tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707703066300530859.post8690338918435251913..comments2024-03-15T02:09:23.712-06:00Comments on for the love of learning: GapwashAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15047405950514440042noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707703066300530859.post-3814343688195328732011-09-01T09:11:03.072-06:002011-09-01T09:11:03.072-06:00On reflection, public education was deemed so impo...On reflection, public education was deemed so important we made it mandatory and, as is mentioned, it was a broad, knowledge based education with an emphasis on democratic participation. Heeding these differing standpoints and the potential for gains, public education is at a fork in the road and we can continue the way we have done which does not seem to be working for almost half of our children, literacy and then learning. Many seem puzzled about the next step and are both judgemental and seemingly hesitant, bogged down. On one hand, we could be broad minded and see that taking personal responsibility means challenging traditional ways of thinking and ways of doing. we could be problem solvers and creative around self-awareness and introspection to allow individuals and groups to revolutionize what is being done regarding lacks and gaps in educating and the first change is our judgment of students who, for whatever reasons, gradually lose their basic grammar reading and cursive writing skills while still in elementary grades, becoming overwhelmed with newer harder classroom material on transition that they begin to struggle. <br />Too often schools respond to behaviours which can be a response to weak literacy skills. Dealing with these judgements and misdirection may stop the progress of deficit thinking. What should be more important than ‘left behind’ which tends to focus key people on the end or ‘outcomes is preventing any child from ‘falling through the cracks’. Far too many children may end up struggling due to natural regression and the loss of their ELA and reading skills while in the elementary grades and would not be able to truly benefit from any type of educating process. Recognize their struggles may be due to lacks and gaps in K-12 ELA grammar instruction and that thirty percent are struggling by the end of grade six and almost half of our youngest adults end up leaving years of schoolng with weak literacy skills. Every child should have the right to come into school and expect to have someone teach them how to read and write cursives giving them the advantage, hope and opportunity to continually learn whether they are gifted, regular or special education and regardless of circumstance.<br />There is the public perception that schools do teach students to read and write cursives and do have an expectation of proficiency at every grade level. Test this view by providing student Achievement Tests (such as a CAT) to spell out the fundamental cause of a student struggling and rather than converging on the end or waiting for them to falter and coding them learning disabled, prevent students from ever experiencing the stress of not being able to read and write well.Brenda L Logannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707703066300530859.post-55645496483211787662011-08-03T22:18:19.773-06:002011-08-03T22:18:19.773-06:00Wow! This is one of the best things I've read ...Wow! This is one of the best things I've read in a very long time. (Great video, too!) <br /><br />As a reading specialist, it bothers me greatly when the achievement of students learning to read in English is compared with the achievement of those learning to read in Finnish. The Finnish spelling system is one of the easiest languages to learn to read and write. English is one of the hardest. In addition, the attitudes and resources surrounding literacy in both countries are also very different. If these were equal (or at least pretty similar) for both sets of learners, I would not mind the comparison, but they are not. Early proficiency in literacy is correlated with later academic success and these differences matter greatly.<br /><br />If you are interested in learning more, I did a quick Google search and found these two articles that will shed some more light on the topic:<br /><br />"Literacy in Finland" http://www.oph.fi/english/sources_of_information/pisa/literacy_in_finland<br /><br />"Holy grail of Finnish education a 'red herring' for English schools" - http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6086549Julie Niles Petersenhttp://twrctank.comnoreply@blogger.com