Chapter 4 of Readicide is all about finding the happy medium in teaching (reading)... I agree and would expand this philosophy throughout any content area of teaching! The more you push something on a student, the less they are going to enjoy or remember the positives in it. At the same time, if you abandon the students to learn (anything, not limited to reading) without much discipline, they will quickly give up.
My boyfriend is currently in medical school, where the entire curriculum is reading based. He is expected to read, and ultimately teach himself, thousands of pages of intense scientific material (not exaggerating) in a six week block. This is obviously going to take a disciplined student, but even the medical school doesn't make the students fend for themselves. There are required group sessions that meet three times a week to discuss the reading and allow the students to struggle through their understanding together. The students also have the option of attending resources, where the professor responsible for a certain portion of material describes verbally the information the students have already read, and allows for a time of questioning. If the, obviously well achieving, medical school students still need this scaffolding, why would teachers ever turn students loose without any sort of structure or preview?! It is however important that these students struggle through their excessive reading, so that they are equipped to discuss and have a well rounded understanding of the material. In the same manner, I should provide my science students with material they should struggle through, and guide them in a manner that forces them to think and develop learning habits without drowning them in boring science jargon.
I like what you said about expanding the Ghallagher's philosophy into other content areas. You stated that the more you force something on students, the less they are going to remember the positives of it. While I don't agree with this completely, I think it brings up some important things to consider. For example, I don't want to type responses to blogs right now, but I am forced to if I want to graduate in December. I may not like it, but I do see the value of blogs, and they have forced me to take a deeper look at the issues we have been discussing. Therefore, not all of it is torture. See you in class! Nice Blog!
ReplyDeleteHappy medium? What's that? I agree we need to find it, but it seems that with all the politics and standards, it just gets lost. I want to teach things kids enjoy, and it is a daily struggle. I have a friend in medical school as well. You are totally right! The throw the information out there, and it is up to the soon to be doctor to make more out of it. The drive is required in medical school. I think that might be the biggest problem we face as high school teachers...a lack of DRIVE.
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