The message that Readicide is trying to convey is that we are losing so many potential readers among our students in favor of teaching them to be great test takers. NCLB has not managed to accomplish anything because it has set unrealistic goals that 100% of students will be reading up to their grade level by 2014. This is an impossible goal to attain especially given the fact that the way they measure their progress is through their scores on multiple choice exams. Schools are in such a hurry to wade through the curriculum teaching the students just enough to pass the state mandated exams, that they no longer teach critical thinking skills and they rarely just read.
I liked what the author said about what our goal for our students should be, helping them become "expert citizens". Emphasizing creativity, common sense, wisdom, ethics, dedication, honesty, teamwork, hard work, knowing how to win and how to lose, a sense a fair play, and lifelong learning. If those aren't words to live by, I don't what else is. It reminds me of something I always say about raising children. People need to keep their eye on the ball. Our ultimate goal is to raise independent, productive members of society.
My connection to school experiences is that many students are unprepared for college due to their severe lacking in critical thinking skills and a low level of reading comprehension abilities. It is very important for me to include content literacy strategies in my classroom. I am going to need to teach my students the tools they will need to figure out the meaning of vocabulary words and content specific concepts. I will need to incorporate different methods to increase my students reading comprehension because most of them are not going to be reading up to their grade level when they get to my class. I will look at trade magazines and use read alouds and shared reading strategies. I will put new words into multiple contexts and encourage my students to make examples for themselves. I will encourage students to make inferences and predictions from the context clues and to ask questions of the text. It is my ultimate goal that they will leave my classroom better readers than when they entered it.
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I agree that teachers need to live and teach by "emphasizing creativity, common sense, wisdom, ethics, dedication, honesty teamwork, hard work, knowing how to win and how to lose, a sense of fair play, and lifelong learning." I don't understand how teachers can expect their students to be good stewards of our nation if they are not taught. We as educators, are educating the future and it is not for the good. I believe that we have to save our students from thinking and learning like the masses which is what I believe we are doing in teaching students how to take multiple choice tests. I hope that by reading this book and being aware of the disadvantage that we are giving our students will make me a better teacher and overall person.
ReplyDeleteYou have a strong resolve, Gina. You will make a difference in the lives of your students if you can rekindle the love of books and of learning. One of my professors said that when he taught fourth grade he would ask his kids every year, "so what do you want to learn about?" That would be his starting place. Yes, sadly, it was before all this testing.
ReplyDeleteGina, I also agree that our ultimate goal should be to produce "independent, productive members of society". As I mentioned on Nicole's blog, what is the prupose of putting all of this effort toward passing so many tests if the result is, at best, a student who can pass a test but who does not know anything about contributing to the community and society. This goal might make more sense if it was at least reasonable, but as you cited, there is no possible way to reach the goals outlined in NCLB.
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