[Reading-hall-of-fame] Balanced Literacy

Fri Jun 23 04:31:36 BST 2023

I completely agree, Carol.

I am just trying to trace the evolution of both the idea and the label.

David

P David Pearson
110 41st Street, Apt 401
Oakland, CA 94611-5237
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*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 8:25 PM, Carol D Lee <cdlee at northwestern.edu> wrote:

Keep in m ind this is not a scientific debate. It’s a political debate.  We
need to figure out how to engage the politics.

Carol

Carol D. Lee, Ph.D.

Edwina S. Tarry Professor Emerita

School of Education and Social Policy

Northwestern University

Member, National Academy of Education

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Fellow, American Educational Research Association

Fellow, National Conference on Language and Literacy

President, National Academy of Education

Member, Reading Hall of Fame

Fellow, International Society of the Learning. Sciences

*From: *Reading-hall-of-fame <
reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> on behalf of P David
Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu>
*Date: *Thursday, June 22, 2023 at 9:51 PM
*To: *Kris Gutierrez <gutierrkd at berkeley.edu>
*Cc: *reading hall of fame <reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>
*Subject: *Re: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Balanced Literacy

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

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