A Tale of Two Schools

A Tale of Two Schools focuses on two schools and the reading programs those schools use to try and help their students advance in reading. Walton Elementary school in Fort Worth, Texas uses a program called Reading Mastery while Bearden Elementary School in Mississippi uses a program called Project Read. Both programs aim to develop the skills that students need in order to read such as decoding which involves phonics, fluency, and phonemic awareness. In my opinion, though, one programs stood out against the other and that program was Reading Mastery.

The Reading Mastery program seemed to be a more effective program in my opinion. Just from watching the students use this program in comparison to Project Read I think it was an obvious difference. Reading Master seemed much more organized and structured. There was a routine that all the students knew and were used to. "Get Ready" was announced by the teacher and the students would know that next they would have to sound out and read the word. This program focuses heavily on letter sounds, reading words fluently through sounding out, and decoding. I think the evidence of the effectiveness of this program is shown through Tavaras, a young first grade student who enters school a struggling reader. The viewer watches Tavares as he struggles, perseveres, and in the end advances in his reading. Although still not at the level of the rest of the first graders, his level at the end of the movie has advanced compared to where he started showcasing how Reading Mastery can have a positive outcome for students. One thing that worries me about this program, however, is how they are weaned off of it. How will they continue to learn and advance if they are not on this program? They will not be able to use Reading Mastery forever so it is crucial that beyond this program this acquired knowledge can me applied while reading.

If I were to teach one of these programs it would be the Reading Mastery program. Not only do I feel that it is more effective, but I also feel the teachers were more comfortable teaching this. The teachers teaching Project Read seemed a little unorganized and untrained. They seemed flustered at times and as if they were not sure what they were doing. Most teachers in the Reading Mastery program seemed to know what they were doing and how to do it. I think parents would be okay with the Reading Mastery program being used in schools because it is being used for the benefit of their child. It is aimed to teach children and encourage them and isn't that what parents send their children to school for? I think as long as their is evidence that this program works, parents would be okay with it being used.