Teacher Talk Tuesday
The Great Reading Debate
There's an age old reading debate regarding the best way to approach beginning reading instruction. On one hand, experts say teaching students the phonics (meaning letters and sounds only) is the way to go because it's the essential pieces of the reading puzzle. The argument for this is that if children learn to decode letters and words, then they will learn to love reading because they will understand the fundamentals. On the other hand, experts believe in taking a more wholesome approach. Here you immerse youngsters in literature and print and they will learn to read. Although you can still find remnants of both of these beliefs in education, the modern day theory to beginning reading instruction is a balance between the two. At the start of my master's program I spent a lot of time reading about this to decide the best approach within my own classroom but, halfway through my program I made the switch to 5th grade where this research is, basically... irrelevant. awesome
From the start of the year, I've struggled to understand the best approach to reading instruction for fifth graders. On one hand, they need to understand how print works within complex chapter books, on another hand I need to prepare them as best I can for their future not only as a reader but as a productive member of society. It also didn't take me long to realize though, regardless of what I teach day to day, the most important component of reading instruction in fifth grade is allowing students massive amount of time during they day to spend just reading. Needless to say, I'm still trying to figure it all out.
I was chatting with one of my colleagues the other day about some of the things we'll be teaching after spring break. We're moving into our biography unit in which the kids will spend the majority of their time reading non-fiction text. My colleague mentioned she was looking forward to this because learning to read non fiction is what they "actually" need to learn to read. It was then that I realized, this must be one of the upper grades reading debate... teach fiction, or non-fiction? While the subject of the debate is different, I'm sure the findings are exactly the same... solid instruction, just like a healthy diet, will contain a combination of the two.
So, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Fiction... or non-fiction? Which is the answer...
There's an age old reading debate regarding the best way to approach beginning reading instruction. On one hand, experts say teaching students the phonics (meaning letters and sounds only) is the way to go because it's the essential pieces of the reading puzzle. The argument for this is that if children learn to decode letters and words, then they will learn to love reading because they will understand the fundamentals. On the other hand, experts believe in taking a more wholesome approach. Here you immerse youngsters in literature and print and they will learn to read. Although you can still find remnants of both of these beliefs in education, the modern day theory to beginning reading instruction is a balance between the two. At the start of my master's program I spent a lot of time reading about this to decide the best approach within my own classroom but, halfway through my program I made the switch to 5th grade where this research is, basically... irrelevant. awesome
From the start of the year, I've struggled to understand the best approach to reading instruction for fifth graders. On one hand, they need to understand how print works within complex chapter books, on another hand I need to prepare them as best I can for their future not only as a reader but as a productive member of society. It also didn't take me long to realize though, regardless of what I teach day to day, the most important component of reading instruction in fifth grade is allowing students massive amount of time during they day to spend just reading. Needless to say, I'm still trying to figure it all out.
I was chatting with one of my colleagues the other day about some of the things we'll be teaching after spring break. We're moving into our biography unit in which the kids will spend the majority of their time reading non-fiction text. My colleague mentioned she was looking forward to this because learning to read non fiction is what they "actually" need to learn to read. It was then that I realized, this must be one of the upper grades reading debate... teach fiction, or non-fiction? While the subject of the debate is different, I'm sure the findings are exactly the same... solid instruction, just like a healthy diet, will contain a combination of the two.
So, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Fiction... or non-fiction? Which is the answer...
I did not like non-fiction as a student...well even now, it sometimes makes me yawn. BUT, give me a historical fiction text with real characters and people I can relate to and I can learn through their stories and their lives. As a teacher I also see how a good story, like by Eve Bunting, about a historical event can grab students attention and then we can research the answers to our lingering questions. I choose fiction first and then non-fiction as we find that we really do need the facts too. What do you think?
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