We as educators must present reading as a pleasurable activity to the struggling reader. We must be willing to use a variety of strategies( this may be a daunting task but we must strive to do it). We must adopt the position that all children can learn and also be willing to add to our knowledge about the changing trends to better equip our selves to assist the children.
Biancarosa and Snow (2004) suggest that principals and teachers address the diverse literacy needs of adolescents through a comprehensive approach encompassing the following strategies:
* Develop a school wide literacy focus, including targeted professional development and strong instructional leadership.
* Adopt a set of research-based instructional strategies, including such techniques as reciprocal teaching, graphic organizers, prompted outlines, and questioning the author, to foster reading growth across all content areas.
* Offer focused intervention classes taught by a trained reading specialist for students with severe reading deficits.
* Increase opportunities for students to choose books for pleasure reading during the school day.
* Use complementary trade books that present content textbooks' key facts and concepts in a more engaging style.
* Conduct assessments, both formal and informal, to help teachers understand the literacy needs of their students.
* Emphasize pre-reading activities, during-reading strategies, and graphic organizers to guide students in building background knowledge and creating meaning during the reading process.
So if we educators commit to doing whatever is necessary to get our children to become literate and see reading as a pleasurable activity, we would have been successful in our goal.
So in closing I'd like to leave you with some food for thought “If you can read this, thank a teacher.
~ Anonymous Teacher ~”
Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. E. (2004). Reading next--a vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.
Hi Sheldon,
ReplyDeleteIt will be great if all teachers could be exposed to the contents of your blog .I think basically we are focussing on three primary factors which are teacher knowledge, skills and classroom practice. In the ideal world, knowledge and related skills are co-relational and these two impact appropriate classroom practice. A present phenomenon is that there exist many teachers who possess knowledge of most , if not all, of what you have clearly articulated and that these teachers, in spite of the possession of such knowledge still remain resistant to student-centered teaching practices, the inclusion of authentic resources and the use of authentic assessments.
You appropriately included professional development. I think it is vital that teachers willingly respond to the call for such development. What I would like to see happening though is human development through education and not just the attainment of certification. Perhaps when this begins to happen we will have more teachers of integrity. I believe very strongly that at the heart of education lies a moral enterprise and , in spite of a variety of post-modernistic educational reforms, not much progress will be made in producing the ideal Caribbean students, if any teacher ( and I am sure there are more than a few)is not able, equipped or willing to reconceptualize their own human development .
Lemoy
Sheldon your post is quite insightful and it clearly articulates the skills and concerns teachers must have if they are to decrease the growing numbers of struggling and aliterate readers.
ReplyDeleteTeachers indeed need to be willing to try new strategies and step out of their comfort zones. Lemoy raises an important concern, that of teachers (some) simply seeking the certification but when all is said and done their thinking and techniques do not reflect the certification they receive.
However, we must not forget the reality of some classroom situations where the enthusiastic teacher cannot even find an electrical outlet to incorporate the use of a laptop or even an overhead projector in the lesson. While the Ministry is trying to train teachers it is also imperative that they upgrade the infrastructure of schools if they intend to see value for the money.