Use Multiple Tools

It was interesting for me to read about the pros and cons of whole language versus phonetics. Almost twenty-five years ago my third daughter started first grade in a school that had just implemented whole language. As a mom, I had no experience with using lists of sight words to learn reading. I was taught phonetically, as were my other two daughters. This method was foreign to me, and I was worried about whether it worked. However, my youngest daughter seemed to embrace it, and studied her word list every day.

Unfortunately or fortunately, we moved during the second half of her first year to a school that used phonetics. I was relieved that the switch didn’t seem to have any affect on her emerging reading skills. The following school year we moved again, and now my daughter was in another school that had just started using whole language. At this point, to say I was worried about my daughter’s literacy development was an understatement.

At the third new school in two years, the second grade teacher assured me that she would still be using phonetics in addition to the whole language approach. She was not totally sold on the idea of whole language replacing phonetics. I believe she thought like Williams, that students still needed a way of “decoding words for which they have not yet established mental representations of sound to symbol correspondence” (164-165).

Ironically, at the end of the school year, the teacher told me my daughter was one of the only students in the class who had success with whole language. I am pretty sure this was due to the fact that she had the benefits of both whole language and phonetics in first and second grade.

I am thankful to that second grade teacher who understood that language acquisition and literacy acquisition are not exactly the same thing.She also recognized that each one had a place in reading instruction,not as separate entities, but used together.She was an innovative teacher who knew that “children need multiple tools to become proficient readers” (165).

After learning to read, it would be great for students if writing development were as easy as Krashen made it sound. He stated that writing ability is not learned, but acquired by extensive reading in which the focus of the reader is on the message (166). That would be like telling someone they can run a marathon just by reading books about it.

While reading about marathoning may help a runner prepare, they still have to actually go through the act of running and training. They need to build up their endurance, strength and speed to successfully complete 26.2 miles. Then if they have any goals of becoming a “good runner”, they need to figure out what kind of specific training will bring about the desired results.

Writing is the same. Reading may enhance the writing process but it doesn’t replace the actual act of writing. Like running, practice, practice and more practice is what writers must do to get better. However just as improper training in running will cause injury or burnout, skewed ideas about writing practices will hinder full potential.

One last reflection about the reading, Williams stated that in spite of obvious advantages in using the computer to write, some teachers still require handwritten copies of work. He went on to say that students will “resent the teacher and develop a negative view of writing” (169).

I would like to say that “yes” I do most of my work on the computer. It is faster, and all the other things Williams said about it. In light of this, I do still handwrite sometimes. Often when I write by hand, I doodle on the side of the page when I get a block. This is relaxing for me, and I can de-stress a bit until I can resume my writing. This makes me feel like teachers should give students the option to choose whether or not to handwrite, at least in regard to rough drafts.

I think the central idea that I take away from this reading is that there are many theories, and as a teacher it is necessary to flexible, and recognize that each student learns differently. My daughter’s second grade teacher had it right when she saw the need to use “multiple tools” to facilitate the best effort in her students.