Sold a Story podcast

[Anonymous]

if you want to feel totally frustrated and depressed about how reading curriculum in this country changed to whole language/cueing/balanced literacy that had no science and was really developed for poor readers as a last ditch effort- you should listen to this podcast. The reporting is fantastic and there are times you will want to punch some of these smug authors who made a ton off a useless approach to reading. And, some of the teachers who fell for it because they had never been taught anything else just shows how messed up our public education system is. Also, poor George W Bush tried to make the right move to phonics and got bamboozled by lobbyists.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sold-a-story/id1649580473

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you want to feel totally frustrated and depressed about how reading curriculum in this country changed to whole language/cueing/balanced literacy that had no science and was really developed for poor readers as a last ditch effort- you should listen to this podcast. The reporting is fantastic and there are times you will want to punch some of these smug authors who made a ton off a useless approach to reading. And, some of the teachers who fell for it because they had never been taught anything else just shows how messed up our public education system is. Also, poor George W Bush tried to make the right move to phonics and got bamboozled by lobbyists.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sold-a-story/id1649580473

I disagree as the reporter doesn’t talk at all about broader issues in public education at least not in any released episodes.
She also doesn’t seem to understand that the reading wars have been happening long before the 1960s. Because of those flaws, I wouldn’t call it great reporting.

[Anonymous]

I am getting side eyed for my sound wall and not making kids memorize sight words just to memorize them. But I was also teaching this way 20 years ago in another district.

It’s hard for people to adjust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am getting side eyed for my sound wall and not making kids memorize sight words just to memorize them. But I was also teaching this way 20 years ago in another district.

It’s hard for people to adjust.

I have taught phonics for a long time as I thought balanced literacy was just an added layer on top of phonics instruction and that is how I was taught in college to teach it.
That said, I do teach OG “heart words” or puzzle words as they are irregular and kids will never be able to sound them out yet they are necessary in early readers. So I’m side eyeing your response because you have confused me. The still need that instruction for words like once and said

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and I refused to use the “look at the picture and the first sound” method of “reading.” We had a month of “training” by the American Reading Company and this is what they taught. It made me sick that some new or untrained teachers might actually believe that crap and encourage students this way. God only knows how much that cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am getting side eyed for my sound wall and not making kids memorize sight words just to memorize them. But I was also teaching this way 20 years ago in another district.

It’s hard for people to adjust.

For the words that “don’t play fair”, students must certainly memorize them. They need to read them, write them, etc. Students need a variety
of experiences using several modality opportunities with these words. Total side eye.

[Anonymous]

My older daughter was "taught to read" using this shit approach and is STILL behind and not reading well. F_ her kindergarten teacher.

[Anonymous]

It’s just one more way to point fingers at teachers instead of acknowledging that students are poorer and less likely to know English than ever before.

[Anonymous]

I've been hate-listening to the podcast. Full disclosure: my kids are excellent readers, but one of their best friends is in middle school, and reads at a 2nd grade level (severe dyslexia). She's very bright but needs explicit phonics instruction and the parents assumed all along the school system knew best and was doing best for her. All the wasted years, hours of extra instruction, teachers' efforts. I don't blame the teachers at all. I think the blame lies with the ed schools, who should have been pursuing and teaching the science of reading all along, and should have been lobbying for school districts to use proven curriculum.

A horrifying statistic: approximately 80% of the prison population is illiterate.

Another statistic: approximately 20% of high school graduates are illiterate. 1 in 5. How do we, as a nation, allow this to happen?

This is the biggest national crisis we have. The fact that it is not even in the top 20 political conversations is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s just one more way to point fingers at teachers instead of acknowledging that students are poorer and less likely to know English than ever before.

I'm an ESOL teacher and all of my kindergarten students except two (both were tested for IEPs and qualified under developmental delayed) met their end of year reading benchmarks. Our school is appr. 90% FARMS. The problem is that school districts are looking for the silver bullet curriculum and it doesn't exist. They fall for slick marketing. Our district bought Wit and Wisdom which is garbage for K-2 but it claims to level the playing field. They used the "e" word (equity) and that's all it took for our district to dive right in. Stop blaming teachers. While they say they welcome our input, the truth is that they already know what they are going to do no matter what we say. Change in public education is as slow as molasses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been hate-listening to the podcast. Full disclosure: my kids are excellent readers, but one of their best friends is in middle school, and reads at a 2nd grade level (severe dyslexia). She's very bright but needs explicit phonics instruction and the parents assumed all along the school system knew best and was doing best for her. All the wasted years, hours of extra instruction, teachers' efforts. I don't blame the teachers at all. I think the blame lies with the ed schools, who should have been pursuing and teaching the science of reading all along, and should have been lobbying for school districts to use proven curriculum.

A horrifying statistic: approximately 80% of the prison population is illiterate.

Another statistic: approximately 20% of high school graduates are illiterate. 1 in 5. How do we, as a nation, allow this to happen?

This is the biggest national crisis we have. The fact that it is not even in the top 20 political conversations is appalling.

It's hard to learn when kids don't go to school. I'd love to see the attendance records for inmates. I highly doubt they had stellar attendance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been hate-listening to the podcast. Full disclosure: my kids are excellent readers, but one of their best friends is in middle school, and reads at a 2nd grade level (severe dyslexia). She's very bright but needs explicit phonics instruction and the parents assumed all along the school system knew best and was doing best for her. All the wasted years, hours of extra instruction, teachers' efforts. I don't blame the teachers at all. I think the blame lies with the ed schools, who should have been pursuing and teaching the science of reading all along, and should have been lobbying for school districts to use proven curriculum.

A horrifying statistic: approximately 80% of the prison population is illiterate.

Another statistic: approximately 20% of high school graduates are illiterate. 1 in 5. How do we, as a nation, allow this to happen?

This is the biggest national crisis we have. The fact that it is not even in the top 20 political conversations is appalling.

It's hard to learn when kids don't go to school. I'd love to see the attendance records for inmates. I highly doubt they had stellar attendance.

These statistics make me think twice too.

I would decline ever taking a reading test if someone asked me to as an adult. As a kid, I did great on them 99% tile etc, but I absolutely HATED them. Give it to me as an adult and I would not pay very much attention to it because I am an adult and get paid to do work, my test taking days are over.

[Anonymous]

PP and I agree about the words but they need to be taught with the sound knowledge. Many K classes were throwing words at them without even teaching the sounds or why the rules don’t work.

[Anonymous]

It is so disheartening listening to this podcast. I was a teacher from 1995-1999. I had to hide my phonics material because I was supposed to teach whole language. I can’t believe schools are using Lucy Calkins curriculum. We are dooming generations of students to bring functionally illiterate.

I made sure I taught my own kids to read using phonics BEFORE they started kindergarten. I didn’t want them being required to memorize sight words and use the first letter to guess instead of doing the hard work of sounding out words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My older daughter was "taught to read" using this shit approach and is STILL behind and not reading well. F_ her kindergarten teacher.

You could take part of the blame as well. It’s not all on teachers.