High School Students Fail to Pass History and Literature - How Can You Help Your Kids Succeed?

Audiences are usually delighted when late night comedy hosts wander onto the street to ask passers by basic history questions. We think it is hysterical when people fail to answer "Who was buried in Grant's Tomb?" or "When was the War of 1812?" The laughter dies however, when one considers a 2008 report produced by Common Core, in which they surveyed a random sampling of 1,200 seventeen year olds across the country. The report revealed some disturbing facts.

Thirty-three percent of the students could not identify the document wherein Americans are guaranteed their freedom of speech. Forty-nine percent could not identify the political party attacked by McCarthyism. A whopping fifty-seven percent could not correctly place the American Civil War within the second half of the nineteenth century, while forty percent didn't know that WWI took place within the first half of the twentieth century. And that was only the beginning.

If, as the report declares, "the first mission of public schooling in a democratic society is to equip every young person for the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship," then our public school system seems to be failing.

So what's to do? Blame our teachers and schools? That's probably not fair. After all, America's schools are over crowed, under funded, and sadly hampered by scholastic standards that put creative and civic instruction on the proverbial back burner. Just today, I spoke with a local high school curriculum coordinator who bemoaned, "I have plenty of content, but no time to teach it." Hardly a surprise when US Department of Education data shows that "the amount of weekly instructional time devoted to history and social studies in grades one to six fell by 22 percent between 1988 and 2004. The amount of time devoted to "English and reading arts" increased substantially during these same years, but there is reason to believe that most or all of this additional time was spent on basic reading skills, not literature."

The Common Core report, which you may read at http://www.commoncore.org/_docs/CCreport_stillatrisk.pdf, did notice that a segment of students who consistently scored higher had a few important aspects of their lives in common. One, they had at least one college educated parent. Two, they were more likely to have read at least one literary book not assigned in school. Three, they were more likely to have visited a museum or attended a cultural event with their family and friends. In other words, parental and family involvement in the cultural and historical education of a child tends to raise that child's grade point average by one level, sometimes two. The report seems to confirm what many parents and teachers have known for years-the love of history and literature begins at home. Knowledge of our past is a gift we receive from our parents when they take the time to share their passions with us.

So what are parents to do if they have no college education? What if they have no money for museums and theatre? What if they work three jobs and only see their kids a few minutes a day? Luckily, quality of time is truly more important than quantity. If you know your kids are studying US History, rent and watch John Adams with them. Ask them what they think of a bunch of rebels deciding to start their own country. You don't need to test them; just expose them to your culture's history and literature and then talk with them about it. If you watch a film about South Africa, be sure to get out a map and let them know where the country is. If they are watching a movie about WWII, look for a timeline that tells them what came before and after. Kids are naturally curious, and parents can't afford to wait for schools to try and cram a lifetime of learning into one semester. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or money, look for a mentor who does. Your community and your kids will thank you for it.

I personally would like to see Historybuster Clubs sprout up across America. What is a Historybuster Club? Designed by a history teacher, Historybusters provides parents with the tools they need to hook their kids on history early, encouraging active learning as well as parental and community involvement in the education of our children.

To find out how Historybusters can help you inspire your kids, visit http://www.navigatinglife.org/historybusters.

I personally would like to see Historybuster Clubs sprout up across America. What is a Historybuster Club? Designed by a history teacher, Historybusters provides parents with the tools they need to hook their kids on history early, encouraging active learning as well as parental and community involvement in the education of our children. To find out how Historybusters can help you inspire your kids, visit http://www.navigatinglife.org/historybusters

Lynn Marie Sager

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Reading Literature in School - Make It Count for Students

Writing has been around since, quite literally, the precise beginning of history. When writing began, man began to record his thoughts, stories, and ideas. Since that time we have developed a much more sophisticated system for keeping our important thoughts in order, but the same object has always been the same.

It is because of this tradition that we generally associate the written word, and particularly the published word, with something important, and worth remembering and passing along. After all, if someone is going to go through all of the trouble of not only recording an idea, but physically reproducing it in the printed form, does it not mean that what he has recorded must carry some weight? Also, there is the implication that, once an idea has been published, it has been reviewed by any number of people, and found time and again to be consequential.

For that reason, then it only makes sense that once of the most basic subjects taught in schools today is "English" or "Literature." It only stands to reason that, when we gather in an academics setting to share ideas and to learn, that we spend time familiarizing ourselves with out literary tradition. But is that really a good idea? Is studying literature productive?

