Get Schooled

By Dan

October 28, 2005 10:33 AM | Link to this

So now reading the current version of cliff notes is the assignment? That used to be cheating! I think the rep, has cause and effect wrong, the books aren’t shorter because attention spans have changed. More likely the opposite is true.

By RF

October 28, 2005 11:07 AM | Link to this

Actually Dan, on average, a kid’s normal attention span is about the same as his/her age. That’s nothing new, but the textbooks are finally realizing this and catching up with the times. Depending on the average reading level of a group, we might read some chapters and summarize others in the interest of time. No Cliff notes, but I have done chapters of novels instead of reading the whole thing.

By Dan

October 28, 2005 11:18 AM | Link to this

Well that may be, but as you indicate it depends on age and yes I recall reading X chapters a week and discussing. But as far as reading classics they have been the same size for a while, why the change now? Also oesn’t he attention span argument lose a bit, when a kid can sit in front of a video game, computer or tv for hours on end? I am just in the more discipline camp

By K

October 28, 2005 11:31 AM | Link to this

I think that school work has become just like everything else in our world today. We are all in too big of a hurry to get on to the next thing to thoroughly do any one thing. Whether it be in our driving, reading, relationships, etc.

By high school teacher

October 28, 2005 11:33 AM | Link to this

Patti,

I am so glad that you highlighted this issue that plagues English teachers daily. In the midst of Learning Focused Schools (the hottest new rage among educrats) and the GPS, we are encouraged to branch out and try different assessment methods, reach all students in our classes, and to supplement our texts with other materials. Rarely should we administer paper and pencil tests; instead, we should write alternate endings to a story, create a dialogue among characters of different stories, create projects, or present a PowerPoint, all of which can be completed without having read the material.

I don’t know of any way to make reading a book easier. The level of interest doesn’t seem to matter. This week my kids fell asleep when I was reading a Poe short story (and right before Halloween!). I don’t know the answer to this question. My honors students will finish a book overnight, but my regular college prep students moan and wail, kick and scream, and then admit to reading Cliffs Notes.

The irony: Neither the End of Course Test nor the Georgia Language Arts Graduation Test measures a student’s knowledge of literature; rather, they measure the student’s ability to determine the difference between fact and opinion, state the main idea of a passage, identify the intended audience of a passage, or select the examples of simile, metaphor, personification, etc. used in the passage. Do we need to make our kids read novels? Are the liberal arts a lost art? Help!!

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 11:46 AM | Link to this

The more you read, the faster you can read, the better you comprehend, and the more vocabulary you acquire. Reading is a skill that if practiced often becomes easier and more efficient. Parents who read often and encourage their children to read for pleasure will have children who are good readers. My husband and I are big readers, and guess what, so are out three kids, all in college now. In the fifth grade my son read The Godfather, and in ninth grade my oldest daughter read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, both hefty books. All three kids read the full length versions of literature they studied in school with no problems. To suggest that Reader’s Digest versions of classics should be presented to students is ridiculous and scary.

By RF

October 28, 2005 11:49 AM | Link to this

Dan-generally I agree.I think in some ways we’re making it too easy for the kiddies. But, look at society in general- it’s a faster-paced, more angst-ridden society, and even many adults like you and me can’t read an entire book without getting bored and frustrated. The schools are doing what they’ve done for the last 20 years, since ‘A Nation at Risk’ was published—trying to reinvent the wheel. And in reading today, we have to focus more on skills and less on content. Huck Finn is great, but we have to make sure the little ankle-biters know the reading skills involved as well as the story line.

By RF

October 28, 2005 11:54 AM | Link to this

Karen—what’ll really scare you is this. Go into the average public library, or worse go to a high school library, and look at the last due date for ‘Atlas Shrugged’, or any other classic. TV and the internet have made reading short, colorful, and unimaginative. Print books can’t compete in many cases. We’re also a drive-thru, get it quick world now, and fewer people even want to sit down and read anymore. We still use the classics in high school, but occasionally even the most devoted of us readers/teachers has to come up with an alternate plan to condense the longer books.

By Jake

October 28, 2005 12:00 PM | Link to this

I blame the parents. They should teach their children to enjoy that Steinbeck before they go to school, so the schools won’t have to water down classic literature. My ninth grader is looking forward to reading Homer Honors English class and she’s reading The Da Vinci Code for pleasure.

