Wednesday, January 28, 2004
why is it so many public high school students do not enjoy literature and stories?
everytime I have my students read aloud, I understand why: they cannot read, at least not at the grade level that the literature is at. And it is not that the students merely cannot read well aloud, since whether they are reading in groups or to the whole class, the same result occurs. They cannot read the literature well.
Now, imagine being in high school, and not being able to read at the high school level. May be these students don't realize that they are at such a disadvantage. I remember being in junior high and struggling with reading. But in high school i recovered.
Now imagine our future: that is, these students taking jobs in the public or private sphere in the next ten years. Assuming that these students do not make much progress in reading through the rest of high school, and a lot probably won't, what result?
Why is it you call the phone company or the doctor's office or the courthouse and you try to explain what you need and the person cannot understand you? I am not refering to language issues, such as with a English language learner; I am talking about the mainstream illiterate barbarians who think they can do the job but do not have the skills to do it right.
everytime I have my students read aloud, I understand why: they cannot read, at least not at the grade level that the literature is at. And it is not that the students merely cannot read well aloud, since whether they are reading in groups or to the whole class, the same result occurs. They cannot read the literature well.
Now, imagine being in high school, and not being able to read at the high school level. May be these students don't realize that they are at such a disadvantage. I remember being in junior high and struggling with reading. But in high school i recovered.
Now imagine our future: that is, these students taking jobs in the public or private sphere in the next ten years. Assuming that these students do not make much progress in reading through the rest of high school, and a lot probably won't, what result?
Why is it you call the phone company or the doctor's office or the courthouse and you try to explain what you need and the person cannot understand you? I am not refering to language issues, such as with a English language learner; I am talking about the mainstream illiterate barbarians who think they can do the job but do not have the skills to do it right.
