Little Baby CeeCee and the literacy crisis in America
CeeCee is a favorite with my students and they always ask to see her at some point during our lessons. I'm not sure why they don't ask to see Zenji, maybe they can't remember her name.
This past week has been progress monitoring week and most of the students did very well. I do have several who are struggling and I have to shoulder the blame. I just can't seem to connect with these kids. I know they are trying their best but they struggle. With the older students, they haven't been taught the basics of reading so I have to start with simple letter sounds and blending consonant vowel consonant words (cvc). It is a step backwards and veers off course from our lessons but they need to learn. And for some older students, it can be embarrassing because they are struggling to read simple sentences. I try to reassure them and let them know it isn't their fault but when they are paired with other students who can read they hesitate to even try.
Having older students who are struggling to read is one of the reason I become angry when I hear people claim there is no literacy crisis in America. Literary rates are declining and there are several theories as to why. Socioeconomic issues, teacher shortages, education funding cuts have all been listed as factors. Personally I think that kids just aren't encourage to read outside of school hours. Parents who have difficulty reading themselves are less likely to encourage their children to read and this is part of the continuing decline in literacy in America. In addition, phones and video games have replaced books and those are distractions I didn't have growing up. We had books in our house and we grew up reading with my favorite childhood book being 101 Dalmatians. It is still my favorite.
Take care and remember to read,
Teresa, Zenji and CeeCee
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