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 12:19 PM | Link to this

RF, I disagree with you that teachers need to come up with a plan to condense books! AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! The solution to the evidence of poor reading skills and short attention spans should not be to require less reading! Schools need to beef up the reading curriculum and requirements in the lower grades and make our students better readers from the very earliest grades.

My kids graduated from a Gwinnett County high school in 2000, 2003, and 2004. This is recent history! In their language arts classes they each had to read full length books, and analyze and be tested on symbolisms, inferences, subplots, character development, etc. How in the world is that accomplished using an abridged version? It is an insult and abomination and I think just morally wrong to present any writer’s made easier for study guide version. And for what, so that teachers can teach to a test!??? It’s enough to make me cry.

Jake, You are correct. Parents need to read to and with their children, take them to the library once a week and buy them books of their own and set the good example of reading for pleasure. And teachers need to require more reading not less! Good reading skills are the very foundation for learning.

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 12:30 PM | Link to this

Reading requires lots and lots of repetition and practice, just like the sports we haul our kids off to practice for. Parents need to schedule reading time for their kids, just like they schedule their kids sports practice, dance practice, music lessons, etc. Turn off the TV, get the kids away from the video games and playstation crap, and go to the library. There is a whole world of adventure and mystery and travel and history just waiting. When kids are watching TV their brains are not engaged, but when they read their minds are thinking and learning and becoming more efficient at acquiring and processing new information. Reading every day and for even as little as 30 minutes to an hour, makes learning faster and easier for anyone!

By Swangirl

October 28, 2005 12:32 PM | Link to this

I understand the logic behing what Foresman is getting at. Newspaper readership (sorry, AJC, but you guys know this already) is plumetting at an alarming rate. CNN and Fox are now our primary news source. Even the adult attention span has been whittled to a scant few minutes. So it makes sense that our kids would be that way as well.

However, if it’s our hope that most (note: all will not get there) students will attend college, aren’t we doing them a disservice by not requiring the reading of an entire book? Surely in college they’re not going to read only excerpts and select chapters. Their professors are going to test them on the entire book, not just parts of it.

I can still remember reading huge 19th-century British novels for my literature classes, and this was at UGA, a so-called party school. You had to know ALL of it. In graduate school, it was even more extensive and intense.

In some cases, I can see the relevance of having students read selections. But unless today’s colleges are cutting down on reading complete books, I think we’re setting kids up for failure by only making them read excerpts all of the time. They need to pick up the habit early.

By Amazed (Independent Woman)

October 28, 2005 12:37 PM | Link to this

I wanted to point out something that my 10 year old has grasped very quickly and in her own words “The book has way more information than the movie.” She pointed this out when we were reading “A Christmas Storyâ€?, “Sounderâ€?, “Tom Sawyerâ€? and “The Series of Unfortunate Events”.

We started reading “A Christmas Story� when she was about 5. She quickly lost interest, because of the lack of pictures. One day about two years ago the movie came on television, the black and white classic. We watched it and she noticed that things we had read prior were not being shown in the movie. The next day she started to read it and finished it within 2 days.

That has been my observation with my child for a few years now, but she has become a frequent reader and loves a large number of new and old authors.

My point is: if a child finds a novel boring, they are not going to enjoy reading. Sometimes we have to find other solutions and then go back to the traditional methods.

Not all children will go back to the novel after seeing a movie, but a discussion of what happened in the book that was not shown in the movie will spike a little interest.

By RF

October 28, 2005 12:42 PM | Link to this

Karen—I agree with you—it’s an abomination, but what can we do? The more we force upon them, the less they do (in general). Your kids were in the upper-ecehlon of ability and were trained to read. Sadly, many are not, and we have to sacrifice quantity for quality. You see it also, I’m sure, what a TV controlled society we have become. Why read a book when mom lets you watch Cops or Real TV? We’ve also made it easy for even the poor to afford cable TV, when those are the kids who need to be reading even more. If you visit a remdial or basic level class, you’ll see what I’m talking about. You can force all you want on them- they just shut down and quit. It’s sad, but at the lower end of the spectrum, it’s all too true. I’d never let a college prep class condense a book study, but at my end you really have to in order to build up any reading skills.

