A Strange Fact About Not Learning to Read

1. What is the strange fact about not learning to read? 

Poor and minority children have more difficulty learning to read than more privileged children.  

2. Why is this fact so strange?

Because ALL children seem to have little or NO difficulty learning to play video games, so why should reading be any different?! Socioeconomic status shouldn't matter

3. What is it about school that manages to transform children who at good at learning things like Pokeman into children who are not good a learning?

The difference is the instructed process versus it being embedded into ones culture. It's a proven fact that humans don't learn as well through direct instruction, rather, one must have a culture built around it so he/she has a saturated environment  

4. What is the differences between a traditionalists approach to learning to read and more progressive educators?

Traditionalists believe learning to read is an instructed process; progressive educators, on the other hand, feel that it's more natural and progresses as one grows and learns more. 

5. Is learning to read a natural process like learning to speak a language?

No. Learning to walk and talk is a natural process that is in our genetics and has been for hundreds of years, Learning to read, however, is a learned skill such as tying your shoes- someone must teach you and you must practice.

6. What is the differences between natural, instructed and cultural processes and which process should reading be classified under?

Natural processes are biological processes in which we, as humans, do instinctively. Instructed processes are where an expert is scaffolding the learner and teaching him/her. Cultural processes are those things we learn because of the culture we live in such as eating with chop sticks. Reading should be classified as a cultural process, as everyone should be reading, however, it is an instructed process because not everyone has the cultural means to a literary home life.

7. How do humans learn best? Through instructional processes or through cultural processes? How is reading taught in school?

Humans learn best through cultural processes, however, reading is taught by an instructional process in schools

8. According to the author, what is the reason for the "fourth grade slump."

The fourth grade slump is the exchange between learning to read and reading to learn. And many students cannot retain the complex language of textbooks

9. What is a better predictor of reading success than phonemic awareness?

How well a student does with language prior to school

10. What is the difference between "vernacular" and "specialist" varieties of language? Give an example of two sentences, one written in the vernacular and one written in a "a specialized variety",  about a topic in your content area.

Vernacular language is how people speak to one another on a daily basis. Specialist language is a more academic way of speaking, more proper. Vernacular sentence: That kid just doesn't read very well.     Specialized sentence: Due to her learning difference, that student isn't at the proper reading level for a child of her age. 

11. What is "early language ability" and how is it developed?

Early language ability is those who bring some prototype of academic language (some of that specialist language) with them to school upon reaching pre-k or kindergarten. It is developed by having a text-rich environment at home and parents and family members that use academic rich type conversations with the student.

12. According to the author why and how does the traditionalist approach to teaching children to read fail?

Because hearing and using the academic (or specialist) language isn't as comfortable for many children to use because they don't hear it at home. If they were taught using more of a vernacular language, it would help learning. 

13. Are parents of poor children to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before coming to school?

I will get a hard time for this, but yes! Without the support of parents (or guardians) and without their knowledge, they can't give their child the amount of support needed to succeed in school. Although it is the child alone that goes to school, does the work and is responsible for his or her own success it's up to the parents and family members to encourage it and typically, people of lower socioeconomic status are less educated. 

14. Did you struggle with reading this text? Why? Are you a poor reader or are you unfamiliar with this variety of specialized language?

Not really. I am a pretty crummy reader in general as my comprehension level and attention levels are low, but I did ok. This specialized language isn't too difficult to decipher. 

Situated Language and Learning: Intro

The main challenge in this book seems to be based upon the way people talk. It isn't enough to speak and write in the same language; furthermore, the problem at hand is getting students to comprehend educational and/or more advanced jargon than everyday language. These different ways of talking are what the author refers to as "ways with words". The way I think of it is like a discourse community; each group of people have their own "ways with words" that they understand, but outsiders might not get. I think the main argument of this book is going to be the battle between these "ways with words". You know, do we, as teachers, have to change the sound of education to reach students for their understanding? Or is there a way to continue as educators have for many years and just present the information in this formal language expecting the students to plow through the information the best they can?

As previously mentioned, there are "ways with words" that different discourse communities use. The author refers to video games a good bit, so I would like to use the same subject for an example. I play the online computer game World of Warcraft. There is a particular lingo used within the game and the players that most people don't understand. Gamers have "ways with words" that only they understand. Incredibly, these words are different among each game, too. If you do not play World of Warcraft, you can easily feel alienated from me because you have no idea when I say "I pwned those noobs in PvP. The Horde was in Stormwind and I flagged myself and started taking them down. Octane kept dying, so I had to use a battle rez... it's a good thing I'm healz or he would have died even more. Now, I"m OMW to the FP so we can start dailys". For those that don't play World of Warcraft, I think they now feel that black hole that the author spoke of. The example I just used (which I have said pretty close to those exact words in game before) is a specialized language. When I first started playing WoW, I had no clue what pwn or omw, or fp meant. After playing for about four years, I now know that pwn is "own", omw is "on my way", and fp is "flight point". The only way you can learn this specialized way with words is to be around it and use it.

Likewise, if you want to be successful in the 21st century, you have to learn to adapt. If there is an interest you have, or a goal you want to achieve, you have to learn to understand and be able to shape-shift into whatever you need to be, THEN you can become successful. I disagree with the author when he says that we need to be "shape-shifting portfolio people" (Gee, 2004). I think that's what schools want you to be! Society tends to look down on those people who only look good on paper. Yes, I agree that people must learn to, in his words, "shape-shift" because it's all about adaptation to your surroundings... survival of the fittest, if you will. On the other hand, one must represent him/herself with dignity and a certain level of professionalism if he/she wants to make it in this world, so I would have to say that I disagree with Gee when he says that academic language is not sufficient for success in modern society. You have to be both! You must present yourself as an educated person, and therefore, use the academic language to converse with others so they know you are an educated person who deserves respect. Also, you have to be able to go with the flow and read the situation. You can't be formal ALL the time, but you can't be too laid back where you seem lazy or uncaring, either; find that happy medium.

To conclude, I'd like to state that I am looking forward to reading this book. The first paragraph of the Introduction got my attention because I love learning about language and it was interesting to me- confusing, but interesting. Gee said he can switch up his "ways with words" so you don't feel like you're in a black hole. I like the way he writes and I think it will be ok to read.


Gee, J.  (2004).  Situated Language of Learning:  A critique of traditional schooling.  New York:  Routledge.

Student Observation and Interview

I decided to interview two students in my class: one was a struggling student and the other was high performing. I spoke with my host teacher to figure out which students would be most willing to talk to me and answer my questions. We agreed that one boy and one girl would be good.

The first student I talked to was a struggling student. Generally speaking, he has a few behavior issues in class as he tends to pick on other kids and annoy them which gets both parties in trouble for disrupting class. He sometimes has difficulty sitting still, but almost comes off as lazy. Here are his replies to the questions I asked him in an interview.  

Q. Do you enjoy school?
S. yes

Q. What kind of student are you?
S. good

Q. What do you do for fun outside of school?
S. play with friends

Q. How would your classmates describe you?
S. Good. Everybody describes everybody as good.

Q. Who are you friends with and what do you do with your friends?
S. Mason, Nick K., Nick H., Tanner, Jacob, Kassalyn.... we run around, talk, play on swings...

Q. Tell me a good memory you have about school.
S. work

Q. Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
S. People picking on me.... when people argue with me

Q. Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you have had in the past.
S. She helps you and tells you some of the answers. 
Q. Who was your favorite teacher?
S. Mrs. Butler... she was nice and she helped you. She lets you use her stuff.

Q. What is something you wish your teacher knew about you?
S. (Has no answer for this question. He does not understand the question and shrugs his shoulders)

Getting answers out of this student proved quite difficult at times. He gave short answers and acted as though he did not understand some of these questions. When I observe this student in class and with his peers, he is playful and likes to pick; however, he is quiet and often has difficulty communicating.


The next student is higher functioning. She is pretty quiet and frequently has the right answers and incredible penmanship! Here are her answers to the interview questions:

Q. Do you enjoy school?
S. yes

Q. What kind of student are you?
S. *giggles* quiet

Q. What do you do for fun outside of school?
S. Play with Katie (classmate)

Q. How would your classmates describe you?
S. friendly

Q. Tell me a good memory you have about school.
S. *thinks... giggles* Mrs. Bennett is here!

Q. Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
S. Doing work.

Q. Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
S. Mrs. Cantrell because she's nice

Q. What is something you wish your teacher knew about you?
S. I'm hyper at the end of the day.

This student is pretty quiet, but when she speaks it's something you want to hear. She isn't the type of student that has to tell you a bunch of random stories, unless it is relevant or important. When she's at recess or in class, she has one or two close friends that she hangs out with. 

Challenges for Inquiry Based Learning

Although there are multiple advantages to Inquiry-Based learning, there are also some drawbacks to this style of learning/teaching. The first thought that comes to mind is how time consuming the preparation would be. You have to sit down and strategically think of all the learning styles you need to approach and the appropriate questions to ask students. If there isn't enough (or if there is too much) structure, you will fail to properly scaffold your students and it will become a disaster in the classroom. Time and classroom management can also become an issue. Many teachers already struggle to keep order in the classroom, and with inquiry based learning, it can get out of hand quickly if your students cannot accept their own responsibilities. Because there is often small group work with inquiry based learning, the teacher can quickly get overwhelmed. Many times, this could unfortunately turn into the teacher surrendering to the situation and turning small group work and discussion into whole class work and discussion. Then everyone just feels defeated. Ultimately, if a teacher wants to implement Inquiry-Based Learning in his/her classroom, planning can't be the only focus for the lesson at hand. Classroom management needs to be addressed and students need to understand what is expected of them so they can be mature enough to take on responsibility for their own learning.