Wow..... Just Wow.....
We have all listened to it..... ( If you haven't, don't worry, it's linked below)
Sold A Story Podcast( click on Title to gain access)
If we know better we do better....
What are your thoughts?
1...2.....3 GO!
Rebecca Minerd
Rebecca Minerd
As an educator, this is the most powerful podcast I have listened to regarding education! It answers so many questions I have always had about reading instruction- especially early literacy. As a fifth grade teacher for many years, I often saw students struggle with many basic literacy skills. It always seemed to me that several students had learned coping mechanisms to help them "get through" text. This podcast was a true "eye opener" and answers lots questions to things I have often wondered.
ReplyDeleteAs a 27 year educator this hits close to home. I have taught every aspect of the cueing system and believed it. This is mind blowing. I see it now! I understand the need for change and see a path forward toward meaningful change.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED this podcast! It brings to light a real problem in our schools today. We try to get quicker results by putting the cart before the horse and what do we end up with - struggling readers. You cannot teach reading comprehension before a student has learned to read. Solid, quality phonics (decoding) instruction is a must and the first step to teaching a student how to read. Let’s do it right the first time instead of backtracking once a student feels like they’ve failed. We hold the power to give them a better chance. Why would we not use it?!
ReplyDeleteThoughts...so many that my head is spinning. Is this perhaps why with each passing year we see more and more students who don't enjoy reading? It is not that they don't /wouldn't enjoy reading; it is that they haven't been given the instruction to be a successful reader. I also keep thinking about something that Lacy Robinson talked about with regards to how she learned to read. She was successful when someone taught her to read using phonics, and then she turned around and taught her grandmother to read. This was telling because we know that when you can teach or show someone how to do something you have a strong grasp of the content or skill. Sold a Story has inspired me and invigorated my purpose in the classroom!
ReplyDeleteI loved the comments about students vs adult perceptions regarding how boring phonics is was very interesting....
DeleteEye opening is what first came to mind after listening to Sold a Story. Having taught Pre Kindergarten, Kindergarten and First grade for over 25 years I was taught to use the various cueing systems and therefore taught it to my students. Fountas and Pinnell were the reading programs I used along with Lucy Calkins. It appeared to me according to those program guidelines that the students were making progress and were becoming great readers. I wonder how many are truly proficient readers now. Now that I know better, I am looking forward to continuing my education to help all students.
ReplyDeleteThis hits home to EVERY primary teacher..... and every upper elementary and Middle School teacher who get students who can not read.....
DeleteDecades ago, I used the Saxon Phonics program with third graders, and by that point they weren't interested in phonics or reading. The lower grades were focusing on sight word recognition and spelling. By the time the kids came to me, many weren't readers, it was all rote memorization and there was no background of phonemic awareness. I agree that a good phonics program should start off at the beginning of the primary years, which will help with blending; which spelling/sight words could be incorporated and not taught as a separate entity.
ReplyDeleteMy very first throughts were "How did this happen, and why has it taken us 45+ years to recognize this as a problem?!" I guess it's because I learned to read through phonics, sounding words out, spelling rules, and learning word parts that it seemed so foreign when site words and whole language became the new way of teaching reading. This especially came to light when my own boys were learning to read and were expected to learn 100 new site words each week. I remember thinking with 400,000 words in the English dictionary, at this rate it's going to take them the rest of their lives to learn all the words! It was even more frustrating when they struggled with reading a word, and I tried to help them. I would say things like, "Just sound it out," and "Look at the first vowel; is it a long vowel or short vowel?" When that didn't work I would try drawing the line, two dots, or u-shape over the vowel signifying the long or short sounds and they would just look at me like I was absolutely crazy! Anyway, hearing this information was bittersweet as it reminded me of what could've been for all these years but also what still can be!
ReplyDeleteI do think this is part of the reason students are still struggling when they get to you in middle school.....
DeleteI don't teach reading, but I can't image how covering a word and having students guess what it might be would be a good reading strategy! Teaching students to sound out letters seems to be a much more beneficial way for students to actually learn to read.
ReplyDelete