<p>annasdad – I wrote GETTING AWAY from phonics… which resulted in a half-generation of kids who couldn’t read. And don’t get me started on “new” math. </p>
<p>Smorgasbord, if I have to bet on anyone creating a sound curriculum, I’d bet on educators not administrators or especially, god help us, school boards.</p>
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<p>Honestly, if some of my teachers were allowed to create their own curriculums, classes would be like that school by the Blue Man group.</p>
<p>I know what you wrote, katliamom. I was making the point that phonics was a fad, one that could well be said to be the cause of a generation of kids with reading deficiencies.</p>
<p>In a longitudinal study of 26 reading programs, “Direct Instruction” phonics was the only program which showed substantial success. I do agree that the quality of teaching varies …I had some great teachers & some who were “less than great”. However, this is the case in every profession. I do believe that in general the elementary school teacher of today is not on par with those of 50-60 years ago. Reason being is that there are so many more career options for women now that just did not exist until the 1970’s-80’s’, thus teaching was a career choice for a higher percentage of the brightest women than today. Not sure with the Secondary level, which has typically been more “male dominated”.</p>
<p>It’s a societal problem, one which school systems have done a poor job of adjusting to. Growing up I wasn’t aware my HS was cr*p, but it was. Lots of wasted talent there, even though teachers were basically God, and parents backed them up. My BIL was ADHD and was given no quarter because of his problem. He adapted and became very successful. His S is ADHD and is allowed to go home any time he doesn’t “feel like” staying in school. He’ll barely graduate HS, and is VERY unlikely to be successful when/if he heads to college. Teachers in our current public HS are under pressure to facilitate social promotion. </p>
<p>None of these are teacher problems. (Now if someone would explain to me why non-verbal autistic kids are channeled into Choir rather than Band for their music performance requirement.)</p>
<p>“I do agree that the quality of teaching varies …”</p>
<p>No argument there. I sure am glad that management skills are universally high for all bosses! (Whoa, sorry about that momentary flight of fantasy. WHAT WAS I THINKING???)</p>
<p>Annasdad “New fads such as phonics?”</p>
<p>Katliamom “Annasdad… I wrote GETTING AWAY from phonics … which resulted in a half generation of kids who couldn’t read.”</p>
<p>Annasdad “I know what you wrote, katliamom. I was making the point that phonics was a fad, one that could well be said to be the cause of a generation of kids with reading deficiencies.”</p>
<p>What in the world would make you think that phonics was a fad, annasdad? It was the basis of reading instruction for many years. My parents, who learned to read in the 1920’s, learned to read by learning the sounds that the letters and letter combinations made. I learned to read in the early 1960’s by the same method. I taught elementary school in the 1980’s using the same methods. In between, and since then, there are occasional swings to other methods, but the pendulum always swings back to learning to read by sounding out new words.</p>
<p>In fact, that’s the method I still use when faced with a new word.</p>
<p>This is why educators should be left to making educational policy, not amateurs. As well meaning as Annasdad wants to be, he knows bupkis about education. Whole language reading was a disaster in America’s schools, but a financial boon to the geniuses behind “Hooked on Phonics Worked for Me!” Bet those geniuses were teachers ;)</p>
<p>“In fact, that’s the method I still use when faced with a new word.”</p>
<p>Do you find that method to be pretty ubiquitous?</p>
<p>In my opinion, there is now an education inequality. Some kids are getting a better education, while many are getting a lackluster one. In the 1970’s America’s education system was the envy of the world, we had the best teach. When women received greater workplace opportunities many well-educated Women chose professions other than teaching lowering the quality of teachers. </p>
<p>Today, suburban public schools are way better than inner city schools. The most vulnerable members of society, the inner city youth are receiving an education which is not up to American standards. In virtually every city there are “Drop- out factories” some of these schools have awful statistics where only 2 percent of the students go on to college. </p>
<p>The problem is not just funding, it’s also the teachers unions. The teachers unions make it nearly impossible to fire bad teachers and support that the youngest teachers get laid off in times of financial distress, not the worst teachers. We need more funding and better teachers.</p>
<p>We do have an education crisis, if you’ve seen the Exxon commercials you would know that in Math and Science our students trail behind the students of many other countries. We need to fix our education system to give everyone a shot of achieving the American dream.</p>
<p>As a former teacher, still working in schools, creating curricula, and coaching teachers, I will acknowledge that there are many factors beyond my control that influence how ready my students are to learn, the skills they bring into my classroom, and the resources I have to offer. Sometimes these things make my job easier, and often, they make it more difficult. </p>
<p>But once those kids walk in the door, then it’s my responsibility to be part of the solution. Pointing fingers doesn’t help. What does help is examining my practice and figuring out what I can do to make a difference for the kids in my classroom. </p>
<p>Yes, research tells us, that kids from certain socio-economic groups have huge advantages from the first day of Kindergarten. It also tells us that some curricula work better than others. I won’t deny either of those things. But it also tells us that factors that are within my control, such as the quality of teaching, time spent before and after school on one on one or small group teaching, the culture of the classroom and the school, all of those things can play an important role in determining whether a child with a rocky start, and a shaky homelife overcomes those things or is defined by them.</p>
<p>^^ Only one of my kids learned to read with phonics…the other two the teachers fortunately recognized they need different methods. Both had different first grade teachers and both first grade teachers told me that the challenge is to figure out how each kid learns and then tailor to those subgroups. Bad teaching…no. I actually think most of the teachers are better today than what my H and I experienced in the 60s. Lots of really poor teachers who were in their thirties and tenured and had no desire to leave teaching back then. </p>
