Post ASZl7ICZXZBFa9KfuS by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
(DIR) More posts by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
(DIR) Post #ASZl7HBTKAhqQRoHYW by historianess@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T16:35:09Z
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I'm a little frustrated with Nick Kristof's column about reading and reading education today. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/opinion/reading-kids-phonics.htmlI was a late reader. I did not read on my own until the end of first grade. (I was close to seven years old.) 1/
(DIR) Post #ASZl7Hj9Ixe26tZB32 by historianess@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T16:36:48Z
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I'm sure I was a pain in the ass about reading (as I was about practically everything else!). I remember being confused by sounds: why through but though? Why did ought sound the same as caught? Why didn't the magic e work with lose? or come?Phonics made no sense to me. 2/
(DIR) Post #ASZl7ICZXZBFa9KfuS by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T16:44:25Z
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@historianess Sure, phonics in English is barbarous at best, but one can work through it. "Whole word" DOES NOT WORK AT ALL. Kids learn to read IN SPITE OF that kind of instruction.It's the result of a basic confusion. People who read well and rapidly (it can be shown) primarily recognize whole words. But getting there in one step is virtually impossible.I saw this happen with my sibling, who is not an intellectual slouch by any means (has an MS in library science).
(DIR) Post #ASZl7IlJSOyBJtaQ3k by historianess@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T16:42:28Z
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I also had lost hearing as a toddler due to several successive, serious ear infections. I had a speech impediment that the school district played down. I'm sure I was not hearing the way other kids did.I was also blind like a bat, and I outgrew glasses prescriptions every few months as I became more and more nearsighted.So I had some physical challenges as well as a brain that didn't really get the point of phonics. 3/
(DIR) Post #ASZlqOrLdN8DGHuieG by historianess@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T16:52:35Z
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@publius the point I'm making is that reading is highly individual and we need curricula that can adapt to different needs. What worked for me might not work for your sibling, etc.
(DIR) Post #ASZsC82NSTXjBVoiR6 by ERBeckman@historians.social
2023-02-11T17:20:18Z
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@publius @historianess Strawman!Nobody advocates whole language only. Balanced literacy is the approach being attacked in the well-written, shallowly-researched pieces like this.
(DIR) Post #ASa6EcaqDp8ltD1J4K by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-11T20:41:04Z
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@ERBeckman @historianess If there were any clear definition of "balanced literacy", or evidence of its effectiveness, that might mean something.But most primary-school teachers are more attached to their personal prejudices than to the well-being of their students, as established by the experimental result that the best predictor of a student's marks in a given year is what the teacher was told his marks were in the previous year. Many of them are child abusers by any reasonable definition.
(DIR) Post #ASaFmM1FFY2Bv2Wv9k by ERBeckman@historians.social
2023-02-11T21:00:04Z
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@publius *citation needed, for the claim about thousands of primary school teachers.In these debates peoples own experiences (like Kristoff observing other people's children learning *purely phonetic* language coding) hold much more sway than evidence.Please see my later Toot for the range of evidence that I am using. I am not an expert, but "science of reading" is journalistic claptrap and "balanced literacy" is a research-based approach.
(DIR) Post #ASaXst0FKNYT84KLaK by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-12T01:50:53Z
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@ERBeckman Of primary school teachers I personally experienced, in a "good" district, apparently a reasonable sample, three out of five should not have been allowed near children at all.They either condoned or outright encouraged bullying to simplify their classroom management problem, a practice I have no reason to believe is not pervasive at this hour.They were often ignorant of the subjects they were set to teach, and students who expressed interest were classed as "disruptive".
(DIR) Post #ASaY1SJluZgUyOXwEy by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
2023-02-12T01:52:26Z
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@ERBeckman Furthermore, sometimes they KILL students. And when they do, they face no professional or legal consequences for doing so. Indeed, in a case which occurred not too long ago in my city, the principal of the school sent flowers to the funeral. Anyone with the least sense of human decency would have resigned not only his position but the profession.https://neuroclastic.com/xavier-hernandez-fort-worth-autism-restraint-death/
(DIR) Post #ASbsPWKOqVmibMYJCS by ERBeckman@historians.social
2023-02-12T16:47:27Z
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@publius Sounds like the issues that you are facing are well beyond phonics. I am sorry to hear about those problems, and I will be exiting this conversation.