"I am capable of navigating research". (Professor P.L. Thomas)

P. L. Thomas is a Professor at Furman University.

He said on his Twitter message on 7.4.2020 - ‘I have a doctorate and I know that I do *not* know everything even though I am capable of navigating research.’

To teach or not to teach the correct pronunciation of phonemes

Since 2010, I have been harping on the correct pronunciation of phonemes. 

A majority of us learn to read despite the pronunciation of phonemes being taught wrongly. However, about 20% of kids – the smart kids who like to learn things logically – shut down from learning when the pronunciation of phonemes is taught wrong. These are the smart kids who are then wrongly classified as dyslexic.

Plug holes in my hypothesis - a comment by a friend

Here is a message on messenger from a good friend which I think is better answered on my blog so that others may benefit from it.

Idiotic statement by Dr. Robert Slavin

Here is one statement on Robert Slavin’s blog post that I would like to discuss.

“…However, I do not think there are many students who could succeed with non-phonetic approaches…”

"Students who need phonics and students who do not" -Robert Slavins blog Part 3

This is a continuation of the email that I had sent to Robert Slavin.

Extract from Robert’s blog post:

“Since it is impossible to know in advance which students will need phonics and which will not, it just makes sense to teach using methods likely to maximize the chances that all children (those who need phonics and those who would succeed with or without them) will succeed in reading.”

Preposterous idea - Dr.Robert Slavin blog post Part 2

Here is an email I wrote to Dr. Robert Slavin on 28.3.2020 when there was no response to my comment on his blog post - ‘Science of Reading: Can We Get Beyond Our 30-Year Pillar Fight?’

The Shameful practices of many ‘Educated’ Americans

One of the most shameful practices of American Educators is the fact that they bury their heads into the ground when they are cornered by questions they cannot respond to.

Reid Lyon and David Boulton of the Children of the Code fame are just two of the many.

Timothy Shanahan ignores comments which he cannot respond too.

Reading Wars - Robert Slavin's blog post Part 1

                                                                  Robert Slavin (Ph.D.)
                                                                Educational Researcher

Let us take a short break from Diane Ravitch and get back to her later.

Meanwhile, 
Here is a blog post by Robert Slavin written on 26.3.2020, on which I commented. The author has touched on the heart of the ‘Reading Wars’.

The following are a few extracts from the blog above.

Turning a blind eye or remaining oblivious

Here is a post on LinkedIn by a LinkedIn Connection, Nitu Bhojwani on 3.4.2020 which I am copying verbatim.

Diane Ravitch - Philosopher of Education?

                                                            Philosopher of Education

On the internet, it says Diane Ravitch's blog is 'A site to discuss better education for all.'

I read the following on Diane Ravitch's Blog .

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Joint Statement Regarding

“Science of Reading”

KEY TAKEAWAY:

It’s time for the media and political distortions to end, and for the literacy community and policymakers to fully support the literacy needs of all children.

Unfortunately, this media coverage has distorted the research evidence on the teaching of reading, with the result that policymakers are now promoting and implementing policy based on misinformation.

This key idea of a “balanced literacy” approach stresses the importance of phonics, authentic reading, and teachers who can teach reading using a full toolbox of instructional approaches and understandings.

At the very least, federal and state legislation should not continue to do the same things over and over while expecting different outcomes.

I made the following comment and I expected Diane Ravitch to agree or dispute what I said.

A comment on Diane Ravitch's Blog Post

Here is a response from a teacher who responded to my comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog post.

bethree5 on NEPC: There Is No “Science of Reading”.

My comment truncated:

“The researchers who only speak one language – English – have yet to do research on why many smart kids can read in Malay and Romanised Mandarin, both of which use the same letters as English but are unable to read in English. I have done that research for 15 years with more than 70 […]”

8 - Innate learning difficulties or learned difficulties

                                                                    David Boulton

David Boulton on an article in the Children of the Code said:

10 times the number of kids who have innately biologically ordered learning difficulties have learning difficulties that are a consequence of what they learned…... Until such time we can read that they are cognitively going askew relative to what they have learnt in the past then our teaching is kind of brute force against this deep core stuff that is working against us.

How much of what they are struggling with is an innate learning problem and how much of what they are struggling with is what they have learned in the past working against them learning now.

Balanced Literacy?

Unable to find suitable books to teach my so-called dyslexic students, I decided to print my own material for teaching kids using phonics created with family words picked up from the internet.

Then I incorporated sight words for them to memorise so that reading will be fluent. 

7 Unhealthy learning

In a video called ‘Unhealthy Learning’ David Boulton says: 

When a child’s mind starts to develop avoidance of confusion then that avoidance can spill out to the confusion that is involved to learning about other things and it is this – this core deep structure of readings influence, both cognitive, linguistic, automatic processing level and at the emotional avoidance level why reading has a powerful core relation ….

Stephen Parker - Phonics proponent Part 2

I know Stephen Parker is teaching phonics accurately. If phonics is taught the way he does then for sure there will be no kid disengaging from learning to read.