Reply to When will DC area privates dump Lucy Calkins curricula ?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Potomac LS uses a Calkins/Orton-Gillingham hybrid.[/quote]

Ours too but why???? Why not dump Caulkins? [/quote]

Everyone heard "Lucy Calkins" and thinks "bad bad bad!" But if you actually read the research there are very specific issues with Units of Study that can be addressed through the use of Orton Gillingham. There are positives to a reader's workshop model. (To further muddy the waters, many schools use the term "reader's workshop" in ways that don't specifically refer to the Units of Study curriculum.) I'm not associated with Potomac but these programs can be used together in a thoughtful way. That's why you should look into what your school is specifically doing instead of throwing around buzzwords.[/quote]

This is NOT true. The problems with Units of Study extend well beyond phonics/foundational skills. The whole curriculum is problematic because it lacks a coherent scope and sequence for everything (vocab, knowledge-building, writing, you name it) and eschews direct instruction. This philosophy works okay in affluent schools because many of the kids already have large vocabularies and a lot of knowledge about history and science (and wealthy parents can supplement with tutoring), but it’s a disaster in less affluent communities.

The workshop model is based on the flawed premise that if you give kids choice and space and independence that they will learn how to become joyful readers and writers. I wish this is how it worked, but it turns out it’s hard to be joyful about writing when you don’t know how to write a sentence or a paragraph. [/quote]

And you know this how? Because you read it in a blog? [/quote]

Lol I’m a former teacher/school administrator, who runs a literacy non-profit, where I work with expert literacy teachers everyday. [/quote]

+1 I agree. It's also true that thousands of students across our country have struggled with reading decoding skills, been evaluated and placed in special education programs because they weren't taught phonics when they needed an explicit, sequential, step by step phonics program instead of whole language and creative reading units. Many students don't require an Orton-Gillingham type approach, but many do.[/quote]

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