Standing on Solid Literacy Ground: A Journey to Discover My Core Beliefs
By Cindy Puryear
As a teacher, researcher, and experimenter, I’ve spent years immersing myself in the ever-evolving landscape of reading instruction. Back in the mid-1980’s, systematic phonics instruction dominated the scene. Phonics and other reading skills were drilled meticulously through workbooks and worksheets, with little consideration for the joy of reading itself. Some students thrived, some struggled, and most trudged along, making adequate progress, whatever that means.
Slowly, the literacy sands began to shift beneath my feet. Whole Language, a philosophy that children best learn to read naturally and focused on meaning rather than systematic phonics instruction was in fashion. The joy of “reading what you want when you want” was the in-vogue literacy campaign of the day. Once again, some children excelled, some failed, most made adequate progress.
This young teacher had lingering questions…. Why does the chosen literacy philosophy change? Why does the new approach need to be so different from what we loved before? Why don’t we combine the best of every program and embrace what we know really works? On my quest to make sense of my teaching world, I came to a sobering conclusion. I couldn’t clearly articulate my literacy core beliefs. I found myself nodding along to countless ideas without a firm foundation of my own convictions. What did I know to be true regardless of programming? What were the literacy lines I couldn’t cross?
This series of posts is designed to guide you through my journey of inquiry to discover my core beliefs, the compass of my literacy instruction. We’ll consider six values that sit at the very heart of my work. Values I carry with me as a bookmark to keep me anchored. As we uncover and acknowledge our true north, the big picture and details will become obviously clear and transformative. Next month’s post examines the first of my six literacy core beliefs, “Students need a rich supply of books they can read and want to read.”