[Reading-hall-of-fame] Balanced Literacy

[P David Pearson]

I started using the radical middle in the preface to Teaching Reading
Comprehension in 1978. I borrowed it from Jules Pfeiffer, who used it in a
1950’s cartoon describing Eisenhower’s politics. But I don’t think I
uttered the term balanced literacy until I started using it in talks in
about 1995 or so. I should see what PowerPoints I have in my cloud storage.

P David Pearson
110 41st Street, Apt 401
Oakland, CA 94611-5237
510.543.6508

*If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of
tomorrow." John Dewey, 1903*

*“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Stanislaw Jerzy
Lec*


On Jun 22, 2023, at 7:25 PM, Kris Gutierrez <gutierrkd at berkeley.edu> wrote:

David, I recall you writing about the “radical middle,”  which I used;  I
don’t recall your writing on  balanced literacy.
Kris Gutiérrez
Carol Liu Distinguished Professor
Associate Dean
Berkeley School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
2121 Berkeley Way
Berkeley, Ca 94720-1670
gutierrkd at berkeley.edu
Member, National Academy of Education
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences






On Jun 22, 2023, at 5:57 PM, P David Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu> wrote:

Fact-checking my own recollections of history.

I was surprised to learn from the Daily in the NYT a couple of weeks ago
that Lucy Calkins was the founder of balanced literacy.  I imagine she was
also surprised to learn that. And I know that our RHF colleague, Gay Su
Pinnell, has sometimes received the same attribution. So I am trying to
recall when I first became aware of the common use of balanced literacy.

I am a little vague on this, but I do remember that in the early 90s
version of the reading wars, which sometimes featured tensions between
colleagues affiliated with the Whole Language Umbrella and those aligned
with the findings of Marilyn Adams' Beginning to Read volume, there were
some researchers and teacher educators and many state and district leader
who began searching for a middle ground. And I vaguely recall that some
even banded together to ask IRA to authorize the establishment of something
like a Balanced Literacy SIG (special interest group).

And then I recall a 1996 book by
E. McIntyre & M. Pressley, *Balanced Instruction:  Strategies and skills in
whole language*. Boston MA:  Christopher-Gordon.

Can others add to the story of who was involved--and how-- in coining
Balanced Literacy?  And I bet there are uses of the term as far back as
Horace Mann.

David


-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*"If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of
tomorrow." John Dewey, 1903*
*“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Stanislaw Jerzy
Lec*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. David Pearson
Evelyn Lois Corey *Emeritus* Professor of Instructional Science
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley

email:  ppearson at berkeley.edu
other e-mail:  pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com
website for publications:  www.pdavidpearson.org
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