Posted on 08/15/2011 3:49:34 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
A nine-year-old boy, unable to read; showed up for remedial help. Pointing at “bead,” the tutor explained, “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” The puzzled third-grader looked up and asked: “What’s a vowel?”
He probably meant “what do a vowel be?”
That rule works for "bead", but not for "chief" or "brief" or even "Shiite."
The public schools have never been bastions of educational excellence. Americans were complaining about them from their first day. Obviously, they’re getting worse. In my own case, I was helped by shows like Sesame Street, Zoom, and The Electric Company, as well as my mother teaching me to read. If not for them, I can’t imagine how little I’d know.
What, in Heaven’s name, is a “Dolch” word?
We need more schools like this one:
http://www.ridgeviewclassical.com/
Socialist revolution first (through the minds of the children) - academics later.
This is why the children coming out of the government schools are ignorant and more like untamed animals than humans. No morals, no ethics, no reason, no laws.
There are always exceptions to the spelling/phonics rules and good teachers point that out. This is no reason to throw out the entire system as they did starting in the 60’s.
Look-say, Sight Words, Whole Word, Whole Language, Dolch words, and others —all mean the same thing.
The Education Establishment constantly invented new marketing terms for their favorite gimmick, so parents would be too confused to resist.
You can Google “sight words” or “dolch words” and find hundreds of websites that are promoting the same lists of words that kids are supposed to memorize.
(Edward Dolch was an educator.)
Look-say, Sight Words, Whole Word, Whole Language, Dolch words, and others —all mean essentially the same thing.
The Education Establishment constantly invented new marketing terms for their favorite gimmick, so parents would be too confused to resist.
You can Google “sight words” or “dolch words” and find hundreds of websites that are promoting the same lists of words that kids are supposed to memorize.
(Edward Dolch was an educator.)
“What are these officials afraid of, that American children might actually become literate? “
Honestly, yes.
I agree--I'm a big phonics fan. I don't remember the stated rule of the leading vowel running the show from my learning days, tho.
Back in the 70s, my wife and I went to our daughter’s 9th grade open house at her junior high school. Mr. So-and-so gave all the parents the courtesy of showing up wearing a hunting shirt, jeans, and barefoot except for sandals . . . also unshaven. This slob (that’s exactly what I though he looked like), who was on the taxpayers’ payroll, looked like a he had no respect at all for his job or his students’ parents.
He passed out a 4-page handout to the parents. After a brief review of the handout, I found eight (8) grammar errors. I was furious. I teach English and math at a private school for far less pay and benefits than this ba$tard gets. My wife told me not to bring these errors to Mr. Slob’s attention, or he’d take it out on my daughter. So, I sat there just steaming.
When Mr. Hippie told us about their journals that they had to write and turn in each week (my opinions of journals could be the subject of another post). I asked him if he checked them for grammar and spelling errors before he turned them back to the students. “No,” said Mr. Jackass, “I don’t want to hurt their self-esteem.”
I could have screamed, but my wife was right . . . he’d probably single out my daughter (who, by the way was a straight A student). So I remained mute. To this day, I wish I’d have gone after this high-paid ba$tard who showed up looking like he’d just changed a tire.
And we wonder what’s going wrong with our screw-el systems.
Sight words, whole words, Dolch words, all lead to the utter paucity of the American vocabulary.
Why should students memorize lists of words when they can easily sound out words phonetically?
Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill, and it’s so dishonest, too. I imagine schools can drag out reading instruction for years.
“Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill, and it’s so dishonest, too. I imagine schools can drag out reading instruction for years.”
EXACTLY.
Vowel ? Silly foo. Dat’s where your poo go thru.
I learned to read whole words at four and a half. “look” and “see” were the first words.I learned, in a Dick.& Jane book. It was smooth sailing from there. Any kid who gets to third grade and doesn’t know what a vowel is has illiterate parents, not just a bad school.
¿que?
"A reading coach in Missouri told me a revealing story."
"[A] puzzled third-grader looked up and asked: 'What’s a vowel?' "
Bruce, suggest that next time you name the school, its location, and its principal.
There is no reason to politely and respectfully keep them anonymous.
If you shame them publicly, then they will change. The media will force them to.
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