September 13, 2009 – Caring Human Beings Not Computers

September 13, 2009 – Caring Human Beings Not Computers

If more testing is not the answer, what can make a difference? What can improve education? What will help the teaching-learning process be more effective, so students attain quality?

Here is one of many helpful techniques: students need caring adults interacting with them on a regular basis. All people have a psychological need to have positive caring relationships in their lives. We all need love and belonging, and the best love and belonging comes from people, not computers.

You may now be saying, “Dr. Robert, of course love and belonging comes from relationships with other people. That is a given.” Allow me to humbly remind you, many people do indeed love their computer, their car, or their possessions. However, the love of things will never replace the love of connecting with people. And, students need connections to caring adults in school.

If we want to improve a student’s reading fluency and comprehension, then we need someone to read with the student. Intervention with the next great reading computer program is not the answer. It is not fulfilling to our need for human relationships. Find an adult volunteer, an older student, a peer, a teacher assistant, or a teacher to spend 30 minutes each day reading with the student. The human interaction that occurs when reading is shared cannot occur at a keyboard.

Education Pirate Rebels sound the battle cry, “Teaching and learning is an art that is created by human beings! Keep your computer for doing your taxes, not for teaching kids to read!”

Just so you do not think Dr. Robert is listing to the port side, check out this professional article: Gutshall, A. (2009) 4th-Grade readers . . . not too old to snuggle. Kappan (Vol. 90, N6 February: p. 235-237).

Here are some points in the article (quoted):
• “After each seven-week reading buddy session (4th graders with college students), students raised their oral reading fluency an average of 20 words per minute.”
• “. . . upon reflection, the individual attention, physical connection, and human interaction may be the components that contributed to improving students’ reading scores . . .”
• When the reading buddy program was replaced with a computer intervention program, the students “posted a -1.2 word decrease in oral reading fluency scores.”

Please, read the whole article, it is a good read. And, for all of the Isaac Asimov fans, we are already violating rule one – robots (computers) are harming human beings in classrooms in schools across the country.