[senco-forum] Re Literacy

Eddie 
It seems to me that the synthetic and then thereafter the analytic phonics
are essential tools for all readers - even kids who have progressed quite
reasoably thro primary school come up against a block whereby decoding
skills become essential  - as an Oxford medical student in the early 60's I
was 'reading' many technical terms/words to which I needed to apply some
decoding skills to be able to pronounce in my head ( the inner voice) and
hence recognise the next time I met them. Many years later when I was
learning Welsh the need to use the inner voice ( and hence understand welsh
decoding) was essential to my ability to recognise the word a subsequent
time and therefore for progress.

Having said the above I feel that it is important to offer this tool to all
kids as soon as possible - some may have divined it by themselves - good for
them - but it also then reinforces that what they'd sussed out was a good
way to go about learning phonics- none will lose by it (those 80% who
apparently don't need it will merely feel flushed with success/have their
self esteem further bolstered  which we know produces development/more
success in it's own right) 
I don't agree that it is harmful to sit thro enforced learning of the code -
depends on its presentation so that the 80% can actually feel good about
themselves and with any luck so will most of the 20% (as they will mostly
learn especially if the sound  /letter(s) correspondance is always displayed
visually so that visual learners are in with a chance

OK  I've never taught primary kids let alone a class of 30 of them at the
same time -I'm just offering what seems to me in secondary situation
receiving nearly 60 kids from cohort of 220 whose reading is below 8 on
entry - ie do not score on the reading assessment - there has got to be a
better way forward for initial teaching of the skills needed to read
efficiently ( not fluently and not for enjoyment but simply to be able to
operate in society)

Barbara ht

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Eddie Carron
Sent: 02 January 2007 12:04
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: [senco-forum] Re Literacy

We are slowly but surely moving into a situation of general agreement that
synthetic phonics is a more effective means of teaching children to read
than the socalled 'mix of methods' which quite disgustingly, condemns more
than a million people to illiteracy every decade. That is not an opinion.
That is easily verifiable fact and the rate at which teachers are now
beginning to accept this fact is beginning to accelerate.   As Mary says -
'phonics is not a method of teaching reading - it IS the writing and reading
code'   Everyone who can read has mastered this code and it is not possible
to read unless this code is mastered. That surely, is beyond question. The
debate is now moving towards the question 'How can we ensure that all
children master this code?' and that is an enormouns step forward.

The question currently facing teachers is 'should ALL children be
compulsorily taught by synthetic phonics whether they need it or not, or
should we reserve synthetic phonics effort for those who fail to make
progress in reading in Year 1?  Is it really logical to say that we should
teach all children by one imposed method simply because it will do no harm
to those 80% or so who do not need it and who are not experiencing any
problem in learning to read anyway? Can we really justify subjecting 80% of
children to a series of skills exercises of which they have no need? I would
regard it as harmful to have to sit through an extensive series of
unnecessary sessions which taught me nothing and such a practice would
certainly be contrary to the principles of good teaching.   We must assume
of course that because it would be almost impossible to dream up a more
effective strategy for putting children off reading for life, the DfEES will
come out strongly in its favour. 

Personally, I think it is easier to make a case for selecting children who
are not making normal reading progress in Year 1 and put them through a full
synthetic phonics course under the tuition of a specially trained adult
providing that course is complete before the end of Year 2.  I would favour
having a trained synthetic phonics adult in every Infant school. This adult
could be someone whose work focused exclusively on the delivery of synthetic
phonics and not on general teaching. This person could perhaps be paid
somewhere between a TA and a teacher but whose continued employment depended
on him/her delivering national average results.  I'm pretty sure this could
be very cost effective as it would be likely to reduce the number of
children graduating to secondary schools with eductional and/or  behavioural
difficulties. 

The balance of children not making progress is likely then to be very small,
probably around 2%,. The learning difficulties being experienced by these
children will be very specific and will vary enormously and of course,
requires very full assessment and remedial attention. 

Eddie C.