Re: [LM_NET] SHARE: An observation (which may be provocative) ...

[Lisa Hunt <lisa3moon@YAHOO.COM>]

The prayer without ceasing.  I agree with Krashen, and I keep those beliefs active 
in my library practice.  It's my prayer without ceasing behavior, that people 
around me learn to love reading, see the benefit of reading, understand that it is 
a skill of empowerment.  I've read the theory, tried to share the theory and felt 
sad when an administrative leader didn't share my enthusiasm.  We are all different 
and I can't change anyone.
   
  However, my behavior can affect those around me.  So, I keep up my faith and good 
work.  I am a reader, a bibliophile, and I share that every day.  I'm not fighting 
programs, theories, etc anymore.  I just do what I do, and I influence readers.
   
  PS:  Capstone Publishing has outstanding beginning-to-read, non-fiction.  I buy 
90% of my non-fiction from this company.  Our area rep is a former librarian and we 
love her.  Most of the schools in my district have many, many Capstone books.  The 
beginning life science, animal, and biography collections are favorites in my 
school.  We have 1st and 2nd grade students reading outstanding non-fiction and 
sharing their new-found wonders with anyone who will listen.

Ann Marie Gordon <agordon@LIVONIACSD.ORG> wrote:
  Provocative indeed!

Barbara asked "If Krashen and his work is so widely accepted and
respected throughout your schools, as it appears, why are programs such
as Accelerated Reader which are based on proving you have read and
understood a book through a quiz or other activity, so predominant?" 
Her question really got me thinking.

In a way,much of school culture in general is "anti-Krashen," not just
AR. If we object to AR on the grounds that it restricts "free voluntary
reading," must I then object to the 3rd grade teacher who asked her kids
to check out a book on an African animal today for a research project? 
I know there are students in the class who would much rather be reading
"Junie B" or "Jedi Apprentice" books. Should my child have been assigned
to choose a mystery novel this month from her school library, when I
know that her own choice would always be a fantasy novel? If a child
freely chooses to read only non-fiction, how will he do on all those
(insert bad-word-of-your-choice here) assessment tests when he has to
"dissect" a poem, folktale, or short story? Do we stop programs like
"One book, one school?" If we point a finger at AR or any of the other
quiz-type programs, don't we have to follow up on all these other ways
in which teachers require students to choose material that doesn't suit
the child's personal taste? 

I don't think that AR is somehow the ultimate evil; any program can be
misused. Think about the ways in which IQ testing has been misused; the
way scores on tests determine the remedial help a child can recieve; the
way colleges rely on SAT scores, the stress NCLB has placed on
districts. (Perhaps outlawing acronyms in schools would be a good
idea...) No piece of testing software should replace an actual
assessment of an actual child by an actual living human teacher. 

But ridding the world of AR or Reading Counts or any other "reading
management program" still leaves us with book reports, book projects,
and history projects, all of which just as surely require some children
to read outside of their interests. Is this "anti-Krashen?" Surely
there must be some point of balance between totally restricting a
child's choice of literature, and never requiring that he read anything
he's not personally interested in. If a child loves nature magazines,
and is never required to read what does not interest her, how does she
actually know that she wouldn't also love graphic novels or poetry? 

I see a difficulty with the youngest students, too. Some children
struggle as beginning readers. It's hard work, remembering all those
rules--but if teachers never insist that they keep reading, how will
they learn to love it? (Here's my passionate plea to any children's
authors out there: Please! Write non-fiction for beginning readers! I
will buy ANY easy reader on sharks, cars, ballerinas, or pets!) 

One final thought: even in schools that DON'T have AR, there are
teachers who may grab a child's library book choice, flip through it,
and hand it back, saying "You can't read this, it's too hard. Choose
something else." 





Anne-Marie Gordon, Librarian
Livonia Primary School
Livonia, NY
agordon@livoniacsd.org
http://www.livoniacsd.org/primaryschool/gordon/index.htm

"A life without stories would be no life at all." --from Alexander
McCall Smith's, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies.
>>> Barbara Braxton 02/01/06 11:34 AM >>>
Recently, I asked about the impact and availability of Stephen Krashen's
work, The Power of Reading,
(2nd edition) because the editors of Teacher Librarian had suggested I
should refer to it in an
article I was writing. Because I was somewhat swamped by people saying
that this is a critical text
to have, I ordered it from Amazon (which was quicker and cheaper than
sourcing it locally, turning
down a number of generous offers from people wanting to get it for me
because they thought it was so
important I should have it... 

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        Lisa Hunt
  School Library Media Specialist
  National Board Certified Teacher
  Moore, OK





                
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