tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post8312338835087597540..comments2024-03-29T01:46:51.442-04:00Comments on Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: Are schools making our children illiterate to make a profit?Lisa Nielsenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-70674633472622507782012-02-04T21:51:49.593-05:002012-02-04T21:51:49.593-05:00I think this is hogwash. I don't remember lear...I think this is hogwash. I don't remember learning to read but I do remember people who loved to read around me. My mother did not watch TV she read. What is missing is not the passing of a test but the joy of reading as the basics of reading is passed on. I do know adults who are poor readers they never learned to loved reading. NOT EVERYONE will learn if left to themselves.grandma Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-6349463414343532892012-01-22T10:07:04.555-05:002012-01-22T10:07:04.555-05:00Great point @Scott McLeod. I think standardized te...Great point @Scott McLeod. I think standardized tests in general are poor measures of student achievement. Thank you for the link that points to why NAEP should be added to the list.Lisa Nielsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-59255757741562670632012-01-21T08:56:07.175-05:002012-01-21T08:56:07.175-05:00I have a question. I think it is legitimate. Have ...I have a question. I think it is legitimate. Have they changed the reading levels over the years? Have the numbers changed significantly? I don't remember a large amount of my fellow classmates in school having trouble reading, and we started in 1st grade. I am simply curious. Have the expectations changed with the numbers?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-42384765839408631852012-01-21T05:11:35.485-05:002012-01-21T05:11:35.485-05:00Anonymous, I also have a grown up daughter who wen...Anonymous, I also have a grown up daughter who went to school through the 1990s, who liked school and excelled, graduating from high school in the 99th percentile. I agree - it took a massive commitment of attention and energy from her parents year after year to ensure that she had a good education. All it took with our son was to get up in the morning and learn stuff. I was there every day and I've never been better educated myself in my entire life, including in my own school days in the 1950s and 60s when schools were genuine places of learning not teach to the test hamster wheels. Thank you Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, the three guys who invented YouTube and the rest. It's not the 1990s any more. We're an entire decade into a new century during which schools have behaved like Luddites and now, as far as my personal experience is concerned, they've had their ****s kicked by the "digital revolution" and I can't honestly say that they don't deserve it.Bob Collierhttp://www.parental-intelligence.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-81296765376647855482012-01-20T21:09:58.090-05:002012-01-20T21:09:58.090-05:00I personallyloved every minute of high school, and...I personallyloved every minute of high school, and while I didn't always love the book choices my teacher made, it sure made me appreciate the wide variety of literature available. Many people in my family are teachers and work their tails off for the kids. often the curriculum and book choices , etc are chosen by people other than the teachers themselves, or a chosen as a demonstration of a particular literary style or time period. Often, though certainly not always, the children who do not succeed at school are involved in difficult home situations where the parents just don't have the time or the desire to work with the teachers to help their child/ren. My mother sees this all the time in an affluent public school district, so can you imagine the difficulty for students in lower income areas! Unfortunately, many parents just don't care about their children's education, and that is probably the largest undocumented cause of a students lack of classroom success.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-44019768015865728982012-01-20T19:56:00.941-05:002012-01-20T19:56:00.941-05:00Bob, if you haven't read Readicide, I highly r...Bob, if you haven't read Readicide, I highly recommend it: http://amzn.to/w6cWMl<br /><br />Glad both your and your son's stories had happy conclusions! :)Scott McLeodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08368435018346090846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-75283995167485949062012-01-20T19:46:58.909-05:002012-01-20T19:46:58.909-05:00During the two years my now 16 year old son was in...During the two years my now 16 year old son was in school, I was a parent volunteer in his school's remedial reading program. I couldn't have contrived a more effective way of killing a child's interest in reading if I'd wanted to. It was torture. I was bored senseless myself and I was supposed to be helping. It was impossible not to notice too that, whereas remedial reading when I was at school was for the few who had fallen behind everybody else, it seemed like half my son's school was in the remedial reading program. My son's experience of it in his second year taught him to hate books; he hasn't read one since he was removed from school. Perhaps I should have had a bumper sticker made: "If your child hates books thank a teacher" - I can imagine the knee jerk reactions that would get. Fortunately, my son's reading in itself is excellent and became so within a year. His grammar, spelling and vocabulary are also excellent. That all emerged from having fun playing video games.