The two biggest impediments to developing expert readers today are:

1. Small academic vocabularies (Word Power) that make comprehension & keeping the backstory alive both difficult and tedious. What killed vocabulary growth? The death of reading as a voluntary pastime (in favor of gaming, streaming, social media— Gioia’s “dopamine cartel,” given more and more access to our children over the last 40 years); fewer dinner conversations w/parents & grandparents; < 5 min/day of one-on-one conversation w/ teachers in school. Kids who don’t like reading never develop habits….

2. No Active Reading habits (Reading Power). Low-vocab readers have often never experienced the joy of reading or that “lost in a book” feeling that makes reading a good story so magical. Because they don’t read, they never develop the reading habits-of-mind of the future Expert Reader: reading for meaning, rereading when necessary, stopping to wrestle with new words, phrases & idioms; confidence that you can understand any text (eventually), stamina to work through a long text.

What are the two biggest complaints from classroom reading teachers — including history, science, English, etc. teachers, from lower elementary to college LINK— are:

1. So few students actually complete even short reading assignments that many have given up assigning any reading at all. In my fairly extensive classroom visits most— not many, most— of today’s students actively dislike to read.

   Which makes sense after what we saw above: Children who don’t read, who won’t read, find it very difficult to read. It’s a mental muscle that gets strong through practice, and atrophies when unused; and exercising it is painful when you’re “out of shape.” Even students who like reading face huge competition for their attention and read less than earlier generations and so have less chance of ever becoming Expert Readers.

2. If they do persevere and try to make reading (assigned as homework, or done in class in a seminar or reading circle) part of the curriculum, their student’s reading comprehension ability varies so greatly that they need two or three or more different levels of reading assignment for kids to succeed. That leaves them to the eternal question: Do you try to bring every student up to grade level? (completing the readings from their grade-level standards) or Do you give every student reading assignments at their level? (leaving many to fall farther and farther behind on the content).

   Given the absence of Assessment & Guided Practice Tools in today’s reading teachers classrooms, it’s no wonder many give up teaching the content standards for most of their students. And before we condemn them, let’s walk a mile in their shoes—the 8th grade history standards for California call for the teaching of Lincoln’s A House Divided speech, from 1858. It is very long, and very difficult, and contains many antique idioms and obscure historical references (Whither are we going? The Missouri Compromise. The Nebraska law) Is there any way a teacher could expect all of their student to not only finish, but comprehend the gist of that 8th grade history assignment—in order to participate in seminars, or 21st century research & writing projects? No #NoFalseEdChoices

Future Posts will break down the 3 keys to building Expert Readers:

1. Build Word Power (using Vocabulary-Reading Threshold Assessment to put every student in their reading Learning Zone;

2. Build Reading Power (using guided, active reading practice at the right level of difficulty);

3. Build Expert Readers with confidence, stamina, & enjoyment to read independently (give students grade-level reading assignments using a Word Power First approach and that levels the playing field and makes sure every student succeeds every time they read) both online and off (“hands-on”).

Sound impossible? With current approaches and tools, it is #WhyEdSoftwareSucks

Current & Upcoming Joy of Teaching: Reading Posts & Video Clips (behind Paywall):

As I publish each of these I will make the titles a live link…

Early Reading Posts: How to Decode or “Sound-out” Letters & Words:

• The (First) California Early Reading Crisis: How Could So Many Teachers Be So Wrong? The mid 90s phonics underground • A savior from Sacramento

• The New California Reading Crisis: Here we go again.
  #ForgettingWhatYourDoing, #ScienceOfReading, #FalseEdChoices,

• Phonics Pioneers: Montessori, Writing to Read, & the Explosion into Reading

  • See video clip, below: Explosion into Reading: a 4 year old suddenly learns to read while his classmate looks on in wonder

• The Importance of Oral Vocabulary for Reading Beyond 2nd Grade: Why we need a new way to teach reading comprehension.

  • See video clip, below: School Gets Harder (After 2nd Grade): a boy w/ an old soul talks about his difficulties with (though he doesn’t yet realize) vocabulary

• Using the Vocabulary-Reading Threshold to put Every Student in their Reading Learning Zone: How Can Teachers Assess and Customize Reading Paths in a Class with Many Different Reading Levels… in the classroom.

Reading Comprehension Posts: The goal of reading education is comprehension.
#BeyondPhonics, #ExpertReaders, #LifelongLearners, #21stCenturyLearning

• What is an Expert Reader? Active Reader, Deep Reader, Syn-topical Reader, Level 5 Reader, Lifelong Learner, 21st Century Researcher

• Word Power = Reading Power = Learning Power: Academic vocabulary + Active Reading Habits of Mind + Confidence & Joy of Reading

• Vocabulary is the Missing Link (“Vocabulary is functionally equivalent to reading comprehension” – Jean Chall, Harvard), by Andrew Biemiller

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Activated Readers Seminars: The Lost Arts of active Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing, Thinking!

Joy of Teaching: Reading • Video Clips

• Video 1: The Explosion Into Reading: a 4-year-old suddenly learns to read while a classmate looks on in wonder.

• Video 2: School Gets Harder (After 2nd Grade): a boy w/ an old soul talks about his difficulties with (though he doesn’t yet realize it) vocabulary & reading comprehension.

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