Chapter 1: Examining the Historical Context for Teaching Reading

A poem

Reading,

A complex task,

A never ending debate,

Which is best?

What must go?

Early on,

Children of the elite,

Learned of the alphabet and sound-symbol relationships,

Read educational texts.

Tick tock, tick tock,

Time goes on,

And change again happens,

Analytic and synthetic phonics approaches came about,

But are they effective?

Tick tock, tick tock,

Time continues on,

Basal reading series,

Ability grouping,

Reading level grouping.

Do these truly work?

More holistic,

More integrated methods came about,

The years I was schooled,

Tick tock,

Again those methods have gone away.

Time continues ticking along,

Federally funded research is done,

National panel recommendations given,

Controversial,

Critically reviewed,

Needs more explicit teaching,

more of the big five.

Reading,

A complex task,

Integration of,

Thoughtful application of,

 many skills and strategies,

Must consider a variety of,

Social, political, cultural, and educational contexts.

Tick tock,

What's to come next?

Tick tock,

What's to come next?

Reflection:  I started kindergarten in 1983 and went to a small suburban school in western New York State.  Phonics were definitely stressed when I was learning to read.  I had excellent teachers who pushed me to excel, and reading seemed to come easy for me.  I was encouraged at home and at school.  I have many books, read every day, and was read to every night.  I also have two brothers.  One is just two years younger than me, and he struggled in school.  He struggled to learn to read and write.  He had the same teachers as I had.  That type of reading program simply did not work for him.  But it wasn't just him.  I know others struggled learning to read as well.  So I can understand the desire to try to find the best, research based methods to teach children how to read.  With education constantly changing, it is so vitally important for teachers to have professional development available to them.  This makes reading specialists and coaches even more valuable.  I know how hard it can be to adapt to and learn different things.  I lived in Alaska from 2006 to 2012.  2012 was the year I moved back to Florida.  Common core, what's that?  I was clueless.  So much had changed, and I was desperately trying to play catch up.  I don't think there will ever been only one right answer in regards to reading education.  I think it's one of those fields that will also be changing and evolving as people change and evolve as well.

Referencs
Vogt, M., & Shear, B. (2011). Reading specialists and reading coaches in the real world. Boston, MA: Pearson.