Whole Language. A Necrotizing Infection
December
21, 2004
Lest Gorgon rising from the
infernal lakes
With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes,
Should fix me stiffened at the monstrous sight,
A stony image in eternal night. [Odyssey, B 11.]
Genesis
and decay, creation and destruction,
birth and death, joy and pain,
all are interwoven with equal effect and weight;
thus even
the most isolated event always presents itself
as
an image and metaphor for the most universal.
[Goethe. Maxims and Reflections.]
The lines
from Goethe, above, suggest that little things mean (or signify) a lot--a
proposition also advanced with no little vim and zip in a tune warbled by the
songster Kitty Kallen; words and music by Edith Lindeman and Carl Stutz. But that’s a subject for
another time and place--never and nowhere.
The
proposition also applies very well to The Bible. For example, the Book of
Genesis contains everything you need to know about the human condition and how
to avoid making BIG mistakes. Specifically,
1.
If the Lord says, “Hey, just what the heck are you two doing?!” don’t say, “Oh,
nothing, really. Watching TV. Paying
bills. That sort of thing.”
2.
When planning the menu for a ritual offering, remember that the Lord is NOT a
vegetarian, and will look askance at altars containing Brussels sprouts and
tofu balls. Rely on roasts and hashes.
3.
Send a bird first.
4.
Don’t go “checking up” on your old man when he takes a nap in his tent.
5.
Don’t let Sodomites in your house. However, the case is not closed on Gemorrans. It could be one thing or it could be another.
6.
Don’t turn around to “see what’s going on down there on the plains.”
7.
Ditch the fancy coat.
8.
It’s going to take a loooong
time to get to
Likewise,
there’s
a lot of meaning in the beef-witted actions of fawning, caluminous,
boil brained, rump fed eduquack
hedge pigs. As I’ve said many times (maybe twice),
“Give a slattern-mouthed, wart-necked, scab-bottomed eduquack
a simple choice, and they always make the wrong one.”
But
first consider other professions.
Science. Amplifying light such that satellites can
tell what you’re reading.
Medicine. Painful and crippling diseases stopped in
their loathsome tracks with a pill. [Gout/allopurinal]
Music. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; Beethoven’s Sixth and Ninth; Duke
Ellington; Django Reinhart, and Mark Knopfler (
Dentistry. White teeth in ten minutes (oral cancer
next week)
In
these fields, the most learned (musicians, scientists, physicians, legal
scholars, jellied eel salesmen) teach students to surpass their
teachers--yielding cumulative beauty, knowledge, and wisdom.
Quite the opposite in education. After 5000 years and billions of dollars,
50% of kids can’t read, 30% can't make change for a buck, and maybe ONE senior
can tell you the logical argument in the Declaration of Independence.
Why?
Because barely literate, ideology-driven, anti-rational, self-absorbed,
arrogant, mentally negligible, maggot pie ed perfessers ensure that their students know even
less than they do (which, if knowledge were gun powder, would
be insufficient to blow their hats off). Then their former students, as
teachers, miseducate the next generation of school
kids, some of whom in time become ed perfessers, “reading coordinators,” and classroom
teachers--yielding cumulative stupidity.
Here’s a horrifying but
common example. But please know that its significance is far
beyond whole language. The lies, deceptions, illogical arguments, and sappy
sentimentality are all part of the general strategy used by
"progressives" in reading, math, science, and other fields to sustain
or retake control. Control means position, influence,
income, prestige, and the satisfaction of having everyone else dance to their
ideological tune.
I
know these persons well. I have seen them operate since 1967. Yes,
I make fun of them and reveal their asininity. But I know them as small,
crimped souls whose dogmatism stems more from limited intellect than from
confidence. They are truly evil. They have sacrificed G-d knows how
many children on the altar of their vanity and they will continue to do
so--always claiming the best intentions.
The
following was written by one of the smartest and best persons I know. She's a
nationally known expert (I mean, a REAL expert) in reading and direct
(systematic, explicit) instruction. She assisted "low performing"
schools to implement new reading programs. Probably Reading
Mastery.
Now,
these schools had done such a poor job teaching that they received a Reading
First grant from the state, after the state received a Reading
First grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Reading
First grant proposals are not the usual eduslop. They
are serious scientific proposals. In the proposal, the state or district writes
a contract with the funding agency--to use certain reading curricula (that are
field tested, effective, teach the five basic reading
skills, using systematic and explicit instruction). If the state or district
does not do what it agreed to do, it's in trouble.
