The Real Reading Crisis
By Maryann Manning

I am becoming increasingly alarmed at the lack of general knowledge exhibited by many of our students. We laugh when Jay Leno takes to the street, interviewing teenagers and young adults who haven't the slightest idea about world events, leaders or places; some of them don't even know who Winston Churchill was, or when our country gained its independence. Teachers must wonder what these people were doing in class when they were supposed to be learning. Although these popular segments succeed in making me laugh, I don't find it very funny at all when I encounter students in classrooms who know just as little about the world we inhabit as those poor souls on The Tonight Show.

Why am I so concerned?
You may be curious why someone who writes about reading and writing instruction is so concerned about the rest of the school curriculum. The reason is that reading and writing are processes in and of themselves, but when we write, we are expressing our knowledge about content. Therefore, in order to construct knowledge about what they are reading, your students must have prior knowledge. It doesn't matter how fast the student reads or how accurately they use phonics; if they have no prior knowledge about what is being read, they aren't really reading.

More and more teachers are telling me they are receiving memos from administrators about how they should skip science and social studies in favor of spending more time on reading and math. Many of the teachers being told to gloss over those subjects are primary teachers who teach in low-income schools and know that what is learned in the content areas influences reading comprehension. The administrators are feeling the pressure of raising test scores. Because science and social studies aren't always tested, the administrators encourage teachers to spend more time on those areas that are being tested: reading and math.

Increasing prior knowledge
Increasing prior knowledge and the resulting new vocabulary learned in science and social studies are necessary for readers to comprehend texts. Although I'm opposed to what is being done in the area of high-stakes testing, I must say that the students who do well on reading comprehension tests know a lot about the world. They are students who have had a rich curriculum that was more than just memorizing phonics rules and reading with a stopwatch. Therefore, reading comprehension is developed throughout the entire school day – not just during the allotted reading time. Building general information takes place seven days a week, 52 weeks a year and during every waking hour.

As we think about our role in increasing our students' general knowledge, we should recognize that we don't always value some of our practices as they relate to reading and writing. When we are teaching social studies and science, we must remind ourselves that by helping our students develop concepts that increase prior knowledge, we are helping increase their reading and writing skills. Whatever the student learns about general content will help then in reading comprehension. Many strategies can be learned best during the study of content areas.

Maintaining a balance
When we choose nonfiction for our read-alouds, we are building on general knowledge. The discussion that happens during and following the reading helps our students make connections with what they already know about the topic. Maintaining a balance of fiction and nonfiction in the classroom library for self-selection increases a student's opportunity to choose books that increase knowledge. Often our students select books on topics they already know something about, which helps them build upon what they already know.

New vocabulary is added every day during the study of different topics. Teachers who have rich theme immersions where the students read, write and discuss their questions about topics add many new words to their vocabularies. Hearing and using new words in natural ways during inquiry promotes extensive vocabulary growth.

I am passionate about the value of social studies and science in the lives of our students. They must be recognized as a major source of background information that enables our students to comprehend what they read throughout the day. We must resist any movements that de-emphasize the areas of the curriculum in which we can help our students expand their life space and understanding of the world. Jay Leno's segment that highlights our young population's lack of knowledge about the world is amusing. However, in a perfect world where our students are being taught the subjects they need to build knowledge, when Jay walks the street he'd find nothing but well-informed young adults, ready to answer questions on a wide variety of topics.

More Resources
Here are some of my favorite books that help maximize the learning of general information and increase reading and writing skills:

Primary Grades
Exploring Informational Texts edited by Linda Hoyt, Margaret Mooney and Brenda Parks (Heinemann, 2003, ISBN: 0-325-00472-2)

Grades K-5
More Social Studies through Children's Literature by Anthony Fredericks (Teacher Ideas Press, 2000, ISBN: l-563-08761-9)

Grades 2-5
Make it Read: Strategies for Success with Informational Texts by Linda Hoyt (Heinemann, 2002, ISBN: 0-325-00537-0)

Grades 3-8
Nonfiction Matters by Stephanie Harvey (Stenhouse, l998, ISBN:
1-571-10072-5)

Grades 5-8
Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math by Laura Robb (Scholastic, 2003,
ISBN: 0-439-17669-7)

Subjects Matter by Harvey Daniel and Steven Zemelman (Heinemann, 2004, ISBN: 0-325-00595-8)

Maryann Manning is on the faculty of the School of Education, the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

August/September, 2005. Volume 36, No. 1