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Friday, October 25. 2019

Somewhere around the time that "new math" became an educational fad, "whole word" reading was developed. Like New Math, the reasons for a new method were never made clear because everybody had been learning to read just fine with "phonics," otherwise known as "sounding it out."

We're in another era now. Now, there is "New, new math" from Common Core that nobody can understand. Supposedly it's meant to offer a deeper understanding of numbers. There is no more plain long division even though that old division sign was a great tool.

Will the government education machine finally accept that phonics is the easiest way to read? K–12: Phonics Is Winning

Posted by The Barrister in Education at 13:43 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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"Educational fads" are how money is made. Selling schoolbooks, dontcha know.

#1 Talnik on 2019-10-25 14:15 (Reply)

I am far removed from elementary school so, please explain what they do instead of long division? Is it just more complicated or did they leave it out entirely?

#2 mary on 2019-10-25 14:21 (Reply)

Here's what many public schools teach for division:

Let's say the problem is 15 divided by 3.

First, you draw three circles.

Next, you sequentially put a mark in each circle, counting up to fifteen as you do so, i.e. the first mark goes in circle #1, second mark in circle #2, third mark in circle #3, fourth mark in circle #1, etc.

Then, you count how many marks in each circle, i.e. five, and that's your answer.

Of course, this becomes problematic when you move to the next grade level and have to deal with problems like 3756 divided by 37. The response of the educators is - and I'm not making this up - that circle thing was just to teach the concept and now they can use a calculator.

#2.1 mike m on 2019-10-25 17:07 (Reply)

Thanks for the answer, mike m. My comment==Oh.My.Goodness! These kids will never be able to do the most basic adult tasks without a calculator. I guess they will use their new iPhones!

#2.1.1 mary on 2019-10-25 18:07 (Reply)

your spam catcher is very messed up

#3 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-25 14:50 (Reply)

It's probable based on the new whole language method.....or on an algorithm involving common core math.

#3.1 mike m on 2019-10-25 17:09 (Reply)

Whole language proponents have made two basic errors, both of which assume that children learn like adults. But since children are in many ways NOT like adults, why is it a valid assumption that children learn like adults?

The first basic error whole language proponents make is that adults basically read using a whole language [word] approach. Consider the following passage.

Can you read this?

QUOTE:

I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.

Literate adults can link these messed up spelling to actual words, as "taht I culod" looks like "that I could."

Adults look at this messed up passage on a word-by-word perusal- that is, using whole language. Adults do not decipher this passage by a syllable-by-syllable or phoneme-by-phoneme persual. That is, adults do not use a phonetics approach to decipher.

Whole language proponents then make the assumption that while adults use a whole language (complete words) approach to reading, that is the best way to teach children reading. The problem with this approach is that beginning readers have a very limited reading vocabulary, whereas adults have a reading vocabulary of thousands of words.

#4 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-25 15:07 (Reply)

A further mistake whole language proponents make is that in looking at the repetition and drill involved in teaching phonics, they use an adult's perception instead of a child's perception. An adult sees drilling and repetition, and thinks, "Drill and kill."
As a substitute teacher, I have conducted a phonics drill in a first grade classes. Sight and sound, sight and sound. Repeat, repeat. The students were on task. Children- and adults- like to talk, and this drill was a welcome change from the usual silence of the classroom. Moreover, they liked the repetition.

Look at reading to a four or five year old. A four or five year old will want the adult to read the same story night after night. The adult is tired of the same old story. Maybe change a word- the child will pounce : "That's NOT how the story goes." The child likes the repetition, because it reinforces what little the child knows.

#5 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-25 15:22 (Reply)

Whole language proponents of teaching reading would have children learn whole words. There are thousands- hundreds of thousands- of words. At a minimum there would be - SWAG time- several hundred words to learn/memorize in a beginning reader- enough stories for the whole year. By contrast, there are 44 phonemes -basic sounds- in the English language.

Considering these numbers, it would seem to be intuitively obvious that, instead of memorizing word by word, it would be easier to learn the 44 phonemes which would then enable a reader to sound out any word. (Yes, the approach wouldn't work for foreign language words,...) Moreover, this skill will last for a lifetime.

#6 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-25 15:32 (Reply)

Piggybackingg on AnnoyedCommenter's words, the best young readers are also sometimes very close to "whole word" readers. That is, they sound out a letter or two in their heads in an instant and guess a word of about the right length and shape. It goes so quickly it looks like whole word, and very soon, it is.

Therefore, the educators reasoned, let us teach all the children to read the same way the very fast readers do. It wasn't a terrible idea. Unfortunately, it didn't work but they keep trying.

Rather, I should say, it continues to work for a limited number of bright children. (Not all. some of the bright ones prefer phonics.)

#7 Assistant Village Idiot on 2019-10-25 16:52 (Reply)

60 yrs ago I taught myself phonics and became a top reader by 5th grade (I was reading at 12th grade level). Educators seem determined to destroy anything that works.

#8 cc on 2019-10-25 21:41 (Reply)

I read a fair amount about this 20 plus years ago when my kids were in elementary school and they were introducing the "whole word" method. The research I read about was mixed, sometimes it worked better, sometimes worse. It seems to me that there are probably some kids that would learn better in one method, and some in the other. In a sane world, we'd try to figure out what would work best for each child, and try to put them in that program.

#9 bk on 2019-10-25 22:03 (Reply)

Oh yes of course! Ignore the science. Ignore the poor end result, but help the kids to feel good about themselves in spite of their lack of any kind of accomplishment. Then when. . .oh never mind--just take a look at the young democrats in congress and tell me if you think they have the ability to give serious thought to any subject at all ! There is your proof that developing difficult skills and self discipline early on is essential.

I think at this point in the conversation we can switch over to the feminist idea that "just because we(women) have been held down for centuries--that gives us the right to steal someone else's work -- plagiarize! So, now we have the poorly read, and the concomitant incompetence in major management roles. Nice. All because mommy didn't want them to stress out too early, or more importantly because the teacher's union didn't want to actually hire people who were scholars into the classroom--only flunkettes!

#9.1 faculty wife on 2019-10-26 12:18 (Reply)

On the contrary, the research says that phonics is better. Check out the links at the American Thinker article. If you don't want to bother to read the article, here are links cribbed from the AT article.

Settled Science. Cites decades of studies.

Hard Words:Why aren't kids being taught to read?

#9.2 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-26 12:35 (Reply)

Heard an extensive report on the radio (NPR?) that interviewed both whole word and phonetics educators.

The science was terrifying clear that teaching whole word and adding the teaching of using pictorial clues and guessing (mentioned in the article) actual got the kids brains to pattern similar to dyslexics. Even doing both phonetics and the pictorial clues was harmful to the children's reading.

I texted my Mom about it. She taught structured phonics 30 years ago at a private learning center. When she left they had to hire three teachers to replace her.

I'll try to to get the name of the report and add it here.

#10 Mike on 2019-10-27 23:11 (Reply)

I found it, and tried to post it, but the spam filter didn't allow it.

#10.1 AnnoyedCommenter on 2019-10-29 16:15 (Reply)

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Friday, October 25. 2019

Sound it out!