Better to teach phonics or whole word recognition? The pendulum swings back and forth, but these days “traditional” district and charter schools usually rely heavily on phonics instruction, most often the Spalding Method. I learned Spalding in 1977 from a teaching colleague who had been trained by Romalda Spalding herself. It seemed so elegant, a […]
Learning Wars Reignited by Another Drop in Reading Scores
In 1955, Dr. Rudolf Flesch — an Austrian-born immigrant who fled the Nazis and became a naturalized American citizen — threw a monkey wrench into public education. The wrench in question was a book: Why Johnny Can’t Read. Horrified to discover that a 12-year-old boy he was tutoring could not decipher the word “kid,” Flesch […]
Season of the Witch
Broomsticks. Pointed hats. Black cats. Pumpkins. Halloween is upon us, and what would Halloween be without witches — these crones we love to hate? The cackling green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West. The hunchbacked hag with the wart on her nose who tempted Snow White to bite the poisoned apple. Maleficent, who could transform herself […]
