A very clear description with easily understood examples! Emily Hanford deserves credit for completely and publicly bashing what we’ve all known for decades about how the brain works. Her misinformed voice reached thousands who were grasping for a quick fix (scripted phonics) and they jumped on her bandwagon. Have reading scores improved? Absolutely not! Have publishers gotten richer? Yes! I’ve been a reading specialist and Reading Recovery Teacher Leader. I’ve lived the SOR movement and watched teachers and children suffer as a result. It’s criminal. Thanks for writing this.
Absolutely! The $ spent on countless workbooks for K-2 students is appalling—and the decodables they are forced to read are meaningless. There is no joy in learning to read. And no joy in teaching children to read.
One concerning issue is that because SoR has been mandated by laws across the country is that new teachers are not being shown the cueing system. Therefore, they don’t understand how kids are learning.
Of course, what you write here makes sense. The zealousness demonstrated by proponents of the SoR movement is disconcerting. They are convinced that what they’re doing is just dandy. I saw a video the other day of a teacher saying she no longer uses leveled readers or Fountas & Pinnell assessments and now she’s happy. She’s getting rid of all of her balanced literacy materials and opting for decodable readers. It’s astounding how quickly some teachers pivoted to the SoR. It makes me wonder if they have a philosophy of teaching or understand the why of reading instruction. SMH.
A very clear description with easily understood examples! Emily Hanford deserves credit for completely and publicly bashing what we’ve all known for decades about how the brain works. Her misinformed voice reached thousands who were grasping for a quick fix (scripted phonics) and they jumped on her bandwagon. Have reading scores improved? Absolutely not! Have publishers gotten richer? Yes! I’ve been a reading specialist and Reading Recovery Teacher Leader. I’ve lived the SOR movement and watched teachers and children suffer as a result. It’s criminal. Thanks for writing this.
It is criminal. The state senators claim there's no money involved, yet all their answers involved commercialized for-profit products and services.
Absolutely! The $ spent on countless workbooks for K-2 students is appalling—and the decodables they are forced to read are meaningless. There is no joy in learning to read. And no joy in teaching children to read.
One concerning issue is that because SoR has been mandated by laws across the country is that new teachers are not being shown the cueing system. Therefore, they don’t understand how kids are learning.
Of course, what you write here makes sense. The zealousness demonstrated by proponents of the SoR movement is disconcerting. They are convinced that what they’re doing is just dandy. I saw a video the other day of a teacher saying she no longer uses leveled readers or Fountas & Pinnell assessments and now she’s happy. She’s getting rid of all of her balanced literacy materials and opting for decodable readers. It’s astounding how quickly some teachers pivoted to the SoR. It makes me wonder if they have a philosophy of teaching or understand the why of reading instruction. SMH.
That amount of Kool-Aid being drunk is quite astonishing. Our consultant-toady friends are being paid good money to pass out that Kool-Aid.
It’s also embarrassing and disappointing how easily some teachers can be manipulated.