What's DEAR to me

In “Why Don’t Students Like School,” Daniel Willingham asserts: “Do whatever you can to get kids to read.” He says this because reading “expose[s] children to more facts and to a broader vocabulary than virtually any other activity.”

He also explains how important background knowledge is for learning. He demonstrates this fact by explaining a study in which junior high school students were asked to read a story about baseball. Half the students were deemed “good” readers, the other half “poor” readers (according to standard reading tests). Some knew a lot about baseball; others knew very little. The results showed something I find astounding: Regardless of whether they were “good” or “poor” readers, the students who had knowledge of the subject area  (baseball) demonstrated better comprehension. Even the “poor” readers who had prior knowledge did better with the reading than the “good” readers who didn’t have the content knowledge!

Willingham offers an interesting cognitive science explanation of how this all works, but the take-away is not to underestimate the power of background knowledge, which is increased most easily, in Willingham’s view — and most enjoyably, I might argue — by reading.

Naturally, I’ve been thinking about that imperative, “Do whatever you can to get kids to read.”

One of the first ideas that came to me was to require students to regularly read newspaper articles and, as evidence of this, bring in articles to class, prepared to summarize or otherwise discuss them. I vaguely recall having to do this in high school (back in the era of actually clipping stories from a daily paper delivered to our home); unfortunately, I don’t recall exactly what the engagement with the articles looked like (e.g., bringing in written summaries with the clips?).

My thinking then took a detour down doubt drive due to the demise of the daily (print) paper, although I know that’s silly. Supposedly, we have access to more information — and more sources of information — than ever. So I’m sure technology (maybe even some forms I’m not currently familiar with) could come into play here.

The bottom line is: I want to do whatever it takes to get kids reading in order to build their knowledge.

All of this is a long way of getting to the point that I would be thrilled if a student brought in The New York Times article on Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed ban on “big” sizes of “sugary” drinks. It’s a great example of an article that I imagine would catch the interest of adolescents and has a lot to offer in the way of getting them thinking about current events/the world they live in.

At this point, my development of this teaching idea (requiring students to read newspapers/magazines) is emerging. I can see the need to have evidence that students are actually doing the reading, and that this might take the form of having them bring in a short summary and/or written response along with the article. It might take the form of verbally sharing a summary or an opinion with others in the classroom (pairs, small groups). I’m not really sure. And I’d like to solicit ideas from veteran teachers.

However that initial process might unfold, I could see the value of having students compile the articles they bring in regularly into a folder, from which they could draw ideas for language arts activities throughout the year (topics for further reading, research, writing). Their own self-selected “fund of knowledge.”

Let’s say, then, that a student selected the “Soda Ban” article as one that was particularly interesting. What might he do with it?

• Use this topic as the basis of practice in research methods and information gathering
• Write a letter to one of the stakeholders (the Mayor, the New York City Beverage Association) or to the editor of the Times expressing support or opposition to the proposed ban
• Design and execute a polling experiment of consumers (e.g., movie-goers) or retailers (street-cart vendors) to gather and analyze various opinions of the proposed ban and write about the findings and/or present this information orally
• Take a position in a verbal debate of the issue
• Gather examples of related events in history, explaining what the student sees that these examples have in common
• Look at literature (fiction) that speaks to identified themes (e.g., government control in individual’s lives, or representations of populations struggling with taking care of themselves)

 All of these could be valid pursuits in a language arts classroom.

And to the think of the possibilities that began with my thinking about Willigham’s imperative, an idea some elementary school teachers I know call “DEAR Time.” What is DEAR to me? Drop Everything And Read!