-> I am supposing there are some legitimate concerns over various
-> practices. One that comes to mine is invented spelling.  I have seen
-> how children will invent spelling as they do independent writings and
-> as they mature as writers they begin to spell words correctly.  Some
-> teachers do not teach spelling and there has been some concern that
-> children will grow up not knowing how to spell.  What are some of the
-> opposing arguments?
There was a very heated discussion about invented spelling a few months
back in k12.chat.teacher. I can understand allowing a child to spell
words however on a rough draft, but then they should have to correct
them in order to turn the paper in for the final copy. Later I will look
for some of those posts and cross-post them here.
-> I have to agree with you completely here.  As for Whole Language
-> getting "programmed" this is a concern of mine.  There are curriculum
-> packages that one can buy that are being touted as "Whole Language."
-> I don't need a program (and I haven't used one in 7 years...but then
-> I teach kindergarten and that is a different arena) to teach reading.
-> If I had a WL curriculum I would might use it but only as a guide and
-> not as my "bible".  Just because a curriculum package is being sold
-> as Whole Language doesn't make it one.
I understand what you're saying about not using a purchase package as a
"bible" ...I use lots of different resources for my math classes.
However, given what we had discussed previously about many teachers not
having had sufficient training in Whole Language, and given a teacher's
busy schedule and insufficient planning time, a purchase package might
just've seemed to some schools/teachers like the only way they were
going to pull-off a mandated implementation of Whole Language. Someone
who doesn't feel well grounded in Whole Language, and being unsure of
what they are doing, is going to cling more to a program of that type
than someone like yourself who feels knowledgeable and confident about
what they're doing. And I can't blame such a teacher. I would blame the
system or the admin who is forcing them to implement something like this
without sufficient training and support.
Sheila
--- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 10
---------------