I’m substitute teaching for a friend for a few days, while she recovers from laryngitis. She teaches 6th grade Social Studies in our little district. They’re starting a unit on the middle ages, and that’s what I’m to teach. That’s going to be great fun; Kathy’s actually asked me to come in in full garb. So I shall be in the height of fashion for 1070 or so.
But since the problem is her voice, she came in to show me what she’s doing, where everything is, and so forth. We’ve all read and heard about how kids coming up can’t read, and what a problem it is. So all right, I understood that, or so I thought. Now I find, as part of the teaching material that comes with the textbooks, CDs that read the book aloud to the kids because they can’t read and absorb it without that help.
Say what? Instead of making sure the kids can read, read it to them? I know the theory, that whatever it takes to get them to learn is good, but when they get out of school no one’s going to read everything to them. That’s fine in 3rd grade, but in 6th? I don’t know if reading is even still being taught in 6th grade. (Was when I was in school, but that was a long time ago) I’m sure it isn’t by 7th grade.
So there’s a CD that reads to them, to spare the teacher doing it over and over.
And I only wish I were kidding.