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 12:44 PM | Link to this

Amazed, A movie is an excellent way to hook a child up with the book. When my kids were little we did that. We checked out old classic movies, then read the book, and before long they were hooked on the author, and looking for more stories by the author or other authors writing similar tales.

By RF

October 28, 2005 12:49 PM | Link to this

Karen and Amazed—you have done what all good parents do-you’ve read to and with your kids. Imagine what it’s like for a kid who’s never had a book read to them, much less seen anyone reading. They come to school phyiscally and emotionally unprepared for reading. I teach struggling high school readers, so I see the results of this. They come to me almost unable to mentally picture what they’re reading, little imagination, low motivation, and attention spans about 15 minutes at most. It’s hard to read a long novel with them and keep them with it. Now, once they do get hooked, and it does happen, then they can take off and run. But many never catch on to the power and pleasure of reading, especially when they know there’s a movie version out there.

By high school teacher

October 28, 2005 12:54 PM | Link to this

RF, You hit the nail on the head when you said “college prep class.” We have placed all students in the same class because all children should go to college (HA HA). Any child psychologist will tell parents that their children are different and should be treated as such; why does the world of education attempt to make one cookie-cutter for our many different children? We don’t have college prep classes anymore; we offer an honors level and then the level that is called college prep, but is a far cry from it. Those are the only two options for all students. How is it at your school?

By RF

October 28, 2005 12:59 PM | Link to this

pretty much the same. You have to be in Honor’s or Gifted to get above the “college prep” level. What a mess, huh?

By Dan

October 28, 2005 01:10 PM | Link to this

Oh I understand the building interest angle, but I don’t know about introducing a kid to the movie in order to get him to read. I feel like it would dissuade the reading. Kind of like using a calculator before you know how to add. But any way they can learn, like amazed 10 yr old, that the book is richer than the movie is a plus

By Dan

October 28, 2005 01:12 PM | Link to this

That actually reminds me, I had a teacher in 7th grade who introduced poetry to the class by playing the songs “sounds of silence” and “alice” then we went over print outs of the lyrics. It put poetry in a new perspective and made it more interesting, at least for me

By FK

October 28, 2005 01:23 PM | Link to this

Our son is in the 9th grade. He is enrolled in Honors Language Arts. The LA class is now in the midst of reading a novel, cover to cover, as homework, but do have discussions in class regarding the book. Not sure of a written assignment. He had required reading over the summer. He read two novels, cover to cover, and had to do a written analysis assignment for both books. The regular classes did not have this assignment. So many parents were relieved that their children did not have a summer reading requirement. Therein lies a major problem.

Our son loves to read. His love of reading started at an early age. Yes, he watched TV, played video games, etc., but he also was read to each night. He learned to read at home, because he wanted to read. Once he could read on his own, around kindergarten age or shortly before, we let him read for an extra 1/2 hour before lights out. BTW, he did not go to full-time Pre-K. He attended a 1/2 day program, three days per week.

He plays school sports all year long. His responsibility was to find a way to manage his time to fit the extracurricular activities into his school schedule. Academics come first, that has been the rule since t-ball. And, that does not mean “passing”, it means a ‘high B’ or better. So far, so good. Never, ever, did we install a vcr or a dvd player in our autos for our 900+ mile summer trips. We made a special trip to the book store.

I really feel as though all students should have required reading over the summer, complete novels. A couple of hours a week away from the computer, video games, cell phones, whatever, will do all kids some good. Summer break is more than two months. Surely, a book assignment a month is not too much to ask of kids.

My nieces and nephews in NY all have required reading over the summer, regardless of level of course enrollment, for all grades. They get a list of titles, and choose two. Sure, it becomes a headache for the parents of the unmotivated students, but the parents need to find a way to encourage THEIR kids to do the homework assignment. Start young, encourage reading. Reading stretches the imaginations of our children, making them better and more attentive students.

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 01:38 PM | Link to this

RF, I know exactly what you are talking about, and I agree that there are many pitiful lazy and clueless parents who don’t read and don’t stress the importance of reading at home.

And I have been in ‘poor’ homes where there was a big screen TV, playstation and nintendo, and not one newspaper, magazine, or book in sight.

