Do teachers know how to teach kids to read (Part 2)

                                                                      

The Madwoman in the Classroom, @heymrsbond, took offense with the following on my blog post:

Luqman Michel

The Madwoman in the Classroom @heymrsbond

'Secondary English teachers don’t teach students how to read. We aren’t taught how to teach students how to read.' But her Twitter profile says she is a Literacy educator • teacher-scholar. Read more HERE.

The Madwoman in the Classroom @heymrsbond

Just because I don’t teach children decoding and phonics doesn’t mean I’m not a literacy teacher. Attacking my work for your promotion and engagement is weird.

Luqman Michel

It has nothing to do with promotion.

I thought, perhaps wrongly, that a literacy expert should know why kids cannot decode. I am not even a trained teacher and I know. Have you bothered to know? Perhaps it is time to know so that we may together reduce illiteracy.

I then copy-pasted a definition from the Internet as follows:

Literacy teachers focus on improving the reading skills of their students.  They may be known by several other titles, such as reading teacher or reading specialist. They work with students who need extra assistance in  reading at grade level.

The Madwoman in the Classroom @heymrsbond

Where did I say, in this tweet that you referenced, that I don’t know why students are unable to decode? You made an incorrect assumption. My point was that secondary English education does not prepare teachers to teach the fundamentals of how to read.

 

Luqman Michel

Thank you. Perhaps you may educate me with your knowledge of why kids are unable to decode. I will then share it in my blog for readers to learn from your experience.

Note: Does this woman know why children can’t decode? If she knows why kids cannot decode why is she not sharing it with the others?

If she does not, should she not discuss this matter openly so that she will not be ignorant for the rest of her life?

I just realised that she has blocked me.

How will we ever reduce illiteracy if teachers say they don’t know how to teach kids to read and yet refuse to have an open discussion so that others may benefit from our discussion?