Set Our Teachers FREE!

I was reading an interesting blog entitled www.friendsofdave.org when I came across his post about a survey, released by the National Endowment for the Arts, that I had previously commented on.

I simply had to respond.

“I read your post about the study released by the National Endowment for the Arts. I agree with much of what you said, but I must make a comment about your observation,

” I don’t know anyone who is a poor reader but loves to read.”

“I understand that it is human nature to shy away from performing acts that we do not have total mastery of, however, I have observed dozens of students and adults who labored through the Harry Potter series, simply because they were enthralled with the stories. My husband actually used the Harry Potter series as a ‘hook’ to encourage his weak readers to get engrossed, and thus put forth the effort required.

“Harry Potter is simply one series of which I have witnessed this motivation. Many years ago there was a series of science-fiction stories about ‘the White Gold Wielder’, AKA “The Thomas Covenant series”. I personally knew individuals with terrible reading skills, some who were even diagnosed later with dyslexia, who labored through each massive book simply because the stories were compelling.

“I would like to add that reading for fun only occurs if there is a payoff of some sort: relaxation, a peek into an alternate world, escapism, entertainment, etc. What we have in our schools are text books that lull even me (a lifelong avid reader) into a state of somnolence.

“With the hyped-up entertainment venues open to most youngsters today, staring at an extraordinarily dry textbook or listening to a teacher drone on and on about a subject, is simply not effective.

“Yes, we have all these modern competitors for children’s limited attention spans, including the internet, TV, MP3 players and Ipods. Why are we not utilizing these tools to enhance education?

“Tim Rylands in the U.K. has won awards for his masterful use of the Myst software to engage and involve his students into active participation far above normal grade levels. My husband, Don Kingsland, author of “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education” and “The Kingsland Plan”, was able (for a span of over 50 years) to inspire his students to excel by utilizing children’s interests to get and keep their attention. Almost every single one of his thousands of middle school or younger students surpassed their grade level standards by one,two or even three grade levels, while in his classes. He helped them all to learn to LOVE reading and reading comprehension, whether they came to him as remedial readers or not.

“We must CHANGE our teaching techniques to stay abreast of the evolving student and utilize the tools we have available, rather than ‘going through the motions’ as so many discouraged teachers have done.”

Brennan Kingsland
http://setourteachersfree.com

Filed under: Education Reform