You do what you have to to engage your students. When my kids were little, I volunteered in my daughter’s first grade class to help the poor readers, actually the kids who said they ‘hated’ reading. I took a group of four out into the hall and we worked on the alphabet, phonics and beginning reading. One day I asked them if they would like to bring something from home to read. The next day one of the little boys brought a comic book and said, “You probably won’t let us read this.” I surprised him and said, “sure we’ll read it,” and we did. And guess what, he started liking reading. I used to do some family reading projects when I tutored adult illiterates. You use any hook to get their interest started in reading, whether it is sports magazines, cookbooks, or comic books. Once their skills increase, then you can move onto more academic subjects. Reading for pleasure first will help anyone becoming a better reader

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 01:44 PM | Link to this

Dan, I used the movie to hook their interest and then I read aloud from the book every night. This was when they were in kindergarten, first and second grade. Reading aloud is a great family activity, and makes the kids better readers as they hear the cadence of your reading, your expression, the pauses and stops. It’s kind of like the old radio mystery shows my parents listended to, or books on tape now.

By OldSchool

October 28, 2005 01:48 PM | Link to this

I teach Engineering Drawing on a block schedule. I’m on extended day and my planning time is after school. I discovered years ago that the first 15 minutes of the block were mostly spent getting students to settle down- not an easy task when it is deafening chaos in the main hallway. I instituted 15 minutes of silent reading beginning at the tardy bell. Students are to be “seated and silently reading” when the tardy bell rings. I keep Reader’s Digests, Consumer Reports, and my set of Pat McManus books for them to read if they don’t bring a reading assignment from one of their academic classes. The point is to get them to read. They LOVE the McManus books (try them you’ll like them too) and I don’t have tardies to my classes. They are calmed and ready to work when the timer goes off and I can get the roll checked and put finishing touches on the day’s lesson.

My own girls and I have always read on long trips. That takes practice but you can learn to tune out the landscape passing by and enjoy a good book. My husband gets to listen to his NPR while he drives.

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 01:52 PM | Link to this

Old School, Hooray for your method! And that silent reading helps them put their thinking brain in motion and be ready to learn.

By Nel

October 28, 2005 02:01 PM | Link to this

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the circulars that are sent home for kids to order various books, and they are cheap so everyone can afford them. They books are When my oldest child was in 5th grade, the entire class was required to order copies of different books and the whole class read and discussed the books. This is something that should be required throught school. We started reading and dissecting Shakespeare at age 14 and the discussions were amazing. The teacher would lead but as each person offered a comment, we realized the people don’t see thing necessarily the same way. Even those who may have been reluctant to read the book would jump in because there was no wrong take on the story. We would even assign the the various characters to different people to read, which gave it more life. Yes the language is different, but that’s all part of learning and you got used to it. Many of these authors are referred to as dead white men, but what the critics fail to realize is that each story always had a number of underlying messages and if you look at them, the stories are easily relateable to today. Look at how they are now remaking those classics set in today’s society. One way to encourage reading the “heavy” books is to have them read the books, then watch the movie? My child also now critiques movies after having read the book because of how much is left out or changed. It can be done but it takes creativity. My 8 year-old loves baseball, so I research fiction about baseball or other sports that are age appropriate and reserve them online at the library. This way, he does his required 30 mins per day without realizing it because the book is in his bag all the time.

By Dan

October 28, 2005 02:01 PM | Link to this

When all is said and done it is really up to the kids. I am one of six siblings three of us have always read, one brother who was the best student never read until he was in the service (you have to do something on a 18 hour trip from diego garcia to NY) another sister started reading when she had some job watching the front desk at a company while she was in college. They all had the skills to read and comprehend they just never chose to read for leisure until they were adults. and really as far as education is concerned, reading efficiency and comprehension is the more important portion of reading. Knowledge and appreciation of literature is more like history

By Amazed (Independent Woman)

October 28, 2005 02:12 PM | Link to this

Another insight I have about reading is comprehension. If you don’t ask the child questions or discuss what has been read in the book, nothing has been accomplished. I love to hear my daughter talk about the characters in a book as if they were personal friends.

I remember when my daughter was in Pre-K, I was really disappointed in the program. Have there been any substantial changes in this program? I didn’t think that this program allowed enough reading activities or any true educational foundations. My daughter was ready for first grade in Pre-K. However, I was disappointed because of the lack of a foundation it offered for parents who did not spend the extra time with their children.

