My Ignorance

2007-12-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

What do I mean by my ignorance? The number one thing I learned during the first six weeks of teaching remedial reading to high school students is that reading problems BEGET behavioral problems, and I am pretty sure they occur in that order. It was not that they were actually horrible in their behavior, but it was the undertows in the classroom that caused me greatest concern.

When I first started teaching high school remedial reading, I realized that my training as a preschool to 8th grade reading teacher would be quite useful! I think my greatest amount of use came from what I learned while teaching remedial reading in the lower grades, because that was where my students' skill levels were developmentally. I was astounded by skill deficit but also relieved when a student demonstrated good fluency and decoding but only poor comprehension.

In returning to my ignorance, my first weeks in high school remedial reading taught me that high school culture had changed quite a lot since I had been there as a student!

What are Applied Adventures?

2007-10-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Applied Adventures of a Secondary Reading Teacher are the adventures that I have had over the past 7 years teaching reading to struggling high school students. The title doesn't really tell you the gist of my adventures, but I will tell you that they are many and not very far between.

I guess you could also call my applied adventures lessons or stories, but the truth of the matter is that they are not simply lessons or stories. My applied adventures are events that I have not only learned from while teaching struggling secondary readers, but they are events that have rocked my world, idiomatically speaking.

These events not only taught me about the impact I have as a teacher, but they also taught me about my ignorance. My ignorance as an educator; the weird thing is that I didn't know that I was so ignorant. Maybe I didn't know I was so ignorant because I had already been teaching 11 years, and I did have a Master's degree and part of my doctorate's degree finished - not too shabby. So, I had an education. Now I say, "Big deal," because the education I have received the past seven years while teaching high school does not even compare to the education I received at the university. No comparison. You might even say, "Big deal." Go ahead.

What I have learned while teaching remedial reading, you can NOT learn in a university course. I will tell you this right now. Not one of my professors could handle what I have learned. I truly do not believe one of them would even admit to the possibility that they would never be able to help me through the trials and tribulations I have endured.

Yes, I have endured much, but I chose to endure it, because at the end of the day, when I was ready to quit, I had to admit to myself that what I had learned was quite engaging! Quite rivoting! And, quite disconcerting; yet, it brought me back the next morning because I knew I had much more to learn.

Where to start is difficult to determine because I have learned so many and such varied things. I assume that the easiest place for me to begin is with my ignorance. Hmmm.... it is hard to admit that. But ignorance is a good place to start.