Mr. Edward Jacobs

P.O. Box 1416

Christiansted, St. Croix 00821

Dear Mr. Jacobs:

    Ms. Doe has asked me, as Director of Lower School, to answer your letter of October 26, 1992 suggesting that our method of teaching reading was inadequate and suggesting a "Phonics first" approach.

    Educational research and reform is an ongoing continuous process. In order that Brooks Hill teachers are exposed to and benefit from this process in our geographical isolation, the Lower School teachers are involved in professional development videos authored by those accepted leaders at the forefront of this movement from New England, Illinois, California, New Zealand and Great Britain.

    Numerous studies of typical classroom practice suggest that elementary education in the United States could be improved significantly. In particular, the most pervasive problem afflicting much elementary instruction in the past has been a narrow focus on the acquisition of discrete academic skills - the ability to decode a word, punctuate a sentence, do long division, identify the parts of a flower -- to the exclusion of more thought provoking content exploration that taps the child's real world experiences, feelings, and interests. The pushing down such skill focused academic program into the kindergarten and preschool years and the inappropriate reliance on passive rote learning are major concerns in need of correction.

    The original rationale for the basic skills curriculum was rooted in earlier educational theory, which held that students needed to learn to crawl intellectually before they could walk or run. But the application of the theory has been disappointing. Single-minded concentration on the mechanics of reading and mathematics to the exclusion of how these subjects can inform or stimulate children's every day understanding of the world can discourage students' interest in school.

    Children are seekers of meaning. No sooner do they learn how to talk than they begin asking questions about simple things as well as about the dilemmas of human existence. Children are intensely interested in exploring questions of values, feelings, meaning, and the relationship of self to others. A curriculum that addresses these questions engages a child intellectually more than a skills-based one because it takes advantage of the natural curiosity and sense-making drive that motivate the child.

    The thinking curriculum does not call for the end of direct instruction or the learning of facts. Nor does it deny the importance of mastering traditional academic skills. What it does say, however, is that these skills are best acquired in the context of meaningful learning experiences that harness the child's inquisitive nature to the task at hand. Learning how to think and learning subject matter content are not separate processes.

    Current research on how children learn call for a shift from skills-based pedagogy, in which the teachers serves as the dispenser of knowledge, to a hands-on, student-centered, experiential one.

    The language arts curriculum should be organized around compelling literary works to provide children with significant content through which language competencies can be developed. One of the key responsibilities in the primary grades is to teach children how to read and write. Although phonics is a valuable tool for a beginning reader, this approach must not dominate over time spent on the essential purpose of reading: making meaning from text. Phonics is an important element in the teaching of reading, but it should never be allowed to become the whole program.

    The best approach in the instruction of all novice readers and writers is to create a rich environment, steeped in authentic language and stimulating stories that vitally connect with what the children already know and are curious about.

   Successful literacy programs:

1. Regularly expose students to the best in children's literature.

2. Provide ample opportunities for students to develop oral language by encouraging them to discuss their thoughts and ideas about stories they have heard, as well as about the world about them.

3. Introduce students to writing by providing them opportunities to dictate individual and group stories which are written and them read aloud.

4. Recognize each student's level of preparedness for reading and build on that base.

5. Stimulate children's interpretive thought processes by focusing on comprehension with strategic discussions and questioning before, during, and after readings.

6. Include a phonics component that is presented early and kept simple.

7. Present "Keyword" lists of those words that are not phonetically decodable and yet are most frequently visible in written text.

8. Stress the connection between what is written and the child's real world experiences.

9. Strike a balance between oral and silent reading practice.

10. Require teachers to read aloud to their students, discuss stories and events with them, enjoy literature together, demonstrating how an expert reader approaches a text.

    Writing activities powerfully contribute to reading proficiency by stretching mental processes utilizing and developing each students phonetic sense of language and other mechanical operations while involving students in original thinking.

    Brooks Hill has demonstrated continual success utilizing this multifaceted approach, always with an emphasis on meaning.

    For further reading may I recommend the latest report from the California Department of Education entitled "It's Elementary," $5.00 a copy from the Bureau of Publications Sales Unit, California Department of Education, P.O. Box 271, Sacramento, California 95812-0271. It offers a guide to what elementary school students should be learning and doing in seven subject areas: language arts, math, history, social studies, science, health, P.E., second languages and the visual and performing arts with as a vital strand running through each of the subject areas - character education.

    For an international point of view, you may be interested in attending the yearly International Reading Association Conference to be held in San Antonio, Texas, at the Marriott River Center on April 26-30. Our two third grade teachers have been accepted as presenters at this most prestigious event.

Thank you for your continued interest and involvement in your children's education.

Sincerely,

Susan Smith

Director, Lower School

cc: Ms. Jane Doe, Head of School

Mr. Robert Roe, Chairman, Board of Trustees

Ms. Joyce Jones, Chairperson, Board of Trustees

Education Committee

(The name of the school and the names of the head, lower school director, chairman of board of trustees and chairperson of education committee are fictitious)