It’s awful, how many kids are still struggling to read by the time they get into second grade. If you are struggling to read in second grade, you will surely have lost interest by then. My daughter’s best friend has finally caught up to her reading level in 5th grade. She has been going to special reading class since first grade. When my daughter told me yesterday, that her friend would not have to go to the special reading class anymore, I could not have been happier. I feel that she is now ready for 6th grade and have suggested to my daughter that they form a study group.

Why does it seem that we are falling short in Pre-K, Kindergarten and First grade when it comes to reading?

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 02:17 PM | Link to this

Dan, If one studies literature, instead of just reading it, there is so much more below the surface than the story line. The great writers were social and political and scientific commentators during times without TV, radio, and movies. And it takes a skilled teacher trained in literature to teach and lead discussions on the classics. I think great literature presents the hidden subtext to history, which is just as, if not more important to know than just having the good reading skills.

By high school teacher

October 28, 2005 02:22 PM | Link to this

On the contrary, my son’s Pre-K class focuses a great deal on reading! They get to go to the library to check out a book once a week, and they send home literacy packets with other books and activities in them once a week. His favorite thing to do before bed is to have us read to him. My husband and I take turns reading stories to him. When we were in the car the other day, he was ecstatic because he saw a sign with “double letters in it.” I think that in the past few years, the elementary grades have made trememdous initiatives with reading. It just takes a few years to see the results.

By RF

October 28, 2005 02:25 PM | Link to this

Dan- you’re right. A great many don’t really appreciate the value of reading until they have to as adults. You’re also right that we have to focus on comprehension and fluency in school. I’ve managed to combine the skills focus with interesting material, but the basic focus is mostly on recall of facts and vocabulary in context. That focus can easily take the fun out of reading, can’t it?

By SWC

October 28, 2005 03:17 PM | Link to this

“bowd·ler·ize ( P ) Pronunciation Key (bdl-rz, boud-) tr.v. bowd·ler·ized, bowd·ler·iz·ing, bowd·ler·iz·es To expurgate (a book, for example) prudishly. To modify, as by shortening or simplifying or by skewing the content in a certain manner”

From 1966-1970 I went to a very traditional Northeastern prep school and was fortunate to have a fabulous English teacher - Barnard educated etc. I still remember her indignantly & scornfully denouncing the “bowdlerization” of books as being nothing short of sacrilege.

We read “The Classics” - as the author intended them to be read - from cover to cover. We did not go off into groups to discuss the book with our classmates - we all read and discussed the book together. I don’t know anyone who didn’t love this teacher’s class, no matter how difficult or challenging the material.

At that school, We also studied Latin and had to translate Caesar’s Gallic Wars. These enterprises helped sharpen our minds and force us to think. Do I speak Latin? Of course not, but the experience was invaluable and is still relevant today, despite having spent 3 years studying a difficult and dead language. Students may not grasp why studying history or Shakespeare is important, but that in no way excuses the schools or students from learning seemingly “irrelevant” subjects. The shools are supposed to have the WISDOM that the students do not yet possess and it is a huge mistake to let the students influence or determine the curriculum. Indeed, it appears that even some teachers have too much leeway - particularly those who teach abridged versions of classic literature!

If a teacher finds parts of a novel “boring” or “unnecessary”, then they should assign a different book. The very idea that a teacher decides for the novelist what is or is not necessary makes a sham of literature and send a terrible message to the students. The students can always skim over parts of a book - that is part of the learning process, just like the art of taking notes, but the reader should make that adjustment, not the teacher.

By RF

October 28, 2005 03:28 PM | Link to this

SWC—not to be antagonistic, but it’s just not the same in school anymore. Come deal with the average kid in the average school today. It’s nothing like prep school, and we CAN’T teach them the way you were taught, which is exactly what I got in a progressive public high school in the late seventies right here in good old Georgia. It just doesn’t work that way anymore. You really wouldn’t believe how the kids have been affected by TV and the internet in the last ten years. When parents do what you have done with yours, then yes we can teach the books cover to cover. Increasingly few parents are as involved as you are, and the reality is that kids don’t read the books no matter how we teach it. I have no choice but to do what will maximize my students’ attention spans and abilities. I teach remedial kids, and there aren’t many books they will read cover to cover, no matter how relevant or interesting. You’re right, we do the authors a disservice bowdlerizing their books, but the average kid today doesn’t read enough on his or her own to make it.

