Jack and Annie vs. SpongeBob and Little Bunny Foo Foo
May 9, 2007 12:33 PM
I've been reading the Magic Treehouse books with my 4-year-old son. For the uninitiated, the books feature Jack and Annie who, travel through time, witnessing historical events and meeting important historical figures. Through these books, he now knows a little about the Titanic, Clara Barton and ancient Rome.
My first impulse as a parent was to avoid anything that smacks of forcing academic content on kids who are too young. I'd hate to squash his love of reading by forcing him to read books that I choose rather than the ones he chooses. But he loves these Magic Treehouse books.
All this is my roundabout way of getting to E.D. Hirsch Jr.'s Core Knowledge curriculum. The Magic Treehouse books helped break down a doubt I had about Core Knowledge, expressed in the lead of this American Educator article: "Can all this content really be taught to kids? Would it be a bore for them, drudgery for teachers?" (And what about parents?)
Left to his own devices, my son might just as easily have fallen in love with Little Bunny Foo Foo* and The Adventures of SpongeBob (thanks, Uncle Mike, you corrupter of young minds, for that gift) rather than these Magic Treehouse books. But he isn't left to his own devices.
I'm not saying they're going to turn him into a genius, but something may stick and he loves reading them. And I'm not saying Core Knowledge is the answer. Maybe there's a better content-rich curriculum out there.
But being a parent (or a teacher) means making choices. I can teach my to enjoy reading and instill in him the love of learning, or I can teach him to enjoy reading and instill in him the love of cartoon characters. The choice is easy. Read the good books and hide SpongeBob at the back of the bookcase.
*Actually, he has an irrational fear of Little Bunny Foo Foo, so that one, fortunately, isn't in the mix.
Comments
In my experience the biggest obstacle to a content-rich curriculum is the phonics/decoding-is-all-that-matters mania that's overtaken us during the last few years. Maybe that's not true in other places, but it certainly is where I am.
Posted by: August | May 9, 2007 02:23 PM
I agree with John. Historical novels are a good way to present content to young readers (or in the case of a four old, listeners), just as the Magic School Bus books help to present science content. Boys in particular gravitate to books with contents even from an early age.
What we need is the freedom to present a truly balanced literacy program, where students are given the support they need to master the decoding skills so they can independently read the content we want them to learn. No one reads to learn when reading is a chore.
Since the balancing point between phonics and decoding mastery and implicit skills instruction through a whole language approach is different for each student, we have to be empowered, as classroom teachers, to provide each student with the proper mix of basic skills and content reading based on her/his needs. This is what is really meant by data driven/differentiated instruction; real individualization not a cookie cutter, teacher-proof, one size fits all, lock step curriculum.
Posted by: Marc Korashan | May 14, 2007 08:45 AM