Taking a Centrist’s Perspective in the Current Reading Wars
Over the past few years, there seems to be a much-heated debate and quite the divide over how we should be teaching reading in the classroom. In fact, the conversations have become so polarizing that one feels as if we must wholeheartedly, “choose a side.” Are you for or against Structured Literacy or Balanced Literacy? Pick one! Advocates from both sides are passionate in their convictions, convincing in their arguments, and strong with their rhetoric-- and admirably so – they all want what they believe is best for children. Both lean on science, research, evidence, and statistics in an effort to prove that their method is best. Both want children to be successful and confident readers. What educator wouldn’t? When you think about it, everyone is working towards the same goal -- to make sure all kids can read. So, then the question really becomes, why aren’t they working together?
Unfortunately, this polarization mirrors the conversations happening across America in all arenas -- even beyond topics in education. Regardless of whether it’s a social issue, political issue, or any issue at all, frankly -- Americans feel the need to constantly choose a side! And we don’t just choose a side or offer our opinions. Instead, we feel the need to join full force and fight for that cause. I’m not sure if the draw to this kind of polarization is motivated by people’s knee-jerk, emotional reactions to soundbites of misleading information, the excitement of being part of a revolution and “changing the world,” or if it’s more primitive than that. Perhaps there is a human desire to always have an enemy -- and a heroic desire to fight that enemy. Perhaps we enjoy ostracizing, criticizing, and rejecting those who are different. Or worse yet, perhaps it fuels a desire for caste and the need to validate a false sense of superiority over others. Regardless, when we do this, we shut out, dismiss, demonize, and villainize anyone with a differing opinion or opposing viewpoint. We cast out anyone with different needs, different beliefs, or from different backgrounds and circumstances.
Read any social media post about a “hot topic” and you will not only see, but also be horrified by, how people with opposing opinions not only dismiss and reject others but they also blame, assault, and harass anyone with a differing viewpoint or from different experiences. Sure, people sometimes have the right to feel angry. I sympathize with the mothers of children with developmental language disorders whose children struggle to communicate, read, and write. My heart aches for parents of students with dyslexia who didn’t receive the proper reading instruction and in turn, mistakenly thought it had to do with their intelligence rather than the lack of awareness for better screening tools and teaching methods schools had at the time. I also feel for the frustrated caregivers whose gifted children feel bored, disinterested in reading, unchallenged, and unmotivated by school experiences. And, as a multilanguage learner myself, whose second language was English, I empathize with immigrant parents whose children feel scared, alienated, and lost in a classroom where they struggle to learn and communicate when the dominant language of instruction differs from their own and their teachers aren’t quite sure what to do with them. We all have the right to feel upset about these struggles because these struggles are real and unfortunately, way too commonplace.
However, pointing fingers and casting blame won’t solve the problem, it only perpetuates it. You see, we all have different needs and we all require different kinds of learning experiences to be successful. We don’t all have the same learning goals, need the same lessons, benefit from the same structures, or learn by the same methods. So, choosing a side and demanding that reading be taught one specific way, will only benefit some and certainly, not all students. If we really want all students to be successful, confident readers, rather than rejecting specific ways to teach reading, we need to come together and share what works best for which groups and we need to integrate those methods together to create a well-rounded reading program that truly meets the needs of all learners. Instead of rejecting one method, we must instead reject a one-size-fits-all method to the teaching of reading.
Regardless of the curriculum, the resources, or the programs that we use, we have an opportunity to transform and revolutionize reading instruction in two tangible ways. First, we must create the time and space for small group reading instruction to occur. Second, we must vary our goals, methods, and structures for how we teach these small groups.
