In a recent conversation with a content area teacher, she informed me that her plate was very full, and when it came to reading, she just didn't have time for anything "extra."
Extra.
Extra?
Luckily, I didn't choke to death in front of her. Nor did I reach out and shake her. But I also didn't have a good response on the tip of my tongue. I was shell-shocked. The look on my face said it all and she ended her vent session and moved on.
This teacher was young, and while I could say that she has a lot to learn ahead of her, I could also wonder how in the world she got out of a college of education without someone instilling within her that belief that literacy is a priority in every content area, including hers. Either she is completely obstinate, or someone dropped the ball. I'm going to pray that someone dropped the ball so that I can influence her.
Many content area teachers view reading as something "extra" that they just have to simulate in order to satisfy people like their administration or their literacy coach. But reading isn't extra--it's a priority.
See, real-world math isn't going to only consist of polynomials. Real-world math is buried and real-world adults stumble upon it before they realize what they are doing. Then they have to figure out how to get to the output that they need--and it won't always be as easy as the Pythagorean theorum.
On a more immediate scope, students are faced with word problems that are designed to emulate real-world situations and they have to dissect these problems in order to decipher what they problem is ultimately asking. If they can't read the problem, how will they work it out?
Am I asking content area teachers to teach full-length novels in their classrooms? No. I understand the time constraints that standardized testing has put us under. I live under the same constraints. Am I asking teachers to spend hours searching for the most perfect informational text to use in class? No! (But their instructional coaches don't mind doing that search!) Reading in the content areas looks different in each content area. Math, science, and social studies teachers have to step back and realize the type of reading that students are already expected to do in their classrooms. That is the teaching of reading that has to go on daily in all classrooms.
I will find a way to work over this teacher. It's what I do. Confronting her beliefs won't work. It has to be subtle. But I love a challenge, and I love getting in front of classrooms and showing students the connection between the content areas.
Besides, for every teacher who thinks of reading as something "extra," there's a teacher out there reading the paper right now and thinking of ways to pull that cool article into her classroom next week.
