Class Oct. 4th, 2011

I began this blog entry the first time by lambasting Kuma for adopting the arrogant, Chomsky-esque persona of one whose intelligence vastly outweighs all others because he adopted, for the whole chapter, a very technical way of describing the making of information relevant to learners’ self-discovery and application. “Activating a learner’s intuitive heuristics,” seems like a really, really complicated way of saying, “Let’s pique their curiosity.” I decided that I had nowhere to go with that entry, however, and so I left it alone. Though I was frustrated. What should be considered now, though, since I’ve finally, sort of, kind of gotten myself away from what might be diagnosed as an inferiority complex, is the aspect of teaching that really would get might students on a heuristic kick in regards to, well, learning in general.

The connections between the two (or is it four?) readings certainly aren’t lost on me, as we should probably be considering the potential for making reading something that our students love, cherish and become very, very good at. Usually the first to components are enough to birth the third, but this can’t be considered for all cases. Anyway, I really, really liked the idea of Extensive Reading in the classroom because it fosters just this mindset- it gets the students interested in reading, hopefully founds in them a lifelong love of reading which, in turn, promotes critical reading strategies that will help them become more strategic, more academic learners.

That having been said, I don’t think that the ER approach can be used in anything other than a young learners’ environment. I don’t think the approach that involves working through things aloud with others would work as well in an environment where the students are worried about saving face and acting cool. Also, by middle school and high school, I feel that most learners have it cemented in their minds that they either love reading or they don’t, and this approach could fall flat face-first into mud if the students just don’t read- a potential outcome no matter how much extrinsic motivation you throw on the intrinsic.

I think, though, that the intrinsic heuristics for a number of students could be “activated” easily enough with a tiered system of extensive and intensive reading curricula. If the ER approach is used in elementary school to create a community-wide love of learning/reading, as well as forming a foundational vocabulary, then once students have achieved a certain level of achievement within that framework, upper level classes can focus on the more specific and complicated task of intensive reading. I feel like this would increase learning as well as prepare students for more complicated language skills.

Ultimately, though, this process would take a lot of official involvement to become realistic, including a top-down approval that sees an overhaul of antiquated (and, because of this, sometimes viewed as “correct”) educational systems and a boatload of money to produce enough and varied materials. It’s a nice idea, though, and, even if I disagree with Kuma on his delivery of the information and opinions on learner autonomy, the benefits of promoting a more learner-centered way of doing things are only increasing as more studies are done.