By SWC

October 28, 2005 03:31 PM | Link to this

“I’ve managed to combine the skills focus with interesting material, but the basic focus is mostly on recall of facts and vocabulary in context. That focus can easily take the fun out of reading, can’t it?”

No kidding! This is horrifying! Do you think that Shakespeare or any of the great writers in history wrote to teach facts?? This is precisely what’s wrong with American public school education (and those stupid A.R. tests too).

By SWC

October 28, 2005 03:48 PM | Link to this

R.F. - I may sound like a heretic, but I don’t buy all this stuff about the short attention spans because of the internet, t,v… I meet kids of all ages that I talk to about school, and the ones that I am meeting at least are perfectly capable of reading an entire book and enjoying, if not savoring it.

I think that we’ve lowered the standards and focus all our attention on the bottom rung of the ladder, not the top two thirds. And we think that longer classes or longer school days and no recess and short, silent lunches and curtailed summer vacations and memorizing trivial facts is the key to success. Wrong, wrong, wrong. IMHO of course.

By RF

October 28, 2005 04:10 PM | Link to this

Oh, we definitely have to focus on the lower rungs of the ladder a lot of the time. When what the general public sees are test scores, it’s seems logical to focus on those kids that will make or break us. And the pressure’s on with NCLB to make the scores. I don’t personally buy a lot of that, and I generally refuse to water down anything. But, I do have to account for what I’ve done to reach the at-risk kids, and that can take everything including prayer and magic!! Honestly, it isn’t as bad as it sounds. We’re not all out here dummying down the curriculum. The general rumble around the school is about chapter studies, and sometimes we do a book that way. Certainly not all, but some. As an option for lower-level kids, sometimes it’s what works. I think if you could spend a few days in a lower level classroom, you might see what I mean and see that’s it’s not an every day thing. Check some of the medical studies online when you have a few minutes—some of the reports I’ve read on kids’ attention spans are interesting and support the idea that attention span matches age level. As an involved parent, you’ve found the key to getting past that. Most don’t.

By RF

October 28, 2005 04:18 PM | Link to this

It’s scary sometimes too, to see just how many kids rarely, if ever, pick up a book for pleasure. And that’s the key, basic skill of a life-long learner. If they only read when they have to, they’ve doomed themselves. And as you and Karen and others have proven, that comes from home long before we see them in school. I’d hazard a guess that the number of families with active public library cards has dropped too over the last ten years. Hmmmm, now I have something to research this weekend.:-)

By Karen Armsby

October 28, 2005 05:01 PM | Link to this

Have a wonderful weekend!

By me

October 31, 2005 08:16 AM | Link to this

Wow. After reading the Friday comments, I noticed that someone needs to move back to where the schools are so much better than the schools in Georgia. Obviously you ar much better educated than everyone else in this blog. If your child is going to public school here, their education will never be good enough for you. I hope they never have a problem that you can’t fix. I feel sorry for them.

By Karen Armsby

October 31, 2005 09:33 AM | Link to this

RF, Regarding your comment about focusing on the lower rungs of the ladder, did you see the CBS Sunday Morning piece on genius kids, who are are on the upper rungs of the ladder, being ignored, and consequently are not being served by their schools? The point was that No Child Left Behind should also apply to our brightest students as much as it applies to the laggers and non performing students. The smart kids are bored out of their minds in regualr classes and don’t work to their potential.

Patti, have you addressed this issue? How are our best and brightest students being served? Do the school systems adequately identify these students and place them in appropriately challenging classes?

By Karen Armsby

October 31, 2005 09:55 AM | Link to this

Here’s the link to the CBS story on child geniuses:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/30/sunday/main994824.shtml

By Carol

October 31, 2005 10:11 AM | Link to this

I have found that a child’s reading is relative to the amount of reading a parent does. Children are sponges, they learn from their parents. If the parent does not lead, the child will not follow.

Reading is not just a chapter or discussion. It is a trip to Hogwarts, or the French Revolution. It is an insight into how a president governed or why a war was fought. It is information about far away places and customs.

Turn of the tv, xbox and computer and pick up a book yourself. Create a family book club. Have lively discussions about the books that are required by the curriculum. If we show our enthusiasm for reading, the children will catch the bug.

