My Book Blog 7: Teach children, not programs.

           Dear fellow teachers, have you ever been forced to go along with programs and practices you know are not working well for many of your students because you have to meet rising demands of curriculum, standards and high-stakes testing? Have you ever felt so defeated and exhausted that you doubt you would have any power to change things? If so, Routman asks you to speak out and say NO (if you are tenured) because it is our professional obligation to be the advocate for our students and ensure that they receive excellent instruction. No one else knows our students as well as we do and if we as professionals continue to remain silent and passive, people outside education will continue to determine what we should do in our classrooms.

            In  Chapter 11, Routman cautions all teachers to be informed about relevant research and be selective about prescribed instructional programs. She strongly argues that "only you, as a knowledgeable teacher, can decide what your reading program should encompass and how it should be organized. There is no best program or perfect model of teaching reading" (186). I can really relate to what Routman is saying about not going with the flow, but going with your instincts as a teacher.

            If you are familiar with developmental education, you probably know that across the whole nation, developmental education has been under a microscope and scrutinized closely. Many people cannot justify why we have to spend our tax money educating students twice on the same content. As a result, we as developmental educators, have felt enormous pressure to prove what we are doing is highly necessary and to prove we are producing satisfying results. We examine all kinds of research on developmental education, and look at various new programs and models being invented across the country. To be honest, many times, my colleagues  and I have felt that we got to adapt that particular model because it has worked for a particular school and we got to try it out too. At other times, as Routman describes, we start to doubt that we can improve instruction without an expensive program. In fact, over the past few years, faculty and administrators at my school have been involved in time-consuming, and money-consuming programs with the intension to improve our teaching. However, these programs either work only for a while when the money and resource is there or end up in the planning stage because it is too difficult to implement. What we did not do enough, as Routman suggests, is to invest in the professional development of teachers.

            What Routman says has so much truth because without effective teachers, regardless of the approach, program, or materials being used, students are less likely to be successful. Routman goes on to say that she is by no means against using programs. She recommends using programs only as a resource and beginning framework. Learn from it, see how it works for your students, adapt it and change it. All in all, "exemplary teachers taught children, and typical teachers taught programs" (Routman, 185).