HeatherBellaF's blog: Esse Quam Videri
Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 3:08 pm
HeatherBellaF raises some important issues in her blog https://heatherfblog.wordpress.com/ :
https://heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2015 ... omment-870
https://heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2015 ... omment-870
One point I make constantly is the mistaken notion that 'phonics' is merely about 'infant stuff' when this is far from the case - it is lifelong reading and spelling stuff - 'adult stuff' and I suggest the whole teaching profession and teacher-training profession should be trained and knowledgeable about the English alphabetic code and the skills of decoding and encoding - and what part they play for lifelong literacy and, quite frankly, life chances.Reading failure. What reading failure?
“Yes, A level history is all about READING!”
I say it brightly as I dole out extracts from a towering pile of photocopying taken from different texts that will help the class get going with their coursework. I try and ooze reassurance. I cheerily talk about the sense of achievement my students will feel when they have worked their way through these carefully selected texts, chosen to transfer the maximum knowledge in the minimum reading time. I explain this sort of reading is what university study will be all about, while dropping in comforting anecdotes to illustrate it is much more manageable than they think. I make this effort because I NEED them to read lots. The quality of their historical thinking and thus their coursework is utterly dependent upon it.