[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Frank Smith

Fri Jan 1 21:20:33 GMT 2021

Such sad news.  

When I was still a graduate student and before, as in this case, I was also an administrator and director of the writing/reading program for “provisionally admitted” students at the university.  I would invite the luminaries of the field to come to Boulder to give workshops for my staff (sometimes I would visit them, e.g., David Pearson). I approached Frank and to my surprise he said yes to my invitation.  I recall picking him up at the airport and there he was ascot and all.  

 I wondered how he would be received by my very smart but very activist instructional staff and if he would be bored by this young whippersnapper who had invited him. (I was still learning but nevertheless responsible for providing the best instruction for a very vulnerable population of young adults.)

 It was a wonderful experience; he was so gracious and surprisingly responsive to the academic and sociopolitical challenges we faced;  he was appreciated by all.  I’m glad I trusted my gut and that so many had the opportunity to learn with him over the course of several days.   Such a loss.  Kris 

(Excuse typos; my keyboard is haunted) 

Kris D. Gutiérrez
Carol Liu Professor 
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
2121 Berkeley Way, Room 4226
Berkeley, CA 94720-1670
gutierrkd at berkeley.edu
Member, National Academy of Education
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 

> On Jan 1, 2021, at 12:16 PM, P Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu> wrote:
> 
> I first met Frank in 1970 when Ken Goodman and James Fleming invited him to be a part of the IRA Preconvention Institute of the Psycholinguistics and Reading Committee--in Anaheim at Disneyland if I recall rightly.  His talk that day was the tipping point that pushed me over the edge on the issue of relative salience of top-down versus bottom-up processing for reading.  And when Understanding Reading came out the next year, I had the complete theoretical and (at least a part of the) empirical base for jumping ship on any version of behaviorist leftovers (e.g. Markovian chains) for explaining language or reading.  
> 
> His distinction between comprehension and learning was key for me because it allowed me to link his work to Piaget (assimilation vs accommodation) or Rumelhart's later distinction between accretion, fine-tuning, and restructuring.  
> 
> We interacted with some regularity until he went off to Victoria after which I lost track of him, but I followed the books and essays that came later whenever I could get a hold of them.  
> 
> I fully agree with Brian's assessment that he, along with Ken, changed how we think about reading.
> 
> David
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jan 1, 2021 at 12:12 PM Brian Cambourne <bcambrn at uow.edu.au <mailto:bcambrn at uow.edu.au>> wrote:
> How sad. 
> What a giant he was in our field.
> 
> Like Ken Goodman, Frank changed how we thought and taught literacy in Australia.
> 
> I was very fortunate that my Dean of Education at Riverina College (Dr Peter Rousch) found the funds to entice Frank  to accept a 6 month contract as a Visiting Fellow at our college back in the mid 70’s. The lectures and sessions he gave during those months were groundbreaking for me personally and for Australian literacy education in general.
> 
> I remember a short film he referred us to. It showed him observing and interacting with a young learner-reader as they wandered through a Canadian department store. Frank asked his young subject what he thought the signs  they encountered as the wandered through the store meant.
> 
> They came to the “ Footwear” section with lots of shoes and boots under the sign “Footwear”. Frank asked the young kid what this particular sign meant. His response was “ it either means Fuck -off  or  boots”. 
> 
> Frank left it to the viewer to work out his subject was responding to both the configuration of letters  in the word “Footwear” and the context in which it occurred.
> 
> Another great loss to our field.
>  Brian Cambourne
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > On 2 Jan 2021, at 6:43 am, Diane Lapp <lapp at sdsu.edu <mailto:lapp at sdsu.edu>> wrote:
> > 
> > Happy New Year Everyone.
> > 
> > I am sad to share a message I received from David Olson regarding the recent death of Frank Smith. I have attached it below. Another great loss to the field of literacy.
> > 
> > Warmest regards,
> > Diane Lapp
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
> > and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
> > message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and
> > attachment. 
> > 
> > Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
> > necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email
> > communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored 
> > where permitted by law.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > <Frank Smith.docx>
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Reading-hall-of-fame mailing list
> > Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk <mailto:Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
> > http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame <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 <mailto:Reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/reading-hall-of-fame>
> 
> 
> 
> This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
> and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
> message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and
> attachment. 
> 
> Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
> necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email
> communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored 
> where permitted by law.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> P. David Pearson
> Evelyn Lois Corey Emeritus Professor of Instructional Science
> Graduate School of Education
> University of California, Berkeley
> 
> email:  ppearson at berkeley.edu <mailto:ppearson at berkeley.edu>
> other e-mail:  pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com <mailto:pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com>
> website for publications:  www.pdavidpearson.org <http://www.pdavidpearson.org/>
> *******************
> Please use HOME ADDRESS for responses
> Home:  851 Euclid Ave
> Berkeley, CA  94708 -1305
> iPhone:  510 543 6508
> ****************************************
> 
> 
> This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
> and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
> message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and
> attachment. 
> 
> Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
> necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email
> communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored 
> where permitted by law.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/private/reading-hall-of-fame/attachments/20210101/7e523268/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 1397 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/private/reading-hall-of-fame/attachments/20210101/7e523268/attachment-0001.bin>