Right to read - Movie Review – Part 1

 

I watched the movie Right to Read and think it is propaganda to brainwash the Americans to get rid of Lucy Calkins's books and discount Balanced Literature.

Here are some excerpts from the movie and my questions and comments.

At minute 14.20: Kareem - The question is what becomes of those kids who don’t have a foundation in reading? The Lord works in mysterious ways. Kids overcome all kinds of challenges.

 

Why don’t the kids have a foundation in reading in a country that has progressed in technology since putting a man on the moon?

It would appear that there is a concerted effort by the powers that be to keep as many as possible illiterate.

Kids overcome all kinds of challenges? The main challenge is overcoming their confusion and somehow figuring out how to read by themselves. Most of those who don't figure out how to read are classified as dyslexic.  

 

There are publishing companies that sell popular curriculum that do not teach our children to read, making millions of dollars.

 

Those popular curricula have been around for more than 40 years. Are these SoR proponents saying that they were too stupid to have not realised that the popular curricula have not worked during the last more than 40 years?

How did several million people in the US become excellent readers by following those curricula?

Here is something relevant I read in 2020 October.

Data from RAND’s American Educator Panels show that nearly one in five (18 percent) of American elementary school teachers report using the “Units of Study” curriculum;

The following is my Tweet in response to the article above that was tweeted by Emily Hanford of APM.

Luqman Michel @luqmanmichel Oct 23 Replying to @ehanford and @TheAaveMaria

'nearly one in five (18 percent) of American elementary school teachers report using the “Units of Study” curriculum'. If only 18% use these books, how do we explain the bad reading results of the rest of the kids?

The Right to Read movie says:

NAEP (Nations report card) states that from 1992 to 2022 the 4^th - grade level is 66% below proficiency. Source: National assessment of educational process.

The above is the National Report. If 18% of American Elementary schools use the ‘Units of Study’ curricula, then how do the SoR folks explain the 4^th- grade level of 66% below proficiency level for the whole country? 

Many other countries that don't use the 'Units of Study' also have very low proficiency levels. How do Kareem and Emily or any of the other SoR folks explain this?

At minute 7.22 Kareem says:

The root of the problem is that children are being taught in a way that is not working. Kids of all races are struggling to read.

I have said the same thing in my blog since I started it in 2010. I observed my students as I taught them and then interviewed them and have obtained their answers from them. All of them were unable to read when they came to me for a one-on-one tuition. They told me that they had been unable to read because of confusion. I have written the reasons for their confusion in my blog.LINK

 

What does Kareem J. Weaver @KJWinEducation mean by saying that kids are taught in a way that is not working? 

Ask yourself why about 20% of kids in a class taught by the same teacher are unable to read while the other 80% are able to read? Kareem, do you have an answer to this question?

The percentage will be higher than 20% if a majority do not somehow figure out how to read either by themselves or through private tuition.

The question I have for all educators to think about is: How do the majority of kids figure out how to read be it in a class teaching phonics or balanced literature.