Re: Dock and Jane: Family Literacy

[Joni J Rathbun <jrathbun@OREDNET.ORG>]

On Wed, 2 May 2001, Diane Pozar wrote:

> I learned to read with Dick and Jane(and Spot the dog and Puff the cat) in
> the early 50's.  I remember the :Think and Do Books which stressed phonics;
> I also rememeber being taught phonics separately; I can still see myself
> sitting with my Mom saying: cat, mat, fat, sat, from a small book.
>
> When I started teaching 2nd grade in 1969 the school district was still
> using Dick and Jane(Scott Foresman); we also used the think and do books and
> taught phonics.  When the district went to a new basal reading system a few
> years later(Houghton Mifflin, I Think) many of the stories were based on or
> taken from children's books and there was a major emphasis on phonics(again
> with the workbooks).

So when did *we* stop using phonics as they (who is they?) claim?
The research presented by the original poster says the decline began
in 1930 with the advent of look-say and continues right on thru
to today (assuming 1) everyone uses whole language, and 2) everyone
uses whole language without phonics). "They" go on to claim our
"failure" is clearly to be blamed on lack of phonics.
             ^^^^^^^
Yet we hear over and over that phonics have, indeed, been included.
You had them in the 50s. You taught them in the 60s and 70s. We're
teaching them in my school today. My son's teacher taught them in
the 90s. I missed the 80s....

How can we make a sweeping statement that lack of phonics has
resulted in poor literacy rates since the 1930s? Do we have numbers
that show how many of those tested did or did not receive phonics
instruction?


==========================================================================
"Obscenity and hate speech alike only become free speech issues when their
foes turn from censure to censorship. When we decided to let a thousand
flowers bloom, we always knew that some of them would be weeds."
                -- Henry Louis Gates Jr., educator, c. 1990
=========================================================================
J. Rathbun, Library Teacher
Lincoln E.S., North Las Vegas
Email: jrathbun@orednet.org



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