You could certainly make the argument that it is. After all, a society's literary output is a manifestation of its deepest yearning and most fundamental motivations. When you learn about a country's works of literature, you learn what sort of things make the country tick, and what kinds of forces have shaped the growth of that country for perhaps millennia.

When you take the time to explore the literary tradition of a culture, you have more insight into it government, its families, its wars, and its triumphs than you ever could have done without the benefit of those books. Certainly, when you learn about your own country, and your own people through their literature you can learn a great deal about yourself and everyone around you. So why would anyone ever argue against teaching Literature courses in school?

Well, there is a downside. Very often when we present these ideas to students, we do so too soon, or without their consent or interest. The study of literature and the simple reading of books is a fantastically interesting exercise for the eager mind, but a terrifically dull one for the reluctant mind. What is worse is that often, when students are made to read books for classes when they have no time or desire for it, they end up despising that reading, and would prefer not to read any more at all. Who knows what might have happened had that student been given a chance to come around to reading on his own, when he was in the best position to benefit from it?

All too often in education we force things on the youth in our society on the assumption that it is for their own good. While that may certainly be true in some situations, it is something to be very careful about when it comes to reading. Too frequently, teenagers and student will say they 'hate reading' because all they have ever known about books is that people can make you read them when you'd rather be doing something else.

If this is what the study of literature has degenerated into, then who is really benefiting? School is inevitably a place where people will be forced to do things they may not enjoy, but reading is supposed to be enjoyable. Perhaps the way we teach literature deserves to be reconsidered.

Ingrid Jackson's favorite subjects for writing her articles are education, schooling, and test preparation. She wants students to find the best ISEE prep out there. She also likes to write about her other interests from time to time, which are quite varied.

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How Important is the Study of Literature in High School?

I have a confession to make. I can only remember reading two pieces of literature during my high school years: The Scarlet Letter, and War and Peace. My fellow students and I did not read Shakespeare or Keats. We did not study Tennessee Williams or F. Scott Fitzgerald. We did not debate the ethical implications of Lord of the Flies. No, in my high school English program we learned to write - well.

As an English teacher, I'm all for the study of literature; it contributes to a well-rounded education. My concern is that the emphasis on literature instruction is seriously encroaching upon consistent writing instruction in today's schools. The outcome of this shift in emphasis is that many secondary students are not learning how to write well.

I saw this trend while studying for my master's degree in secondary education. I spent more than one hundred hours observing in classrooms and interviewing teachers from various schools and districts, both public and private. Every school in I visited was using a literature-based Language Arts curriculum. Teachers I interviewed admitted that they spent very little, if any, time on such mundane subjects as grammar, word economy or sentence structure.

This failure to emphasize the writing process in secondary schools seems counter-productive. In the public school system, teachers continually talk about "teaching to the test." They are referring to the state-mandated basic skills test students must pass order to graduate from high school.

These tests ask students to demonstrate knowledge of writing mechanics, grammar, form and punctuation. Many also request demonstration of a student's ability to write a five-paragraph essay. These tests, however, do not require demonstration of the knowledge of literature.

I began to ask students what knowledge they had to demonstrate on other tests they took, such as the SAT, ACT, AP, Compass and so forth. Only the Literature AP test asks literature questions, and a very small handful of students take it.

This begs a question. If schools are compelled to teach to the test, and if the tests do not require knowledge of classic literature, why are schools making literature the centerpiece of the language arts curriculum?

If preparing students for standardized tests were the only objective in teaching, the literature conundrum would not be terribly dire. But, a curriculum heavily weighted with literature does not prepare our students for success in a career, either.

Recently my husband was engaged in the job search process. I sometimes reviewed job posting with him. The vast majority of job listings listed excellent writing skills as a requirement for employment. It would border on facetiousness to point out that no job descriptions listed knowledge of literature as a prerequisite to getting hired.

It is true that many schools have adopted a writing program that teaches the structure of a five-paragraph essay. The upside of these writing programs is that they tackle the arch-nemesis of the writing process: organization of material. Teaching students how to create a thesis statement and three main points is indispensible training.

The down side of these programs is that they do not teach students to write multi-page essays, letters, commentaries, dialog and all the writing forms that will be required of them in college and in the work place. Nor do these programs teach the basics of grammar, spelling, writing mechanics, sentence structure, style and form - the basics that will be on every standardized test.

Writing is a complex, multi-step operation. Few people can learn the process unless they receive intentional instruction in every facet. That instruction must begin in kindergarten and continue through high school. We owe it to our children to bring the emphasis back to the art of writing. The literature can wait.

