[Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
tsticht at znet.com
tsticht at znet.com
Wed May 31 15:33:12 BST 2006
Rob: I have been thinking that the celebration should take place in 2008,
the 100th anniversary of Huey's l908 book. So there is time to put a good
program in place. You have probably seen emails from Ken, Jay, Yetta, and
Patrick Shannon by now. So it looks like there is interest. Perhaps, as Ken
Goodman suggests, you could appoint a committee (I would volunteer to work
on it) and planning progress could be discussed in Toronto in 2007. I'll
forward this to RHF members, too, so others can be thinking about all this.
Thanks, Tom Sticht
Quoting Rob Tierney <rob.tierney at ubc.ca>:
> >Tom
>
> Sorry for the sporadic responses..I have been out of town and away from
> e-mail
>
> Are you able to proceed with organizing a session
> for the 2007 IRA with RHF sponsorship as well as
> NRC support (assuming that you hear from VPG)?
>
> I think the material in your first e-mail could
> serve as the basis for the presentation..in terms
> of presenters, I would suspect yourself, Jay and
> maybe some others from RHF, but it could also
> include others.
>
> Rob
>
>
>
> >Hi All! Ken, Bill, Jay in particular. Thanks for speaking in foavor of a
> RHF
> >celebration of Huey's book. I think it is particularly appropriate for
> RHF
> >to have such a celebration because the 1968 60th anniversary volume of
> >Huey's book by MIT Press had a Foreword by Jack Carroll, our very own
> >friend and colleague in the RHF. Regarding the NRC, I sent a copy of the
> >message I sent to RHF on to Norm Stahl at NRC and to Vickey
> Purcell-Gates
> >who spans both RHF and NRC in top offices. Rob sent me an email speaking
> in
> >favor of the RHF doing something, too. I have also sent an email to MIT
> >Press to see if they are going to do anything, or would like to. I'll
> let
> >you know if I hear from MIT Press anytime soon. I think an RHF session
> with
> >the title The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading: A Celebration of the
> Work
> >of E. B. Huey (or some other name along these lines) with the big names
> of
> >the RHF would bring in a good crowd. So keep the idea floating and lets
> see
> >what others think. Happy Memorial Day! Tom Sticht
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Quoting Jay Samuels <samue001 at umn.edu>:
> >
> >> Dear RHF,
> >>
> >> Just a few hours ago I responded to Tom's idea of honoring Huey on
> the
> >> centennial of his book. I still think his idea has great merit, but I
> >> wish
> >> to withdraw a poorly thought out idea of mine. I suggested that due
> to
> >> the
> >> fact that not too many teachers knew about Huey's book, perhaps the
> RHF
> >> session should be done at the National Reading Confernce [NRC]. My
> >> suggestion about RHF and NRC was not a good idea. The RHF has had a
> long,
> >> exclusive, and healthy partnership with IRA, and this partnership
> >> deserves
> >> to be maintained. However, there is nothing to prevent NRC from
> >> sponsoring
> >> such an event on its own, with two major reading organizations
> >> recognizing
> >> the impact that this scholar has had on reading . Happy Memorial Day
> to
> >> all
> >> of you. jay
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> >> [mailto:reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On
> Behalf Of
> >> Jay Samuels
> >> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 6:19 AM
> >> To: tsticht at znet.com; reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk
> >> Cc: barbara guzzetti
> >> Subject: RE: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
> > >
> >> Dear RHF,
> >>
> >> I like Tom's suggestion in that the Huey's book is special. At a time
> in
> >> this nation's history, when psychology was following the rules set
> down
> >> by
> >> JB Watson, and was going into behaviorism, Huey was clearly into what
> >> would
> >> become cognitive psych. Huey's understanding of the psychological
> process
> >> of
> >> reading was awesome. How he did it was amazing. Actually without
> data, he
> >> was aware the the size of the visual unit used in word recognition
> varied
> >> depending on the frequency of the word and the skill of the person
> >> reading.
> >> Data to support his insights came 3/4 of a century later. If the HRF
> >> decides
> >> to honor Huey's centennial, I would like to take part in the
> activity.
> >>
> >> However, I do want to raise the red flag of caution. When the RHF
> talked
> >> at
> >> the Chicago convention, we talked to about 450 people in the
> audience. I
> >> actually did a rough head count. We attracted many teachers because
> the
> >> topic we addressed - No child Left Behid - was a topic that grabbed
> the
> >> hearts and minds of teachers. It was a topic the IRA conventioners
> knew
> >> about, and the importance of the topic brought them in. And of
> course,
> >> the
> >> panel of speakers were people with high name recognition. I am
> certain
> >> that
> >> if the RHF decides to honor Huey, the name recognition would again
> > > attract
> >> an audience, but it is not clear to me how many teachers are familiar
> >> with
> >> Huey and his book. So, while I think Tom brings up a mighty
> interesting
> >> topic, we may be speaking to a much smaller audience. Never the less,
> the
> >> topic is interestitng. Here is another thought. Maybe given the
> somewhat
> >> esoteric nature of the topic, maybe it is a topic better suited for
> the
> >> NRC
> >> conference and topics that clearly have a public education flavor
> should
> >> remain in the IRA convention. Jay Samuels.
