In a World of Immersive Behaviors, Why Not Reading Immersion to Strengthen Educational Skills? Free

In a world of immersive behaviors, why not immerse students in words, vocabulary, and language to improve their reading skills? Reading immersion will improve the learners’ reading skills and comprehension across the curriculum in all subjects. To employ this reading immersion, several strategies could be pulled from various immersion techniques used in other areas. A combination of techniques used in the trending art immersions and classic language immersions is symbolic of John Dewey’s philosophy of marring traditional education and progressive education and using the best qualities of the two, to enhance and build upon the learners’ educational experience and further the learner’s knowledge and education.

As the world changes, and we become more of a blended culture of inclusion and not so much a separated society, sticking to our own kind, segregating haves and have-nots, separating highly intellectual students from struggling students, there are things in our presentation of educational materials that have to adjust to the new inclusive educational environment. Reading immersion is that change.

The definition of immersion is the action of engulfing someone or something completely in a liquid; engaging in deep mental involvement; a method of teaching a foreign language by exclusively using the language to be learned. Immersion is the state of being completely engaged, involved, and /or absorbed by something; an idea, liquid, or thought. I envisioned immersion as being completely consumed by something that is absorbed through several senses, smelling, feeling physically or emotionally, seeing, tasting, hearing, and experiencing something that touches you internally that will allow you to take in and understand the very essence of that thing. Everyone comprehends being immersed in water and being surrounded, under the surface engulfed by something.

There is an idea of art immersion, like the Von Gough and Beyond Immersion Experience or the Monet Immersion Experience. Being completely surrounded and placed in the painting in a 4-D experience; hearing the birds chirping and the waves crashing, seeing the waves roll in and out, or the brightness of the day in the painting, feeling the warm sun on your back or face and the wind blowing your hair and, in some instances, smelling the sea salt or fresh apple pie and tasting the very essence of a piece of art. Being consumed by the art as it whirls around you as you stand in the center of the room. That is a stimulating educational experience. An experience that will not be forgotten and has piqued the learner’s curiosity to learn more What if we could take that same idea and immerse students in words to ignite greater engagement and excitement for reading in turn greatly improving comprehension and test scores in general? What would that immersion look like?

Language immersion is done a little differently. There are levels to how language immersion is done and specific age ranges and timetables as to when immersion is taking place to optimize learner education and a positive educational experience. There are three types of immersion: (1) total immersion, which is when the learner is taught and only interacts with the instructor in the language to be learned; (2) partial immersion, which is when the learner is instructed in his home language and the language to be learned; (3) two-way immersion, which is when learners of the majority language in the environment and the learners of the minority language in an environment learn in the same space.

The stages of immersion can be further broken down by age ranges and the amount of immersion the learner is exposed to at one time. Early immersion takes place when the learner is about 5 or 6 years old in elementary school. If the early immersion stage is divided, the total early immersion stage would be at 90 to 100% in kindergarten and 1st grade, with partial early immersion at 50% immersion in kindergarten and 1st grade. Middle immersion occurs at about age 9 or 10 in elementary and middle school. Total middle or delayed immersion would be at 90% immersion in fourth or fifth grade and partial middle or delayed immersion at 50% immersion in fourth or fifth grade. Late immersion takes place at about age 11 or older in middle or high school. Total late immersion at 80% immersion would occur in sixth or seventh grade, and late partial immersion at 50% would occur in sixth or seventh grade.

What would happen if we took the same approach in reading as in language immersion? To surround or immerse the learner in letters, letter sounds, words, vocabulary, different writing styles, and various written expressions using all the writing and reading techniques across the curriculum. What would that look like for struggling learners and proficient learners? How much will this improve reading fluency and reading comprehension? Reading will become as seamless as bilingualism and multilingualism, being able to switch back and forth between and speak two or more languages fluently. The depth of reading proficiency and critical thinking would immensely increase.