Joyce Jones invites you to sharpen your writing skills and those of your students. Discover 16 ways to motivate your child to do better in school. http://www.TutorFi.com

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Preparatory Crash Course in Literature for High School Students in the Philippines

In the Philippines today the length of Primary and Secondary schools is being debated whether to add another two more years in the usual six years primary and four years secondary, making secondary also six years for a total of twelve years in preparation to college education. School principals and teachers alike are divided. Paying parents in the privates schools are resistant while even non-paying parents in the public schools raise their brows on the plan of the government. Many sectors question the program for that would mean paying more and staying longer in school. Parents want their kids to finish school right away so that their children can help them alleviate their poverty. So what's the use of adding years in the 100-year long educational system when Filipino graduates all over the world are competitive. Below is a proposal based from a study the writer conducted on the Language and Literature program of Famy National High School Laguna, Philippines on the possible solution to help the lack of students preparation and exposure to Literature before they go to tertiary or higher education sans the issue of adding number of years in the secondary school.

A. RATIONALE:

After scanning the environment of the students, teachers and the materials available in Famy National High School in Laguna Philippines they both used when they had the English 4, the proponent saw the needs to prepare the fresh graduates from the Famy National High School by giving a preparatory crash course program in Literature to prepare them for the demands and rigors of college Literature courses.

The fourth-year high school students did not have enough exposure in learning Literature because the book they used entitled Moving Ahead in English published in 1999 which was framed on integrative approach hence, mastery of the four macro skills was emphasized throughout the year. The lessons they had in Literature was a mixed of World Literature, Asian Literature and Philippine Literature given after each lesson. Their exposure on Literature was not based on a solid foundation because the focus was more on language and not on Literature. Out of seven lessons, one was only given to Literature with questions focusing on the moral or didactic lessons. The students themselves looked at Literature as springboard lessons to language lessons without value for it as an art form.

The two teachers themselves assigned in teaching the fourth year were passionate teachers teaching the language lessons but they become less energetic when they reach the Literature lessons because students did not read. One teacher was BSE major in English graduate from Union College of Sta. Cruz, Laguna and the other was unit earner in Education with a Bachelor's degree in Accountancy. Both seldom attend seminars on the recent trends and issues in teaching Literature because of the scarcity of financial support from the school. Hence, their knowledge and strategies were based from their old undergraduate schema.

With these problems, the proponent indeed saw the needs of preparing the students through a crash course program in Literature with the following reasons:

1. inform students about the basics of Literature they never had in high school; 2. discuss literature, not as a springboard of language lessons, but as it is as an art; 3. prepare students to the demands of Literature courses in College and 4. immerse students on the recent trends, strategies and issues in learning Literature.

B. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM: The crash course program in Literature primarily aims to prepare the incoming freshmen to College Literature courses that they never learned or encountered much in high school, not because they were not taught, but because the approach then was integrative of the four macro skills and Literature was used as springboard to language lessons. The crash course discusses the basics of Literature from concepts, theories, use of strategies, trends and issues in learning literature applied altogether in teaching the students. The program is only a crash course to be delivered in 45 hours with 3 hours per lesson. The fifteen-day sessions either in MWF (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or TThS (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) schedules are devoted to classroom discussion and other recent activities that culminate in a variety show of poetry recitation, dramatization and choral recitation, activities which are also performed in college. It is in MWF or TThS schedule to give students time to read and accomplish their assignments on the lessons before coming to class.

C. PROPONENT OF THE PROGRAM The proponent of the program is Wilfredo M. Valois who is a current student in Doctor of Philosophy major in Literature at the Philippine Normal University, Manila. He has been teaching Literature subjects at the Royal and Pontifical University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Manila for twelve (12) years. He has taught subjects like Philippine Literature in English, Introduction to Literature and Classical World Literature.

D. FRAMEWORK OF THE PROGRAM With the advent of technology specifically the television, radio and internet, people have become less receptive to what is going on around them, rather, they become more dependent on what they watch, they see and what they hear rather than what they read. People's vision is blurred by the comfort what technology gives them hence forgetting the value of reading, the value of Literature. In the academe, with the focus on the communicative competence and other ever-changing approaches and theories, the teaching and learning of Literature is often dwarfed, minimized or even abandoned by many schools.

Carolina Garcia and Ophelia Diamante reminded readers that Literature must inform and entertain. A good literature must be able to awaken people from ignorance to enlightenment. Furthermore, they said that literature must have intellectual value, emotional value, spiritual value, universality, permanence, style and most of all artistry.

