Weekly Newsletter Post 4

 This week’s information is coming from our book study on Why Culture Counts for Differentiating Content and Product.

• 80% of students who are recommended for special education placement are below grade level in reading.
• 63% of African American fourth grade students are below grade level in reading.
• Seventy-four million Americans read below the eighth grade level.
• 85% of juveniles coming from the courts are functionally illiterate.

~Jawanza Kunjufu

Statistics not provided in the book:

(The link with additional information is attached)

Did you know that several states project their inmate population and build prisons as a result of third grade literacy scores. (http://www.invisiblechildren.org/tag/failed-third-grade-reading-scores/)

Did you know that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave high school WITHOUT a diploma. The combined effect of poverty increases that statistic to eight times more likely. (http://www.aecf.org/Newsroom/NewsReleases/HTML/2011Releases/DoubleJeopardy.aspx)

What does your room look like?

Eric Jensen explains that between 85%-90% of all students in any given classroom are visual learners.  If your primary method of teaching is to lecture, to what percent of the class are you teaching?

What does my room sound like?

Are students expected to sit quietly and work or listen to you?  Do you provide ample opportunities for them to talk, question and discuss?

How much time do you devote to whole group lecture? How much of the time are the students truly engaged?

In your classroom, do students have opportunities to learn from themselves, to explore, to fail, and then try another approach.  Students need fail-safe environments to be successful.

Rigor: Every child deserves a rigorous, quality education. No one deserves a watered down curriculum.  To give students a mediocre education by having low expectations, is to assure them a life of low-paying jobs. 

            The goal to success is learning how to scaffold the curriculum. The idea of scaffolding is to envision a skyscraper going up. Can you walk to the upper floors of the building before the structure is in place? No! Scaffolding allows workers the support they need to move to higher levels of the building. The goal is still to get to the top and the scaffold allows them a platform of support in getting to their ultimate goal. The scaffolding is slowly removed once the foundation is set and is no longer needed. 

By providing scaffolding, we are providing students the support they need to venture to higher learning.