Is anyone really unteachable? CK is a young man, 25 years old, who came to us because his Grandmother heard one of our LMG members talking about That Reading Thing. She said that C had never been able to read, he had dyslexia and had gone to a special school. He was holding down a job but wanted to go in the army and couldn’t pass the English test. He had gone to the local college for group lessons and … Read More
Sometimes a student needs to know they’re better than they thought. Here’s 14 year old Kazys’s interview. Interview with Kazys, A 14 year old boy who gained 10 months in 6 TRT sessions. What have you got out of That Reading Thing? I’ve gained confidence, I am a better reader than I thought I was. I have gained spelling & reading skills. How did you feel about reading before you started? I could read, but I thought I was behind … Read More
Sometimes, working with young people living chaotic lives, you only get a very short time to make a difference. Here’s what only 4 sessions of That Reading Thing can do: ‘A’ was referred to me in the summer term. She had previously seen a mentor, but had not responded well and opted out of that mentoring. ‘A’ was known in the school as disruptive and challenging, and struggled in the classroom. When she came to me, she had a reading … Read More
Report from That Reading Thing in Tower Hamlets (2011) Note from Tricia – The voice in this report is that of Sarah Warburton who was the TRT lead in the now closed Gap Project in Bethnal Green. She delivered That Reading Thing as in intervention to young people from local secondary schools and pupil referral units. Some students came to the Gap Project building and others met in school. After the project closed, Sarah was hired by one of the … Read More
13 September 2017 I wrote the following on the 14th of April, 2009. Eight years and five months later, a decision has been made to include structured phonics in literacy for adults who are working at the lowest levels. I’ll blog further on the specific proposals but this is a good starting point. **** This morning (13/04/09) in the Guardian, Peter Kingston writes about the possibilities of using phonics in adult literacy. The NRDC report he refers to is Improving … Read More
A friend on social media sent me this piece from the Washington Post and asked what I thought. Here’s a quick and somewhat gut-felt response. First, I have some sympathy with her about the education system; it doesn’t work well for everyone. I also have some sympathy with her feelings about what I’d call the medicalization of education. There’s far too much “diagnosing” of children who can’t read. Some people are genuinely dyslexic and have real glitches that make it … Read More