The above was posted on LinkedIn by Ethan Lynn, Ph.D. Ethan Lynn, PhD Illiteracy Eradicator
His profile says: ‘I forewent my dream of being a university professor to join the ranks at Reading Horizons in a crusade to eradicate illiteracy because I had personally witnessed the impact of effective reading instruction.’
The following was written by Ethan on LinkedIn.
What are your thoughts on the topic?
Here are mine:
Foundational reading skills are essential to master especially if they occur beyond third grade.
I responded as follows:
Ethan Lynn, PhD are you referring to kids who have not been taught phonics in kindergarten to grade 3?
Why would we need to teach those who have learned phonics in kindergarten and grade 1 to be taught phonics after grade 3?
Ethan Lynn, PhD Author:
Luqman Michel, your assumption is correct: If kids already know phonics, then it's not necessary. However, many kids beyond third grade don't have those skills.
Luqman Michel
Ethan Lynn, PhD it may be a good idea to get a few teachers to ask kids in grade 4, who can't read, to pronounce the sounds of the consonants. I'll bet that they will pronounce the consonants with extraneous sounds. These are the kids who have disengaged from learning to read.
These kids give up because they can't understand why buhahtuh is pronounced bat or duhahguh is pronounced dog.
If teachers teach the sounds of consonants correctly as per this clip no kid will disengage from learning to read.
My comment now:
The above is the kind of nonsense educators write. They do not discuss the issues at hand.
i. Why wait until after grade three to determine if a kid cannot read at grade level? Are our educators that stupid not to be able to find out if a kid is reading below grade level by the end of grade 1?
ii. Why don’t many kids beyond third grade have phonics skills? Is Ethan telling us that some kindergartens and schools don’t teach phonics?
iii. As a researcher, has he now organised and asked teachers to get kids who can’t read at grade level in grades 4 and above to sound out the pronunciation of consonants? If not, why not?
iv. How does he eradicate illiteracy if he does not discuss matters he has not learned in school?
Will kids who can't read in grade 4 learn to read, without intervention, by the time they get to grade 6?
ReplyDeleteMany will. Many who are predisposed to shutting down will not.
Thank you for this comment. Yes. I agree. The many who will read are those who somehow figure out how to read.
DeleteThe ones who are predisposed to shutting down are the kids we need to be concerned about if we want to reduce the number of kids leaving school as illiterates.