Reading is and always has been one of my greatest pleasures. Movies aside,=20 the movie is someone else's interpretation of the story. Reading is the sto= ry,=20 to be enjoyed by the reader in his own imagination. It is why having books i= s=20 such a great pleasure. Going back to the book , after a time, you may see=20 nuances and differences that are shaped by your experiences beyond the time=20= that=20 you first experienced the story.Movies are good, but the imagination can be=20 just as rich.
Reading sometimes is trivialized. We take the best part of stories and slice= =20 them into an enormous textbook with lots of duties that happen when you have= =20 finished the book, the work pages, the phonics and such. I realize that ther= e=20 are some elements of instruction that we must pursue, but I have been teachi= ng=20 long enough to know many ways of teaching reading .=20 Perhaps we should try to infuse reading into other subject areas, as an=20 extension of the work, some that is electronic, and some participatory in a=20= way=20 that is not workbook boring. One of the most exciting things about the explo= sion=20 of electronic technology as media is outreaching, extending and making new=20 learning paths. Sadly, if we only teach to the test, and not to the pleasure= of=20 learning, we may teach the children that reading is a trivial pursuit not=20 worthy of time investment . Sometimes you get children to make their own boo= ks,and=20 create their own stories, using books, media and learning experiences. Many groups create idealized programs, but I liked the programs that involve= d=20 the authors with the readers, and the use of reading to take wings into=20 drama, or science or social studies. I am sure that I taught reading all day= , but=20 that I had also the formal reading time. I never just used the basal reader as the text. Or the text as the only=20 source of material. If I were teaching the Universe, and space science this would be a resource=20 for me. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=3D/windows3.html It is on three levels of learning and it has inexhaustible resources for=20 teaching and learning. It is in English and Spanish. It has games, workbooks= , ask=20 a scientist, and art work. Look at the search=20 engine..http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=3D/search/search_navigation.ht= ml Perhaps many don't know it , but there is reading beyond the instructional=20 mode. There is a way of teaching creating a learning landscape that infuses=20 reading and writing as a model of the way in which it works, and the technol= ogy is=20 just a tool not the be all and end all, or a program . One creates and=20 fashions , if teachers are allowed to , using the standards and elements of=20 knowledge, but infusing the level, the interest, the resources at a local le= vel. Only trained teachers can do this with ease, but mentoring it for others is=20 not so hard. Children working in this way, do a lot more than the work asked of them Maybe it is the way we approach teaching that make the reading fail. "A survey released on Thursday reports that reading for pleasure is way dow= n=20 in America among every group =E2=80=94 old and young, wealthy and poor, educ= ated and=20 uneducated, men and women, Hispanic, black and white. The survey, by the=20 National Endowment for the Arts, also indicates that people who read for ple= asure=20 are many times more likely than those who don't to visit museums and attend=20 musical performances, almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and=20 charity work, and almost twice as likely to attend sporting events." http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html Bill Cosby aside, the reason many people who are poor don't visit the museum= s=20 and attend musical performances is because of the costs and the attendant=20 things that kids want when they go to those places. I live within steps of t= he=20 mall, which is free and wonderful, but the minority participation was limite= d=20 even when I worked with kids who lived near the museums. The museums now clo= se=20 early and the programs that involve kids are given during hours that many po= or=20 parents or parents working away from the areas would have difficulty bringin= g=20 kids to be part of the program. Learning places do try to create interface,= =20 but perhaps they need to talk with the teachers who work in the places of ne= ed=20 and not just the "experts." It was always my pleasure to be able to write grants and get funding, to tak= e=20 kids to the learning places, through National Geographic, or NSTA, or NCSS,=20 so that they would know that learning did not just take place in the classro= om.=20 I wanted them to see that learning was a lifelong journey. And my classroom=20 had books, and artifacts, and things. But that kind of learning seems to be=20= out=20 of favor. Never mind that I used more than the standards, and that tests wer= e=20 not a problem. Those of us who are able to creatively work and teach are=20 being strangled out of existence based on the sad performance of those who c= annot=20 or will not teach. We try to stay connected . I was in a conference where a group of people wit= h=20 big funding complained to the heavens that we , who are teachers, were not=20 cooperative in helping them , though they had dedicated funding to help kids= .=20 Well, the problem is that when one creates a program for children and teache= rs,=20 the knowledgenetwork should involve some real teachers, not just the experts= =20 who feel special and different. Furthermore, I am sure that there is often s= ome=20 resentment between the groups and the teachers as teachers seem to have been= =20 relegated to invisible in the scaffolding of deliverance of learning. ECONOMIC DIVIDE But maybe there is another problem. There are so many who think the schools=20 are in good shape. Read this. 'In an appearance at a Sacramento high school last week, Schwarzenegger said= ,=20 "It is a shame that we as a state have neglected the inner-city schools. It'= s=20 terrible. It should never have happened. Every child is guaranteed to get=20 equal education, equal quality teachers, equal textbooks, homework material.= All=20 of this stuff ought to be equal, but it hasn't been." According to a transcript provided by his office Friday, Schwarzenegger also= =20 said it was "crazy" for the state to fight the lawsuit, adding: "We are very= =20 close in settling that =E2=80=A6." "Los Angeles school board President Jose Huizar said his panel is expected t= o=20 discuss the possible settlement in a closed session next week. ' "I am glad that the pending settlement is near," said Huizar, who declined t= o=20 offer details. "The case is long overdue for settlement. It's obvious that=20 education is not where we want it to be in California or LAUSD, and the=20 plaintiffs pointed out areas that need improvement." "The lawsuit, filed in May 2000 in San Francisco Superior Court, named 99=20 students from 18 schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other California=20 cities. The case, named after a San Francisco middle school student, Eliezer= =20 Williams, sought help for tens of thousands of students.' 'According to the lawsuit, students in low-income schools "lack the bare=20 essentials" such as adequately trained teachers, functioning toilets, proper= heat=20 and air conditioning, and modern textbooks." "Many of the schools also were infested with "vermin, including rats, mice=20 and cockroaches," contended the suit, which was also filed by the Mexican=20 American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other public interest groups= and law=20 firms." The complaint said such conditions violated the California Constitution's=20 requirement that all students be offered a free and equal public=20 education.http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-williams10jul10,1,3881= 810.story?coll=3Dla-n ews-learning=20 Suit on Schools Near Resolution There is more than a digital divide. There is an economic divide and a divid= e=20 of expectations. The problem is that those who help make decisions may not know a thing about= =20 the place in which these kids and teachers work. Their eye is on their progr= am. The Tech Thing Without visionary school leadership, backed by supportive communities, the=20 disparities in ed-tech budgets increase. So say the authors of the "Digital=20 Leadership Divide," a survey released June 10 by the independent research or= g anization Grunwald Associates and the non-profit Consortium for School Netwo= rking=20 (CoSN).=20 The quality of leadership, researchers found, is also the primary indicator=20 of whether technology funding--regardless of the funding level--is likely to= be=20 spent wisely or be wasted. But there is also a racial divide as there is a problem in the leadership of= =20 technology. =20 When I tried to explain to the program leaders , they were not at all happy=20 with my discussion. In fact the guy said that he would wear body armour if h= e=20 found that he had to face me again in a conference. But do we help the kids=20= by=20 not saying the truth? Teachers are under a lot of pressure. To assume that=20 teachers would stay after school or weave this program in is to not be aware= of=20 the reality of time in a classroom these days. WebLab http://www.weblab.org/home.html Some of the leadership in technology circles should be people who work in th= e=20 areas of need. Bonnie Bracey [EMAIL PROTECTED]
