Phonics Plus Dolch Words: Fishing Rod and Fish

 

This is a continuation of my post yesterday.

Diana Black Kennedy    Educational Therapist, Speaker, Author – Answer to another question

If you teach them phonics, then what is your argument?

The reason having them memorize the dolch words as one full chunk is problematic because memorizing words as one chunk is not the most efficient way to teach kids to read--it is sort of like giving the man a fish rather than teaching them to fish. Not to mention that if words are learned as one whole chunk rather than through repeated decoding means that they are recalled less efficiently because there are less connections to the words. If a word can be decoded it should be taught through decoding. Even words that are irregular generally are only semi-irregular. It is more powerful to teach kids to decode the parts they can and focus their energy memorizing the parts that are irregular.

Empowering Teachers Means Using Every Tool

 

In Response to Dr. Sam Bommarito's recent post. Link. 

This post is in response to a recent post by Dr. Sam. I agree with his observation about how scientists often enter arguments. Years ago, he interviewed me. It was not a debate — he asked questions, and I answered them. Yet the interview was never aired. Was it because he could not accept my discovery?

Education: The Only Profession Everyone Thinks They Can Run

The following tweet captures a maddening truth: 

Education is one of the few fields where people with no training feel entitled to dictate methods, policies, and “best practices.” Nobody would let a passerby advise a surgeon mid-operation or redesign an engineer’s bridge. Yet in classrooms—especially in reading instruction—voices from policymakers, academics, influencers, and even trainers who’ve never sat with a failing child often carry more weight than those who have.

Part 3: The Grail Contaminated – Why Clarity Still Fails Some Children

 

In Part 2, I explained that clarity in instruction—the correct sounds of letters, taught step by step—is the Grail. It prevents confusion and keeps children from shutting down. But even with clarity, some children still struggle. Why?

 

Because the human mind is like the human egg. Once an idea has entered, it is difficult for a new one to penetrate. This is especially true for curious, intelligent children. They absorb early input eagerly, and when that input is wrong, it embeds itself deeply. Later correction often bounces off. These are the very children who shut down—not because they lack ability, but because their early learning was contaminated.

Literacy Architects and their silly notions

 

Here is a post by the Literacy Architects. On their website, they boast that they promote the use of evidence-based literacy routines in grades PreK-12.

Literacy Architects:

Traditionally, high-frequency and irregular words have been taught through memorization, a method that often falls short of promoting genuine literacy skills.

My comment:

What memorisation are they talking about? Is it the same memorisation method mentioned by the Dyslexia Proponents? Many of the Dyslexia Proponents talk about visual memorisation which is absolute nonsense. LINK and LINK. 

Where did these teachers learn to teach kids this way of memorisation is beyond me? 

Rote memorisation

The following is extracted from Greg Ashman’s blog post which you may read here.