Somehow, we all learned to read...

It's true. We learned how to read. But how that happened is a mystery to me. And, as far as I can tell, it's a mystery to the "experts" too. We know that kids learn how to read. (Unless they don't, which is another story. But for the most part...they do.) We know that learning to read correlates with certain stages of human development. In other words, when a person reaches the right mental/emotional stage...poof! Reading! We also know that learning to read is related to exposure and/or access to texts. In other words, if kids are exposed to books and if other people read books to them...poof! Reading!


But all the things we know about reading don't amount to a hill of beans. Because, when you get right down to it, reading is one of those things that people seem programmed to learn. But the underlying process that drives learning how to read remains a mystery. And when we start examining other aspects of literacy, like whether a kid enjoys reading, or whether a kid has strong reading comprehension skills...well that's an even bigger mystery.


I've been thinking about this a lot, because my Methods class this week focused on the history of teaching language arts in American schools. Learning about different approaches to teaching English reminded me that there is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. It also reminded me that educators do not always agree on the purpose or underlying goals of Language Arts education. But one piece in particular really made me sit up and pay attention: an essay by Salvatore Scibona titled, "Where I Learned to Read."


Rather than discussing literacy in general or historical terms, Scibona's essay was personal. He described his struggle to connect with reading assignments in school and the hopelessness he felt when his report card reflected his lack of engagement. Scibona's problem wasn't that he was illiterate. Rather, he was - by his own admission - a "sad little boy and a standard-issue, shiftless, egotistical, dejected teen-ager."


The turning point for Scibona came when he discovered St. John's College, a unique institution focused on learning through literature. I happen to have friends who attended St. John's, and they speak about the college in the same glowing terms as Scibona does. For a certain kind of student reading "book-books" (as Scibona says) is the quintessential educational experience. Ironically, such a student might struggle to engage with "lesser" literature...and might therefore never be introduced to the Great Books for which s/he yearns.


I was struck by Scibona's statement that it was a "gift to find my tribe." It seems to me that every student is looking for the same thing: teachers, writers, other students who think like they do. Ultimately, we all learn best when we are motivated to learn by an internal desire for knowledge. And this kind of personal motivation is very often the result of an external community of like-minded people. That is what Scibona found at St. John's College.


Whatever else I know - or don't know - about reading, literacy, language arts, and education, I do know that students respond best when they feel part of a community. Reading is risky. It opens our minds to new ideas, and asks us to work hard to absorb those ideas. Many students are reluctant to take such a risk without first feeling like "part of the tribe."