Fwd: [LiteracyForAll] Request

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Alisun Thompson" <alisun@ucsc.edu>
> Date: Tue Feb 5, 2008  7:03:04 AM US/Pacific
> To: LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [LiteracyForAll] Request
> Reply-To: LiteracyForAll@yahoogroups.com
>
> Here's mine -- a bit late, but its fine to share it our pass it on. Can
> someone help me figure out how to post this to one of the newspapers 
> that
> ran the piece?
> Thanks!
>
> Dear Mr. Keillor,
>
> I'm not sure how seriously you will take my comments, as I have 
> recently
> returned to a university to pursue my Ph.D. I will be the first in my 
> family
> to achieve such an honor, and I was profoundly insulted by your attack 
> on
> those of us who value education so deeply, we wish to contribute to its
> knowledge base. The focus of my research is on the impact legislation 
> such
> as NCLB and Reading First is having on historically underserved 
> students and
> their teachers? a topic that grew from my personal experiences. In my
> wildest dreams I would not have guessed that I would leave the 
> classroom to
> go back to school. I loved teaching and, if I might say, I did it well 
> ?
> very well. My students were primarily socio-economically disadvantaged 
> and
> spoke English as a second language. I attended a variety of staff
> development opportunities and integrated strategies to meet their 
> diverse
> needs. I planned lessons carefully, balancing whole-class with small 
> group
> work, and regularly used formative data to give me ideas about the 
> needs of
> my students. In short, I taught. When I left the classroom, however, 
> this
> was no longer the case. Instead of teaching, I was delivering a script,
> plain and simple, and it wasn't even very good. I no longer needed
> strategies and lesson plans because I had a monstrously large teacher's
> manual that I hefted through the classroom and was forced to follow 
> with
> fidelity. I decided to leave the classroom and see what I could do 
> about
> this appalling situation. There are many teachers like me that could 
> not
> stay and be so diminished in a profession they valued. I am talking to 
> these
> teachers in my research, as well as teachers who have remained in the
> classroom and are doing their best to continue to teach despite these
> obstacles. These teachers are not frustrated with ideology or 
> comparisons of
> whole-language and phonics. They are frustrated because they know how 
> to
> teach reading and are not being allowed to do so.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> Alisun Thompson
> Education Department
> University of California, Santa Cruz
>
>
> On Feb 3, 2008 12:41 PM, Stephen Krashen <skrashen@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >   Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > When you post your letters to and about Garrison
> > Keillor, could you please indicate if it is ok to
> > share them with others and/or post them elsewhere, and
> > where they were sent? They are powerful statements and
> > need to be seen by lots of people.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Steve Krashen
>
>
>
> --
> Alisun
>
> Language, Literacy and Culture
> Education Department
> University of California, Santa Cruz
>
> "Not everything that can be counted counts. "
>
> Albert Einstein
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
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