{"id":14296,"date":"2015-04-16T09:34:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=14296"},"modified":"2015-04-16T09:34:30","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T15:34:30","slug":"learning-to-read-comes-easy-to-some-but-not-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=14296","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Read Comes Easy To Some, But Not Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0A Boomer\u2019s Journal<\/span><\/h4>\n

Since retiring from teaching in 2010, I\u2019ve supplemented the old bank account with substituting. So you could say I\u2019ve spent over two-thirds of my life in schools, \u00a0 \u00a0 counting the time I was in my own pursuit of knowledge as well as helping others find their own way. But no matter how long it\u2019s been, I\u2019m still left wondering\u00a0about how kids learn.<\/p>\n

Take reading, for example. What a complex brain function!<\/p>\n

Symbols and sounds leading to meaning, rules and exceptions to the rules\u2014it\u2019s a miracle how anyone can figure this all out, and yet so many do. But yet again, so many do not as well. I see a lot of kids who struggle with acquiring this skill in special education, but others who also have problems aren\u2019t diagnosed with learning disabilities.<\/p>\n

There have always been kids for whom school is painful. In the olden days, we \u201ckept kids back, retained them, had them repeat.\u201d It was all a euphemism for flunking.<\/p>\n

There were also a few for whom school was simple and painless. Some of them were \u201caccelerated, skipped a grade.\u201d For those who had trouble, there was no such thing as remedial education. No \u201clearning disabilities\u201d programs. They just had a hard time, and that was that. A kid was just slow, you know. It was what it was. I often wonder what became of some of the kids who fit this category.<\/p>\n

I was kind of in the middle, maybe\u00a0sometimes above average, except when it came to arithmetic, and later algebra and trigonometry. Then I knew what it was to be in a foreign land, where struggles abounded.<\/p>\n

I had a lot of energy when I was a budding scholar. My mom and dad would tell the story of my second-grade parent-teacher conference, when the teacher asked what I usually ate for breakfast. My mom told her, \u201cCereal, eggs\u2026 the usual. And a multivitamin.\u201d \u201c You give him vitamins?\u201d said the teacher, aghast. I guess I had a hard time sitting still. Today, I might have fallen under the category of hyperactive. Luckily, back then I was just called \u201cbusy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t remember how I learned to\u00a0read. I mean, I\u2019m sure it was according to some plan, some text, with worksheets, and drills, and weekly spelling tests, and phonics exercises. But how it was all put into my noggin, I don\u2019t really recall. It must have worked out okay, for today, reading is one of my favorite pastimes. So maybe my second grade teacher wasn\u2019t so bad after all.<\/p>\n

I see kids who always have a book in their hands, and others who just don\u2019t get excited about it, even though they\u2019re good students. Not sure what that means, except that I encourage reading whenever I can to the kids I see in classrooms as well as to my grandkids, all of whom, thank God, have picked up the skill with little or no difficulty.<\/p>\n

Our society has come to put great value on literacy. The development of a free public education system is one of the reasons America has risen to world prominence. And we are doing an ever-increasingly better job of reaching those for whom the learning process is painful. No price can be put on teaching a kid to read.<\/p>\n

In about a month, this school year will end. Those who love to read will continue to do so over the summer. Those who don\u2019t, probably won\u2019t. I plan to encourage my growing clan to be in the former group, as will their parents. As English writer Joseph Addison said, \u201cReading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.\u201d And Mark Twain noted that \u201cA person who won\u2019t read has no advantage over one who can\u2019t read.\u201d<\/p>\n

But my favorite is this quote from the good Dr. Seuss: \u201cThe more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way, thanks for reading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0A Boomer\u2019s Journal Since retiring from teaching in 2010, I\u2019ve supplemented the old bank account with substituting. So you could say I\u2019ve spent over two-thirds of my life in schools, \u00a0 \u00a0 counting the time I was in my own pursuit of knowledge as well as helping others find their own way. 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