Similarly, Edilberto Tiempo says that literature or good literature is intended to move, it must seduce but a work's emotive quality must not assault the sensibility, it must be ungirded by reasonableness, by logic, it must complement and satisfy the intellect, it must have the inevitability.

The criteria on how the literary selections in this crash course program on Literature were based from Jose Garcia Villa's criteria as cited by Edilberto K. Tiempo's suggestions on what should be included in any anthology of Literature. They are substance and form. Jose Garcia villa said that he followed double standard of form and substance. Substance requires vitality of subject and significant selection of facts. Genuine substance is achieved only when a pulse beats through the correlated facts, for significant substance alone, if without beat of life, remain dead substance. To achieve validity, therefore, substance in fiction should be living as well as significant. The second test is form. It requires vigor of structure although form and substance in literature are a creative one and they are indivisible, still they are distinct. Thus making feasible this test of form. Form, in literature, is the adequate and beautiful externalization of substance. It is not restrictive, mold, but is free, yet artistically disciplined presentation of substance.

Literature liberates the mind and spirit as one reads through the pages. The experience one has in looking at a painting, listening to a classical music or a moving performance in a theatre is similar to the reading of a literary text. It moves the mind to think critically. It touches the heart with that emotive power when one reads poetry or reads a play. All these effects and more are experienced by readers or learners including the enthusiasts when they are arrested by powerful literary texts with beautiful form and substance.

Literature is an instrument to fight illiteracy. People have become dependent on moving pictures and flashed items that they tend to read less. People have become lazy readers if not none readers at all, hence elevating our status of illiteracy. Thanks to the government's effort in putting Alternative Learning System or ALS in various municipalities and barangays where teachers educate the illiterates. But the efforts are geared towards economic and not artistic. Hence, the debate on the conflict between "art for art's sake" (autonomy of the art) and "art for social awareness" (proletariat literature) is once again high. The crash course provides an answer to this debate as it hinges on bridging the gap and conflict between the autonomy of art and social awakening by giving students the artistic literary texts that will give them at the same time an awakening along the way in the study of literatures.

The program is designed to meet the needs set by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to give at least six units of Literature courses across discipline in the general education. Namely, the two courses are Introduction to World Literatures and Regional Philippines Literatures. That when they proceed to college education, incoming freshmen will be more than ready to face the demands of the Literature courses without insecurity and ignorance due to lack of exposure and education in literatures.

E. OBJECTIVES: At the end of the crash course, incoming freshmen are expected to: 1. Define the meaning of literature; 2. Differentiate fiction and non-fiction; 3. Enumerate the five genres of literature; 4. Compare and contrast the features of narrative and poetry; 5. Draw or diagram the structure of a narrative plot; 6. Read a poem with emotions according to its type; 7. Explain the figures of speech used in the texts; 8. Identify characters in the short story, novel or drama; 9. Describe the setting in the short story, novel or drama; 10. Arrange logical sequence of plot in the short story, novel or drama; 11. Synthesize themes from the texts; 12. Trace the causes and effects of actions of characters in the texts; 13. Appreciate the text the culture of a country; 14. Identify an author and his/her work; 15. Analyze a text using different approaches in understanding literature; 16. Write a critique on the assigned literary text; 17. Recite effectively and individually a poem; 18. Dramatize effectively scenes from the text; 19. Mount a variety show highlighting poetry recitation, dramatization and choral recitation.

F. COURSE CONTENT: The crash course includes excerpts from Literature courses that Commission on Higher Education CHED has mandated what each college student should take across discipline. Namely they are:

LITERATURE 1: Regional Philippine Literatures

This course presents a survey of world literatures representing a gamut of human experiences as exemplified in different literary types and forms.

LITERATURE 2: Introduction to World Literatures

This course introduces students to representative literatures from the regions tackling the wide array of Filipino encounters and experiences as these are expressed through themes such as gender, racial identity, class and history

