Re: dictating learners' reading

[Larson <larson@CLPS.K12.MI.US>]

Jeff Kirpatrick and LM_Netters,

To play the devil's advocate, isn't practice a necessary component of
acquiring a skill?  Isn't reading a skill?  As an athletic coach, my
athletes' parents think nothing of requiring their children to attend
90-120 minute practices every day.  However, I do not see the same time
committed to the acquisiton of study and reading skills in these same
students.  I encourage academic excellence with my athletes including
giving special recognition to those on the honor roll and after practice
access to the library for those who need it.  Many do not see, until too
late, that academic excellence precedes future athletic opportunities at
the collegiate level when they cannot meet individual school and NCAA
academic requirements.

Furthermore, I think a time requirement for reading is more fair than a
page requirement for students who have difficulty reading.  I give more
practice repetitions to my developing athletes than my "star" athletes.
Why not give the same reading credit to students of different reading
ability?

Wouldn't it be interesting if we could take the form the teacher is using
with the 7th grade students and ask them to log their television viewing
time?  I remember being called into the principal's office as an
inexperienced teacher to have a discussion with one of my 7th grade English
students who was afraid his parents would be upset with him for getting low
grades in my class.  When I asked him why he was only completing 60% of his
homework assignments, he admitted to watching 6-8 hours of television every
evening instead of doing homework!

In today's media saturated environments, the passivity of video
entertainment has replaced the interactive intellectual stimulation of
reading for many families.  IMHO, of course :)

Deb Larson
District library media specialist
Varsity girls' volleyball and track coach
Bellaire Public Schools
Bellaire, MI
larson@clps.k12.mi.us

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