Why and why not

Here is a tweet I read this morning responding to one of my tweets.

A Williams aka Ms. Worf @Ms_Worf Replying to @luqmanmichel and @MartinOdimaJr

Where I worked as an elementary teacher, they did very little to find out the why. Where I am now as a high school teacher, we focus on finding the why. Personally, finding and addressing the why is of extreme importance because no one tried to help me with my why.

 

I responded as follows.

Luqman Michel Replying to @Ms_Worf and @MartinOdimaJr

This is what I did since I started tutoring my first student who was smart but could not read a single sentence after completing a year in primary one. I then started teaching more such students and asked why they were able to read in Malay but not in English. 1/

Elaboration:

I am not a trained teacher and have worked in the audit field since leaving school in 1972. Perhaps this is the reason I started asking the question WHY and looked for answers as Teacher’s training has not clouded my mind. No one has indoctrinated my mind into thinking that the instructional casualties could not be taught to read.

The Anglo Sphere has a standard answer to why kids are able to read in Malay but not in English. They keep repeating that it is because English is an opaque language. If we think for a minute we will know that this cannot be true. This proves what Einstein had once said - stupidity has no limits. 

My research by observing and interviewing my students and questioning myself why kids were unable to read gave me the answers which I have listed in my post at

https://dyslexiafriend.com/2021/10/three-main-reasons-why-kids-disengage.html.

 The reasons are from the experts, my students, and not from some Ph.D.'s. 2/

Elaboration:

We listen to Ph.D.’s and scientists instead of the experts themselves – the instructional casualties. Seriously, who knows better than the kids themselves. Listen to the kids interviewed by David Boulton in Children of the Code at https://www.dyslexiafriend.com/2015/09/shame-avoidance.html

Now, another why. Why can't educators discuss this? Why would Ph.D.'s like @ReadingShanahan ask for proof that consonants should not be taught with extraneous sounds?

Read my post at https://dyslexiafriend.com/2021/11/timothy-shanahan-on-phonemic-awareness.html

3/

Elaboration:

Timothy is not the only Ph.D. who has asked me for evidence to prove that consonants should not be taught with extraneous sounds. We look for the Holy Grail but when presented I get idiotic questions like the one asked by Timothy and many others.

Researchers have said for more than 20 years that a majority of kids classified as dyslexic are in fact instructional casualties. Do you know what has been instructed wrongly that can now be corrected? Why has @ChalkbeatCO not answered my questions at http://dyslexiafriend.com

Elaboration:

I tagged those concerned on Twitter but no one has responded. I wrote an email to the senior writer,  Ann Schimke aschimke@chalkbeat.org on 31.3.2020 and she said she will read my post and get back to me and has not. Why not?

I asked the panelists during the Zoom meeting but have yet to get a response. Why not?

Until and unless concerned parents start asking for answers, kids will continue leaving school as functional illiterates.