This was one of the most powerful posts I've ever read. When I was done, I
dried my cheeks and I hadn't even known I was crying. I'm not sure whether it
touched a joyous piece of my heart because of obvious reasons...or whether I
was crying for the death of trust in children in some Americal schools
today--or at least the terminal illness--from the frenetic "time-on-task"
programs to the way Reading Mastery-type programs speak at our children to the
"yes, yes, get on with it" to "How is that, exactly, going to raise our test
scores?" without ever waiting to hear the answer!! I mourn childhood. The
family has been increasingly susceptible to raising "hurried children" and now
we, who are supposed to know better, are being forced into situations which
will eventually cause the death of thought right along with childhood.
I couldn't help but contrast the lesson (well put!) with Ellin with the lesson
that my daughter (who just went through her first day of Reading Mastery
training today) demonstrated to the teachers in my school last year after she
started teaching Corrective Reading. I missed the first part of it where one
of the teachers/students missed parroting back the correct phrase, so the
entire group was made to revisit and revisit and revisit that until the
teacher/student responded "correctly." I talked to the teacher afterward and
she said she couldn't even describe the mortification she felt and how all her
reasoning ability and memory and confidence and flexibility and power just
flooded away. What was couched as support (having everyone answer because
obviously she couldn't) [do we have punctuation for sarcasm?] was degrading,
demoralizing, marginalizing, and cruel. And she was 35 years old with a
masters degree in education! What about our little ones? WHAT ABOUT OUR
LITTLE ONES????
Contrast that "support" with the trusting support shown this little one by
Ellin.
Ellin rocks! That moment makes my heart soar. Thank you SO MUCH for sharing
it. Keep infusing the discussion with moments like this for the next several
months and we'll all treasure every little tidbit.
Bev, feeling hopeful in Nebraska
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