Literacy

I think it's safe to blame text book companies of dumbing down our children.  As a teacher, I have personally witnessed students do homework without actually reading the text.  They simply look for the answers to be placed in bold text and for them to follow along in a linear fashion.  If you can't find the answer to question 4 but found the answer to questions 3 and 5, just look somewhere between those areas.  No reading is involved.  I know this happens.  I did it myself.  And, that, paired with weak history teachers, is why I have such a weak history background.  I did not read the material.

Sadly, I witnessed the same thing here as Tyler was doing his homework.  He came home with a 4 paged newspaper.  His assignment was to do the crossword puzzle on the back page.  Unfortunately, Tyler did not understand that it would be much easier to read the clues on the puzzle then read the paper.  Instead, he dove head first into the puzzle only to have no easy way to get it done.  Furthermore, he lacked the literacy skills necessary to know where in the newspaper to find the answers.  For example, when the clue had to do with mountain ranges, Tyler did not automatically look at the map page.  

Yesterday I met with the head of the graduate education department at Mount Saint Mary College.  Initially I thought I would get certified in special education (or see what I needed to do so).  However, I left that office thinking that perhaps getting certification in literacy is the correct path for me.  

What is literacy?  It's the ability to not just read but recognize how printed material is placed on the page.  It's the skill students have when the teacher says, "Open your books to the chapter on commas."  And they can.  (I know students who cannot...I've taught them.)  Who knows, perhaps one day I will have the power to get those text book companies to reconfigure the end-of-the-unit questions so students will actually have to read to get the answer.