Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The Defeaning silence of Diane Ravitch






Below is another comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog post. Surely, one would have expected a response from someone who is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University. 

This comment is by a retired teacher.

The Science of Reading” is a misused meme by the disrupters to promote standardization of reading instruction with the ultimate goal of teaching beginning reading on-line. This goal has nothing to do with “science,” and it has everything to do with creating a large market for private software vendors.

As a teacher of thirty plus years, I have taught students from many of the poorest countries on earth, most of whom spoke no English and many of whom could not read in their home language when they arrived, I have used a modified balanced literacy approach successfully for at least twenty years. Not only did I have fewer than ten percent of my students referred for special education services, more importantly, I know that many of my former students lead successful, productive lives. They also developed an appreciation for good literature, and many of them completed post secondary education as well…

I then made the following remark to the comment above.

luqmanmichel
March 20, 2020 at 4:17 pm

You said, “This goal has nothing to do with “science,” and it has everything to do with creating a large market for private software vendors.”

I believe so too. I made a few comments in two FB accounts run by advocates of SoR and my comments were removed and I was kicked out of the groups. (This appears to be a common  practice of most whites.)

I have evidence from students and adults from many countries that most of them learned to read by analysis. They were taught pronunciation of phonemes wrongly and still pronounce them wrongly as of now but are good readers.

They were able to read a list of nonsense words I had extracted from a book by Dr.David Kilpatrick.

My question to NEPC will be - would you like to discuss how most people around the world have learned to read?

However, my main concern is how do we stop kids shutting down from learning to read and being wrongly classified as dyslexic.


My additional comments now:

I would have expected Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education, to contribute to the discussion. But, as I have noticed in the last 10 years these educators have no opinion when something completely new comes up.


                               What the Educators can't Comprehend does not Exist

I have always asked to be questioned on what I write but they just stay mum.

As for the retired teacher, who made the above comment, obviously, she taught ‘normal’ kids and in her 30 years she says she had less than 10% kids referred to special education.

Who were the kids who needed special education? Why did they need special education? Could they be the kids predisposed to shutting down? 

How did these students (university students) whom I have now recorded able to read the list of nonsense words when they did not learn the pronunciation of phonemes correctly?

Does Diane Ravitch know why kids shut down from learning to read?
Why does she not ask her research mates, to discuss this matter with me and do research to confirm or otherwise what I have discovered.?


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I read Diane Ravitch' s comments of her experience of teaching English to children in underdeveloped countries. I am a teacher with 50 years teaching experience starting in Malaysia, where I studied, then London and now in Australia. I stumbled upon Michel Luqman's approach to teaching children through a ' tried and tested' method and see a great potential using this method to teach beginners reading.I tutor students in year 11 and 12 ATAR English and am persuaded to believe that this man has much to offer the world.

When I asked my students 16 and 17 year olds most of them could not 'sound' the letters of the alphabet as they should. Those of us who have been following Michel's blog will know what I mean.

Now that we have got to the bottom of why kids shut down, can we put an end to this battle of wits and support this man to help children overcome reading difficulty and begin to enjoy reading at a very young age through a simple direct, practical and above all an easy approach to learning. You have my support.

Luqman Michel said...

Thank you very much for these encouraging words and your support.
May the Good Lord Bless you and keep you.