Letters August/September 2005

Kudos for pseudo-reading article
I just finished reading "An End to Pseudo-Reading" in the May 2005 issue. I agree with [Maryann Manning] wholeheartedly! I have been a Title 1 reading specialist for nine years. I was trained my first year as a Reading Recovery teacher. This year, the district in which I work decided it was a waste of resources to spend so much time with one student.

We have a new reading series and have begun to assess using DIBELS, which is very phonetics-based. I am starting to worry about the same thing ment- ioned in the article. One of the assessments is oral reading fluency. I find that students who are reading "fluently" are not reading for meaning; they are simply substituting a word that starts with the same sound for the correct word. Those who are trying to read for meaning and have it make sense are receiving a lower per-minute score.
I hope that by passing your article around at my next reading meeting, I can bring everyone back to having our students read for meaning, not to score well on some district-wide assessment.
Amy Grant
via e-mail

I just read your article about pseudo-reading in the May issue. I am so happy to know that you are still out there providing a clear voice of reason!

We are in the midst of DIBELS testing, and it leaves me despondent to see what we're doing to kids, and to reading instruction. Thanks for reaffirming my teaching practice.
Gay Fitzgibbon
via e-mail

A welcome surprise
I gave our daughter a subscription to Teaching K-8 before she started student teaching in the fall. She called in April, quite surprised. She'd opened the May issue, seen the picture of my calendar, thought, "That looks familiar"… then realized it was mine. I guess I neglected to tell her it ("Welcome to Kindergarten") was being published!
Kelly Mead
Bangor, ME

Ancient wisdom
Mr. Cookson's approach to teaching is admirable ("A Teacher's Journey," May 2005). But I have doubts he receives the respect he deserves. I moved to this country from East Asia 30 years ago, and found that an obstacle of the education system here is disrespect for teachers. Eastern religions such as Confucianism put the highest priority of a society on teaching and learning. In order to improve the schools here, we should apply ancient Chinese ideologies and glorify teachers.
Jordan C. Fan
Upper Marlboro, MD

August/September, 2005, Vol.36, No.1