Why child-led discovery leaves your child behind

No child should be left on her own for education. Child-led discovery leaves a child far behind his peers.

However, with Direct Instruction you can accomplish optimum results with any child, whose cognitive growth is accelerated by carefully engineered instruction, rather than waiting for him to learn through random experience. 

        Don’t let the boring definition fool you. It’s interesting when done the right way.

DI is the purposeful teaching of a skill-set using lectures or demonstrations of the material, rather than exploratory models such as inquiry-based learning. 

There are ways to introduce material in a fun and joyous way. 

(One of the best books to use this method is, "A Funny Boy Was Prince River", possibly followed by "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".)

To develop a child’s intelligence, parents would do well to pursue the only teaching method proven to work: direct instruction. DI can be considered to be the ‘best practice’ of education for every subject, especially for the elementary school ages. 

DI is a teaching method that focuses on systematic, curriculum design and with a prescribed, behavioral script. (That is science-speak for guiding your child through easy steps that work.)

What was Project Follow Through? Why did we never hear of it?

        For almost 30 years (1967-1995), educrats experimented on U.S. kids in over 200 schools nationwide, with 22 different learning/teaching models.* Most of the failed models are still in use today. The data was intentionally kept from teachers and legislators.

The one and only successful method, direct instruction with phonics, has been mocked and ridiculed by ridiculous opponents, such as Frank Smith, who pushed the whole-language, sight-word propaganda (which causes dyslexia).

The Direct Instruction (DI) model was the only model that showed strong academic and effective gains at all sites. Some features of DI include: explicit, systematic instruction based on scripted lesson plans.

Emphasis on pace and efficiency of instruction, to accelerate student progress and bring students to mastery as quickly as possible. Frequent curriculum-based assessments help identify students who require additional intervention.

In other words, put your children on the launch pad of life and watch them soar!
   
Reason over rhetoric. Data over dogma.

*(Source: OVERVIEW: The Story Behind Project Follow Through, by Bonnie Grossen, Editor, University of Oregon, http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adiep/ft/grossen.htm).

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/SeeingtheEmperorsNewClotheswhychildleddiscoveryleavesyourchildbehind

5 common teaching methods may do more harm than good

SEEING THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES – PROJECT FOLLOW THROUGH
These five common reading methods may actually do more harm than good.

Have you ever heard of Project Follow Through (PFT)? Probably not. For almost 30 years (1967-1995), educrats experimented on U.S. kids in over 200 schools nationwide, with 22 different learning/teaching models. The idea was to create the Great Society with educational excellence. The opposite happened. The effects of PFT are still ongoing today, unfortunately.

After the results were analyzed, only one model of teaching proved to work – the direct instruction model using phonics. 

All the other models, whole language (sight-reading), child-led learning, inquiry-led learning, discovery, self-esteem first, etc., failed to produce positive results, and many even did more damage to children. 

(Ironically, self-esteem models did not produce self-esteem. Achievement in basic skills did. Models that emphasize basic skills produced better results on tests of self-concept than did other models.)

Paradoxically, the method that worked and worked well for all academic subjects, Direct Instruction (with phonics), was developed by an advertising-agent-turned-preschool-expert, a non-university, non-educational, non-PhD, father at home, Siegfried (Zig) Engelmann.

So what happened to the results of this long, expensive study, PFT? They were blocked from being disseminated out to the educational world- the teachers and principals that deal with our children every day. Why? Because 21 teaching models failed (including Whole Language and its many names), and only Direct Instruction proved to work. These results were blocked most likely to advance some university professors’, curriculum organizers’, and textbook publishers’ careers. And what about the politics of egos having to admit that the un-credentialed dad got it right? Never!

As a result, many of our children continue to be led down the path of illiteracy because Mr. Ernest House and Mr. Gene Glass, backed by the Ford Foundation, convinced the Department of Education that it was not beneficial (for whom?) to publish the results of Project Follow Through. Billions of taxpayer dollars created not the Great Society, but a mediocre, declining one instead. It’s ironic that men named Glass & House were “throwing stones” at the only successful method. 

Is your child’s education (and future) safe? Take this simple quiz.

Does your child:

1) Know the letter names, but not their individual letter sounds?
2) Know how to recognize words by sight, but not how to sound them out?
3) Confuse words easily?
4) Confuse letters and numbers?
5) Guess at unknown words?
6) Need pictures to help guess at sentence context?
7) Feel frustrated with reading?

If you said YES to any of these questions, your child may develop induced-dyslexia or fall further and further behind each year. 

Do something NOW to change his/her reading skills from sight-words to true phonics with The Godfrey Method. Give your child the tools to succeed in life!


