-> view. Sometimes children in the early phonemic spelling stage will
-> identify and spell one or two phonemes in a word 
-> and then finish the
-> word out with a random string of letters.
 SK> I know this is common in Whole Language classrooms, 
 SK> because the children
 SK> are asked to begin writing before they've even 
 SK> really learned to read. I
 SK> question the wisdom in this, but have no way of 
 SK> supporting that with any
 SK> evidence.
Hey, IBM has made lots of $ selling a program to schools called "Writing to 
Read". The results I have seen in the district are not good. They go hand in 
hand with the results of WL (or what is represented as such) in my son's 
district. WL ended up using canned textbooks and never got to the base of 
teacing reading using Literature. (I HATE reading textbooks, one of the 
quickest ways to turn of students to reading) 
 
A literature based reading program will encourage students to read, a 
motivational tracking program, Accelerated Reader, will fire the kids up to 
read, read, read. It works where nothing else will. drives the librarian 
crazy with the demand for books.
--- Maximus 2.02
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