'Please teach my daughter to read' - for secondary-aged learners

This is a dedicated forum to allow parents to post questions, discuss issues and to ask for, and receive advice about, any concerns they may have regarding their children and the reading instruction that they are given at school.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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'Please teach my daughter to read' - for secondary-aged learners

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Katie Ashford writes a heartfelt posting about a father's plea to 'please teach my daughter to read':

https://tabularasaeducation.wordpress.c ... easeteach/
"Please teach my daughter to read"

18 months later, and Georgia has received rigorous reading instruction and reads thousands of words per day, including the classics. She is no longer on the SEN register and her reading age has improved by 4 years. She still has lots of catching up to do, but she is making rapid progress. I’m not suggesting that we are superheroes who have a unique ability to cure the illiterate. Rather, I’m trying to point out that it is incredibly easy to teach a child to read if you use the correct methods. It’s a downright disgrace that kids like Georgia are let down in primary schools, and whilst I know lots of primary teachers who do teach reading properly, many still don’t.
Gordon Askew writes about secondary-aged learners with regard to reading ability:

http://ssphonix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ ... etely.html
And now for something completely different

I am often asked about the role of phonics in 'catch up'. Some learners are in KS2, KS3 or beyond and, sadly, have not yet got very far at all with mastering basic reading. Teachers and parents understandably want to know how best to help them, to start them on the reading journey, or at very least to enable them to become functional readers.

One of the pronouncements I hear most frequently in respect of these learners generally goes along the lines of: 'They have been doing phonics for years and it hasn't worked for them. Now they need to try a different approach,' or 'Phonics does't work for everyone. These kids obviously need something else.'

Unfortunately such thinking is a massive red herring, and can have disastrous results, depriving learners of the very teaching they most desperately need to achieve the desired 'catch up'.

There are two strong reasons for saying this..
Gordon Askew is an IFERI committee member and you can read about his experience here:

http://www.iferi.org/cmt-management-team/gordon-askew/
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: 'Please teach my daughter to read' - for secondary-aged learners

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I'm cross-referencing this thread with secondary teacher, Jacqui Moller-Butcher's description of 'lookaliking' reading as it is very relevant to the topic of secondary-aged learners who are struggling with reading. Some parents and teachers might recognise this description:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=8&t=518
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: 'Please teach my daughter to read' - for secondary-aged learners

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

In a very short time-scale, Katie Ashford's posting has been picked up by blogger, Paul Bennett, who has responded to Katie's piece via the Canadian 'Schoolhouse Consulting' blog:

https://educhatter.wordpress.com/2016/0 ... te-answer/
Burgeoning Special Education Needs: Are Better Early Reading Methods the Ultimate Answer?

January 17, 2016 by Paul W. Bennett

British educator Katie Ashford, the spunky curator of Tabula Rasa Blog, is stirring-up much needed education reform thinking. “Education in the UK isn’t always good enough,” she says in her first “Why I Blog” post. “Far too many children pass through the doors of our schools into the real world knowing little, unable to read, and incapable of expressing themselves. To me, this is a tragedy. Our education system is flawed and we need to do something about it urgently.”
Paul Bennett's posting is well worth a read.

This quick response and international references to the topic of reading/SEN demonstrates the wonders of the internet - including Twitter - for enabling such an instant and international view of educational issues. :)
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