Fantastic article! I just finished reading Daniel Willingham’s book Why Don’t Students Like School, and I would heartily recommend it to every educator. Thank you for continuing to highlight the problems in public education today; and even more, for showing how we can fix them.
Thanks for another common sense article. As a thirty-five year veteran teacher, instructional and literacy coach, mentor, and now an elementary school librarian, much of what you write about is what I have practiced for years (intuition and research combined). I strongly agree with 1, 3, 6 and 7 in this article. Based on my experiences as a special education teacher, K- 12, and classroom teacher, grades 4-5, explicit instruction always wins. It builds confidence so that discovery and critical thinking may develop and become more intrinsic. The challenge that I have seen over the years is preparing teachers to teach using explicit instruction, and finding teachers who are willing to research content and to admit that we never know everything. There is always more to learn.
I love reading your articles, Ms. Wexler, and I know they are hitting the nail on the head. I'd love to hear your views on how English teachers should best approach teaching books. Every year I meet fewer and fewer Language Arts teachers/schools that incorporate novels into the larger L.A. curriculum. Wouldn't classic (or award-winning) books be ideal in helping students gain a deeper, more history-based knowledge than a compilation of short excerpts?
I'm so glad you've found my posts helpful, and yes, you're absolutely right -- students need to be exposed to novels and not just brief excerpts. I think the trend you're describing stems partly from a misunderstanding of the Common Core and its demand for "close reading." It may also be a result of students being reluctant or unable to read longer texts, either because they don't seem to have the necessary attention span or the necessary reading skills.
It describes a small experiment in England that found amazing results from having teachers read novels aloud to students in the equivalent of 7th grade, at a fairly brisk pace. After listening to two novels over the course of 3 months, struggling readers made 16 months of progress as measured by a standardized comprehension test. So it's not just that novels can help students acquire knowledge of history (which they certainly can). Apparently novels can also boost students' academic vocabulary and familiarity with complex syntax. My hypothesis is that students get more emotionally engaged in lengthier stories, which means they're paying more attention -- and that helps information and vocabulary stick.
At the same time, especially at higher grade levels, it can be hard for students to get engaged in literature that assumes more sophisticated reading skills and vocabulary than they actually have. That's why it's important for the teacher, or another expert reader, to read the text aloud. Students who aren't fluent independent readers can take in far more sophisticated concepts and vocabulary through listening than through their own reading.
One caveat: if the text is something that poses a lot of obstacles to comprehension, like Shakespeare, it might make sense not to require students to read the whole play or novel. It might be better to explain the plot (or, e.g., show them a movie version) but then do close reading of excerpts that convey the beauty of the language and why the work is considered so important (e.g., the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet).
Fantastic article! I just finished reading Daniel Willingham’s book Why Don’t Students Like School, and I would heartily recommend it to every educator. Thank you for continuing to highlight the problems in public education today; and even more, for showing how we can fix them.
Thanks for another common sense article. As a thirty-five year veteran teacher, instructional and literacy coach, mentor, and now an elementary school librarian, much of what you write about is what I have practiced for years (intuition and research combined). I strongly agree with 1, 3, 6 and 7 in this article. Based on my experiences as a special education teacher, K- 12, and classroom teacher, grades 4-5, explicit instruction always wins. It builds confidence so that discovery and critical thinking may develop and become more intrinsic. The challenge that I have seen over the years is preparing teachers to teach using explicit instruction, and finding teachers who are willing to research content and to admit that we never know everything. There is always more to learn.
I love reading your articles, Ms. Wexler, and I know they are hitting the nail on the head. I'd love to hear your views on how English teachers should best approach teaching books. Every year I meet fewer and fewer Language Arts teachers/schools that incorporate novels into the larger L.A. curriculum. Wouldn't classic (or award-winning) books be ideal in helping students gain a deeper, more history-based knowledge than a compilation of short excerpts?
I'm so glad you've found my posts helpful, and yes, you're absolutely right -- students need to be exposed to novels and not just brief excerpts. I think the trend you're describing stems partly from a misunderstanding of the Common Core and its demand for "close reading." It may also be a result of students being reluctant or unable to read longer texts, either because they don't seem to have the necessary attention span or the necessary reading skills.
I wrote a post about this topic a couple of years ago, which you can find here: https://nataliewexler.substack.com/p/the-power-of-just-reading-a-good
It describes a small experiment in England that found amazing results from having teachers read novels aloud to students in the equivalent of 7th grade, at a fairly brisk pace. After listening to two novels over the course of 3 months, struggling readers made 16 months of progress as measured by a standardized comprehension test. So it's not just that novels can help students acquire knowledge of history (which they certainly can). Apparently novels can also boost students' academic vocabulary and familiarity with complex syntax. My hypothesis is that students get more emotionally engaged in lengthier stories, which means they're paying more attention -- and that helps information and vocabulary stick.
At the same time, especially at higher grade levels, it can be hard for students to get engaged in literature that assumes more sophisticated reading skills and vocabulary than they actually have. That's why it's important for the teacher, or another expert reader, to read the text aloud. Students who aren't fluent independent readers can take in far more sophisticated concepts and vocabulary through listening than through their own reading.
One caveat: if the text is something that poses a lot of obstacles to comprehension, like Shakespeare, it might make sense not to require students to read the whole play or novel. It might be better to explain the plot (or, e.g., show them a movie version) but then do close reading of excerpts that convey the beauty of the language and why the work is considered so important (e.g., the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet).