Re: some joint activity re contextless reading?

Ilda Carreiro King (kingil who-is-at bc.edu)
Thu, 25 Mar 1999 07:24:53 -0500

Ken
How could anyone see Spaulding or any other phonics program as a complete
literacy program? Part of what you describe is a methodology frozen in
time. Current Orton Gillingham training at MA General engages its students
in critiquing what the methodology is strong at doing, and what it lacks, so
that a well rounded program will be designed for the student using other
resources and then linked to complement and transfer skills. Even in the
70s we did that during our training, though less formally.

Thanks for the black list- in Massachusetts five years ago they tried to
certify a list of professional development providers but not around any
particular educational issue to my knowledge. But they gave up doing this.
TEachers design their own portfolio and so provide evidence of whatever
course work, or independent investigations they have undertaken for
recertification.

Ilda

Ken Goodman wrote:

> Romalda Spalding lays out her method in great detail in a book, The
> Writing Road to Reading (not to be confused with an IBM product) many
> years ago. In her method children do copy into a notebook every rule and
> subtle and must be able to recite them back verbatim. She also provides
> a record so teachers many learn to exactly imitate the sounds of the
> oral language as Ms. Spalding is saying them herself. She abolishes
> schwa for unaccented vowels insisting on full representations all the
> time. The book is anglocentric. To her english is superior to all other
> languages and therefore teachers must impost English phonology
> (according to Spalding). Again all this would be of only historical
> interest if it were not that laws in Arizona and other states are being
> passed that mandate that Spalding and like narrow- and unscientific-
> phonics programs will be required. Yes, Mike this is precisely the kind
> of narrow mandate that concerns me.
> --
> Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
> 504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
> fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
>
> These are mean times- and in the mean time
> We need to Learn to Live Under Water