<p>Sure, all of my kids have bumped into poor teachers along the way and I do think administration is bloated and I think parents are overly concerned about grades and under-concerned about what their kids are actually learning. My kids’ high school is the same size as mine was when i was in high school but there are triple the number of principals and support staff. The honor roll when i was in high school were kids who had 3.75 - 4.00 and is now 3.0 - 4.0 (unweighted). </p>
<p>And back then the teachers were the “law” and you better take your hat off in school, sit still and woe be to any backtalking. The kids, in general, are pretty mouthy these days and I wonder if they talk to their parents the way they talk to teachers. So yes, some of it starts in the home and some of it is taking away the autonomy of teachers to teach and control their classrooms. For the most part however, I think my kids left high school with a much stronger educational foundation than I did at their age and is what I care about most.</p>
<p>^The phonics fad was the theory that the ONLY way to teach reading was with a mechanistic approach. It was pushed by the phonics companies and accepted blindly by so-called teachers who were incapable of analyzing needs and learning styles and too lazy to tailor instruction to the individual students in their care. When these kids didn’t learn, then they blamed the parents, the administrators, the government standards - everything but themselves. </p>
<p>My son was almost ruined as a readers by three years of Saxon Phonics, inflexibly and exclusively applied. He is a bright kid, but after second grade tested at a below-first-grade level in reading. After four years of home school, being taught with a blended-but-mostly-whole-reading approach, we put him back into the school system in seventh grade. In the state tests, he was one of just four kids (of 41) in his grade to exceed state standards in reading. </p>
<p>CuriousJane hits the nail exactly on the head.</p>
<p>Oh, posh, annasdad. No one is advocating “inflexibility.” I’m advocating a greater TEACHER input in curriculum. I used phonics – and then doing away with phonics, and the differen, faddish ways to teach math – as examples. See, I actually have RESPECT for teachers. I don’t think it’s their fault we’re where we’re at with public education. I don’t think unions are to blame. I do think that teachers should be consulted more, not less, in what we teach and how we teach it. I also think that a good teacher knows that no one system works for all kids, and should be given the leeway to try different methods. CuriousJane hit the nail exactly on the head because she’s a TEACHER. Imagine! A teacher, that segment of society everyone craps on, actually having something to say! Wonders never cease. </p>
<p>BTW. I’m not a teacher. Never have been. Never will be. So I have no personal axe to grind here. Just observing from the sidelines.</p>
<p>The students & their prior experiences & family support are probably the biggest contributor. </p>
<p>If you take on of the best private high schools in the country and replace all the teachers with a random sample of public school teachers I guarantee the students would still go on to do great things. </p>
<p>Likewise, if you replace all the students at those “top” schools with the most deficient students from the poorer school districts that don’t have those prior experiences & family support, and who are already waay behind in their communication and development by the time they reach kindergarten, they will still go on to struggle and live difficult lives. </p>
<p>This also explains how students from well-adjusted families & family support throughout their development thrive & do well and go on to do great things in the very same public school systems where their less fortunate peers fail. </p>
<p>I think as the economy worsens, people’s standards of living go down, parents start working multiple jobs, and children’s home life becomes unstable, a yound child’s development becomes stunted at a very young age (because they are not getting that stimulation, constant communication, and learning experiences and stability that they’d get if their family had more time and resources to devote to them and their learning) and then, consequently, student test scores go down and teachers get blamed.</p>
<p>Thank you, katliamom! Excellent post 34.
Generalizing here, aren’t you, annasdad? Phonics is an effective way of teaching some kids to read, as is whole reading for some kids. I’m frankly disgusted by the blanket condemnation in your post.</p>
<p>Not a teacher, either.</p>
<p>Had you not chosen to omit my first sentence in your quoteback, you’d see that my “blanket condemnation” is against those who consider phonics the only way to teach. Because it was the latest fad, and because it requires no skill to teach it.</p>
<p>Katliamom, why would you want a greater voice in the curriculum by a group that is largely drawn from the bottom 25% of college grads (as measured by entering SAT scores)? It’s bad enough that we have to rely on them to IMPLEMENT the curriculum. Let the curriculum be designed by people with higher level cognitive skills and special training in curriculum design - most of whom also have classroom experience.</p>
<p>annasdad, with all due respect, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. And since you seem to be concerned about tests, kids performing on tests, etc., read this about how Finland, whose kids usually are on top of international lists in reading and math, accomplished this within the past 20 years. In large measure BY EMPOWERING TEACHERS. This is from CNN, link below. </p>
<p>[Finland] invested heavily in teacher education, requiring master’s degree-based, five-year qualifications instead of three-year bachelor’s degrees. Child poverty was addressed with meals, health care, dental care and counseling – all free of charge for children. Finally, the system pursued what Sahlberg calls “intelligent accountability” that combines standardized testing with teacher assessment and school self-inspection – with an emphasis on the teachers, not the tests."</p>
<p>and this:</p>
<p>“I think there is far too much loose rhetoric criticizing public school systems and blaming teachers in the U.S. that has no ground,” he says. Finland has such respect for teachers that the job is now seen as being “on par with other academic positions, such as lawyers and doctors,” he says. But it’s because the country invested in the profession and continues to do so."</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/us/american-exceptionalism-other-countries-lessons/index.html?hpt=hp_c2[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/us/american-exceptionalism-other-countries-lessons/index.html?hpt=hp_c2</a></p>
<p>If we were making the same commitment to the teaching profession that Finland has, we wouldn’t have an “education crisis.” But we haven’t, and in the current political climate we won’t - and even if we were to start now, there’s 30+ years of tenured, finger-pointing, incompetent deadwood clogging up the system.</p>