Re(2): reading

Linda Polin (lpolin who-is-at pepperdine.edu)
Fri, 25 Jun 1999 08:35:23 -0800

Warning, a bit of a cranky ramble... delete now.

I have a five year old who has just completed kindergarten and before that
two years of childcare at the Pacific Oaks Children's School ( PO is an
early childhood ed college).

Sarah probably learned to do all those "target" activities in our home,
e.g., playing with plastic letters (making real and pretend words) that
stick to the bathroom tile while in her bath. She learned a lot from Sesame
St. too, which frankly surprised me. (I don't think TV is inherently evil.)
But she also learned a lot in her childcare setting, eg, "signing in"
herself on the class roster every morning. (ACtually, there's a terrific
story of LPP here but I'll pass for now.) It is possible to cut and paste,
mess with clay, water, sand, paint, dress-up clothes, blocks, Legos,
politically correct dolls, climbing structures, bikes, and so on while also
acquiring some of the ideas you've listed.

I don't understand the need to polarize in education. Us and them; good and
bad. For instance, whole language never really eschewed "sounding out"
words and letters. It was there, in some degree. Yet, we get the
polarization of reading: phonics vs. whole language. Heck, in our teacher
ed. dept we all sneeringly refer to the state's mandate for a "balanced
approach to reading" cause we know they don't really mean it, we think. Why
do we do this to ourselves and our work? I participate in this too, alas.
Is this about identity? Are we just peeing on the corners of our territory,
drawing lines in the sand, etc etc. Does it help us know what we believe by
pointing out what we don't? It hardly ever does the field any good. I
think, at least for myself, it's about a lack of trust in the "other"
people handling these ideas and making decisions based on them. I dunno...

=end of cranky spiel=

>We live in interesting times:
>Martin
>The Guardian, London (alas no longer Manchester)
> 23 June 1999, The Guardian, p.5
> Play is out, early learning is in / Home News
> John Carvel, Education Editor
>
>
>"Minister backs structured nursery schooling and warns days of children
>colouring and cutting are over
>
>Children should start learning to read, write and count as young as three,
>and should have mastered the rudiments before the end of their first year
>in primary school, the government said yesterday as minister set out to
>bury the idea that early childhood is a time for carefree play.
>
>Margaret Hodge, the education minister, said children from disadvantaged
>backgrounds deserved the
> well-structured nursery education that was seen as a matter of course in
>middle class homes.
>
>Play in playgroups and nurseries should be "purposeful''. The days of
>toddlers "colouring, cutting and pasting''
>are over. "
>
>
>"Targets for toddlers
>
> Naming and sounding all the letters of the alphabet;
>
> Reading a range of common words and simple sentences
>independently;
>
> Showing comprehension of stories;
>
> Holding a pencil effectively and forming recognisable letters;
>
> Using phonetic knowledge to make plausible attempts at complex
>words;
>
> Writing their own names and forming sentences, sometimes using
>punctuation;
>
> Counting reliably up to 10 everyday objects:
>
> Recognising numerals 1 to 9;
>
> Understanding the vocabulary of adding and subtracting;
>
> Asking about why things happen and how things work."