HIT: Collection improves scores...?

["Earl J. Moniz" <earlj.moniz@MCI2000.COM>]

Some recent comments revolve around the Krashen book, The Power of
Reading, and one question specifically inquired whether the book
advocates that simply increasing the size and variety of the collection
will raise the reading scores. . .


Well, yes and no ... yes, if the students come and read the wide variety
of books which are available there ... and no, if they don't.  In almost
every study involved in the book, and the ones I have seen during the
preparation of a paper I am working on in my final class for my MLS
(yippee), all the conclusions indicate that students must read to improve
their skills.  Librarians are essential in this notion of encouraging
student to read ... the librarian becomes the outsider (outside the
classroom) from whom students may take advice in spite of what the
teacher says - much like children will take advice from Uncle Bill and
ignore that very same advice from dad...


The challenge to educators is how to inculcate a desire to read in our
students.

The book (Krashen, p. 43~45) discusses Ben Carson (author of
<bold><italic>Gifted Hands</italic></bold> in 1990) who was a poor
student and reader in the fifth grade.  His mother required him to begin
to read two books each week and report to her about what he read ... he
hated the requirement, but did what his mother asked ... besides, he
could choose his own books ... first were books about animals and nature
and such; and he became the 5th grade expert in anything science-related
although his grades in all the other subjects horrible ... he kept
reading all summer and began to realize that he had learned to spell
words through reading without really trying to memorize them - he just
knew when they looked correctly spelled and when they looked incorrect -
... {{as an aside right here let me interject that I often think we
should treat students like fax machines - show them pictures of words and
not the words themselves (every word becomes a sight-word) - if a student
can instantly recognize a picture of a boat, why can't they associate a
picture of the symbols "b-o-a-t" with the concept of a picture of a boat
and NOT simply the letters "b-o-a-t", much like we associate the
upside-down red triangle sign with the word "yield" and all that it
entails - how many of us see the word yield and cannot shut out the image
of an upside-down red triangle from our minds ... hmmmm}} ... As Ben read
more, his interests expanded and he continued to read more ... by the
time he reached 7th grade, he was at the top of his class... all through
the simple act (although not really all that simple) of reading. . .


In any case, the challenge is to have a wide enough variety in a large
enough collection to attract and hold the attention and reading curiosity
of all the students in a school ... a large collection will definitely
NOT result in better scores ... a reading program which encourages
students to read AND a big enough collection to hold their attention will
get them to read more ... the reading of the students will increase their
skills and that improvement in their skills will result in better
scores...  The step which most folks jump in their logic from poor to
better scores is the "proactive librarian and an active and effective
reading program for all students" [my own emphasis here] ...


Aloha...   Earl J.



<center>earlj@moniz.org, emoniz@nccu.edu, OR earlj.moniz@mci2000.com

web site composer, life-long learner and self-employed librarian

Earl J. Moniz [ http://www.moniz.org ]

<bold><italic>An old Maui boy with a poor sense of direction...

</italic></bold>Fayetteville, North Carolina

Aloha, y'all. . .

</center>

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