[Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
Jay Samuels
samue001 at umn.edu
Wed May 31 17:39:50 BST 2006
I had thought of replying to Pat's comments but did not. Now with Alan's
statement, perhaps I may. 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
Alan Farstrup
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 9:59 AM
To: Thomas Sticht; Rob Tierney
Cc: Reading Hall of Fame List
Subject: Re: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
I agree that 2008 would be the appropriate time and that we should attempt
to put a strong program together. Pat's comments are interesting and I'd
like to hear others' take on them given what the profession seems to be
faced with in today's policy atmosphere.
Alan
--
Alan E. Farstrup, Ph.D
Executive Director
International Reading Association
800 Barksdale Road
Newark, Delaware 19714-8139 USA
Tel: +1 302 731-1600 Extension 220
Fax: +1 302 731-1057
Email: afarstrup at reading.org
Website: http://www.reading.org
> From: <tsticht at znet.com>
> Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 07:33:12 -0700
> To: Rob Tierney <rob.tierney at ubc.ca>
> Cc: <reading-hall-of-fame at nottingham.ac.uk>
> Subject: RE: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Centennial of Huey's book
>
> 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. Huey¹s 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 Jeanne¹s "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." Huey¹s "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 nation¹s 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 I¹m wondering if the RHF might
>>>> want
>> to
>>>> address for the centennial of Huey¹s 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 Huey¹s 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 nation¹s 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
More information about the Reading-hall-of-fame
mailing list