So,
here is what my friend wrote… [My
droning, flap-mouthed comments in brackets.]
As many of you
know, for the past four years I worked with Project READ in Ithaka
[Not the real name.] After
more than a decade of whole language [And
the destruction of one generation.], we introduced a
multi-tiered phonics approach using Direct Instruction for students who needed
the third tier intervention program. [Three-tiered means they had a core curriculum for all kids;
supplementary materials; and intervention materials for kids who need even more
fine-grained instruction.]
At the end of
the three and a half years, teacher
satisfaction grew to high levels and student attitudes (non DI and DI equally)
towards recreational and academic reading were positive (even
the most struggling readers) as measured by a reading attitude survey. Two out
of the three schools carried the reading model out with high fidelity and in those
schools the percentage of
students who had met state standards in writing and reading increased.
Initially, we had hoped for even larger increases, but the reality of dealing
with the unions (periodic inferior teachers replacing newly trained untenured
ones) and whole language mandates thrown down from Central office reading
administrators the first two years introduced us to reality.
In these two
schools the 2004 results for our first group of students in these high poverty
inner city schools were a hair above the state average in reading and way above
the state average in writing (interesting impact of phonics). In School One
back in 2002 only 15.2 %
of the third graders met standards in reading; this year 68.2% met them; in writing the percentage of students
meeting standards went from 15.2 to 86.4% . In School Two,which seemed to have an ever changing staff, in 2002 54.5% of the students met
standards in reading with an increase to 67%
in 2004; in writing the percentage of students in that school
meeting standards went from
57.4% to 80.6%.
By year three
the resistant Ithaka balanced literacy reading
coordinators [Balanced literacy
is another name for whole language. Realizing that they'd been found out, as
lying weasels, whole language hucksters merely changed the name. Same ineffective trash. This
is really important reading.] were
on their way out and the administration had decided to turn two other failing
schools into Direct Instruction schools. [Good. Expand the use of what is obviously working!] Even
though our project was finished, the schools made elaborate plans to continue
using the same model.
BUT
THEN.
Enter a new superintendent this year and the curriculum director he brought
with him from Hashville. [Not the real name.] Throughout
the fall I received heartbreaking emails from staff who were trying to work
their way around mandatory "word walls" and mandatory time spent on
leveled books from the new "book rooms." [In other words, less direct teaching of
reading skills and more kids “constructing” knowledge on their own. That’s why so many kids couldn’t read
BEFORE DI was introduced. So, the district is basically saying, “We don’t give
a good G-d damn what works! We don’t LIKE DI and we DO like whole language.
Screw the kids!! And screw anyone else who doesn’t have the power to stop us!”
Sorry for the profanity. I've seen this before.]
Tonight, just
before Christmas the dam broke. The
fledgling DI schools are no longer DI schools and our schools
have been told to abandon the multi-tiered model. Balanced literacy is once again the order of
the day. Forget history, forget upward results. It's the same
old story again. Administrators within the district are fighting to hang on,
but it's looking grimmer and grimmer.
I know that
some of you are involved in Reading First. The Reading First school
that made the most dramatic progress (going from a low of 11% of third grade
students reading at grade level to the current 68.2%) is in many ways,
"The Little School That Could." The cultural change that took
place in Kickmeagain School and transformed it from a
place where no one ever expected that those students from poverty could read,
to one where everyone followed DIBELS
[an assessment system] results with magnifying glasses trying
to get everyone up to standards, was amazing.
Over the course of the three years, parents who routinely never attended school
functions, began attending in droves.
K - 3 in this school is what Reading First is all about. The fifth graders in
But now I find
out that it may all be over before it's begun. Rumors abound that the district will likely not renew its Read
First contract. [In
other words, to avoid being punished for violating the terms of the grant, the
district will simply take no money. That way, they get to keep on using whole
language with impunity.] And currently the newly mandated
word walls, guided reading, DRA assessments [Strictly qualitative and unreliable] ,
running records [Useless and
time consuming.], and literacy centers [Kids lay around and appear to read. No
checks on accuracy or comprehension. Looks good but is pure pageantry.]
are threatening to dismantle the excellence that had
begun to bud in this school.
