Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 2, No. 1 | Moving Beyond Storybooks: Teaching Our Children to Read to Learn, page 2 (low bandwidth)

The children most at risk, minority and second-language children and those attending schools in poor communities, are hurt disproportionately since their early literacy instruction is likely to have been less than adequate. Indeed, as Dorothy S. Strickland, New Jersey Professor of Reading at Rutgers University, observes, “The evidence suggests that kids who are behind in first grade stay behind,” although “even those getting the boost [of additional decoding instruction] in first grade don’t seem to be doing better in later grades.”

Clearly, explains Strickland, “The emphasis on reading comprehension with respect to content has been neglected” even as the “high-stakes tests we give require higher reading comprehension.”

Failing to master the skills necessary to read to learn, students who slip into the fourth grade slump can and, more often than not, do find themselves headed for the eighth grade cliff, when academic content becomes increasingly diverse and complex. For developing adolescents, the more challenging demands couldn’t come at a more difficult time. They are struggling mightily, after all, with issues of identity and self-efficacy and are awkwardly navigating sea changes in their physical, emotional and psychological development.

As dismal as this picture is, there are, according to Kamil, “many [teachers] who do an excellent job.” Indeed, many of these teachers “have developed methods that are more advanced than the research is.” There is, he emphasizes, an urgent need to “harvest” these best practices and methods of teaching children to read to learn.

With the help of a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York, Kamil will direct “Best Practices for ‘Reading to Learn’ Across Disciplines in Grades Four and Up,” a research project based at Stanford University that will attempt to do exactly that. Reaching out to professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Association of Reading, Kamil and a panel of six researchers and practitioners—experts in the fields of literacy, technology and second language—will investigate educational programs within their respective fields, identifying best practices.

The aim, according to Kamil, is to “offer models of best practices that can be implemented in a wide range of school settings and adapted to other content fields.”

No Fourth Grade Slump Here

One place where the transition from decoding words to reading to learn seems to be going smoothly is the New City Elementary School in Clarkstown Central School District in Rockland County, a suburb 30 miles north of New York City. One of ten Clarkstown K-5 schools, New City Elementary School, along with the district’s 2,300-student middle school and two high schools, has earned a reputation for educational excellence. The New York State Report Card, the annual overview of academic performance of New York schools statewide issued by the State Education Department, corroborates what Rockland County real estate agents regularly tell prospective home buyers: Clarkstown schools are among the highest-performing schools in the state.

As measured by the state’s English Language Arts Assessment, a test that measures listening, reading and writing skills, 58 percent of New City Elementary School fourth graders were able to demonstrate that they met standards while an additional 34 percent demonstrated that they exceeded the standards. Classes comprise students with a range of skill levels, including students with learning disabilities.

On a recent hot and humid June afternoon, a reporter traveled to New City to try to understand why these fourth graders, far from being in a slump, were doing so well. First stop: Mrs. Deming’s fourth-grade English Language Arts class where a review discussion of narrative poetry was in progress.

“O.K., what’s a narrative poem?” Deming asked. In response, about 20 eager hands shot up. “It tells a story!” exclaimed one student. What else? “It’s got a beginning, middle, and end!” The students, seemingly impervious to the wilting heat, were enjoying themselves as they confidently demonstrated their knowledge of the characteristics of narrative poetry, wavering briefly in a moment of uncertainty over the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

Displayed on an easel at the front of a room was a three-stanza narrative poem entitled “Fourth Grade Frolic,” composed that morning by the fourth graders. Students have English Language Arts class twice daily, from 8:10 a.m.–9:20 a.m. and from 12:40 p.m.–1:40 p.m. If the afternoon is spent working on reading, the following morning is spent on a writing assignment related to what they learned in the previous session. The reverse is also frequently the case. The poem on display told the story of their journey through the fourth grade—and, by the way, offered prima facie evidence that they did indeed know what a narrative poem was.

Reading for Meaning
In an exercise designed to ensure that students were reading for meaning, Deming paired them off, handing each pair of “buddies” a book of poetry. The pairing was not random. Stronger readers were paired with weaker readers, though the range in proficiency was not so wide that either child would be frustrated. Instructed to determine whether the poem assigned was indeed a narrative poem and to explain in their own words what the meaning of the poem was, the students went to work. Some craftily positioned themselves in the path of the lone fan whirring away high on a shelf. Others headed for the open doors in hope of snaring an errant breeze.

Each pair of buddies read their poem silently, read it aloud to each other and then quietly discussed the poem. What was this poem all about? Did it tell a story? Did it use any of the techniques of narrative poetry? Finally, they settled down to write a paraphrase of the poem’s meaning, lining up their arguments to make the case as to whether it was a narrative poem.

While the students worked on their poems, Deming quietly explained to a visitor that she tried to cover all of the literary genres, with an emphasis on nonfiction, including how-to books and biographies and autobiographies. Also poetry, she said with a smile, since fourth graders are not likely to come to poetry on their own. With each new form of poetry that they learn, students are given the task of writing in that form. Each student has compiled an illustrated anthology of poems they have written and poems they have read and particularly enjoyed. Entitled “My Poetry Scrapbook,” the slim volume is subtitled “Poems I Made” and “Poems I Love.”

Next page: What is needed is motivated kids,parental involvement, continuity and time to develop a team.

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