I've hunted the Internet for any source of information for parents on how best to teach a child to sound out words after being in a whole language teaching environment for more than one year. There is a wealth of information out there from proponents of whole language, proponents of phonics and the reading wars in general. But I I have not found websites aimed towards helping parents deal with the whole language aftermath other than just teaching them phonics. That sound easy enough but the bad habits formed by whole language, in my opinion, are considerably handicapping.
I did find one account from a mom who decided to home school her child when she discovered her son who was being taught with whole language methods couldn't actually read despite getting good grades from his teachers. She actually paid her son for his time when he read with her and learned phonics from scratch. I decided not to do that. But I have used one of her methods which I found to be very helpful. She found that her son, like my daughter, would skip words, and substitute words. She would use her pencil to point to each word and if her son said the wrong word or skipped a word, she would tap on the word. She said she found that it interrupted his reading less while at the same time called attention to the need to go back and re-read or read the word. I have found the same thing. It also avoids arguments as it is a gentle nonverbal reminder.
I wish there was more information out there geared for parents in situations like mine. That, and being upset that this happened to us, is the reason why I write. I hope those of you who have had similar experiences will post helpful suggestions. And, again those of you whole language proponents - I don't want to hear whole langauge suggestions from you - thank you.
I just want to comment that I agree with everything you say, namely, that Whole Word and Whole Language are ineffective. My vote would be to banish all sight-words from public schools.
ReplyDeleteI just reviewed a wonderful book on Amazon called "Programmed Illiteracy in our Schools" by Mary Johnson. It deals with her struggles to fight Whole Word all the way back in 1959. There's a great quote from a publishing company flack admonishing a bunch of parents not to be so old-fashioned as to teach the sounds of the letters! So we see this idiocy has been going on for a long time.
Johnson's book brought home to me that the most important things for a young child are to be able to say the alphabet, and then go from there to A is for Apple, B is for Boy, and from there to the sounds. There is no need to be subtle or round-about. If the child is just learning or a person were 50 and had been trapped by Whole Word, you would still start with the alphabet and the sounds. Whole Word was directly targeted at eliminating both.
Good luck with your fight.
Bruce Deitrick Price
Improve-Education.org