I'm pretty excited about class tomorrow. I was involved in a Teaching American History workshop today--which reinforced the fact that students get bored to tears listening to lecture for 6 hours. I left copies of the first chapter of a Whole New Mind for my AP Psychology students to digest. I hope the majority of them read the text, and if so come ready for a lively discussion tomorrow.
But as engaging as the conversation may be, the fact is that most of the students at school cannot read to understand. It's so easy to put the blame on parents/cultural deficiencies/historical discrimination (all of which do deserve immense blame); but much more difficult to stick your nose in and take some risks on teaching these young'ns to read a little. Check this site out. Interesting stats and strategies. My desire to teach Af-Am History in the mornings--zero period--has been put on hold for now. There's just not enough cash in the "current budget environment." That while our new and improved merged and streamlined School System continues to add more and more adminstrators at the central office... Doing what I'm not sure.
But I digress... perhaps there's a need to create some sort of after school club/organization/study group to enhance the literacy skills of the students. What should that look like? How would I sell the concept to the students? --I'll worry about officials later on.
Diversity of texts, interesting texts, technology... self directed learning (what does that look like when it works), collaborative learning (same question),
what else would be needed?
dt
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