LM_NET: Library Media Networking
I have a long background in elementary teaching and many years in first
grade. I agree wholeheartedly with the point Dawn is making. I once taught
for a school system that would not allow any outside books in my first grade
classroom except the reading series. That series consisted of a series of
dittoed sheets teaching phonics . Sounds taught were then blended into
simple stories. The part of this system that was the worst was the reading
sheet that came periodically which consisted of a series of nonsense words
using the sounds we had learned. The rationale was that kids should be able
to sound out WITHOUT meaning. Now that is the extreme.
Of course there were students in my class who could not learn this way. I
gathered my chicks together and told them that we were not going to be doing
these nonsense sheets. Reading is FUN and you can learn how to read great
stories, but we will not discuss this omission with anyone. I then brought
secretly to my room all my collection of trade books that I had collected in
a more enlightened district. We read all the time; much of it I read to them
to fill their heads with interesting language and funny, sad, inspiring,
fanciful, factual stuff. We still did our phonics because true whole
language does it ALL. (Some people claim that kids are bored with the early
stories that are done to make use of learned sounds, but in my experience
kids are thrilled to be able to read something that makes sense - they do
grow out of them quickly, but they give a much-needed confidence builder.)
We also wrote a lot, sometimes in sand to increase sensation, and even
formed our bodies into letters.
All my kids always learned to read in their own time, but they didn't miss
out on great stuff just because they couldn't puzzle it out on their own.
Many parents came to read with kids every day so each kid had a one-on-one
experience at least once a day. I am not exceptional, but I hate to see
either side of the equation get short shrift. We teach a child, not a method
and that is where our expertise comes in. Use ALL your bag of tricks and
something will catch with everyone. What is our real goal here? Or as my
father used to say, keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole.
Rebecca Endlich Librarian
Edmonds-Woodway High School endlichr@edmonds.wednet.edu
7600-212th St. SW ph.425-670-7311
ext.6127
Edmonds, WA 98026 fax 425-670-7922
> ----------
> From: Dawn Sardes[SMTP:Dmsardes@AOL.COM]
> Reply To: Dmsardes@AOL.COM
> Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 6:22 PM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: GEN: Dick and Jane (was: family literacy)
>
> In a message dated 05/01/2001 12:03:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> kumbach@UNLIMITED.NET writes:
>
> > I recall using the Dick and Jane readers when I was in
> > elementary school (what, first grade? 1953 or thereabouts), but we
> > definitely also learned at least basic phonics -- the two worked
> together
> > hand-in-glove. Although Dick and Jane and their dog what's-his-name
> may
> > not have been cutting edge literature, I have never felt that they
> deprived
> > me of a sound foundation in reading.
>
> In the early 60's, I was also instructed through the Dick & Jane books,
> and
> was given a solid phonics foundation. I dropped out of high school to
> care
> for my mother and MR brother in 1973. I saw no need to delay my own life,
> so
> I married, and my son was born in 74. My husband & I were so poor (his
> minimum wage job paid $1.65 an hour) we could not afford luxuries like
> televisions, movies, and a car. We walked our son to the library and took
> books to the park to read while we ate wish sandwiches (2 slices of bread,
> butter, mustard, wish we had some meat).
>
> I also taught my son to sound words out. By age 3, I could give him an
> encyclopedia and he could read it (even if he had no idea what the words
> meant). When he started school, I was told by his teacher that he
> "sounded
> out his words" and that I should never have taught him that. I was told
> to
> stop allowing him to read at home and that she was going to have a hard
> time
> "breaking him of his bad reading habits."
>
> Being a high school drop out, I deferred to her opinion. He became
> uninterested in school very quickly. By 2nd grade, he was failing, acting
> out, and could not pay attention. They tested him and said he had ADHD
> and
> advised me to get him on Ritalin. Instead, I took him down the street to
> the
> nearest Catholic school, begged the tuition money from my parents, and
> sent
> him there (No, we're not Catholic, but my son did convert at age 13).
> They
> had a strong phonics program. Within a month the behaviors were gone and
> he
> was excited about school and learning and reading again.
>
> I don't know why I'm even telling you all this, except to say that no
> single
> program "works" for every kid. I have seen kids thrive on whole language
> and
> end up frustrated with phonics too. Whole language does not mean (and
> never
> has meant) that basic skills such as phonetics are ignored. Kids do not
> learn by osmosis.
>
> Dawn Sardes
> YA Librarian
> Euclid Public Library
> Euclid, OH
> dmsardes@aol.com
>
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