VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 24

8 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD), COLLEGE OF EDUCATION,

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN + WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

 

Encouraging Students to Read

Having taught in college-prep, community college,
university, and private-college settings, I have come to a
startling conclusion: Students do not read. I have
taught a wide range of courses, from basic composition
to conversational Norwegian, from vocational commu-
nications to advanced Spanish grammar.

Some of the experiences that led to my conclusion
were: Students signed up for my junior-level survey
course on Ibsen but did not know who he was; students
in my fourth-semester Spanish grammar course had
trouble with the readings about South America, because
they did not know anything at all about the geography
or economics of the continent; students in my English II
research course tried to write term papers on novels
they had never read.

These scenarios are familiar to all college instructors.
My proposal is that we grab the students the moment
they approach the front doors of the college. It is at that
point we can start a development process.

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The following recommendations are offered as steps
in addressing the literacy crisis:

1. Get involved. Participate as much as possible ina
progressive placement process. Encourage the
registration process to use as many assessment
instruments as possible. Serve on committees to
read writing placement samples. Keep a tally of
how many “undecided” freshman students have or
have not taken advanced reading, composition, and
literature courses in high school. Make a personal
note of how many technical-program students have
extensive liberal arts backgrounds. And most
important, become involved with all the “border-
line student” cases—those who could benefit from
developmental math, reading, and writing courses
but who try to opt for regular courses instead. Help
those students get the content and study-skills
assistance they need now to avoid failure and
frustration later on.

2. Become informed. Find out what is taught in the
developmental courses. Serve on a board, visit

classes, ask about the reading assignments. Read-
ings should lead them from the general to the
specific; writing projects should firm up the basics
and prepare them for the wide range of assign-
ments to come in English I and other courses.

. Investigate. Explore what students read—and then

write about—in their freshman English courses.
How do the texts relate to your field of teaching?
What kinds of articles are required in your Intro to
Business course? Will students be able to transfer
the skills needed to critique poetry to the skills
needed to abstract an article in Business Week for
your class?

. Become a reading advocate. Share with students

the news you have come across in your field. Help
them see how all things are related by bringing
articles from other fields to class. Give the students
points for summarizing articles or pamphlets ona
problem or issue related to your course. Make time
to reward their reading projects aloud and in
written form.

. Encourage development and diversity in students’

schedules. We always complain that students
cannot read maps and cannot locate the Pacific or
Atlantic Ocean. We must urge students to get a
basic sense of geography. If not, all our attempts at
teaching multiculturalism and international issues
makes no sense to them.

Encourage credits for reading. Push your adminis-
tration to offer more one-credit elective courses on
current events, on novels, on the history of Ger-
many. Students enjoy such courses and, if offered
quality materials, will be reinforced in their at-
tempts to “learn more about the world.”

. Network with other teachers. Take a psychology

instructor to lunch and discuss learning disabilities.
Look for parallels in subject matter. Students often
complain that their first few years of coursework
have no connection. Encourage collaboration
between colleagues. Consider how closely related
basic reading, writing, speech, and psychology
courses are in their overall attempt at describing
human interaction and communication.

 

 

me ) THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
’ Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educational Administration

College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712