What is wrong with the way I teach reading?

Another senior teacher came to me with this question a few days ago. After trying to figure out the answer to 'Why me?' I would soon come to realise that she asked me this question with reference to me being a 'Reading Specialist'. She continued that she was quite passionate about reading and have always tried strategies that she considered comprehensive and productive for her students. In fact, as far as she could remember she always produced very good readers that would eventually be promoted to the A class of the school. Now at this closing hours of her career, the administrators are demanding that she adopt the new Jolly Phonics programme. Not only does she not see the need to change her methodology but since it demands such great effort, she does not see the need. if it is the end result they are looking at, she believes that she far exceeds the qualifications.

This Jolly Phonics Programme has been implemented in the Primary schools of Trinidad and Tobago within the last five years. it is a thorough set of materials for teaching reading and writing to a class of children in their first year at the Primary School. It introduces all the letter sounds (not just the alphabet) with an action to give the sound. According to me senior teaching co worker - 'You have to be a full fledged clown to be effective at this Jolly Phonics.'

From what I have seen however I think that the Jolly Phonics is a self discovery method of teaching students the skill of decoding words to read. It is a great multifaceted method that encorporates visual, auditory and kinesthetic modes. This very structured method, though proven to be effective and fun for children is not often embraced by many teachers because this approach is very different from teachers' traditional method of teaching reading. This apathetic approach to the new programme should be discouraged since there is empirical evidence to prove the worth of the programme.

Challenges of senior teachers

My name is Junette Wiltshire and I have taught the Senior Classes of the primary school for approximately twenty years. My major teaching task is preparing students for the Secondary Entrance Examination. Over the years I have had a few struggling readers who were faced with the challenge of having to read materials that were levels higher than they were at. These pupils were at a serious disadvantage on two grounds. Firstly the packed curriculum of the examination class did not allow me to work individually with very weak readers. Secondly, I have never worked at the Infant or Junior levels where the major skill taught is word identification strategies, as such, I was truly at a loss at how to help these senior students with beginning reading.

I looked at my situation with a sense of hopelessness, knowing that these students will fall through the cracks because there was no intervention designed to assist them. I figured that I needed to get some form of training in reading. Of course, I was overjoyed when this Masters in Reading Programme was advertised. Here I saw the opportunity to receive specialized training in the area of reading that could help me to help myself and other teachers faced with this dilemma. Honestly,I have not found the time to implement this vast repertoire of skills and strategies that I have been exposed to thus far, but I know that at the end of it all many persons apart from me would benefit