Thank You Whole Language II
This is a continuation of my whole language post from yesterday. The article I am using is a couple years old, but it gives a good explanation of variations of whole language processes being used at the time. To my knowledge, these are still in place today. You can also read the full article by Mary Damer.
|
Whole Language in NYC and Illinois …………………. But let’s focus on that program with the name “Month-by-Month Phonics” … just what is it, and what should New York learn from Illinois’ experience? Mary Damer writes in response to the change in New York. …………………. Month-By-Month phonics has been developed by Patricia Cunningham who by now should have made enough of a fortune to retire to her own island as she continues to churn out book after book promoting “phony phonics.” From what I understand, Month-By-Month is a variant of the 4 Block (=Whole Language) approach which Illinois has promoted under the last federal reading grant (the REA) and which has done nothing to increase student reading performance. |
What is 4 Block (Month by Month)?
|
In order to evaluate Month-By Month or 4 Block one must always remember:
4 Blocks = Whole Language with token salt and pepper phonics thrown in Patricia Cunningham promotes Whole Language with token salt and pepper phonics thrown in. Illinois spent its REA money (the federal reading grant before Reading First) on the 4 Block Model which the IRA has been touting. At its core, 4 Block is Reading Recovery done with an entire class. With 4 Block, a Whole Language educator can conduct class as usual with 15 – 20 minutes of concession phonics thrown in. Thus this latest curriculum craze is rapidly becoming the replacement for “pure whole language.” Always remember that the only difference is those 10- 20 minutes of haphazard phonics. |
Has 4-Block helped reading scores in Illinois?
| Illinois reading scores did not increase during the years of 4 Block emphasis which continue to this day. |
| I experienced the bizarre reality of 4 Block directly because the principal of a school which is participating in our early literacy intensive phonics model demonstration program also signed up to participate in the state REA grant. Thus this principal found himself with a K-3 intensive phonics program and a 4 Block=Whole Language operating at the same time in his building. Our intensive phonics program was there first and had increased the percentage of end-of-year first grade readers reading at grade level from 24% to 70%. The 4 Block people refused to work with us, insisting that they did not teach explicit phonics and wouldn’t teach even one group of the DI Reading Mastery program which we provide to the lowest readers. |
How do unmask a 4 Blocker?
|
If you want to unmask a 4 Blocker into revealing his or her true reading philosophy tell them that research indicates that early readers benefit from reading decodable texts where the sounds in the story match the phonetic sounds that the child has learned. The 4 Blocker will explosively turn red and begin touting the advantage of authentic literature and the damaging impact of any type of “controlled” text reading. Or ask a 4 Blocker what they think of the Open Court , Reading Mastery or the new Harcourt phonics-based reading curriculum. The same explosive reaction will occur.
I found this out the hard way when I testified at state hearings describing how the majority of overflowing classroom libraries in Illinois schools contained NO decodable books … not one. As I began to describe to the legislators how important reading decodable text is until the early reader has established alphabetic principle, the audience of 4 Block educators began to boo and hiss so loud that the senator conducting the hearing threatened to throw them out. |
How can we help parents understand that 4 block is really whole language?
|
Here in Illinois (where the state reading initiative is actually proud to to have such an extraordinarily large proportion of past and present IRA board members and presidents), the name “whole language” was replaced overnight as everyone shifted to “4 Block” and “Cunningham Phonics.” Synthetic on not, the classrooms look no different than they did in the Whole Language days, except that the most rabid WL teachers now throw in 10 – 20 minutes of unsystematic phonics-related activities.
Interesting that before this tactical change, Harvey Daniels (one of the authors of “Best Practices”) recommended in a written article that the name WL be dropped while people continued to teach WL behind closed doors. The keynote speech at the Whole Language Umbrella Organization regarding No Child Left Behind was “Surrender and Win”. 4 Block is perfect for that strategy. |
So please remember the following when you hear the new names.
|
4 Block = Whole Language Cunningham Phonics = Whole Language |
