. Check out the site bookwink.com for books by subject and grade level.

Our 8th grade social studies curriculum begins with the Civil War and moves to present day. We read Sound the Jubilee (slavery), The House of Dies Drear (underground railroad), and The Diary of Anne Frank play (Holocaust). We also read The House of Scorpion which addressed current science issues such as cloning, but also touched on issues such as immigration. I teach in a large urban district with a high level of poverty. We saw a huge difference in student understanding of these concepts and a higher level of engagement from students as they recognized the connections that were being made across the curriculum.