Re: “I hope your children know how very lucky they are to have you & your wife! I dread to think about their lives without your intervention.”
All too true. Without that intervention, they would be among the 40,000,000+ functional illiterates. This is how it happens. They tell you that your children are damaged; and little by little they make sure they are.
Indeed! My teacher friend actually works off of a grant for ‘damaged’ kids with ‘reading/learning disabilities’...has so many kids, it’s like a separate class! My brother was ‘diagnosed’ with dyslexia back in the day, prior to it becoming rampant as it is today, along with ADHD. Thanks for the link you suggested, & watched quite a few of your YouTubes, great stuff, very informative! I especially found ‘sight words’ extremely disturbing. i.e. the one for chair, ‘hkjf’ with pictograph of chair. (I’m improvising ‘hkjf’ here because I can’t remember the actual letters used in the example given from the link. This speaks volumes in & of itself...if I can’t remember, how can a child learning to read?) That example really confused me, taking a bit for me to figure out. I finally came to the conclusion that using the totally random letters ‘hkjf’ in the example is meant to illustrate how a sight word is viewed by a child.(????)
I actually did a little Kindle experiment of my own using the ‘rule’ of guessing a word meaning or skipping altogether (WTH?!) I read the latest article from Heritage Foundation, Imprimis, concerning identity politics. I always look up words or people while reading, which is why I prefer eBooks exclusively...so easy to search. Anyway, there were a few words I wasn’t quite sure of meaning, so guessed based on context. 1) I was sorta close, but wrong every time, which threw off the meaning of the sentence (comprehension) + 2) I still don’t know the proper meaning of the word for next time or if I even guessed correctly? Crazy! i.e. ‘exurban’, I guessed someone who previously lived in a city, but moved out?
Shrugs. Actually, it is adj of (n) exurb, a small, usu. prosperous community situated beyond the suburbs of a city. Totally changes the context & meaning of the sentence, doesn’t it. Also, I guessed the word as a noun, when in fact, it is an adj. The article quoted many peeps I am unfamiliar with, so I just kept reading.
I then reread the article as I normally would. I looked up words I wasn’t sure of, looked up every peep I wasn’t familiar with as I read, using Echo (Alexa), Merriam Webster app, &/or web search. I am totally immersed in what I’m reading, & learning new words/people as well. I always read in this manner, so it has become 2nd nature to bounce between an article, definitions, people. Granted, I don’t always go so indepth with every article, just those with more indepth subject matter, or a book. I even scanned a couple of additional articles by the peeps referenced if I felt I didn’t have enough understanding of what was quoted.
The differences between the two techniques was astounding!!!!!! The technique of reading, guessing words, skipping people was garbage. Comprehension, recognition of fact vs opinion, ability to identify fallacies, and overall understanding...minimal, as well as a high level of misinterpretation of what the author is trying to convey. I’d be here all day listing all the wrongs on so many levels using this technique. These are but a few.
My technique, or rather the way I was taught, +++1000 better! Unbelievable. I came away with a much better, completely different understanding of the article & what the author was trying to convey. Learned new words, more about peeps mentioned. Night & day between the two techniques.
Wow, got kinda carried away, too much time on my hands today, I guess. The further I dig into this, the worse it seems. Especially posts from Ouderkirk, who is in the thick of it, fighting for his kids....so inpiring! He also shared a link with me for your articles on Am Thinker, so I’m reading those. You both have really inpired me & am more interested in this subject. Ouderkirk credits you with helping him help his kids!
I am even thinking about tutoring. I looked into many years ago through local library, before all this common core stuff. Don’t recall exactly, but I ran into an adult who could not read. How can you go through life not being able to read, I thought??!!! I was horrified, contacted local library to volunteer. It was pathetic, disorganized, uncoordinated, bureaucratic nightmare, couldn’t get anybody to call me back to schedule training, etc. It is time to revisit that activity, I think. Who knows what techniques they are using now. I didn’t really realize how critical this has become. I have a feeling that I will be taught some really bizzare teaching techniques, which I feel that I will reject. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take my lead from Ouderkirk. Are there any tutoring resources you can suggest to read up on in preparation? TIA!