Debate
Should All Teachers Be Trained in the Teaching of Reading?

YES
Becky Pringle teaches eighth grade physical science at Susquehanna Township Middle School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She's been teaching 23 years and currently chairs the NEA Task Force on Reading, which is developing a plan of action to guide the Association's reading initiative.

In the New Standards Primary Literacy Committee's publication, Reading & Writing Grade by Grade, the editors assert, "There is no educational matter as urgent as seeing to it that every American child becomes a competent reader and writer.'' I agree.

As an eighth grade physical science teacher, I know all too well the demands on my time.

I have a responsibility to teach science and to maximize every precious teaching moment toward that goal.

Yet teaching is more than explaining facts. The educational process itself is critical to a child's maturation. The absence of strong reading skills can stunt a child's entire developmental growth.

Teachers like me are expected to raise standards and test scores. Our response, as secondary teachers in content areas like science and math, has been to learn advanced teaching techniques and to expose our students to new technologies.

Yet, if our students lack this most vital learning tool--reading--our time is wasted.

Reading is a prerequisite to advanced thinking. My science students need to be able to do far more than merely recite the words on the pages of their textbooks. They need to be accomplished readers who understand philosophies, theories, and thought processes. They need to make predictions, interpret results, and draw conclusions.

All of these higher order thinking skills grow from reading proficiency. Current research has confirmed that secondary students still have reading skills to master, especially in the area of comprehension. Even average and superior readers need to perfect their reading abilities.

Our challenge is to integrate the essential skill that is reading into our curriculum, so we can improve achievement both in reading and the content areas.

Certainly, more can be done in pre-service training to prepare secondary teachers to provide reading instruction and help students become life-long, independent readers.

It's equally important to provide practicing teachers with professional development opportunities that help them see the importance of teaching reading, opportunities that provide them with instructional strategies that can help students become critical thinkers.

I realize that many NEA Today readers believe reading instruction is the sole responsibility of elementary teachers and reading specialists. Until five months ago, so did I.

In fact, had this debate question been posed to me at the start of this school year, I probably would have insisted on writing the opposing point of view. I would have said we secondary teachers are already trying to accomplish too much with limited resources and time.

But, over the past five months, I've had the great fortune to work with an extraordinary group of teachers, the members of NEA's Reading Task Force. These reading experts have forever changed my view of the role all teachers must play to ensure every student becomes a proficient reader.

Voting Results | Forum

NO
Margaret Patterson (her pen name is Terry Ward Tucker) holds a Ph.D. in reading education from the University of South Carolina, where she is writer in residence at the College of Education. She currently teaches general music at the Barr Street Middle School in Lancaster, South Carolina.

The situation: Far away, there is a land populated by smart little creatures called zippits. It is a delightful land because zippits, who have evolved to the point that they need no mouths, talk to each other with their dancing feet. Everyone in the zippit community dances for joy when a little zippit learns a new tap dancing step.

Tapping is crucial in zippit land, for if you want to eat, you do not say, "I am hungry." You do a shuffle-ball-change and click your heels together. Then someone hands you an emu burger to put into your ear. (Remember, zippits have no mouths.)

The conflict: Everything was fine in zippit land until, one day, a zippit tap teacher was going over the choreography for the zippit version of "Dancin' in the Streets," and she spied a tiny zippit in the back who could not tap a word.

The good teacher ran down the hall and danced before the principal. "Something has to be done," she tapped, "or our zippit students will become known far and wide as clumsy, a fate worse than bunions in zippit land."

The principal two-stepped: "I have a great idea. We will give extra tap lessons to all our young zippits, even the ones who are already great tappers. We will make them practice until they blister their toes. And we will make all zippit teachers take extra training in teaching tap."

"But, sir," the teacher grape-vined, "why train all teachers in the teaching of tap, and why force all students to practice tap until they get blisters on their toes? Do you think this will help all students achieve at higher levels in physical education classes, or advanced math classes, or band classes? And is there a zippit pot of gold that will pay for this training for all teachers?

"Why train the teachers who are already exhausting themselves just trying to teach their assigned subjects?

"Or the ones who are wondering if they should look for new jobs if add-ons to teaching keep multiplying exponentially?

"Or the ones from professions other than education who are willing to teach part-time in their areas of expertise to help out as the teacher shortage rages?

"Or the ones who want to decide for themselves what expertise they would like to develop instead of being forced to wear one-size-fits-all tap shoes?"

The resolution: "How dare you question my great idea?" stomped the principal.

"Your idea is unsound, sir," the teacher heel-and-toed. "Yes, parents of young zippits need to be trained in the teaching of tap, and, yes, early childhood and elementary teachers need to become experts, as should principals and tap specialists for all grade levels, as long as there are zippits who need extra help.

"But anyone who says all teachers should be trained, cult-like, in the teaching of tap when it is not practical to do so, given money and time constraints, needs to be descended upon by the zippit Rockettes and high-kicked to death. In other words--ZIPPIT!"

The end.

By the way, this goes for reading, too.