DISTAR also used different orthographic representations (different symbols, kind of like linguists use to represent sounds) when letters or combinations of letters made different sounds. So there'd be two different representations of /th/, /c/, /g/, and of course all the vowel combinations. It made things very clear, assuming you spoke with the same accent as the makers of the program, but it also meant that students had to relearn when they read in non-DISTAR text.
As a Canadian, I found that when I was required to use a stand-alone phonics program with my students, even I struggled to figure out what the pictures represented and whether or not they actually matched the target sound! Especially with vowels!! I taught in the High Arctic for about 15 years and at one point we were given a computer program to pilot that was intended to help some of our students with speech difficulties. They were to repeat the target sound, in various words, and when they did it correctly, a little monkey would inch up a palm tree and eventually drop coconuts... Cute, but of no significance to kids who have never seen a tree, let alone a palm tree, or a monkey for that matter. However, the vowel sounds being produced by the computer were so far off the natural dialect these students had that the program was virtually useless. Lawrie On 11-07-03 10:08 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Yup, DISTAR was the forerunner of Reading Mastery, which has changed very > little in the last few decades. Both DISTAR and Open Court were published by > SRA. DISTAR was developed in the 60s and published originally in either the > late 60s or early 70s. > > Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless > > -----Original message----- > From: Tracy Gaestel <[email protected]> > To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, Jun 30, 2011 18:43:16 GMT+00:00 > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Phonics in the 50s and 60s > > Distar which was a forrunner of Open Court was, I believe, in the 60s or > 70s. I am not sure I have the spelling right. > Hope this helps. > > Tracy > > On Jun 28, 2011, at 2:57 PM, Heather L wrote: >>>>> Hello all! Ive been doing some research on reading in the 1950s - 60s >>>>> and >>> I >>>>> cant find the names of any of the new phonics programs from those >>> decades. >>>>> Does anyone know of any from that period? Thanks, Heather L > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > 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 > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] 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
