Thursday, March 16, 2017

Disengaged students – The Problem



Go to any school you choose and speak with the English language teacher or with the superintendent. Ask him/her if there are students who do well in mathematics but are unable to read in English. 

All schools have at least 10% of kids who leave school without being able to read. The question is to ask as to why this is the case.

Also ask as to how I dare say that I can teach Jill to study after one minute of interacting with her. All I did was talk to Jim and Jane for about 20 minutes and then for less than a minute asked Jill to read a few alphabets written on a sheet of paper. After the one minute with Jill I knew she was a shut down learner.

After my first lesson with Jill I have confidently confirmed that I can get Jill to read at grade level within 4 months. I leave you with these questions to ponder and ask yourself as to why kids are not taught in a way that they ought to be taught. Why kids are not taught in a way whereby the illiteracy level will be reduced drastically? 


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Lugman, I don't know that much about dyslexia. From reading some of your theories I think I need training in this. Shalom! Dan

Unknown said...

Some teachers I work with are better at this than others. It seems to vary from school to school how much emphasis is put on understanding the variances within the English language. It is a problem, but seems to vary greatly from school to school.

Luqman Michel said...

Dan, again I am sorry I did not notice your comments earlier.
Too many kids are classified as dyslexics and left to 'rot' in schools, when in actual fact they are just confused kids who shut down from learning to read.

If a group of kindergarten and grade 1 to 3 teachers get together and honestly discuss this matter they will agree that all these smart kids who are good in many matters including Mathematics but are unable to read are kids who have disengaged from learning to read because of confusion.

Think about it Dan,how in the world did those prison kids beat Harvard students in the debate? These are the smart kids who misbehave in schools to 'avoid shame'. The shame of not being able to read like other kids in class.

Wish you well.

Luqman Michel said...

Dan, you said:"It seems to vary from school to school how much emphasis is put on understanding the variances within the English language."

Just to clarify, I am only talking about kindergarten and grade one. Teaching phonics cannot and should not have variances anywhere in the world.

We are not talking about variances that a kid will encounter in higher grades. If a kid does not shut-down because of phonics being taught wrongly he will cope with 'variances within the English language' as he meets them.Even if he does not, he will not leave school as an illiterate.
Happy Days.