(Continued from previous message)
  >related tales to Joseph in which, "if they tried to teach phonics or
  >word attack skills to the kids who weren't getting it from the storybook
  >and the invented writings, bureaucrats came in from their district
  >office and ordered a stop to it.  It was terrible stuff, virtually a new
  >religion, a cult."
I have heard of this happening and still happening in a few schools in
Metro Toronto and this appalls me! Thank goodness every school I have
ever taught in at my board (district where I live) does not have this
authoritarian method. I don't think I could teach under such a tight
control. :(
CB>And still later in the Jill Stewart article...
CB>"At Heliotrope Elementary School in Maywood, a Los Angeles suburb,
  >teacher Patty Abarca became notorious for defying her school's ban on
  >spelling tests and basal readers.  Her war began in the early 1990's
  >when a now-departed vice principal, a hardcore whole language purist
  >with little teaching experience, announced that teachers who were using
  >traditional reading primers were "losers.""
CB>(I have written for permission to post Jill's two part article in this
  >forum as it is extremely well researched, presenting more balance than
  >my quotes here project.)
Will be looking forward  to reading them. :)
                Thanks for listening,
                                Ruth....
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