I became very frustrated and haven’t been checking messages for quiet some time and want to know the latest on teaching real reading and writing to kids in high school. My daughter is currantly using Language! and some Lindenbell Mood with very little success and growth. I still find the Language! materials to be so controlled that the text is almost silly and sometimes almost nonsense. My daughter’s strength in reading is using structure and meaning and these materials don’t lend themselves to those areas (using a more visual approach). And I see very little writing being done and writing instruction (which is different from just writing practice) is almost non-exsistant. Does anyone out there feel that reading and writing are so closely connected that both need to be addressed in a reading class? AND WHY DO SO MANY EDUCATORS BELIEVE THAT READING AND WRITING GROWTH STOPS AT 6TH GRADE OR 3RD GRADE OR ANY GRADE?!!!
Re: teaching reading and writing to high school students
Ideally I’d like to see reading taught separately from writing. While writing can always be modeled on reading, I’d like reading to stand on its own as a task of its own importance.
I’m not sure what teachers believe in regard to reading and writing instruction but it is true that with rare exception by 6th grade, schools and teachers alike assume that students no longer need deliberate reading instruction. Most schools other than special needs schools do not include the deliberate instruction of reading into their curriculum past even the 4th grade.
There are some phonetically based reading series that supposedly have meaningful content but sadly I don’t know them. Post that question and there might be some good suggestions out there. She could read those on her own outside of school.
Good luck.
Re: teaching reading and writing to high school students
Well, lots of us don’t believe language skill development stops — so you’re preaching to the choir about that :)
Your daughter’s strength is in using structure and meaning — Language! and LIndamood-Bell work on bolstering the weaknesses. So it’s going to be frust4rating for her — because they are, intentionally, taking away her strength. I’ve watched that strength become a weakness — at the high school level and beyond — because at higher levels is exactly where precise accuracy gets much more important. It’s not that structure and meaning aren’t just as important — but without the accuracy, the structure and meaning break down. I have also watched those students, through time, become highly skilled readers and writers when I taught them with those controlled materials. However, every day also included at least 10-15 minutes of reading in “uncontrolled” materials. You might want to encourage her to do some independent reading for a break from the forced language.
Language skills are related — but I would be loath to cut back on teaching reading to force writing into the same time frame. It really sounds like your daughter would benefit from more work on writing (Diana Hanbury King has a great cheap little book called _Writing Skills for the Adolescent_ *full* of ideas for *teaching* writing skills to kids with language struggles, and Priscilla Vail’s _Clear and LIvely Writing_ is also excellent) because she could use her strengths there and make connections between structure and meaning and the reading she’s doing with Language! and Lindamood-Bell. Don’t be afraid to suggest it to the teacher.
Re: teaching reading and writing to high school students
Hi Debbie, I teach eleventh grade English and basic skills. The first thing that I did in my classes is teach reading using Phono-Graphix and now I am teaching writing using the Sopris West program, Step Up to Writing. I have had wonderful success with both of these programs. I teach reading first and then writing. My rationale is that this is how the hierarchy of communications skills work: first you hear sounds, then you speak, then you read, then write and then spell. I think a tenth grader that I tutor said it all,” It is certainly easier to write now since I can read better”. She was reading at a fifth grade level and now she is reading on grade level. I find that it is really fast and easy teaching older kids how to read and write. The two programs just fill in the voids that the older students need. Hire a good tutor or order the books, Step Up to Writing and Reading Reflex and teach her yourself, it isn’t hard. Good luck!
Well, you are right, the materials in Language are very controlled- it is as structured and sequential phonics program- and only asks kids to be responsible for what is directly taught as a part of the program. The kids test into it- so one would hope that your daughter would be working at her skill level. It sounds as if the team determined that she needs some help with developing decoding skills. Remedial instruction should address correcting her weaknesses so that her strengths can get stronger…
If your team is using Language! and Lindamood Bell, then they are working at teaching her reading. It is hard though to watch your child struggle with things that should be simpler.
Robin