By RF

October 31, 2005 10:38 AM | Link to this

Karen— I missed that one for a trip to the Ocmulgee indian mounds. I’ll look at it. To some extent, unless a kid is in Advanced Placement or Honors classes, it is entirely possible for the geniuses to be ignored. The trend these days is to do away with ability level classes in upper grades, which is supposed to encourage lower level kids to work harder. In my experience, what we end up doing is either teaching to the middle,leaving the slower kids behind, or boring teh advanced kids while we reteach something. It has always been a struggle, it’s just getting more attention now with NCLB. I try to challenge my upper level kids, but let’s face it, we have to deal with the kids who don’t get what we’re teaching, often to the frustration to the kids who do get it. I always have things for those kids who finish early so they can go beyond what the rest are doing, but that sometimes creates a problem planning and making it all work.

By Nikole

November 1, 2005 11:40 AM | Link to this

Has anyone considered the relevance of “classics” being read anyway? They bored me to death in my Honors classes and I love to read. Why are we so stuck on teaching these particular books anyway? Can we not learn the same skills in more enjoyable texts? What will we miss by breaking out of traditionally read books?

By SWC

November 2, 2005 09:55 AM | Link to this

Me - Please advise what aspects of the Georgia education techniques that you approve of. Is it the long school days? Long classes? No recess? 20 minute (silent) lunch? Curtailed summer vacations? Drill and kill? Mixing up the advanced students with the laggards? Dumbed-down ELA curriculum? Bowdlerized books?

Nikole - I hope that you are not a teacher. Your comments encapsulate exactly what is wrong with “modern” American public school education. The purpose of reading the classics is not to learn reading skills (nor is it to bolster your self-esteem through a curricula whose entire purpose is to fill your mind with endless gender and racial grievances) .

By Karen Armsby

November 2, 2005 10:09 AM | Link to this

SWC, Do your initials stand for Sarcasm With Cynicism? Seriously, you have a lot of good comments, but your sharp wit needs some temperance.

By RF

November 2, 2005 10:18 AM | Link to this

Karen— I read the CBS article. Very interesting and thought provoking. I can say from my experience that the public schools I know are in no way ready for genius children. An 11 year old with college level skills would be completely unmotivated. I think we probably have a a good percentage of kids who are gifted who, for one reason or another, are not identified. We have gifted programs, but a real genius child would be beyond even that. I teach low readers, so I see the opposite end of the spectrum. In high school, we lack some resources for helping kids at my end. Unfortunately, the money and curriculum focus seems to be on the average to honors level.

By Karen Armsby

November 2, 2005 10:43 AM | Link to this

RF, I know kids in middle school that went over to the high school for their math classes, and one my daughter’s friends went to college in the ninth grade. I am just wondering out loud how many really smart kids are out there that are not recognized and not tested. Sometimes it takes a parent pushing to even get their child tested for the gifted program. And if the parent is not clued into their child’s intelligence, then the child may never get the chance to test. Maybe the state and local school system gifted coordinators should allow more kids into the gifted program without requiring the test scores first, kind of a try out period. I think they may find some very bright but bored with the standard curriculum, and underperforming students, who would then blossom and achieve.

By RF

November 2, 2005 11:16 AM | Link to this

I know what you mean Karen. My nine year old was tested for gifted last year after a conference with his teacher. She agreed that he was way above average. However, he didn’t do as well on the test portion because the gifted teacher made him nervous. He’s a shy one. I’m not pushing it this year because he seems happy in 4th grade and has a teacher who pushes him and challenges him more. I do wish we could pull kids into the program and see how they do. I have a sneaking suspicion we have a lot of “average” kids who are just lazy, based on what I’ve seen over the years.

By SWC

November 2, 2005 11:35 AM | Link to this

“Maybe the state and local school system gifted coordinators should allow more kids into the gifted program without requiring the test scores first, kind of a try out period. I think they may find some very bright but bored with the standard curriculum, and underperforming students, who would then blossom and achieve.”

I agree completely, and also think that students who are advanced in a particular subject should be able to take classes with students in the next grade level (or higher). Conversely, students who struggle in one subject should be permitted to study down a level. Sometimes it is just one area, like math, where students particularly excel or struggle and they shouldn’t always be lumped together with classmates based on their age alone.