Oh, but there’s more! Here’s the email sent to all of the schools in that
district by the new reading coordinator from Hashville.
Note the artful bunk.
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Reading Programs
I have tried to
be sensitive this year [Oooo, sensitive.] to reading initiatives
that schools already had in place. [Is
sensitivity the right disposition? Shouldn't she be most interested in
what is working and what is NOT?] However, as time goes
on, I realize that it is imperative that we all be on the same page. [Why? If some schools use DI and others
whole language, you have a natural experiment. You’d think she’d want to learn
which works better. But noooo.
She does not CARE which works better. She wants whole language, and to get it
she makes up this bs about
how it is imperative for everyone to teach the same way.]
It is just too
difficult to have schools that espouse “different philosophies” that require
different materials. [Bunk. What’s hard? Districts all over the
country do exactly that. Wart-faced scut.]
In addition, it is not a wise use of our very limited resources to finance
independent training sessions that impact only one or two schools. [Banana oil. The money comes from Reading First.
The district does not spend a dime on those few schools. In fact, part of a
If you are a DI
or Success for All school [Success
for All is another reading program that is systematic and explicit, and is the
opposite of whole language] and you have teachers who want to
switch to a balanced literacy approach during the second semester, please allow
them to do so. [You KNOW
that these teachers have been TOLD to ask. It's a set up.]
In the fall of 2005 all elementary schools must be on board with balanced
literacy. [How do you
spell coercion?] Please let your coaches and district
reading coordinators work with teachers second semester to initiate this
transition. [Such
nice sounding talk.
“Please let…” And if a principal says, "Screw you. We will continue using
DI.”, What do you think will happen?]
We will also
have many training opportunities in the balanced literacy approach this summer,
so please encourage your teachers to sign up as these sessions are advertised. [That is,
indoctrination and “re-education.” How do you spell “thought reform”?]
Balanced
literacy is an approach, not a scripted program. [Here we go. Note the idiotic logic--as if
so-called balanced literacy could not be scripted. ] It is
based on the premise that children need a balance of phonics and authentic reading
and writing experiences. [Now
she’s trying to sound like a mentor. In fact, she's presenting a false
dichotomy.
Earlier this
year, we gave all of you recommendations for daily schedules that support this
balance in reading instruction. [In
other words, the schedules precluded the DI lessons as kids were instead
supposed to fart around making up words and reading “silently.]
The balanced literacy approach advocates explicit and systematic phonics
instruction [Oh, sure it does! But for a few minutes “as needed.” That’s why kids don’t
learn “phonics” with “balanced literacy” and end up illiterate.] along with progressions from shared to guided to independent
practice in reading and writing. Students should interact with, read, and
respond verbally and in writing, to both fiction and nonfiction materials from
the moment they start to emerge as readers. [Which they DO in DI programs! She's
creating a straw man.] Instruction should be a balance
of whole group and SMALL group
work, with the small groups targeting students who have similar
needs. These small, guided
reading groups are flexible in nature, fueled by student need [fueled by student need. Means what?
The mantra of
the progressive deaducator.], and the
heart of the reading program. Student need is determined through
the different system wide assessments, teacher observation, classroom
performance, etc. As soon as students become phonetically proficient,
they move to word work like Making
Big Words and Words
Their Way. [Neither
of which has been tested and been shown to work. In whole language,
verification has nothing to do with data on effectiveness; it has to do with
being consistent with ideology.] As students become fluent,
they should have the opportunity to enjoy literature circles and book clubs. [The point is, with whole language they
WON'T become fluent. This is mere flapdoodle.]
I will be the
first to admit that this approach is not as easy as following a basal or other
scripted program. [G-d forbid
they should make it easier for teachers to teach something as routine as
reading. Oh, no! Turn it into an ersatz "art" that leaves
whole language teachers feeling like gurus, when it fact they are frauds who
have once again made their students stupid.] It takes time and
training for teachers to feel comfortable, [It takes maybe two days to teach someone to use effective
commercial programs.] but I
have every confidence [Oh,
that’s comforting. No data but every confidence.] that as we develop comprehensive, quality balanced literacy
programs in our schools, [Bullhockey. You have nothing but the words
"comprehensive" and "quality" and a bunch of useless
activities.] our children will
flourish academically. [Yeah,
flourish in your butt.] I wish each of you a joyful holiday
season. Muttonhead
If families only knew...