Reading in the 1930's or 1940's

[yvette37]

Hello,

Does anybody know how they used to teach reading in the 1930's or 1940's? or earlier for that matter. What did they use instead of the 'Synthetized Phonics'? I am quite curious about this.

Thank you

Yvette

Chris Woodhead did not teach children to read. He taught teenagers - and would be prosecuted now if he acted as he did then with one of his 17 year olds, so I think the less said about him, the better.

The progressives also wanted children to read successfully. It was just a difference in philosophy. Many clever people, writers, teachers, psychologists and philosophers, have a different view. It's worth asking questions and keeping an open mind, because they may not all be wrong.

Niminy opposes phonics because a few nutjobs removed real books from the classroom?

at your agression, mrz - you must be losing the argument, I think.

Claig, I don't have to keep an open mind when I do every day what you are amusing yourself by debating casually - I see first hand what works.

The difference is my certainty comes from the reality of teaching hundreds of children to read rather than from the study of the theory

But what about Dr. Anne Cready, is she amusing herself

'Such mandates have "dampened the dialogue" between phonics and whole-language partisans, said Anne Creany, associate professor and coordinator of the master's in literacy program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Creany is a whole-language advocate.'

old.post-gazette.com/pg/07238/812245-298.stm

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter much, because the government has decided what it wants and that is what will happen. They disagree with Michael Rosen on phonics and that is that.

But if we are still mumsnetters in twenty years' time, it will be interesting to see if things stay as they are or if the pendulum swings again.

How much recent experience has Dr Anne Cready or Michael Rosen had in English reception classes teaching children to read I wonder

Re handwriting, it can be taught, even at a later stage, my dd's writing is beautiful and just like my great grandmothers. She has been at a steiner school for just over a year and is 10.

Please don't make synthetic phonics political. Unless of course you equate right-wing with science and reason, and left-wing with hocus-pocus (as I do, but that really is by the by).

I wonder what mandates Dr Anne Cready is referring to

I think she is referring to the No Child Left Behind mandate to use "scientifically proven" instruction methods for teaching reading, which is essentially phonics rather than whole word.

Yes, French children all have the same neat handwriting style (similar across most of Europe) and they aren't taught until they are 7.

No Child Left Behind (NLCB) was a George Bush initiative in 2001

'NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. States must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels in order to receive federal school funding.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it influenced our own standards based initiatives.

I think you are over thinking things claig

No, I'm wrong. We introduced SATs before teh Americans did a similar thing. I think teh Tories introduced them, before teh last Labour administration, but you will know more about that. It seems that our SATs testing system is teh progenotor of the US NCLB. So we are aheaqd in some things.

nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/want-to-see-future-of-nclb-look-to-uk.html

Blimey, we are leaders not followers. You've got to give the Tories credit - they're ahead of the curve, shaping policy, changing minds.

'NCLB was modeled on and grew out of the UK?s Sats exam initiative, a program that preceded it by over a decade. While it?s of course impossible to compare directly the two countries? educational systems, it is also foolish not to observe and learn from the English experience. After two decades of data-driven, standardized exam-based performance measurement, the pendulum in the UK is clearly swinging back toward local, teacher-based assessments with periodic but less intrusive system-wide assessment.'

What has happened to the opposition to SATs?

The National curriculum tests were introduced in KS1 in 1991 and in 1995 in KS2 by John Major's conservative government

Nothing happened to it ...

KS2 SATs are not being scrapped and they have introdiced super Sats - level 6 tests. Were the strikes against SATs successful or will they continue as before?

Maybe clean up the many different spellings of similar sounds and vice versa? That way phonics would be more efficient. I agree that once you understand the system of reading it is normal to go by whole words or multiple words. This is completely independent of teaching method I would say.

I'm not sure what you are quoting from, claig, but according to this Wiki article the SAT, which is/was a college admission test (so quite different from what we know as 'SATs', which are in fact National Curriculum Tests, not SATs), was introduced in 1921...

I know that Wikipedia is not always authoritative but I should think that this is probably true.

KS2 SATs have been changed this year - writing will be internally marked - level 6 has always been there but not officially reported in school statistics. That doesn't mean the opposition has gone away

Sorry, forgot the link:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT