Changing Our Minds

I continue to be intrigued by the various history of reading and writing articles and chapters that I have read in the past few weeks. As someone with an innate passion for reading, I do not think that I have given the art of writing equal justice. These readings have enabled me to learn the history of these two subjects and how the past has influenced current theory and practice. Changing Our Minds: Negotiating English and Literature provided the reader with a more thorough grasp of recitation literacy and decoding/analytic literacy, which differed in six distinct ways. "The first difference was that decoding/analytic literacy defined reading as decoding and analysis of parts and, thus, required students to be able to understand materials they had not seen or heard before, unlike recititation literacy, in which students were only required to read (or recite) the preannounced materials" (Myers, 1996, p. 86).

Decoding/analytic literacy also differed from its counterpart in the structure of school organization in which it was taught. The decentralized school system, supported by Stanford's first dean of education, Ellwood P. Cubberly, is a prime example of the emergence of the standardized management system, in which teachers were regarded as "supervised workers" and students were viewed as the "products of a school-factory system" (Myers, 1996, p. 87).

Viewing pupils as products stifled students' learning and offered little to no choice in the classroom. I am once again reminded of the image and metaphor of the traditional school desk, whose construction has retarded the intellectual growth, as well as the spiritual growth of children for centuries. Montessori (2009, in The Curriculum Studies Reader, Flinders & Thornton, Eds.) expressed her concern regarding her research on scientific pedagogy, stating, "The principle of slavery still pervades pedagogy, and therefore, the same principle pervades the school. I need only give one proof-the stationary desks and chairs" (p. 28).

The design of the school desks and chairs may have evolved throughout the years, however, standardized testing and limited choice in curriculum materials has contributed to a lack of motivation and student choice in education . "It behooves us to think of what may happen to the spirit of the child who is condemned to grow in conditions so artificial that his vary bones may become deformed" (Montessori, 2009, in The Curriculum Studies Reader, Flinders & Thornton, Eds.) Recent research on the use of basal readers in the classroom, estimate that nearly 90% of elementary teachers use basal reading programs to teach literacy components. I intend to explore this area in depth, as I conduct research with Julie and Liz on reading selections in middle school basal reading series, and the effect these selections have on adolescent boys' motivation to read.