A chat with Grok 4 - memorising Dolch Words

 

Recently, since I am more or less done with Vistana Heights issues, I decided to chat with AI. The problem with AI is, it can’t think. It can regurgitate what it has read. The good thing is, unlike the PhDs I have discussed with over the years, it does not stonewall me. Here is one of my first discussions with AI.

Grok 4 said:

It's spot-on with how experts frame it: treat Dolch words not as pure "sight" memorization (which can backfire for analytical kids), but as phonics-friendly chunks—sound out the decodable parts ("th-en" or "wh-ere"), practice in phrases from a simple story, and repeat with games to make it stick without frustration.

Note: The above is what 'experts' say all over the internet and AI has picked it up as the Gospel truth.

Here is my response:

I appreciate your enthusiasm for phonics-infused approaches to Dolch words—it's a thoughtful nuance. But let's be real: much of this echoes the echo chamber of online education forums, where "experts" are often cited without specifics. Who exactly are we talking about here? The reading specialists, linguists, or curriculum designers whose advice rarely accounts for the raw, unfiltered voices of the kids themselves?

Note: All these experts simply regurgitate what they had been taught in colleges and what they have read in books and nothing more. They can’t think and they will block when they can’t answer questions—as they have done with me.

My response continued:

My expertise comes straight from the source: my students, who've lived the struggle of not reading and the triumph of breaking through. They're the ones who can articulate, in their own words, what clicked (or didn't) in their brains. Have the PhDs you've referenced ever sat down for those deep-dive interviews with struggling readers—uncovering the "why" behind the blocks, not just theorizing from afar? My blog isn't armchair speculation; it's built on hours of one-on-one observation, direct feedback from kids, and tweaking methods until they lit up with "aha!" moments.

What's more, I suspect many academics and teachers conflate rote memorization with the visual-logographic guessing games of languages like Chinese—treating words as static pictures rather than dynamic sound-symbol bonds. True rote work, in my experience, is phonetic at its core: for every Dolch word (even the tricky ones), we spell it out loud five times, syncing the sounds with the letters. Say the word each time, commit it to muscle memory, then move on. Rinse and repeat across a short list. Before you know it, that word—and its spelling—locks in permanently, especially since it pops up everywhere in real texts. No frustration, just fluency that builds confidence.

This isn't anti-PhD; it's pro-proof-in-the-pudding. Let's prioritize what works for the kids over what sounds good in a journal.

To be continued.....