Unfortunately, our highly regarded profession does place a lot of blame,
and in many cases, tends to avoid taking accountability.  Does a lack of
phonics translate into a lack of reading ability?  Yes.  I don't think
you can possibly read if you don't realize that letters make sounds, and
these letters and sounds make up words.  However, the bigger picture
remains:  if children are not taught to value reading, and if books are
not readily available, they will not be able to read and comprehend
well, even if they have a basic understanding of phonics.  I previously
taught 5th grade in Baltimore City and had a child who struggled to
sound out the name "Tom."  It took a lot of hard work, but we worked on
phonics and comprehension, and he made up a lot of ground over the
course of the year.  It certainly didn't help that his father was in
jail, and he witnessed his mother's murder by her boyfriend, and the
grandmother that was raising him died of a heart attack, and he (with
his 5 siblings) was finally living with his great grandmother.  Literacy
obviously was not stressed in his formative years.  I believe that it is
the family's, school's, and community's responsibility to encourage
literacy.  It takes a village to raise a child.

Angie

 

  _____  

From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Bruce Carmel
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 11:38 AM
To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Subject: Re: [LearningDisabilities] Reading difficulties in adults -
alegacy ofpast teaching methods

 

Dear Colleagues:

I really don't know where to begin...  I just read some postings
claiming that the reason why some adults do not know how to read is that
they were not taught enough phonics.  I think that really trivializes
the deep challenges faced by adults who cannot read.  I know there is
not a lot of research and certainly no consensus.  Based on my
experience as a teacher, researcher, and reader of research--I would
consider parents who didn't read, no books in the house,  not going to
school at all, an environment where reading wasn't valued, trauma,
learning disabilites, and something about brain function among the
possible causes of illiteracy. 

 

I know the phonics-whole language-balanced literacy debate rages on.  I
know it can get passionate.  But do people really believe that whole
language is the cause of illitera cy in America?  If they do, how would
they explain people who didn't know how to read before whole language
techniques were developed?   I had hoped we were a profession of honest
and deep exploration and research--not a professional of illogical
blame. 

 

Bruce Carmel

 

 

 

  _____  

Yahoo! Autos
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=38381/%20ylc=X3oDMTEzcGlrdGY5BF9TAzk3MTA3MDc
2BHNlYwNtYWlsdGFncwRzbGsDMWF1dG9z/*http:/autos.yahoo.com/index.html%20>
. Looking for a sweet ride? Get pricing, reviews, & more on new and used
cars.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/attachments/20060130/3b2f6307/attachment.html