A Fad in Reading Education

Question: Should training in visual-motor processes be a part of reading readiness?

Answer/Quote: “…conclude that the value of perceptual training, especially those programs often used in schools, has not been clearly established. If he concluded that such training lacks solid support, he may begin to question the purchase of attractively packaged materials which some companies offer teachers along with unsubstantiated claims concerning their merits, the practice of providing perceptual-motor training to all school children in the name of readiness training, and the assumption that a lack of perceptual-motor adequacy causes a considerable amount of academic failure.” P. 476.

Comment: One of the values of professional journals is their research into fads of which education has had many. How much money and wasted student time went into the fad of using “attractively packaged” perceptual-motor training materials to prevent reading failure? RayS.

Title: “Visual-Motor Processes: Can We Train them?” D Hammill, L Goodman and JL Wiederholt. The Reading Teacher (February 1974), 469-477.

Readability

Question: Is sentence length a valid indicator of difficulty in reading?

Answer/Quote: “Looking at a sentence and getting an intuitive feeling about its difficulty by counting words and analyzing the elements which are included in it may be considered a quick and easy way to assess the linguistic difficulty of the language in the reading materials.” P. 487.

Comment: I’m not sure what the implications are if one judges the sentences in a reading passage to be difficult—other than to tell students to slow down when reading long sentences in order to comprehend them. RayS.

Title: “Is Sentence Length a Valid Measure of Difficulty in Readability Formulas?” SM Glazer. The Reading Teacher (February 1974), 464-468.

Reading Mathematics

Question: How does reading in mathematics differ from ordinary reading?

Answer/Quote: “One hears the expression—every teacher is a teacher of reading—many times, yet there are too many who teach reading only for reading’s sake. Once a discipline other than reading is being taught, content frequently takes precedence over reading.” P. 807.

Quote: “Generally, it is a good idea first to read the material in mathematics, as in other subjects, rather rapidly or at a near normal rate, to get the overall picture and the main ideas. Then the material should be read more slowly, carefully, critically and analytically to fill in the details and specifics and to recognize the existent relationships. Some segments of the material may need to be read several times, each time with a different purpose. Children need to learn to look for relevant information, to determine what operations will be needed, to ascertain if all the information is given, or simply to read digits and operation symbols to solve a problem.” P. 805.

Quote: Mathematical material is generally characterized by its conciseness, abstractness and complex relationships. Moulder (1969) maintains, ‘…there are more ideas per line and per page than in other writing. In mathematics every word is critical because understanding the precise meaning of a single word may influence the meaning of an entire passage to such an extent that the reading assignment may be adversely affected.’ ” P. 805.

Quote: “In most subjects the reading material consists of words. In mathematics the learner must read and interpret words, letters, charts and graphs, numerals, formulas, and many different signs and symbols.” P. 806.

Quote: “The vocabulary in mathematics is often technical and specific. If pupils are to read and study mathematics successfully, teachers must give attention to vocabulary development.” P. 806.

Quote: “At times new vocabulary must be acquired; many times new meanings or more precise mathematical meanings need to be developed for familiar words.” P. 806.

Comment: I’m an English teacher. I’ve known many math teachers and supervisors. I have yet to find a systematic way of reading mathematics to solve problems. I will be looking for such a system as I read my professional journals. Reading mathematics is a time to learn how to read SLOWLY. RayS.

 Title: “Are You Teaching Kids to Read Mathematics?” CC Collier and LA Redmond. The Reading Teacher (May 1974), 804-808.

A Problem with Professional Journals and Research

Note: The following is from a letter to the editor concerning “The Topsy-Rurvy World of ‘Sight’ Words,” an article by Patrick Goff, March 1974 in published in RT:

Quote: “I realize that to accurately evaluate Groff’s article one would have to read each of the textbooks and study the research reports cited by him. However difficult and time consuming such practices would be, some procedures to assess the accuracy of articles…should be developed.” 71.

Comment: Today, 2012, with the concern that articles should be “research-based,” much of what is cited as research is questionable. ‘should  findings referred to as “suggest,” “indicate,” or “possibly be considered” count as valid research findings? I agree with Karlin. Some method has to be found to assess the research that underlies many of today’s articles in professional journals. The findings are cited, but how accurate and valid are the research findings? RayS.

Title: “Karlin Quoted Out of Context.” Robert Karlin. The Reading Teacher (October 1974), 70-71.

Reading Instruction

Question: What is reading?

Note: The following letter to the editor was in response to an article entitled, “Challenge to Schools: Reading Is Overemphasized” March 1974, RT.

Quote: “Yes reading is overemphasized… if teachers see reading as a mastery of phonic skills and vocabulary word cards. Teachers need to remember that reading is not simply word recognition but ultimately the recognition of the content of ideas.

“If teachers make the reading of a story in the reader as the end in itself (and don’t we do this by our factual questions to ‘check’ comprehension?), no wonder kids are so often ‘cool’ to reading and so many adults are, to borrow the expression, ‘illiterate literates.’

“If teachers, however, see the reading of a story  (the content of ideas) as a means to further probing, questioning, discussion and debate, reading becomes the means to the end rather than the end itself.”

 Comment: Couldn’t have said it better myself. RayS.

“The ‘Right’ Emphasis.” Richard Johnson. The Reading Teacher (October 1974), 67.

Keeping Up with Professional Journals

Question: How can teachers keep up with professional reading?

Note: The following is a letter to the editor of The Reading Teacher:

Quote: “As an IIRA member, I have received The Reading Teacher for a number of years and consider the caliber of the articles to be excellent. However, it is very difficult for me, an involved reading specialist who is dedicated to her work, to get to read it each month. As far as I know my coworkers have the same trouble and I imagine the majority of members do.”

Comment: Try my system. Read the title and sub-titles of each article and then the first paragraph and last paragraph of the article. Know enough? Have the basic idea? In my experience that information alone tells me the essence of the article. Write a brief summary at the top of the article. If I still have questions, I read a sentence in each column for details. Occasionally I return and read the first sentence of each paragraph. Very rarely, almost never, do I read the entire article. If you read professional journals 15 minutes each day, you will accumulate most of the essential ideas in each article In a relatively short period of time. Note: If you can take the time, reflect in writing on these ideas as I do in this blog with my “Comments.” RayS.

Title: “Cut RT in Half.” Margaret C. Ball. The Reading Teacher (October 1974), 64.

Book Markers

Question: How pre-teach vocabulary for stories?

Answer/Quote: “Shorten the task of introducing vocabulary words by making book markers with words from each story or unit in the reader on them. In this way the child sees the word not disassociated from his book on a chalkboard or chart, but in context to what he is reading. It can be used to locate words in context, pages where the word is found, and the page where the child is reading.” P. 56.

Comment: Why didn’t I think of that? RayS.

Title: “Book Markers.” F L Anderson. The Reading Teacher (October 1974), 56.