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Watch this video - this is everything that is horrible and unfounded practice

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:16 pm
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
This video was flagged up via Twitter by someone horrified by the practice:
In this Literacy Footprints lesson, Jan Richardson introduces students to "Bella and Rosie at the Beach," a level C book. Students preview and talk about what they think might be happening in the story. When working with emergent readers it can be very helpful to have students hear and practice some of the new language structure. They also locate the new word "come." After students preview the book, they begin to read it. Notice how Jan listens to and teaches each student something that will help them improve their literacy processing. http://www.literacyfootprints.com/
Please note: In my original posting, I provided a link (here) to the video but I have now been informed the video has been removed. If anyone ever locates the video, please let me know and I'll re-post. Contact me at debbie@phonicsinternational or via Twitter at @debbiehepp . Thank you.

[Missing link to video]

I urge everyone to watch it from beginning to end.

Without me describing anything about the guided reading you see, or commenting, if you watch this video and cannot see how dire this typical practice is for a predictable and repetitive reading book, then that in itself is extremely worrying.

Oh my goodness, I'm struggling to hold back from commenting. The little girls cannot read and already they are being told not to finger track under the words - and notice how a question, 'Shall I sound it out?' is knocked back from the get-go.

And so much more...

Please read the various 'comments' in response to this video. Thankfully, there are people who are knowledgeable and recognise this type of flawed (and actually very overbearing) practice.

Re: Watch this video - this is everything that is horrible and unfounded practice

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:22 pm
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
Some Tweets that I have copied and pasted:
This is the most disheartening video of reading instruction I have *ever* seen. Jan Richardson, a very popular author, leads a small group of beginning readers to model for teachers her "strategies." My heart drops for all these kids. Especially at 3:50.
“Check your picture” made me have a visceral reaction.
-The perfect example of how to create compensating readers who only give the appearance of reading! Even more devastating is the group of teachers watching and learning from her!
This kind of malpractice is the direct cause of reading failure.
"You don't need to point any more"?? Not your decision, Jan. Sheesh!
But if you're in the market for disheartening videos, check this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... qTFovke374
Literacy teachers and specialists - can you comment on the instruction you see in this video? It's clear that the author/teacher is caring and wants to help these children learn to read. Is it a good model for reading instruction for beginning readers?
OMG, that is the voodoo method of teaching reading.
"Don't read yet ... we're just going to talk about the pictures!" Of course, why would you want children to read when they are eager to ... for God's sake, it's a reading lesson ... don't let them read!

Re: Watch this video - this is everything that is horrible and unfounded practice

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:40 pm
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
More Tweets - and all these messages are from people across the world, not just one country. How to teach reading, how to support reading, how to conduct a 'hearing children read' session, is pertinent wherever in the world reading in English is taught:
I want to puke. I'm on several US teacher forums, and I see Jan Richardson's books are frequently recommended :( so sad for kids throughout the US that this is touted as good practice.
Literacy Footprint (taught in this video) is the instruction Claire got at her school. You can see why reading was a struggle for her!
“You don’t need to sound it out, just read!” Ugh!
Ouch. We have much more advocacy work to do, folks. How many children are stuck in lessons like this where they’re taught to look at pictures and repeat after the instructor but definitely not how to decode. This is terrible.
In the US whole districts of children are still taught to read this way. Common Core initiated teaching beginner readers their ABC sounds + blending but amongst rhyming, onset rime & syllables. The daily horrors in the video,exemplified by “look at the picture”, is commonplace.
Brutal. And the children with dyslexia, among others, I’m sure, get left in the dust thinking that *they* are deficient because they can’t read. The effects on mental health alone are completely unacceptable, not to mention that kids aren’t being taught how to read.
Brutal. And the children with dyslexia, among others, I’m sure, get left in the dust thinking that *they* are deficient because they can’t read. The effects on mental health alone are completely unacceptable, not to mention that kids aren’t being taught how to read.
Here's a great example of how NOT to teach reading! Whole language at it's finest. We need to stop creating readers who only know how to guess from context cues and pictures! They'll hit 3rd or 4th grade and completely fall apart!

Re: Watch this video - this is everything that is horrible and unfounded practice

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 8:44 pm
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
Watch the little girl on the left consistently guessing and then picking her head up from the page to look at the teacher. She’s checking her face to see if she’s right. It’s upsetting to watch this. Know better, do better.
What the what? Discouraging both finger pointing and sounding out?
Thank you for discussing this matter. This framework for guided reading has been an area of contention at my school this year. I’m relieved to see that I’m not alone in my perspective.
“Don’t sound it out. We just get to read the story.” What in the world does that mean?
Video raises imp questions about PD. New T’s who learn effective rdg instruction in college are often mandated to do guided rdg. curriculum in new job. That is what the district trains them on.
Parents and teachers - be afraid, be very afraid.

Re: Watch this video - this is everything that is horrible and unfounded practice

Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 6:51 am
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
It’s most definitely a non-example of how to teach reading. Very sad and frustrating because we know better.
This is horrific. How are those children ever going to learn to read? No sounding out or pointing. Being told to look at the initial letter and then the picture to have a guess. I’m showing this to my teachers to remind them why we do phonics.