[CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books for all students

[Connie Young]

Ok, I don't think anyone can teach "well" what they can't or don't read "well" -- so to honor those who love fiction, and those who love nonfiction -- and those of us who love both -- I think I have to say "teach what you love and love what you teach."  If you have no passion for it, the students won't either.

However, because most standardized tests contain more passages of nonfiction than fiction (I think I counted 7 of 9 areas the SAT exams test that are nonfiction a year or so ago.), we need to strike a balance and teach both genres.  However, no teacher does this alone... or at least no teacher should.

If all teachers are teaching their students to "read," their textbooks and if possible, having them read other works related to their subjects in their textbooks (print or digital), then the students are reading more in fiction and nonfiction.

So... we would hope they'd become better readers. We would hope this would translate into better test scores, too.

Assiging reading and "teaching" reading skills and strategies are two completely different acitvities.

Dr. Krashen's points about the need for more resources readily available to all students and most especially to our poorest is valuable.

I've rambled enough, but I do appreciate the lively discussions.

Connie Young
TL
Frontier HS
Bakersfield, CA
________________________________
From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu [calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Kaun [tomkaun at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 9:13 PM
To: skrashen at yahoo.com
Cc: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books for all students

The report really sounds more like a full-employment strategy for reading specialists and professors of reading specialists.
I know we all have our professions to promote but I do believe Stephen is right that the simplest solutions to our reading "problem" are the best and have still not been tried.
This also ties into the recent thread about developing the "love of reading" in our students. I am one of those who is more intrigued by non-fiction (verity--weird!) than fiction reading. So what! In some ways it's like I carp about English teachers at the high school level who teach as though all kids were going to be English majors--they aren't. Get over it. They are going to read, however, and so do need strategies to cope with all sorts of reading materials, print and digital.
BTW, I'm finally finishing War and Peace and I have realized that in order to read this book, like with Moby Dick (the big whaling book), you need to have the kind of mind which processes both "efferently" (I vaguely remember the term from a physiology course I once took) and aesthetically.
It's an amazing novel aesthetically but every world and European history teacher needs to have read it as well for its insight into history, military strategy, etc.
Now this is fun!
Tom Kaun

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:57 AM, Stephen Krashen <skrashen at yahoo.com<mailto:skrashen at yahoo.com>> wrote:
A Significant Omission in the IRA Policy Paper: Access to Books for All Students
Stephen Krashen


The International Reading Association policy paper, "Keeping Our Promise to All Students," talks about everything except books and reading. It includes recommendations for standards, assessment, instructional time, professional development, and of course the by now mandatory recommendation that we prepare students for the 21st century. The only mention of books is in passing:

"Further supports for teachers to successfully increase student achievement include providing resources such as paraprofessionals, books, computers, and other literacy instructional tools" (p. 4).

Books, in other words, are simply one of several "instructional tools."

In view of the consistent finding that children of poverty have little access to reading material at home, in their communities and in school, shouldn't the International Reading Association strongly recommend that all children have access to reading materials, that school and public libraries be strengthened in high poverty areas? After all, what's the point of standards, assessment, instructional time, and professional development if students have little or nothing to read?

Without a strong and clear recommendation for adequate access to books, the policy paper does not keep its promise to all students.


The IRA policy paper is available at: http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0812-policy.html









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Thomas T. Kaun
Teacher Librarian
Bessie Chin Library @ Redwood High School
395 Doherty Drive, Larkspur, CA 94939
tomkaun at gmail.com<mailto:tomkaun at gmail.com> | Library Web site: http://rhslibrary.org | Professional development blog: http://tomlmt2.blogspot.com/ | Library news blog: http://libraryleaves.blogspot.com

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.
 - Christopher Morley
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