This weekend I was reading Chapter 4 of Myers' Changing Our Minds: Negotiating English and Literacy. Although I was reading about the history of recitation literacy from the Civil War until the middle of WWI, I could have sworn I was reading a description of something I observed in 2000 during my student teaching.
Myers describes how signature literacy (if you could sign your name, you could "write") was replaced by memorization and recitation and "extensive reading though 'reading aloud' activities which 'required the teacher to do little more than assign selections to be read and, if he chose, to correct the pronunciation of his students'" (Finkelstein qtd. in Myers, 1996, p. 69). This description of 1880s literacy could have been written about scripted, direct instruction which is still being marketed today. The only difference is 19th century teachers had some autonomy in choosing their text selections. Thanks to thoughtful curriculum designers and textbook companies, that's already been decided for teachers lucky enough to teach in the districts which adopt these programs (can you sense my seething resentment?). All teachers need to do is sit back, read the script, and call on _________ to read the next passage aloud!
The Assocciation for Direct Instruction offers 160 lessons in Reading Mastery I. There are six levels total. You can read about lesson activities here.
Or you can watch Language for Learning, Lesson 44, Exercise 4. If you look closely, you can see the tape lines on the floor keeping the chairs in perfectly even rows. See how far we've come? The kids of the 19th century had to stand for their lessons, but 21st century learners can sit while they "toe the line" (Myers, 1996, p. 64).
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Katie, I really liked the reading about the history of "toe the line" also. However, what really prompted my thinking from your paragraphs was the memorization and recitation period that Myers writes about. I recall reading in Bazerman that Plato had a "distaste" for writing. I think it was him, and not one of his students, that thought writing might serve as a memory enhancer and thus minimize the philosophy of dialogue. The world was not so complicated then as it is now in the Age of Information. We have so much access to so much information today that one would have to have a photographic memory to remember everything that passes in front of one's eyes. I can't imagine having to hold a dialogue on everything that I've had to read last semester and this without first checking some written text. I need to take copious notes, not only on the facts, but also about my thoughts on readings. Additionally, I always need to write out lists for shopping excursions and even then, I can forget something if I don't read the list closely.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more, Kathy, about how many classrooms are still stuck in a very old paradigm. It is truly shocking, I think, how many lessons I see could have easily been taught in the 18th century. And what's amazing is that sometimes it's the newest teachers who teach in these very old ways--perhaps out of the need for security?
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