Re: some joint activity re contextless reading?

Eugene Matusov (ematusov who-is-at UDel.Edu)
Wed, 24 Mar 1999 13:15:05 -0500

Hi Ilda and everybody--

Ilda, reading your description of the situation in Massachusetts, I could
not keep myself from a comment on the policy matter:

>Here in Massachusetts, teachers were also
> mandated to use whole language.

"Mandated whole language approach" sounds for me as a contradiction in terms
like "mandated love."

I'm not a specialist in language art but as a parent of a child in an US
public school, I prefer good old phonics approach (or whatever it is called)
when kids memorized rules. Why? I prefer that my son hates grammar and
phonics rules than The Diary of Anna Frank (as it is now after going to
California school with "mandated whole language approach.")

What do you think?

Eugene

----- Original Message -----
From: Ilda Carreiro King <kingil who-is-at bc.edu>
To: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: some joint activity re contextless reading?

> Ken,
> I find this interchange somewhat ironic. I would think you would be
> sensitive to superficial representations of methodologies given what
> happened to whole language. Here in Massachusetts, teachers were also
> mandated to use whole language but at the city or town level since we do
not
> have centralized state control of education in Massachusetts. They were
> sometimes given a book to read or a one day to one week summer workshop to
> attend.
>
> Primarily what I experienced as a consultant was the same horror you are
> envisioning with phonics mandates. School boards were thrilled because
they
> could stop buying expensive basals with supporting workbooks and saved a
lot
> of money by buying the teachers 5 Big Books for the year- no exaggeration-
> and they could share them among all first grade teachers since the kids
> didn't need them! And I remember lots of circles of 20 children choral
> reading after the teacher holding the Big Book. And I got lots of
teachers
> telling parents that one day, their child would read- don't worry- it
would
> just happen. Just like one day they talked. I think you would be as
> appalled as I was at viewing this as what whole language was all about.
>
> What teachers told me and I observed was that no training or understanding
> went with this mandate. Their books and materials needed to be put away
or
> taken away and they were supposed to improvise on creativity. Most were
> embarrassed to take out a basal, even if it contained a good story, or a
> phonics worksheet, even if the child expressed a request to learn about a
> phonogram. It was the same disaster I have seen whenever any one system
of
> reading instruction is mandated.
>
> What I learned was that teachers need in-classroom, ongoing support to
adopt
> new practices and that mandating a teacher to use one thing doesn't work
for
> kids or teachers.
>
> I have taught kids reading successfully for over 25 years. I have been
> fortunate to have supervised experiences with flexible instructors who
> taught me to put the learner first and learn many techniques.
>
> I share your outrage at mandating anything but agree to disagree about
> phonics.
>
> Ilda
>
>