The problem in a nutshell

Preach

I still don't like Joe and I'm disheartened too.

Non-reader does not mean completely illiterate!

When do the old stand by's like Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lord of the Flies finally become to old to use? The messages are still relevant, but they don't seem that way to the youth being forced to read them. Are there not newer well written texts that bring up the same principles that could be substituted. I think this helps perpetuate the idea that students 'don't like reading', they may not like older books like the ones mentioned above, but they would be likely to be engaged and find a love of reading if they were offered texts that were more youthful and more interesting to them.

This teacher has found a beginning point to make a true connection with Angel. Even if this teacher doesn't like Kawaski's themselves they still have something to talk about and to get Angel interested in what they have to say. Clever this teacher used this tactic, even with someone Angel's age. It's typically something we use for young children, but it will work with everyone.

Douche move. This wasn't everyone in the room's business and 100% adds to Angel's frustration and embarrassment. It only leads to Angel not wanting to try because he already has such a heavy label attached to him. Someone fire Joe. What jerk.

Labels like this don't help the student, they only help the evaluation staff. I'm not sure what the best solution is for indicating someone's literacy on a form so others are aware when teaching the student but labeling a student with 'low' anything is going to have negative connotations that endure.

Fun fact: In 1994 I asked my parents for a computer, my mother agreed and my father said that "computers are just some sort of fad, believe me, no one will remember these things in 8 years". I've never let him forget this.

I personally don't wear a watch, and have only done so for one brief period of my adolescence, but that doesn't stop me from looking at my wrist every time someone asks the time. I don't wear watch and yet I always think there's one there. How crazy is that? I'm depending on a technology I'm not using!