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> >> [mailto:reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On
> Behalf Of
> >> tsticht at znet.com
> >> Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 12:01 PM
> >> To: reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk
> >> Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
> >>
> >> RHF Folks:
> >>
> >> In a little over a year and a half we will come upon the 100th
> >> anniversary
> >> of E. B. Huey’s 1908 classic book, "The Psychology and Pedagogy of
> >> Reading."
> >> This great tour de force bridged from research in reading, through
> the
> >> history of reading, into the teaching of reading. In a succinct
> summary
> >> of
> >> reading methods, Huey said, "The methods of learning to read that are
> in
> >> common use to-day may be classed as alphabetic, phonic, phonetic,
> word,
> >> sentence, and combination methods." (p. 265 of the 1968 reprint).
> >>
> >> In the century since Huey catalogued the methods of teaching reading,
> his
> >> account is remarkably apt for the present day. In general, his
> >> alphabetic,
> >> phonic, and phonetic methods were grouped by Jeanne Chall under the
> >> general
> >> headings of "Code Emphasis" while his word and sentence methods fit
> well
> >> with Jeanne’s "Meaning Emphasis" grouping. To bring the cataloguing
> >> up-to-date, the "Code Emphasis" methods are today generally referred
> to
> >> as
> >> "Alphabetics" while the "Meaning Emphasis" methods are referred to as
> >> "Whole
> >> Language." Huey’s "combination" methods are referred to as the
> >> "Balanced"
> >> approach.
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, data from the National Center for Education Statistics
> >> released last year indicate that, despite heroic efforts, with costs
> >> easily
> >> in the vicinity of $1 trillion the National Assessment of
> Educational
> >> Progress (NAEP), the nation’s indicator of the health of the reading
> >> instruction patient, has flat-lined. From 1971 up to 2004, average
> >> reading
> >> scores for 9, 13 and 17 year olds are so flat that if you were a
> patient
> >> in
> >> an intensive care unit and had your health monitoring indicators go
> as
> >> flat
> >> as the 30-year NAEP data you would be declared dead! This is true for
> >> children at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles, too.
> >>
> >> The NAEP data do show that as children go up through primary,
> elementary,
> > > and secondary school, they do get better at reading across the
> percentile
> >> spectrum. But in 2004 the bottom ten percent of 17 year olds scored
> below
> >> the median for 13 year olds, and were just 6 scale score points above
> the
> >> median for 9 year olds. These poorly scoring students will no doubt
> be
> >> those
> >> who will later discover the real life importance of literacy and will
> >> enter
> >> into adult basic education to try to gain skills needed to support
> >> themselves and their families.
> >>
> >> This raises some questions that I’m wondering if the RHF might want
> to
> >> address for the centennial of Huey’s book in its 2008 program at the
> IRA
> >> meeting:
> >>
> >>
> >> 1. Do we as researchers have any better understanding about how to
> teach
> >> reading than Huey did?
> >>
> >> 2. What has reading research contributed to our ability to teach
> children
> >> across the grades from pre-school to high school?
> >>
> >> 3. Do we understand how to teach developmental reading programs in
> >> colleges
> >> and universities any better today than practitioners did in the early
> >> part
> >> of the 20th century?
> >>
> >> 4. Do we understand how to teach adult reading in literacy programs
> any
> >> better today than adult teachers did in the early part of the 20th
> >> century?
> >>
> >> 5. Why has reading research had so little impact on reading
> achievement
> >> scores on the NAEP in the last 30 years?
> > >
> >> Maybe RHF members will want to discuss the interest in some sort of
> >> activity
> >> related to Huey’s centennial (IRA program; edited book; etc.). The
> >> foregoing
> >> questions are just of interest to me. Others may want to suggest
> other
> >> avenues for celebrating 100th anniversary of the outstanding work of
> one
> >> of
> >> our nation’s earliest and most articulate reading researchers.
> >>
> >> See you!
> >>
> >> Tom Sticht
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Reading-hall-of-fame mailing list
> >> Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> >> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Reading-hall-of-fame mailing list
> >> Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> >> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> Rob Tierney, Dean
> Faculty of Education
> University of British Columbia
> 2125 Main Mall
> Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4
>
> Tel: 604-822-5757
> Fax: 604-822-6501
>
>
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