Independent Strategies

When I get stuck on a word in a book,
There are lots of thing to do.
I can do them all, please, by myself;
I don't need help from you.

I can look at the picture to get a hint,
Or think what the story's about.
I can "get my mouth ready" to say the first letter,
A kind of "sounding out."
I can chop the word into smaller parts,
Like on and ing and ly,
Or find smaller words in compound words
Like raincoat and bumblebee.
I can think of a word that makes sense in that place,
Try a word or say "blank" and read on
Until the sentence has reached its end,
Then go back and try these on:
"Does it make sense?"
"Can we say it that way?"
"Does it look right to me?"
Chances are the right word will pop out like the sun
In my own mind, can't you see?

If I've thought of and tried out most of these things
And I still do not know what to do,
Then I may turn around and ask
For some help to get me through.

http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/2007/ ... -isnt.html

But surely Reading Recovery is more sophisticated now? Didn't a RR practitioner recently compare their work to that of a brain surgeon? The mind boggles thinking of a brain surgeon trying out multi-strategies with his scalpel poised...

Oh yes, Geraldine, RR people do like comparing RR teachers to brain surgeons:



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 77889.html

Texas school principal, Lisa McLaughlin, says:


http://www.readingrecovery.org/implemen ... ughlin.asp

Someone on the SENCo forum responded to the Douetil quote:

'I take the 'brain' surgeon comments as an insult to the rest of us. RR knows squat about reading'.

I suggest that RR teachers have more in common with homeopathic practitioners than brain surgeons

I've added this link to the 'Ed Ball's' thread!

Thanks Susan, the piece by Mary Damer “When Phonics Isn’t” is a worthwhile read and unfortunately probably indicative of much that is happening in our own schools.

The title of the talk she attended promoted by the WL people was very illuminating, “ Surrender and Win”.

Truely revealing - and Marie Clay did say words to the effect that RR would do whatever was necessary...

I have to laugh. I am not a teacher (I fix Pcs for a living, so reading recovery would consider me totally ignorant) and I managed to teach my son to read well by pure synthetic phonics. Admitally my son had the help of a reception teacher who had a strong understanding of synthetic phonics.

My son had major hearing problems that meant he needed hearing aids for 18 months. His hearing is far better now and no longer needs hearing aids, but his hearing is still boarderline.

It aint rocket science or brain surgery to teach a child to read. It takes synthetic phonics, time and persistance. I am just relieved for the three hearing impaired children at my son's school that the teachers consider it a better use of money to buy a soundfield system than to have reading recovery.

One of the readers responses to the 'Deadreckoning' blog was that a parent would know if their child was having a problem reading. I think this is incorrect.

I'm sure readers of tbis website are well aware of the following, that many parents (myself included) only realise over time that their child is struggling but have no idea why. Often reading is the last thing we question because we are assured by teacher's 'happy language' reports that our children are reading well.

Also, many children (my own included) become very adept at covering up their inability to decode by learning to memorise large chunks of text and avoiding that which they haven't memorised.

I was surprised by the pro-systematic phonics blogger on the Deadreckoning site who made the comment that a parent would 'know' that their child was struggling with reading and wonder why this blogger would assume this? Any suggestions?