Truth in Advertising
As one who began reading Reading Research Quarterly in 1980, roughly four years before I began a Reading Specialist credential program at UC Davis, I’ve shifted my interest in reading and writing from a search for theory and empirical evidence to a quest for pragmatism. I want to pay it forward and help if I can.
Research in the fields of Reading and English Education, separate in the professional and academic disciplines with separate professional organizations1 in the United States, is rich with robust theoretical frameworks and explanatory models to evoke powerful teaching and learning in schools.
Our credentialed teaching force is well-equipped pedagogically. Interested readers of this post might visit these websites (noted below) for information about the aims and methods of professional literacy educators.
Here, for free subscribers and occasional visitors, I want to paint on a broad canvas detailed historical experiences I’ve had as a literacy educator and as a writer and learner. I want to contribute to parents and caregivers understanding and insight to support literacy learning in ordinary life (my attempt to distinguish between formal, curriculum-based instruction and the rough and tumble of family/group life).
My first, most important, suggestion for parents or guardians with elementary, middle, or secondary level learners struggling with literacy is this: Work closely with your child’s teacher and school. Open up your communication dial to maximum.
I have no recent experience with incorporated tutoring companies with franchise clinics offering supplemental services for hourly fees. I’m aware of a considerable presence of such businesses with websites describing their wares. I have no plans to investigate nor comment on them. I’m not eager to step onto any battlefield in the perennial “reading wars.” But it looks like a War has already begun I may be unable to steer clear of..
I will say this: Struggling readers have been given some questionable “remediation.” Snake oil has a long tradition in this country. But the placebo effect is strong. Find out about the quality of instruction at a private clinic through talking with clients of the clinic.
https://www.literacyworldwide.org/about-us
https://ncte.org/