G. MATRIX OF COMPETENCIES/OBJECTIVES AND THEIR CORRESPONDING LESSONS:

Competencies/Objectives Lessons

1. Define the meaning of literature; Lesson on Introduction to Literature 2. Differentiate fiction and non-fiction; Lesson on Introduction to Literature 3. Enumerate the five genres of literature; Lesson on introduction to Literature 4. Compare and contrast the features of narrative and poetry; Lesson on Introduction to Literature 5. Draw or diagram the structure of a narrative plot; Lesson on Introduction to Literature 6. Read a poem with emotions according to its type; Lesson on Poetry 7. Explain the figures of speech used in the texts; Lesson on Poetry 8. Identify characters in the short story, novel or drama; Lesson in Fiction 9. Describe the setting in the short story, novel or drama; Lesson in Fiction 10. Arrange logical sequence of plot in the short story, novel or drama; Lesson in Fiction 11. Synthesize themes from the texts; All lessons 12. Trace the causes and effects of actions of characters in the texts; All lessons 13. Appreciate the text the culture of a country; All lessons 14. Identify an author and his/her work; All lessons 15. Analyze a text using different approaches in understanding literature;

All lessons 16. Write a critique on the assigned literary text lessons in poetry, short story, novel, drama and essay 17. Recite affectively and individually a poem; Lesson on Poetry 18. Dramatize effectively scenes from the text; Lesson on Fiction 19. Mount a variety show highlighting poetry recitation, dramatization and choral recitation. All lessons

H. SYLLABUS ON THE CRASH COURSE PROGRAM IN LITERATURE

Content/ Topics Teaching/Learning Activities Time Allotment 1. An Overview on Literature a. Definition b. Reasons why we study literature

Group work brainstorming Discussion Timeline

3 hours

2. Kinds of Literature a. Fiction and non-fiction b. According to countries c. According to classification Library research Buzz group discussion Jigsaw puzzle Diagramming

3 hours

3. Seven (7) standards of good Literature a. Samples for each exemplifying each standard

Pair work Collage Poster-making 3 hours

4. Genres of Literatures a. Poetry b. Short story c. Novel d. Drama e. essay Popcorn discussion Diagramming Thought bubbles 3 hours

5. Poetry a. Nature and types b. Elements c. Figures of speech Lecture Chanting Diagramming 3 hours

6. Reading and analyzing of samples of poetry a. "God Said I made a Man" by Jose Garcia Villa b. "The Man of Earth" by Amador T. Daguio c. "Si Lola Isyang at ang Matandang Puno ng Kaimito" d. "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost e. "I am Nobody" by Emily Dickenson f. A sonnet by William Shakespeare g. "Psalm 23" by King David Discussion Reading of the text Chanting of the text Unlocking vocabulary Role playing Pair work Synthesizing through slogan Write a critique paper 3 hours

7. Short Story a. Nature and types b. Elements Discussion Diagramming Library research 2 hours

8. Reading and discussing/ analyzing of samples: a. "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife" by Manuel Arguilla b. "Harvest" by Loreto Paras Sulit c. "Footnote to Youth" by Jose Garcia Villa d. "The Lady and the Tiger" Anonymous e. "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry f. "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant Literary map Thought bubbles Comics strip Movie poster Radio drama Skit Role playing Tableaux Discussion Write a critique paper

4 hours

9. Novel a. Nature and types b. Elements Discussion diagramming 2 hours

10. Reading and discussing/analyzing of samples: a. An excerpt from America is in the Heart by Carlos Bulosan b. The Pearl by John Steinbeck Literary map Thought bubbles Comics strip Movie poster Radio drama Skit Role playing Tableaux Discussion Write a critique paper

4 hours

11. Drama a. Nature and types b. Elements Discussion Pair work Jigsaw puzzle 2 hours

12. Reading and discussing/analyzing of samples: a. "The World is an Apple" by Alberto Florentino b. "New Yorker in Tondo" by Marcelino Angana Thought bubbles Comics strip Movie poster Radio drama Skit Role playing Write a critique paper Tableaux Discussion

4 hours 13. Essay a. Nature and types b. Elements Discussion Diagramming 2 hours

14. Reading and discussing and analyzing of samples: a. "Heritage of Smallness" (an excerpt) by Nick Joaquin b. "On Having a Stomach" by Lin Yutang c. "Of Studies" by Francis Bacon Mock debate Pair work Buzz group discussion Slogan writing Discussion Write a critique paper 4 hours

15. Culminating Activity through a Variety Show of: a. Poetry recitation of "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" b. Skit or Dramatization of "New Yorker in Tondo" c. Choral Recitation of "God Said I Made a Man" Variety show Poetry recitation Dramatization Choral recitation 3 hours

Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Consevatory of Music, University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Manila, Philippines

PhD in Literature (in progress), Philippine Normal University (PNU), Manila, Philippines

Municipal Councilor, Famy, Laguna, Philippines

willy_valois@yahoo.com

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