Sold a Story

As a 29 year teacher, most of it in special education, I am glad to have heard this information, but I am not surprised. Even when I started teaching almost 30 years ago, I knew that whole language just didn’t seem right. Phonics is essential in learning to read. One thing that rarely gets talked about with reading, is the ability to understand. It’s my belief that a true reading level is not only your ability to decode words, but also your ability to comprehend. This was an exceptionally well done piece of work. I’m not surprised you were the catalyst of change. It was very necessary. Thank you.

Wow, I’m 70 years old… now understand what happened to my life… can’t go back.. but it certainly changes my future… thank you so much. Paul Harris

I listened to the first eight episodes in one weekend, and it has really helped solidify my thinking about how my kids have been taught to read. We are in Canada, my kids go to French school. When I was their age I was taught phonetics and etymology to learn words. We had work sheets about homonyms and patterns for verb endings for different pronouns. The books my kids brought home looked nothing like those my teachers had used, there we no common sounds and there were difficult words. Turns out it’s a series books based on on Marie Clay’s theories! I had assumed my first child (grade 3) had struggled because of the several years of disruption during and after Covid (she had 3 different teachers in grade 1). I was afraid she was dyslexic; the 3 teachers assured me she was not. BUT she could not read, and her reading skills made no sense based on the amount of time we spend reading at home. I read up on how to teach someone with dislexia, wrote out all the tricks I remember being taught as child about word structure and phonics on card board and had her recite them every night before we read together. Now she can read! Next my second book loving kid (who has curled up with piles of books since they were a toddler) just finished grade one and can barely recognize a handful of words!! They are a smart kid, and did not have a tumultuous start, but through the whole year they struggled. we dutifully made them read those awful school books that seemed to teach them nothing. It’s bonkers that this is how children are taught. It makes no sense! As a scientist (a modeller) it is inconceivable to me that we could have falling literacy rates for years and not question that it’s a matter of the inputs. If we a getting worse results on a population basis, than something we have been doing to the entire population is not working. It’s not each individual kids’ shortcoming that are causing the pattern! Now I have a third kid going into kindergarten, and I’m determined to do all I can to counter act the horrible pedagogy they are getting at school. I just ordered a bunch of decodable books and we are going old school now.

Important for every parent, teacher and curriculum/resource decision maker in every school district!