Close reading is close to a con...

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debbie
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Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:28 pm
Location: UK

Close reading is close to a con...

Post by debbie »

http://educationviews.org/close-reading ... -to-a-con/

I found this rather a refreshing article if I'm honest!
A serious problem at this point is that more than half our fourth graders are not proficient readers. Same with our eighth-graders. You cannot expect these children to do “close reading” because they cannot, in any real sense of the word, do “reading.”

Let’s pause for a moment and consider what should be going on. Reading is like learning to ride a bike. You have to be on the bike for many hours, riding over streets, grass, and curbs, until you are comfortable and riding for pleasure.

Children in elementary and middle school need quantity, not quality. Schools should use every trick to seduce children into reading lots of books. Such books do not need depth. It’s enough that they have a good story or engaging information, and that children say, “That was fun. I want to read another one.”
I do think we are in danger of analysing authorial intent to death with our approach to young children and literature.

I confess to hating the deep analysis of text when I had 'literature' lessons at secondary school - and yet now I would appreciate more knowledgeable people than me discussing their understanding of meaningful literature.

But then, I'm... no, I won't bang on about my age! Suffice it to say you're never too old to learn! :wink:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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