[CALIBK12] Some thoughts on chess and reading
Connie Williams
chwms at mac.com
Wed Oct 1 17:35:30 PDT 2008
HI Joanne,
Why not let him check out the country book AND one other that he might
like to take home also. When he is at home, his sister may appreciate
his "help" and encourage him to read some of the words together with
her. Or his mother may spend a moment with him....or maybe no one
pays attention to him and that book except that he takes it home and
looks at the pictures and then tries to figure out some of the words.
So what if he can't read it all - isn't it wonderful that he's got an
interest in that very book? When he's tired of looking at this book,
he can pick up his other one [maybe it's an adventure book or comic
book he likes] and read it like crazy. I say - let 'em read it
all...even when they're just looking at the pictures. :)
Connie
Connie Williams
Teacher Librarian / National Board Certified
Kenilworth Junior High
800 Riesling Road
Petaluma, CA 94954
707-778-4719 / 707-778-4710
chwms at mac.com / www.kenilworthjhs.org
On Oct 1, 2008, at 2:31 PM, ladewig wrote:
> Dr. Krashen (and listserve friends):
>
> There's an old expression "You can lead a horse to water but you
> can't make
> him drink." Even if every school and public library had the most
> wonderful
> books and Teacher Librarians, that still might not be enough for
> many of the
> kids who are "reluctant readers." If you are a 4th grader (or older)
> and
> can't read well, or you have a reading or attention disability of
> some sort,
> or an undiagnosed eye problem, ineffectual or no reading
> glasses,(unfortunately, those are also the "symptoms" of many of our
> grown-up students who are now INCARCERATED!)you still aren't going
> to learn
> to read and read well, unless you have a burning desire to succeed
> and get
> some help. Just having access to books or magazines with pictures of
> cars,
> jets, sports, drawing books, "Where's Waldo," etc. (all favorites of
> reluctant readers) doesn't mean you are actually READING between the
> pictures!
>
> Maybe chess helps, either as an incentive (as in Randy's brother's
> experience) or by helping children learn to sit and stay focused, and
> develop strategy (and patience and persistence!)- all of which are
> also
> skills needed for reading (and life!). Even small gains are
> worthwhile.
>
> But frankly, I think what really helps children read better is having
> someone LISTEN at least part of the time, on a regular basis. Unless
> you
> HEAR a student read aloud (and you can see the actual text), you
> really
> don't KNOW for sure how fluent they are. I had a 3rd grader who
> wanted to
> check out a 6th-grade level country book instead of an appropriate
> level
> chapter book. (He first told me he wanted to "help" his 7th grade
> sister
> with her report!) I explained to him his sister should be checking
> out her
> own books AT HER school library or the public library. Then he
> decided he
> wanted to read it for himself. Fine - so I asked him to start
> reading it to
> me. He began ripping right along - except that I noticed (and I was
> reading
> upside-down as he read with the book on the counter) he was sounding
> out the
> first part of the word and then making up the endings! To his
> teacher (who
> was only half-hearing him as she was attending to other students) it
> sounded
> fine - he was reading quite rapidly (for a third grader). Except of
> course,
> he was making it up as he read along! After he completed a paragraph I
> stopped him and explained to the teacher what was going on. Now some
> people
> might say he should have the right to get the book, but the reality
> for him
> was HE WAS FOOLING HIMSELF. He needed to read an easier book THAT HE
> COULD
> ACTUALLY READ without making up most of the words. And he needed to
> have
> someone who would actually LISTEN and CHECK.
>
> Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for "free choice" of reading. And some
> children really can read and understand books at a much higher
> level. But
> unlimited "Free choice" of even the best books or magazines they
> can't read
> isn't going to help the struggling readers. There may be some
> exceptions,
> but most struggling readers will read less and less due to the
> frustration
> and embarrassment, not push themselves to read more and more. They
> need an
> adult WHO WILL LISTEN to them read and find ways to help that
> student if
> necessary. And if they can't help, they need to find out who or what
> system
> or technique can help.
>
> Silent Sustained Reading is great, but struggling students need
> frequent
> practice opportunities to read aloud with an adult who has the time
> and
> patience (perhaps a volunteer if not a parent)to improve, and if the
> student
> still fails to improve, professional evaluation and intervention.
>
> Joanne Ladewig (A.K.A. "Library Lady")
> Library Media Tech
> Lawrence Elementary, GGUSD
> Garden Grove, California
> shatz at verizon.net
>
> Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the
> ark.
> Professionals built the Titanic.
>
> Comments are my own and may not represent the views of GGUSD
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
> [mailto:calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu] On Behalf Of Stephen Krashen
> Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 10:52 AM
> To: Calibk12
> Subject: [CALIBK12] chess and reading
>
> CHESS and READING
>
> Randy de Jong posted this message:
>
> "This is partly serious and tongue-in-cheek. Buy chess books and set
> up a
> chess area. My brother sent research to his administration about the
> positive correlation between chess and reading. They allowed him to
> teach
> his class chess as part of the curriculum. At the beginning of the
> year only
> 2 kids in his class were at grade level. After a quarter or
> semester. Chess
> became a reward for high quality work that was finished. Often 1/2
> the class
> played chess while giving the others time to concentrate and finish.
> At the
> end of the year, all were at grade level or very close to it except
> two
> students that refused to do anything."
>
>
>
> Randy's brother's experience is very interesting. I have been
> checking out
> the chess/reading connection.
>
> An article in USA Today on Sept. 18 announced that second and third
> graders
> in Idaho are being exposed to chess as a means of improving their
> math and
> reading scores. The article did not mention any evidence that chess
> helps
> reading, and Idaho schools superintendent Tom Luna is quoted as
> saying that
> "there's little hard evidence students actually benefit from playing
> chess,
> and it could take a few years before Idaho can gauge whether
> students who
> learn chess are more successful in academics."
>
> I was able to find only one study, published by the American Chess
> Foundation in New York, published in 1992: The Effect of Chess on
> Reading
> Scores: District Nine Chess Program Second Year Report, by Stuart
> Margulies
> Ph. D.
>
> 53 children in the mid-elementary grades in District Nine in the
> Bronx, New
> York City (we are not told exactly what grades they were in)
> voluntarily
> participated in a chess program in 1990 and 1991. It is claimed that
> these
> students made better gains in reading over the year than comparison
> children, moving from the 57.69 percentile to the 63.07 percentile,
> a gain
> of 5.37 percentiles. Comparisons, we are told, showed no gain, but
> readers
> are invited to read about them, in District Nine Achievement
> Patterns, by E.
> Whitney, published in July, 1992.
>
> A look at the actual scores shows that six of the 53 children made
> unbelievable gains, ranging from 38 to 66 percentiles. If we remove
> these
> outliers, the difference between the groups is less than two NCE
> ranks.
> The case for chess in the published research, in other words,
> depends on
> unusual gains made by six children in one study done 15 years ago.
>
> I wonder if the folks in Idaho have considered improving their
> school and
> classroom libraries as a means of improving reading?
>
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