In a message dated 6/24/2008 11:29:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
It seems as though we are confusing the point of this conversation. To teach phonics or not teach phonics is not the real question. The real question is what and how to teach kids who aren't reading well (and reading well includes all 5 components of literacy). I guess I would beg to differ with this "5 components" point. I am a child of the 50's. I learned to read whole word. "See Puff. See Spot." A whole generation learned to read this way. My daughter, who is in her 20's and one of the most voracious readers I know, never learned a vowel sound until she started singing arias at the university level. She learned to read with language experience. While comprehension is obviously the end result, there are many things that go into comprehension and how we get kids there varies with each child. DIBELS gets a pretty rough rap on here and I think it is because it is being considered an assessment rather than a screening. Would you all agree that a student who does perform well on DIBELS is well equipped to move forward in literacy instruction that focuses on deep comprehension? No. Why are they moving forward? Why haven't they had literacy instruction that focuses on deep comprehension all along? And a student who struggles on part of the DIBELS may need to be considered for further evaluation to determine what would best prepare that student for progress into the area of deep comprehension? No..see above. There are students who can't hear the sounds in words. but I have rarely seen a student who struggled with fluency be able to reach that deep comprehension we are looing for. I've actually known several students like this, and have seen students on video tape miscue on multiple words orally and do some excellent retells. They may be able to do it while being guided, but independently it just doesn't happen. They spend too much time and energy getting through the words to be able to synthesize meaning, too. I guess I have to say that, in my opinion, the fluency is still key to comprehension. We had a wonderful conversation about this on the Mosaic list last year. The TAWL listserv is going to be discussing the book, Reading Fluency, Process, Practice and Policy starting June 30th. You might want to sign on and join the conversation. _http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=tawl&A=1_ (http://listserv.arizona.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=tawl&A=1) Nancy Creech **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
