Posted on 08/26/2008 10:26:25 AM PDT by reaganaut1
In a bid to correct what he called a “knowledge deficit” among New York City public school students, Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced on Monday a pilot program that would overhaul the way children in 10 city schools are taught to read.
The program, devised by E. D. Hirsch Jr.’s Core Knowledge Foundation, is being paid for with $2.4 million in private donations raised by the Fund for Public Schools. Called the New York City Core Knowledge Early Literacy Project, it will run for three years, following kindergartners at the 10 schools through the first and second grades.
The pilot program, which will involve about 1,000 children, represents a shift from the Bloomberg administration’s longstanding approach to teaching children to read, known as “balanced literacy.” Under that approach, children are encouraged to select books that interest them, at their own reading levels, from classroom libraries. The theory behind the approach is that it is more important to ensure that young children are truly engaged by books than to dictate that everyone read the same thing.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Hirsch has written a series of books with titles such as "What Your First Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good First-Grade Education". I have used them with my son. Some homeschoolers use the Core Knowledge curriculum.
Finland has perhaps the best public education system in the world. They don’t start teaching reading until students are 7 years old. The children have more life experience to relate the written words to and are able to focus better than a bunch of 5 year olds.
I’m taking your word for it.
And I’m in wholehearted agreement then. About damn time the kids in NY get access to the same educational standards which have produced the winner of the National Spelling Bee for the last decade at least.
It’s a little hard to be against ‘Reading Skills’ but I’m sure the NEA/ATF/NAACP are working hard on a response.
If Klein had used the apt term ‘ignorance’ he would have been pilloried - ‘knowledge deficit’ is OK however (perhaps because the ignorant don’t know what a deficit is).
Yes, it’s an excellent series. Years ago when I took a reading course, I mentioned Hirsch’s name in class. Our teacher had a real negative reaction to it. She was a very caring, competent and reasonable teacher. I think that she had just been told over and over that Hirsch was awful, probably evil, so she just reacted. I think that had she ever read him, she just might have liked what she read.
Very interesting. The following is a quote I found in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a friend. He also didn’t believe in introducing certain aspects of education too soon:
There is a certain period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen years of age, when the mind, like the body, is not yet firm enough for laborious and close operations. If applied to such, it falls an early victim to premature exertion; exhibiting indeed at first, in these young and tender subjects, the flattering appearance of their being men while they are yet children, but ending in reducing them to be children when they should be men.
That’s terrific. E. D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge series is great for teaching school aged kids about the ‘shared values’ of this nation. The series covers information that is geared toward the different grades, adding information and complexity as the kids age.
I have used a few Core Knowledge elementary lesson plans from their web site (or a web site that uses this curriculum, I can’t really remember). They were excellent.
Kids are more ready to read physically by the age of seven as well. The optic nerve is one of the last to mature and that can be a factor in much of the difficulty children have when they are taught too young.
The book, “Better Late than Early” By Drs. Moore and Moore address that. It’s a fascinating read and very useful for anyone dealing with teaching young children.
http://www.moorefoundation.com/
That’s all well and good, but what does one do with the 4 and 5 year olds who already know how to read?
There is no sarcasm in my question. My daughter was reading simple words by the time she was 3, and books I read in 2nd grade she was reading when in kindergarten. And I was considered above average in reading and comprehension.
Her best friend (both girls are 10) has struggled with her reading, yet her younger sister, who won’t be 4 until next month, is like my daughter when it comes to reading.
Two of my kids read early as well. The third one had a terrible time. Fortunately, I had read the book and just gave her the time she needed. She’s doing fine now.
The point the authors make is that in general, kids are not ready for formal classroom education until between 8 - 10. If they can do it before, that’s great. He’s not advocating not teaching them if they’re ready. He’s more advocating not pushing kids too soon because often they aren’t.
One thing to consider with a child who is having difficulty reading who is really obviously bright, is vision difficulties. Not just the kind that can be corrected with glasses. Sometimes reading difficulties can be from focusing and tracking problems; that is problems with both eyes being able to work together properly.
My oldest had that problem even though she learned to read at 4 and was a voracious reader. She did complain about headaches though but the vision problems didn’t really show up until she went to school for her senior year. Before that, she just compensated; when her eyes got tired, she just changed activities. Since that wasn’t an option in school, we became aware of the problem.
We had visual therapy done with her and she made remarkable progress in her eyes working together. It helped her a lot.
I think that the only thing to do with a really early reader is just make sure they have lots of good books at home to read. Someone on FR should start a reading list of good, clean books for kids to read and a list of books for boys. I found that finding books that got boys attention is hard. Most stuff is written for girls.
If kids in general are not ready for formal classroom education until they are between 8 & 10, how in the heck did those of us who are over 30, 40, 50, and above get through school starting at 5 or 6?
Are the kids of today so different than we were? If so, why?
Catering to the lowest common denominator does no good for children, in any environment, but most especially in education.
I don't know. Maybe we just were better at sitting still in class until we got it because we knew we'd "get it" when we got home if we didn't?
It's really worth reading the book, if only to help understand the kids who need the extra time and where he's coming from.
It's been years since I read the book myself and I'm not sure where my copy got to. But now I'm interested in getting hold of a copy and reading it again.
Kindergarten especially, is very different from when we attended school. There is a ton more work, there are more expectations and much less free time.
Kindergarten used to be more about learning to follow rules, sit quietly, take turns with the other kids. We had inside play time, and lots of art projects plus a recess and a snack time. I was being taught to read and count, print letters and numbers, we grew some bean plants for science. It seems to me that all of that information was put out there, but if kids weren't quite getting it, no one freaked out.
Today, if a kid falls behind with a few letter sounds, everyone is losing their minds and an extra tutor comes in to practice with that child, and the key ring of letters is sent home for practice and it just seems so pressure-filled.
I have been in kindergarten rooms where a kid in a half day program (3 hours) has been pulled out by 3 separate special ed teachers to work on 3 separate issues. That kid is LOST when he rejoins his class, and 15 minutes later he's being pulled aside again to work on something else completely unrelated to what has been going on.
The kids seem worn out and frustrated to me.
I remember kindergarten to be like that as well. I remember learning to count past 20 with the teacher, nap time, playing with blocks, playing house....
I learned to read in first grade with Dick, Jane, and Spot, learned my colors, and beginning addition facts.
I figured it out back....I was 5 when I entered kindergarten and 6 by the time I left. That meant I was well into 6 in first grade when I was just learning to read.
I was always a good reader and loved it.
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