Posted on 12/27/2022 8:28:25 AM PST by JSM_Liberty
For much of his life, Roderick, a high school junior, did not enjoy reading...But recently, he said, he has made strides, in part because of an unusual and sweeping high school literacy curriculum in Memphis... The program focuses on expanding vocabulary and giving teenagers reading strategies - such as decoding words - that build upon fundamentals taught in elementary school. The curriculum is embedded not just in English, but also in math, science and social studies... The program in Memphis is an extension of a growing national movement to change the way younger children are taught to read, based on what has become known as “the science of reading.” And it is a sign of how sharply the pendulum has swung in the decades-long, contentious debate over reading instruction, moving away from a flexible “balanced literacy” approach that has put less emphasis on sounding out words, and toward more explicit, systematic teaching of phonics. Brain science has shown that reading is not automatic, and longstanding research supports the need for sequenced sound-it-out instruction, along with books that build vocabulary and knowledge. Since 2021, Tennessee and more than a dozen other states have passed laws or policies reshaping reading instruction... But reform has largely centered on the early years, kindergarten through third grade, and millions of students have already progressed beyond those grades without getting the full support that they needed... At the start of each academic class at Oakhaven, students spend 15 minutes or so learning vocabulary and pulling the words apart. In biology, for example, students wrote down the definition of “prophase” (the first stage of cell division) and identified the prefix (“pro” means forward) before diving into the material... The district recently received the state’s highest rating for academic growth for the first time in seven years...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
EXCELLENT! It’s been YEARS since I heard a mention of that clip.
Looks a little like the old HOOKED ON PHONICS that every library used to have.
He was also verbally gifted. He started speaking late, but when he began speaking it was like an adult. Crowds would gather around him in stores, just to hear him talk.
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All 6 of my children were that way. We never engaged in goo goo talk with any of them.
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