Analyzing Lit. for the Common Core

The Huffington Post has a column here by a teacher in a private school explaining how great it is to teach students how to analyze works of literature and non-fiction, so they can do well on the common core exams.  Sigh.  So many of these goody-goody columns supporting the common core standards.  I wonder if there is a conspiracy.

I taught high school English for 37 years, and saw evidence every day for the conclusions of Professor Stephen Krashen, a UCLA researcher.  He concludes that teaching skills is just testing skills.  Kids develop advanced reading skills through wide, self-selected reading.

My avid readers could analyze anything I asked them to.  No matter how many dog and pony shows I dragged my mediocre readers through, they didn't gain skills that spilled over to their other reading.  

Dragging this next generation of students through teacher-selected "good" books is just going to turn off another whole generation to reading.  Reading scores will stay stagnant. 

If we want to develop a country of students with sophisticated reading skills, we need to help students acquire a love and habit of reading.  There isn't any shortcut.  Mr. Chiger may win a few battles by teaching students how to pick apart a selected work, but he will most assuredly lose the war.

Telling and Retelling Family Stories

In the New York Times Motherlode column here a mother discusses the importance of a family frequently telling, and retelling, the family history to each other, what she calls "family stories."

This column makes me uneasy.  I think telling, and retelling, family stories can create stereotypes that children then feel they have to follow—things like, oh, he’s the sensitive one, and she always has a hard time with new experiences.  If children want to talk about the past, and about their own past, sure, listen sympathetically.  But maybe they want to let those old stores, and those old pictures of themselves, go.

I think it’s more important to help children love reading, and fiction stories.  Have discussions about the books they love, and you’ll find they naturally make connections from the books to their own lives.  With the new narrators in books, they can see their own stories in a different light.  They can recreate their own stories. 

And—a not insignificant benefit—the skills they develop through avid reading will make their future lives richer and their academic careers more successful.

Women and Driving in Saudi Arabia

The Wall Street Journal has an article here today on how women are still not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.  It features one woman who defied the ban a couple of years ago, and shows the harassment she is still experiencing.

According to Wikipedia, schools for girls outnumber schools for boys in Saudi Arabia, and women account for 58 percent of college students.  My guess is that, with these numbers, the regime's repression of women cannot be sustained for too much longer.   The cell phone, Internet, and twitter have provided, essentially, free assembly for women,  and any kind of tyranny has trouble lasting in the bright light of the free exchange of ideas.

At least that's what I fervently hope.

Autism--Rarer in Girls, but Sometimes Severe

I have been reading a blog titled Rarer in Girls here which is about the difficulties and issues involved in raising a girl with a low functioning form of autism.  It's a very moving bog, and I highly recommend it.

The latest post is especially interesting.  Suzanne, the mother, talks about the new survey out that suggests one in fifty children are somewhere on the autistic spectrum.  She notes that the majority of these children are almost certainly much higher functioning than her daughter.  Many children on the spectrum can lead independent lives, even going on to college and having successful professional careers.

Her daughter will almost certainly never be able to lead an independent life.  But because so many children on the spectrum will be able to, she worries that the public will not understand the level of services needed for her daughter and other children who are so much more disabled by autism. I think it's a very valid concern.

Anyway, check out her blog if you get a chance.

Advantages of High Quality Preschool

The Economist has an article here detailing the advantages of President Obama’s call for universal preschool.

Getting poor children into high quality preschool programs can have many benefits for the families of these children as well.  Parents will be freed up to work.  The enrichment that the preschool children receive (early teaching of letters, field trips, learning how to play cooperatively, a love of stories and reading) may spill over to their siblings as well.  Parents will have the opportunity to see what an enriched environment for children looks like.

As to the gentleman who commented no innovations have made the slightest difference in educational outcomes, I would just say that the country needs to get serious about developing a love and habit of reading in children.  But this is a start.  A good start, I think.