Open Court
Hearing from Teachers—Reflection

Here is a reflection written by a parent of a child who was in an Open Court classroom in Oakland. This parent is also becoming a teacher and wrote this reflection after reading a chapter of Regie's book, Reading Essentials, as part of her course work in a reading course taught at UC Berkeley Extension. She took her child's name out of it and gave permission to share it.

Date: February 26, 2005
Reflection on Open Court vs. Learning to Read

This chapter resonated deeply for me because of the personal experience I had with my 7-year-old daughter who was in a school with a teacher whose teaching had become joyless. This reflected heavily with my child who's first grade experience was joyless as well. With the advent of Open Court in the Oakland Public School District, I've witnessed a disturbing number of otherwise bright, joyful children come to hate school overall. 

When my husband and I made the decision to move our first grader from an OUSD elementary school to a school outside the district we felt freer to discuss the issues we were having in the classroom. In conversations with other first grade parents we found similarities in our children's change in attitude towards school. Many parents told me stories of children crying in the morning, begging not to be taken to school.

They reported of children being given "red cards" (punishment) for moving during language arts. The children were (and most likely still are) required to endure the monotony of Open Court, which requires passive listening, boring repetitive dialog and no physical movement from 8:40 to10: 45 every day. The program is scripted and the teachers are required to be on a specific page on a given day, independent of the ability or interest of the children.

In my observations of the class during Open Court, I witnessed disengaged children and a teacher who clearly didn't enjoy her students or her job. On several occasions when I attempted (over a three month period) to converse with the teacher about the "language arts curriculum", I was told just give it time, it will become challenging and your child will be a better speller. Never was it mentioned that my child will love reading or that she would enjoy school. Other parents over the past several months have echoed these same sentiments when discussing their children's lack of engagement in school.

During the period of Open Court her independent reading decreased. She was instructed to read the little decoding books at home and being an obedient student she did as instructed by her teacher. I should note here that my daughter was reading early first grade level books before starting kindergarten. We also noticed she did not want to read aloud to us. At that time, I remember her saying to me, " I don't want to read to you anymore because I can't remember the story when I read to you." 

Her decoding skills were impeccable and this was confirmed in our last conference with her teacher who said, "What are you worried about? Your daughter is reading fine." What she should have said was, "Your daughter is decoding fine." At the time I couldn't put language to the problem. I knew two things, the classroom environment was joyless and my child was shriveling up instead of blooming.  There was no reason for a happy, bright first grade child to hate school to the point of crying every day before going to school. 

I also noticed that she wouldn't talk about school. When I asked her about specific subjects or activities, she would scowl or reply that they didn't do anything in school today. For many parents this may seem par for the course, however, I have a child who tells me everything and always has a story about what she did in school. It became apparent that the best part of the day and the only part worth discussing was recess.

After four months we made the decision and moved our child to a private school. I looked at other public schools in Oakland and found the same, dull, one size fit's all language arts curriculum, with teachers who had forgotten what it means to be joyful and engaging. I should note here that I'm not entirely blaming the teachers I observed, I also blame the system, the government and the parents for allowing this to continue. But I do believe that teachers are highly educated professional people who need to be responsible to themselves, to their students and to think about their actions and the impact they have on children and to not do something if it doesn't seem logical or right.

My child is now with a teacher who loves teaching; she's excited about being in the classroom and her language arts program is thoughtful, relevant and challenging. My child loves to read again and reads everything from picture books, to chapter books to grocery lists. And she thinks about her reading. We read together, she reads aloud, she reads with friends and then can retell or summarize an entire book in her own words. The teacher is joyful and my child is joyful. She tells me daily what she does in school, in detail.

I decided to go back into teaching after my frustration with my child's public education. At the time of my decision, I had not had the experience of witnessing the kind of teaching and learning I knew my child was missing, but I knew that it had to be different. I knew that the joylessness in public education wasn't necessary, that children love to be in school and that they want to be engaged and learn. I believe that having a child of my own and going through this painful process with her has changed my perception of teaching and learning and what constitutes a good teacher. I can easily identify what I don't want to be, what I can't endure, and yet luckily I see what is possible and what can be for teachers and students alike.

In reading the first chapter of Reading Essentials I felt relieved that there are other people who know that public education isn't about giving all students the same standardized instruction. To do this we risk loosing the bright, the struggling and all those in-between. I spend a considerable amount of time reading about best practices in teaching and learning and school reform. I continuously read educational research journals, educational opinion digests, books on the newest reform and the history of education. I observe how children learn, my own, other peoples, students in the classroom.

It should be no surprise that the research and observations come to the same basic end. Not all children learn at the same speed nor in the same way. That children want to be engaged in thoughtful learning. That children want to be in a joyful environment (adults too.) And that how one teaches is just as important as what is being taught.