Doug Lemov: 'Too often, the way we teach reading in schools is wrong'

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

I have a great deal of empathy with this piece in the TES by Doug Lemov:

Too often, the way we teach reading in schools is wrong

Doug Lemov
30th March 2016


The author of Teach Like a Champion explains why he believes teachers need to reconsider the way they approach reading

https://www.tes.com/us/news/breaking-vi ... ools-wrong

Avoiding difficult books

Perhaps reading skills are not the solution then. Or perhaps they are useful but also require other elements as well. Challenge, for example. Leveling texts for readers well into middle school and often beyond is accepted as standard practice in most American reading classrooms but is it best to ensure as common practice that our students avoid reading books that are "too hard" for them. Teachers are routinely trained to avoid giving children books that are too hard. Even the children themselves are given this advice. My own kids have each come home from school with the same guidance given to them almost yearly: Read a page of the book you are interested in. If there are more than five words you don’t know, put it down. It’s too hard for you.

The eminent literacy expert Tim Shanahan has found, in reviewing the research, almost no basis at all for the assumption that leveling text helps students learn faster. It is, in his words, “an unproven theory” even though it is all but standard practice. Perhaps there are times when students should pick up that challenging book with its five hard words and endeavor to read it anyway. Or at least times when a teacher should select it for class reading and offer support and guidance so that students learn how to unlock a daunting text. It might require help and support for students to stare down that terrible-too-hard-book but in so doing they might learn how to struggle with a text outside their comfort zone—which is surely one of the core skills of college. Plus the book might just be a great one.

In other words it might be that we should see the reason to teach a book as its greatness and its difficulty to be a barrier that must be overcome rather than its accessibility as the reason for reading it and its brilliance as a pleasant bonus. Or it might be that there are times when our students should practice reading easily and happily but other times when they should struggle. Why, other than a bent to Manicheanism, should we think it was always one or the other?

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Further excerpts by Doug Lemov in the TES:

https://www.tes.com/us/news/breaking-vi ... ng-reading

In an excerpt from his latest book, Doug Lemov provides some practical tips on how teachers can alter the way they approach reading with their students

Consider, for a moment, how much reading you were required to do in college. Almost assuredly there were instances when the time you spent reading stretched into hours. Some classes probably required a book a week or a daunting array of journal articles—possibly both.

The message was clear: you had to read a lot if you wanted to understand whatever discipline you studied and meet the standards of economics, chemistry, political or literary theory. Extensive reading gave you knowledge, context and perspective, an ear for how the discipline talked. It was required not just to “pass” but to earn a degree and enter society. Extensive reading gave you what you needed to succeed, but it was not easy. You needed lots of practice to prepare you.

Do read the full piece about different types of reading practice!

[Debbie_Hepplewhite]

Doug describes the importance of reading texts aloud to children with complex sentences and ideas - beyond their own reading levels:

https://www.tes.com/us/news/breaking-vi ... doug-lemov

Understanding complex vocabulary and syntax is the key to boosting literacy, so teachers should persuade parents to read challenging texts aloud with their children, says Teach Like a Champion author Doug Lemov

On a Saturday morning a few weeks ago, my youngest daughter and I sat together on the couch reading. The sun was streaming in through the windows as we made our way through the final chapter of Island of the Blue Dolphins. The novel imagines the real-life story of a woman found living alone on a Pacific island in the 19th century. She is the last of her people and is later brought to California.

Hearing complex syntax read aloud builds an affinity for a different kind of vocabulary

All of that advanced vocab and syntax will be really good for Goose. But most important, perhaps, is the complexity of the story.

Island of the Blue Dolphins is a long way from a Magic Tree House book, the kind of thing she loves to read on her own (and which I am a big fan of). It engages Goose in complex ideas and thoughts, complex plot, rich detail. That, too, will make her a better reader. But most important of all it will make her, I think, someone who loves reading. I want her to associate amazing stories – as enthralling as any movie – with reading. Nothing makes the case for that like the best, the richest, books.

Nick Gibb, Minister for School Standards in England, makes the same point here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... orytelling

It is so important that parents and teachers find time, make time, to read stories aloud of great calibre.