Thursday, May 24, 2012

It is Worth Reading this a Second Time

Deborah Meier:

We have three very serious flaws to deal with. One is that the skill involved in doing well on reading and math tests do not constitute something worthy of the name "academic achievement." Such a claim dumbs down "academia" in ways that do serious damage. And the second is that even simple-minded questions of "can she or can't she read, and how well" can't be answered "psychometrically." The third strike is that belief in them takes time away from using our schools to develop intellectually honest habits of mind, genuine respect for evidence, the capacity to take apart or defend a good argument, etc., in a variety of domains (including math and literature).

All of the various approaches to reading instruction -- and education -- are increasingly distored by these flaws, and it gets harder and harder to remember how to think outside this context.

2 comments:

Sean said...

Tom,
What is the best way to teach reading?

Tom Hoffman said...

I don't think there is one.