What To Do When You're Told: We Do Teach Phonics
Jeb
by Sandra Elam
Virginia Director
The National Right to Read Foundation, November 1998
Don't believe it! Chances are, your school district is not teaching phonics.
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As a concerned parent with a daughter entering first grade in September
1996, I began in December 1995 to look into the way Loudoun County, Virginia
schools teach the most fundamental skill—reading. What I found disturbed me.
I visited a first-grade reading class at Leesburg Elementary. After four
months of instruction, the kids did not know the difference between the
short “e” and “i” vowel sounds. Not a single child in the middle reading
group was reading independently.
“We do teach phonics,” school administrators assured me. “Loudoun County
uses a balanced approach to literacy. Our eclectic approach teaches phonics
while immersing the student in a literature-rich environment.”
Edu-babble translated
This edu-babble, designed to brush off nosy parents, would certainly have
worked with me if I hadn’t just read “Why Johnny Can’t Read” and “Why Johnny
Still Can’t Read” by Rudolf Flesch (you can order most books mentioned in
this essay online from http://www.amazon.com). These two books gave me the
knowledge and ammunition I needed to withstand pronouncements from even the
slickest educrat; every parent who plans to confront school officials should
read them.
I knew from Flesch’s books that the phrases “balanced approach,” “eclectic
approach,” and “immersion in a literature-rich environment” are code-talk
for whole language. After reviewing the textbooks used in our schools, I
quickly discovered why those children couldn't read. In case after case,
words were introduced before individual letters: “it” was introduced before
“i” or “t.” The more I read, the angrier I got. Then I started a campaign to
get phonics textbooks in Loudoun County schools. Here's what I did.
Step 1. Learn the difference between real phonics and phony phonics.
Before confronting school officials, I had to understand what real,
systematic phonics is, and how it differs from the phony phonics taught in
most schools. How can you tell the difference? If whole words are introduced
before short vowel sounds, it's not a systematic phonics program. Before I
even stepped inside the school, I read both “Johnny” books and “Dumbing Down
Our Kids” by Charles Sykes.
Step 2. Visit classrooms.
I visited kindergarten and first-grade reading classes, talked to principals
and teachers, and took notes on how the kids were being taught reading,
writing, and spelling.
Step 3. Study the reading textbooks.
I spent hours paging through the Teacher's Guide of the first-grade Silver,
Burdett, & Ginn reading textbooks used in our schools. I noticed a few
phonics tidbits. But since whole words are introduced before any vowel
sounds, Silver, Burdett, & Ginn are clearly whole-language textbooks.
Step 4. Dig deeper.
I read every phonics book in the public library and began volunteering for
The National Right to Read Foundation. I read “The Beginning Reading
Instruction Study” from the U.S. Department of Education. I also read
“Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print” by Marilyn Jager
Adams.
I studied the Virginia Standards of Learning to find out what every student
in Virginia must know at each grade level. I ordered standardized test
scores from my state board of education and SAT scores for the past 20 years
from the Educational Testing Service.
Next, I skimmed “The Whole Language Catalog” by Kenneth Goodman (for orders,
call 1-800-843-8855), who is one of whole language’s leading advocates. This
catalog celebrates whole language in our nation’s classrooms, with reprints
of work from kids who can’t read, write, or spell.
Step 5. Teach your kids phonics.
I started teaching my 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son to read, write,
and spell using Hooked on Phonics and Phonics Pathways. I videotaped them
reading and writing from dictation after two months of phonics and after
six.
Step 6. Visit your reading supervisor.
I met with our county reading supervisor and convinced her to order several
phonics programs for review.
Step 7. Contact the media.
I wrote letter after letter to local papers and inundated local reporters
with my phonics research. Cultivating these reporters resulted in many
phonics articles in local papers, two Washington Post articles, a front-page
Wall Street Journal article, and several TV news segments.
Step 8. Present your research.
I presented my research and classroom observations at school board meetings
and gave school board members, school administrators, and reporters a thick
stack of phonics information.
Step 9. Join an education reform group.
I joined a local education reform group, which immediately amplified my
phonics campaign. Suddenly, instead of one lone voice demanding phonics,
there were 30 united voices demanding phonics. If there’s not a group in
your area, start one. Ask parents to write letters to the local newspaper to
keep the phonics issue alive. Just remember that 5% of the people (that’s
you) will inevitably do 95% of the work. For interested parents, I wrote and
distributed a bulletin that exposes how reading is (not) taught in our
schools and summarizes my phonics research.
Step 10. Start a petition.
I circulated a petition requesting specific systematic phonics textbooks for
our schools, listing three choices from The National Right to Read
Foundation's list of phonics products for school use. I submitted the
petition to the school board, and sent copies to our reading supervisor and
superintendent of schools.
Step 11. Put your kids' education first.
It could take years before phonics is reintroduced in our schools. None of
my elected school board members are listening to constituents—the parents.
If the educrats spin their wheels, don’t hesitate to pull your kids out of
public school. My kids were home-schooled in 1995 and began attending a
private, phonics-based school in September 1996.
Our children need a good education now! Don’t send them to a school where
learning to read is left to chance. Don’t sacrifice their education on the
altar of mediocrity.
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mission, please mail your tax-deductible check (in U.S. dollars) to:
The National Right to Read Foundation
P.O. Box 490
The Plains, VA 20198
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Ted Pottage
<URL:mailto:ang...@oanet.com> wrote:
> What To Do When You're Told: We Do Teach Phonics
> by Sandra Elam
> Virginia Director
> The National Right to Read Foundation, November 1998
> Don't believe it! Chances are, your school district is not teaching
> phonics.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> As a concerned parent with a daughter entering first grade in September
> 1996, I began in December 1995 to look into the way Loudoun County,
> Virginia schools teach the most fundamental skill—reading. What I found
> disturbed me.
[snip]
How ever good thse articles are I'm getting turned off by the shere weight of
reading - and the knowledge that I'm paying up to UKP3.00/hr (US $5.50) in
phone bills to pick them up. I've looked at the site (during the cheap rate)
and getting them on the newsgroup is just a waste of bandwidth.
Regards
Ted
--
Ted Pottage Dip SpLD (RSA)
Jeb
When I post them in future I will put " long" into the heading as I have
seen this done as a note for people not wishing to open lengthy articles.
I think these articles are especially relevent to parents of dyslexic
children. I wish somebody had wasted my bandwidth with this type of
information about 6 years ago. I suppose I have broken some other
netiquette thingy. Well, I always was one for learning the hard way. Best
wishes. Angela.
Ted Pottage
<URL:mailto:ang...@oanet.com> wrote:
> Hi Ted,
>
> When I post them in future I will put " long" into the heading as I have
> seen this done as a note for people not wishing to open lengthy articles.
Good idea. However, I'm set up to get the whole message rather than the
just the headers initially, so I'll still get the file.
> I think these articles are especially relevent to parents of dyslexic
> children. I wish somebody had wasted my bandwidth with this type of
> information about 6 years ago.
Fair comment
> I suppose I have broken some other netiquette thingy. Well, I always
> was one for learning the hard way.
If you have than so have I. I've just had a robust telling off (I was going
to put *moderately agressive missive* but that implies an intent to wound)
from Ted Rosenburg more or less telling me that no-one wants to hear about my
phone bill, 286 etc, and if I don't like it to *go elsewhere*.
I do, frequently, and since comparisons are odious, I wont make any.
Sorry if I caused you or anyone else offence, but as I wrote:
>> How ever good thse articles are I'm getting turned off by the *shere weight
>> of reading*
and I'm afraid my dyslexia was showing on a "bad day".