Reading solutions
Re: “Sound it out” (5/30/2019): Having worked for two decades in a Madison school with many underperforming students, I remember staff trainings that shared the latest brain research. Resources such as a math series from the University of Chicago, or a phonics-based spelling program, were touted as the hot, new thing to help our struggling students.
During my final two years teaching full time, I looped with the same group from fourth and fifth grade. Three of those new students were boys who made significant strides in math and reading. Two were from stable, white middle-class families, the third was from a strong, biracial middle-class home.
Several students of color with me for two years received direct instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness and one-on-one reading. They came from homes with one parent who had less education and money than my excelling students’ parents. One was periodically homeless. These less-privileged children struggled with their behavior and did not reach grade level reading.
Would a purely science-based approach have made the difference?
By all means, give teachers the best tools available. Give all students the same outside enrichment opportunities. Fix their broken families. Stamp out racism. Also, spend less time worrying about test scores, more time figuring out how to make our schools safer, more equitable spaces.
— Marc Kornblatt, via email
As someone who’s taught reading and ESL in the district for decades, I have a few recommendations. Kids need to make an emotional connection before they can engage with the written word on their own. Unfortunately, many at-risk kids of preschool age haven’t had a lot of experiences that are rich and fulfilling— reading is only a reflection of these experiences, and children know the difference!
We need to forestall intense reading instruction for children until they are at least 6 or 7 years old, as they do in many other countries. At that point, a larger portion of kids will care about reading and see its relevance; they’ll be reading in no time! To waste precious childhood hours in class, forcing reading down the throats of kids who aren’t ready, is just a waste of everyone’s time and energy. In the interim, kids need to spend more time engaging in activities that are emotionally relevant as well as developmentally appropriate: hands-on activities like puzzles, blocks and cooking, music and art, imaginative play, books read aloud to them by a trusted adult, as well as plenty of outdoor activities that cultivate their innate curiosity. What they do not need is more time in front of a computer or TV screen.
The experts in this article make it clear that our district should not continue teaching with a balanced literacy approach. I would advocate for going a step further by cutting the time spent on literacy instruction in half for all primary students. We could then focus on filling their lives with more play and life-enriching experiences. By the time second grade rolls around, most of them will be raring to read.
— Kirsten Johnson, via email