<br /><br />I'm reminded as I write that way back in 1976, eight years after I'd left school myself, I decided to study for some academic qualifications I'd failed to get at school through a correspondence college. My own time, my own money and, even given that assignments had to be sent off and returned by snail mail, I completed what had been a four year syllabus at my high school in six months while having a full-time job and passed all the exams, including getting an A in the math exam I'd failed twice at school.<br /><br />So it seems to me the educational efficiency of schools has never been anything to write home about.<br /><br />Now of course we have the internet and mobile technology that frees us comprehensively from the classroom and as the new and unprecedented educational opportunities evolve the discrepancy between what's possible and what schools accomplish seems to be wider than ever. Perhaps Alfie Kohn is right when he suggests that the business of modern schools is seat time, not necessarily education. I don't know whether it's intentional or not or whatever the reasons for it, but having spent nine years sharing an adventure with my son of learning at the speed of thought through electronic media, one thing I don't hesitate to suggest myself is that in 2012 at least the educational efficiency of a typical school is simply pathetic.Bob Collierhttp://www.parental-intelligence.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-36539492846455769872012-01-20T19:21:53.545-05:002012-01-20T19:21:53.545-05:00Before you accept NAEP 'proficiency' level...Before you accept NAEP 'proficiency' levels as accurate, please see:<br /><br />http://bit.ly/xlQPFV<br />(first half of Low-Level Testing paragraph)<br /><br />http://wapo.st/yG9mRR<br /><br />http://bit.ly/ybBPyR<br /><br />I think too many of us accept the NAEP categories when we should do anything but.Scott McLeodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08368435018346090846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-60021117768092515842012-01-20T17:18:38.785-05:002012-01-20T17:18:38.785-05:00@Lori Oster, Great to hear!
@Anonymous, I'm s...@Lori Oster, Great to hear!<br /><br />@Anonymous, I'm sure there are an endless number of things the author could have focused on. While she didn't focus on teachers, she did indicate the number of para-professionals that could be hired which does give a sense of staffing that can support students. I didn't make the graphic, but the author is cited. Perhaps you want to contact her with your suggestion or if you'd like to create a graphic that represents that, send it my way and I'll include it, or if you want to do the math, add it in a comment.Lisa Nielsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-4805403710633882682012-01-20T15:57:38.471-05:002012-01-20T15:57:38.471-05:00OR ... where on that graphic is the number of new ...OR ... where on that graphic is the number of new teachers that could have been hired?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-89468577966651772442012-01-20T15:49:11.218-05:002012-01-20T15:49:11.218-05:00Funny. Nowhere in that graphic on $5.3 billion is...Funny. Nowhere in that graphic on $5.3 billion is there anything about paying teachers a living wage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-83135847602603346812012-01-20T14:19:16.770-05:002012-01-20T14:19:16.770-05:00Can I get an AMEN?
I love everything about this ...Can I get an AMEN? <br /><br />I love everything about this post. Had I printed it out, the marginalia would just be a chorus of "Amens" over and over and over again. <br /><br />Love the visual, too. <br /><br />Thank you for this.<br /><br />People can become readers at any age. I see it happen all the time in my college reading courses.Lori O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15041911314121775667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-32281764423970562422012-01-20T12:39:22.414-05:002012-01-20T12:39:22.414-05:00Oh, heck! I seriously think I have math dyslexia. ...Oh, heck! I seriously think I have math dyslexia. Thanks for the major edit. Time to update and yes, much darker!Lisa Nielsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07759123507185453030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318734518772387227.post-91681635696254359972012-01-20T11:46:14.282-05:002012-01-20T11:46:14.282-05:00Lisa, unless I'm misinterpreting the stats on ...Lisa, unless I'm misinterpreting the stats on reading proficiency (or it's time for new glasses), it looks like you may have switched your numbers. If 67% of 4th graders were "below proficient", wouldn't that mean that only 33% are at grade level? This paints an even darker picture....Love the visuals, btw!Dori Staehlehttp://www.nseducationalconsulting.comnoreply@blogger.com