Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I've already started a thread via the 'General Forum' featuring responses to author Lucy Calkins' essay, The Science of Reading:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1327&p=2705#p2705

Lucy has really kicked up a storm in defence of her own literacy programme and multi-cueing word-guessing guidance!
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Re: Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Here is a piece in APM Reports continuing to feature the battle between proponents of different reading instruction methods:
New salvos in the battles over reading instruction

Several powerful people and organizations have weighed in on the national conversation prompted by APM Reports' podcast episodes.

December 20, 2019
https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/1 ... nstruction
Podcast episodes by APM Reports have raised questions about materials for teaching reading that are widely used in American schools. An author of those materials, Lucy Calkins, recently fired back at "phonics-centric people." Calkins was one of several powerful people and organizations to weigh in on the debate about how to teach reading in the past few weeks.

Senior education correspondent Emily Hanford's work on the science of reading has helped spark a national conversation. There's been lively discussion on social media and at education conferences. And many teachers and education officials say they are changing their approach to reading instruction.

However not everyone is happy with the direction things are going.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Thank you to Stephen Parker for flagging up this interesting video about multi-cueing as promoted via Lucy Calkins' reading approach:
Is My Kid Learning How to Read?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxx7hs0 ... e=emb_logo
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

READING IS NOT A GUESSING GAME: PUTTING RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE SO KIDS CAN READ
https://sterncenter.org/reading-is-not- ... -can-read/
Too many teachers are trained that reading is a contextual and semantic guessing game that requires making predictions, skipping words, looking at the pictures, guessing based on the first letter, or going back to the beginning of a sentence to see if reading faster will help. From my experience, these techniques confuse many children and do not help a child “decode” the word in front of them.


Did you know that children who are poor readers rely on the very types of strategies that are being taught in our classrooms with the mistaken belief it is good practice?


Good readers can decode words quickly and accurately. Research has proven that children who cannot read well are missing the basic fundamentals of how to navigate print. I feel that it’s important to address this need.


Unfortunately, programs such as “Readers Workshop” developed by Lucy Calkins emphasize teaching strategies that may be easy for teachers to implement into their classroom, but this method alone is woefully insufficient for children needing explicit instruction, especially those in kindergarten through third grade.
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Re: Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Journalist Emily Hanford reports that Lucy Calkins and associates are changing their views on beginning reading to be more closely aligned with the science.

You can read about this potentially important development here:
Influential literacy expert Lucy Calkins is changing her views

In a major shift, the controversial figure in the fight over how to teach reading now says that beginning readers should focus on sounding out words, according to a document obtained by APM Reports.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1384&p=2880#p2880
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Re: Serious responses to Lucy Calkins' 'NO ONE GETS TO OWN THE TERM "THE SCIENCE OF READING"'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Here is a topical piece shared via the PhonicsBooks blog:


Can Lucy Calkins’ changing views shift the way millions of children are taught to read?

by Miriam Fein

https://www.phonicbooks.com/2020/10/28/ ... t-to-read/
The news has been spreading that Lucy Calkins, head of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP), has been learning about the science of reading and making changes to her guidance and widely used curricula. Throughout her career, she has often characterized phonics as ‘low-level’ work that should be minimized and has promoted top-down approaches in which teachers encourage children to read for meaning before they have the skills in place to decode words accurately.

It appears she is now changing her views as she learns about things like orthographic mapping, dyslexia, and the benefits of decodable texts. For many people who have been working for decades to bring this knowledge and evidence-informed practices into schools, this is very big news.

Some have speculated that the changes in her views may be motivated by recent scrutiny, criticism, and a trend for districts to seek out more effective alternatives. However, regardless of her motives, changes made as a result could still have a positive impact. For now, Lucy, as her followers often call her, continues to be a trusted source for large numbers of teachers and administrators. When she talks, many will listen.

Rebalancing

Interestingly, however, Calkins does not present these changes to her views as heralding major changes to her curriculum. She has reassured her followers that the new understanding she’s gained from “poring” over the research necessitates only a ‘rebalancing’, a shift that changes perhaps 2% of the overall approach.
Do read the whole piece!

About Miriam Fein:
Miriam Fein is a speech-language pathologist and licensed reading specialist. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts, and supports students from early elementary through high school with reading, spelling, writing, and language skills. She believes in the power of evidence-informed, systematic, and compassionate teaching for all learners.
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