How Do Kids Learn to Read? What the Science DOESN'T Say!
Steven Petrini, a mainstream teacher, teaches a class with majority Hmong students at Como Park Elementary School in St. Paul, Minn. —Sevans/Education Week

How Do Kids Learn to Read? What the Science DOESN'T Say!

The following is a response to Ed Week's October 2nd 2019 article: How Do Kids Learn to Read? What the Science Says. Schwartz, Sarah and Sparks, Sarah D. https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/how-do-kids-learn-to-read.html

Note: This article is better read on our website where you can experience what we are describing. Click here for the interactive version.

MORE OF THE SAME.

Everything about this article (and the “Science of Reading” in general), is based on the assumption that the orthography is STATIC. Based on the assumption that the words children learn to read with are inert and can’t in and of themselves teach children to read and understand them. Because the words can’t help, we have to train their brains to be able to automatically work out the recognition of unfamiliar words by reflexively applying abstractly learned knowledge and skills. That’s where it all breaks down (and always has). When we had no choice but to teach reading on paper, this model was understandable. Now that we can use “e-text” as the medium of learning to read, teaching the way we have been is absurd. Worse than absurd, given the effects of prolonged reading difficulties, it is unnecessarily learning disabling. Someday soon today’s “science of reading” will be found next to phrenology and lobotomy in the museum of broken paradigms.

I don't mean to be harsh or shaming. I understand that many people think that they already understand everything they need to understand about reading (some even act like the righteous priests of the church of the “Science of Reading”). But everything these believers think they understand about reading is completely warped by their assumption that words are static objects. If you are in that camp, I am not arguing with you about how you think about reading in that context. If you think words can only be static, than within the confines of that mental model, the "science of reading" makes sense. But what you are asserting is analogous to defending the science of sail rigging on old sailing ships. If sails are the only option, you are quite right, but once we can use engines, the science of designing sails becomes irrelevant to the future of ships.

In the near future, kids will learn to read in profoundly more neurologically efficient and emotionally safe ways. In the near future, the majority of kids, including dyslexic kids, will learn to read without ever being taught (in any way resembling the ways kids are taught today). Instead, their every interaction with every word on every device (phones, tablets, computers, TV sets, augmented reality glasses, etc.) will be supported by “virtual” reading teachers and reference librarians – by “learning-guide bots” that are always tracking alongside their minds and instantly ready to help. Should a learner stumble reading an unfamiliar word, the helpers immediately appear to support and guide them. I am not talking about reading to them, rather scaffolding their learning to read at a level and in ways currently inconceivable to those whose minds are trapped in two dimensional static orthography.

The beginnings of what I am describing is available now and it's free for you, your children, your students, and your school: https://mlc.learningstewards.org/

"We need to reconceptualize what it means to learn to read and who is responsible for its success if we are going to deal with the problem." - Dr. Russ Whitehurst, Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Assistant Secretary of Education with the U.S. Department of Education

Caleb Eliason

CDO - BluSky AI, Goldman Sachs alumni, BoomStartup playbook author #12 Tech Accelerator in US, creative problem-solver, creator of 1+1>2 opportunities, pattern/trend recognition, predicting outcomes

5 å¹´

Great stuff David! In my opinion, the "old-schoolers" aren't arguing for our children's benefit or for our future, they're arguing for self-preservation, holding everyone back so they can keep their place in a world that's changing faster than they can adapt, just as our schools failed to adapt. It's about their own longevity & their fear that once everyone sees the writing on the wall, they won't be needed anymore, replaced by something more efficient & effective. They need to adapt & help us fix this mess. Chris - As someone with wicked dyslexia, ADD & OCD but was still able to make it through a master's degree with highest honors, I agree with Personalized Learning, tailored to each unique child's individual learning capabilities & deficiencies. I was lucky but kids these days don't have what I had. I had a mother who could give me the personalized learning I needed but our school system was designed 198-yrs ago, just like an assembly line for filling assembly lines. It treats each child the same with a diploma being equivalent to a quality assurance stamp on the forehead, just as a product coming off the line gets Q/A certified. Some may see wild success with what David suggests & others with something else but they need options & for someone to know which will work best.? America has no idea what is coming, our education system is the core infrastructure of our economy, which has provided the freedom we enjoy but as Obama said in '08, nations that out-educate America today will out-compete America tomorrow. 35 nations out-educate us & economies are rising & will soon eclipse ours. When we can't compete for the 25% of natural resources we consume as 5% of the population, our blessings will run out & it's going to be ugly. Nothing is more important than solving this problem.?

Christopher Bunnell

Transforming Transportation with Tech | CEO at UniteGPS | Innovator in GPS, Routing & Safety Solutions

5 å¹´

We need to get to "how does each individual learn to read based upon how we have seen that individual learn?" Taught my daughter to read in a week using phonics while that same method did not work at all with my son.

Caleigh Piper

Dyslexia and ELL Instructor

5 å¹´

Thank you for sharing.

Yvonne Dalorto

Training Community & Content Manager @Jolly Learning, Early Years & Primary Teacher, E.L.T and Early Year's Consultant, Curriculum Designer, S.E.N, Synthetic Phonics Specialist, Points of You? Expert

5 å¹´

Really good article.

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