(FYI, i use ellipsis in my writing largely to convey the silence that exists when i'm thinking...as if we are actually having a dialogue and im pontificating to you where upon i take a moment to think of something before i move on...dig it?)
So...Chapter 5, "Reading and Writing." This chapter was fairly informative and more of a review of topics I had glossed over in the few Linguistics course I took....which often left me questioning the science of language acquisition rather than the proper pedagogical methods of teaching language to students. I'm not quite sure how to take the chapter as a whole...I like the recognition that there are pedagogical wars that go on that have little to nothing to do with what may actually be the better way to teach students...it reminds me of a short book i read titled The Violence of Literacy which took a look on how literacy is abused as a tool to oppress and is just a red herring for larger issues and problems. So the war goes on between the bottom-top and top-bottom approach. Meanwhile we take into account the questions of motivation and proper attention. Sometimes its the teachers fault. Sometimes its the parents. Sometimes its the students. Most of the time bottom-top seems to work when handled properly but the usefulness of top-bottom is also logically apparent. So yay....we've established that the topic is just as complicated as ever. So if I've understood it correctly, a more practical-worldly contextualized bottom-up phonics approach with teachers that use a mixture of examples that are both professional and peer-based teaching to a group of students that have been properly nurtured in adolescence by their parents and teachers is the most effective manner to teach!...right...so how do we get there? How?! How?!!!!
And to what age group does this apply to? It would be great to be able to create a set of pedagogical rules and techniques that apply across the board but it just doesn't work that way. I must admit, as I'm teaching my two little ones, age 6 and 4, how to read I come across these methods. But it changes for both as their cognitive skills are significantly different, especially since it appears that after evaluation my 4 year old is significantly advanced and my 6 year old has autism. So even among them, the techniques have to be different. I intend on teaching college-level remedial students by the end of my education so I question this pedagogy when it comes to older students.
On a side note, I am of the belief that reading improves writing significantly. Its not a cure-all but I think of it along the lines as what Williams says earlier on in the chapter that kids will adapt to the dialect that their peers speak. In much the same manner, I'm of the belief that students writing will begin to emulate the style of writing they read the most....the issue is the motivation...generally, having students read something they want to read. Or at the very least don't hate. Sure it would be great if they read and write like James, Hemingway, Keats...but realistically, they generally wont because they generally wont care. It would be largely unrealistic to have kids read Shakespeare or Of Mice and Men and expect them to be intellectually and emotionally invested in it....i actually prefer to give more modern literature, adolescent literature or creative non-fiction as a gateway...sprinkled among the other required reading...
I work as a tutor (babysitter) for an intervention program at a Junior High School. They send "at-risk" kids to the library after school so they can get help with their homework. Most of the English teachers at the school assign their students reading logs. They can basically read whatever they want as long as they write about what they read in their logs though they usually assume what they read has to be academic. When most of the kids think they're required to do some academic reading, they're not as responsive. Yet, when I suggest for them to read an article about their favorite sports player, musician, or video game, for example, they're willing to write.
ReplyDeleteI think one great way to get students invested to read Shakespeare is to have them modernize it. Dr. Best has students modernize scenes in groups. There was Star Wars version of the a scene in Othello and Soprano's musical version of King Lear. It's a great way to get students involved and interested. It worked for me anyway.