Comments Concerning Reading And Daniel Buck's Recent Article, by Robert Hankes

 originally published on the WordPress site "Hank Roberts,"  6/14/2024

I agree with some of what Daniel Buck says about reading. You should decide if you do, too.

Daniel Buck is an Editorial and Policy Associate at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. He wrote a book called What Is Wrong with Our Schools: The ideology impoverishing education in America and how we can do better for our students. The Amazon blurb for this book ends with the following summation, “In place of the progressive education that pervades our schools, Buck argues for a traditionalist approach: classic literature, direct instruction, sequenced curricula, clear rules and consequences-as the education we need for the future.”

An online article, “Think Again: Should Elementary Schools Teach Reading Comprehension?” appeared on the Fordham Institute website on May 22^nd 2024. Here is the link: https://fordhaminstitute.org/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs/think-again-should-elementary-schools-teach-reading-comprehension.pdf  You should read his eight-page article. 

In answer to Buck’s question, the author says “Some.” He’s against reading comprehension skills taking over the ELA classroom. Hard to argue with his tentative statement there. He further states that “ . . . Once students have learned to decode . . . understanding depends more on knowledge than skills and that successful knowledge building requires explicit, carefully sequenced and paced, teacher-directed instruction across multiple subjects, including but not limited to social studies, science, and literature.” His research-supported observations show that “ . . . knowledge of the world, not generalizable reading comprehension skills, determines reading ability.”

This is where I begin to part ways with Buck. Don’t students need both skills and background knowledge? Didn’t he just say some skills need to be taught? In the article, he says that too much emphasis on reading skills hurts students if said emphasis crowds out knowledge building. He compares too much skill instruction to overdosing on medicine. Again, hard not to disagree with him if comprehension is what an ELA teacher is after. Main idea and story structure, for example, need to be taught well once or twice, not every year in grades two through eight.

Later on in the article, Buck voices a concern that giving students the right to choose their own books “ . . . in the long run, . . . [it] will limit their exposure to challenging text and necessary content knowledge.” Does he mean the long run in elementary school? It’s not that long. Later on, Buck says that two assumptions “. . . deserve closer examination: first, that motivation drives achievement, and second, that letting students choose books is the most effective way to motivate them.”

No scientific proof was cited for or against motivation drives achievement, but we have to note that Buck says achievement regarding comprehension. Is that why Dr. Smith and I, or anyone giving free choice in reading, teach that way? To increase comprehension? I wanted to instill the love of reading in the students for a lifetime. I don’t know how I’d even begin to test comprehension increases in a class where everyone was reading a different book. And, should I come up with a way to do it, would it be a fair test? Or are there too, too many variables? As to the second assumption, rather than offering scientific proof that reader choice is not the most effective way to motivate students when you’re concerned about comprehension, Buck says, “Perhaps a shared reading of a classic work with an impassioned teacher, engaged classmates, and thoughtfully designed final projects is more motivating than reading a self-selected book in a lonely corner.” It’s been too long since Mr. Buck has been in a regular classroom. Want to motivate students to read? Give them choice and you’ll get most on board. Want to talk to yourself for a few weeks? Teach Invisible Man, Great Expectations, or Wuthering Heights, or any of the books on the AP English Literature “list” that have over one hundred pages.

Been there, done that!