Learning across the curriculum is a concept discussed in education, but it has not been developed and implemented because it is a difficult concept to put together. Learning across the curriculum requires that all subjects teach one concept at one time from different perspectives using the same jargon. For instance, if all the educators in the various subjects decide to teach about flowers, then the art teacher would talk about the flowers’ colors, shapes, textures, smells, sizes, and uses of flowers. In math, we would discuss the flower’s sizes, shapes, the amount of water and sun they need to grow, and the difference between annuals and perennials. In science, we would discuss the differences between annuals and perennials, what soil they need to grow, how much water or rain the flowers need, the smell of the flowers, and how much sun or shade the flowers need. In social studies, there would be a discussion about flower agriculture, how flowers affect the economy, and the impact of buying flowers in a domestic and international market (this could also be discussed in math). These educators, along with the English/language arts teacher then produce a word list of vocabulary that is common amongst all subjects. These will be the words the learners will be immersed in all subjects, in the classrooms, on the walls down the hallway, in their class and homework assignments, and on the computer listening to the immersive reader as they read from their virtual textbook. Words the learner will positively be bombarded with, hearing, seeing, interacting with on a continuous educational experience as described by Dewey. The learner will have built, in their brain, vocabulary muscle memory for these words and will be able to understand and use these words in the correct context in any subject they apply to.

The idea of reading immersion is to be immersed in words, jargon, ideologies, letters, letter sounds, vocabulary, and phrases. To engage the learner, reading immersion would have to be an everyday event, an exciting experience that is continuously evolving, and an everchanging wow factor. The term immersive reading is defined as the interaction of the reader reading a particular text, and at the same time, an electronic device the reader is using is reading the text aloud to or with the reader. That is one entity of the idea of the reading immersion experience. Reading immersion is an experience that will awaken your senses and draw the reader into the process of reading.

Using the same characterizations and fashions as the immersion types used in language immersion, reading immersion should follow the same timelines with adaptations and adjustments made to facilitate the flow of stimulating information in the learning environment and the educational experience of the learners. Language immersion is encouraged in the United States and many other countries, but there is no curriculum for language immersion to guide the process.

The philosopher John Dewey’s thought process behind education is interesting. Dewey founded a Laboratory School known as the Dewey School that was at the forefront of experiments in educational thinking. Dewey’s philosophy was guided by two principles: the principles of continuity, that learning is continual, nonstop ever-changing, perpetual, and developing, and the principle of interaction, which is determining the influence the experienee has had on the learner internally. Dewey brought together traditional education with its rigid rules, dos and don’ts that constricted the learner, and progressive education which allowed for individual freedoms, and consideration of the learners’ impulses, and interest. Reading Immersion is a direct example of how the learner’s educational experience will be enhanced by the delightful bombarding of letters, letter sounds, blends, and words in assorted sizes, colors, fonts, and textures in the early reading immersion environment, ascetically drawing the learner in; words and letters on the wall in unusual colors, shapes, fonts, textures, and sizes, evolving weekly and or monthly with additions of the innovative words and phrases that were learned. There will not be just a word wall but word walls in every classroom utilizing and interconnecting words across the curriculum. Reiteration and constant use of these words will foster word recognition, enhance the learners’ comprehension of the word, build the learners’ vocabulary, and sharpen the learners’ higher order of thinking. The reading immersion experience makes way and lays a foundation for future learning.

I theorize the more exposure a learner has to a particular educational experience, the more familiar the learner becomes with the knowledge, and the words and phrases become like second nature, somewhat of a scaffolding effect. The experiences further the learners’ future education according to Dewey. Future knowledge is built from the learners’ previous experiences, and the learning goes on and on. Reading immersion is here; the close caption on the computer now automatically comes on so you can see the words while a song is playing on YouTube, the option to choose immersive reader when reading a book or email, and the next step to add an explosion of color and design and bring the words to life. The educator is shaping the direction of the reading immersion experience and facilitating the growth of the learner through the experience while considering the environment, and the peer sharing the meaningful educational experience.