Juliana- A Tale of Two Schools

There are many positive and negative traits that the two programs in the film, ‘A Tale of Two Schools’, hold. I personally preferred The Reading Mastery program used in Fort Worth, Texas. Looking at both of them, I felt like this program had more positive characteristics. Throughout the film both schools had struggling students, but I feel that Tavares showed that the reading Mastery program really worked. The students were very excited in performing their literacy practices and it showed that this technique actually helped them progress in their reading skills. The technique the teacher used to help the students sound out the words seemed like it really worked for them. I loved the way that the teacher was energetic and also let the students teach the ‘class’ and others, that way they are more involved in what they are learning and more excited about it. The only negative aspect in this program I would say are the resources the teachers are using. I noticed the book that Tavares was using had no pictures and didn’t seem interesting to him. He was excited to read because he wanted to show off that he had gained new skills, but I don’t think he was gaining comprehension for what he was reading or a ‘love’ for reading. If the teachers provided different books with pictures and a story that interested him, I feel that he would benefit from this program even more. I would use these techniques in my classroom one day, but hopefully provide more resources for my students and help them more with their comprehension skills. I think the reason why I don’t like the other program as much is because they struggled with resources as well. They received a grant with more books halfway through the year, which took away from the efficiency of the program. I feel like it could have been much better if they had gotten those resources and provided their teachers with more to structure the program it probably would have benefitted more students.