Reaction to Yagelski Reading

"Recent NAEP data reveal, for instance, that although better than 80 percent of high school seniors achieve a basic level of writing competence on the NAEP writing assessment, less than a quarter
write at a proficient level and a measly 1 percent write at an advanced level".

This really shocked me, I had no idea that less than 25% of high school students wrote a proficient level and only ONE percent at an advanced level. This is completely unacceptable and a change must be made. There is no way that one person can change the education system but I can make a difference when I become a teacher within my classroom and on the students that I will eventually teach.

I wonder if this has anything to do with "tracking". Maybe too many teachers, like my clinical teacher, feel that students who aren't in gifted programs don't deserve to learn how to think critically or write at a more advanced level.

According to Yagelski, secondary English teachers are not writers and do not think of themselves as writers. If teachers don't write, how can they teach their students how to effectively write? This could also be a contributor to illiteracy within our communities and education system.

Maybe we can engage students by first teaching them that writing can be used as a tool of self expression. Then, teachers can educate their students about writing instruction. Yagelski argues that while writing is a form of communication that is important, writing is also a vehicle to ourselves; understanding who we are as an individual, as a way to reflect. I completely agree!