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2 ways a gifted child may have a learning disability

Can a gifted child have a hidden learning disability? Can a learning-disabled child have a hidden giftedness?

Absolutely! Let me tell you about my 5th son. He learned to read by phonics before kindergarten. He always did well in elementary school and showed signs of giftedness. Then in intermediate school (6th & 7th grade) he started struggling. His grades were slipping, he was having behavior problems, getting into trouble, etc. 

We were pulling our hair out. We didn't know what to do. Next he went to middle school (8th & 9th) grades, and things got much worse. We noticed that he was very depressed. Was he on drugs?

About this same time, his younger brother had been diagnosed with childhood bipolar disorder. So I decided to take this son to the same diagnosing clinic and get a professional work-up. Dr. Gray wasn't available, so Dr. Lin took the case. It turned out that my son was ADHD and depressed (sounds bipolar to me, but she said no). 

Dr. Lin said that he was so gifted that it masked his problem in elementary school, but that when he reached the older grades, he couldn't hold it all together on memory and logic any more.

Changing classes and teachers 6 or 7 times a day uncovered the disorganization in his brain. So we got him the help he needed, and his grades came up, culminating in his high school graduation. I wouldn't be surprised if letting him watch too much TV or play too many video games, while I was working when he was little, contributed to his problem. 

He may have a genetic predisposition for these things, but too much media didn't help. As a single mom, I was on survival mode, worked full-time, went to college full-time, studied, took care of the house and shopping, etc. My son changed day-cares too much at that time, also.

The only thing I can say in my defense is that I didn't know. I wish that I knew what I know now, about the affects of noise on the toddler’s brain, when I was younger. I shouldn't have taken the easy road, but my stress level was really high. I also felt that, while I had to work, he was safer watching TV or playing video games than being with questionable friends or wandering outside.

Also, back then I didn't know that changing day-cares too much can cause bonding-attachment disorder in children. I realized that my son had signs of this when he was a preschooler, so I did whatever I could to help him bond with me – held him more, made him look me in the eye while speaking, spent more time with him. 

Divorce is hard on everyone, especially the children. My 5th son was the youngest at the time and was affected the most. He lost both parents; dad to divorce, and mom to work and school.

But I can also say that taking the time to teach him to read before kindergarten, with my picture-letters, solved two problems. I gave him the tools and capacity to learn (and well) despite his hidden ADHD, and I mended his bonding-attachment disorder at the same time with the one-on-one attention. 

In his early teenage years we discovered his hidden ADHD disability and diminished its symptoms, so he could function in a secondary school setting. We also addressed his depression, partly genetic but exacerbated by his struggles in school. He has grown up to be a wonderful, caring young man!

Some children who appear to be gifted in certain areas, such as math, mechanics, cooking, music, etc., may be held back by problems in reading and writing. Some children who are “diagnosed” with learning disabilities may have gifted abilities in other areas, even being savants. Others may be held back by depression or other brain-chemistry issues. 

There is hope. Parents can do things at home to prepare (or repair) their child’s brain for normal, signal processing.

~ Early reading the right way
~ Less sound and visual “noise”
~ Dr. Merzenich’s group
~ Dr. Doman’s institute

(More about this in Chapter 7 of "It's Not Rocket Surgery!" Also, see visual-spatial learners in Chapter 8.)

Without phonics, the idea of anagrams and other word puzzles would be extremely difficult for the sight-reader/dyslexic with little precision in letter-sounds and sequences. Here are a few examples of anagrams from http://www.baconbabble.com/index.php/2009/12/03/48-amazing-anagrams/ plus some of mine. The idea of these anagrams is to scramble the word into something that describes the original word, using all the same letters.

Note: some of the anagrams on the website are not appropriate. I do not support the ribald ones. However, these below are genius!

Mother-in-law __________________________Woman Hitler
Debit card______________________________Bad credit
Slot machines___________________________Cash lost in ‘em
School master___________________________The classroom
Eleven plus two_________________________Twelve plus one
Dormitory_______________________________Dirty room
Punishment______________________________Nine thumps
The Morse code__________________________Here come dots
Snooze alarms___________________________Alas! No more Zs
A decimal point_________________________I’m a dot in place
Astronomer______________________________Moon starer
The eyes________________________________They see
The public art galleries________________Large picture halls, I bet
Election results________________________Lies – let’s recount
The Hurricanes__________________________These churn air
Presbyterian____________________________Best in prayer
Desperation_____________________________A rope ends it
Animosity_______________________________Is no amity
The earthquakes_________________________That queer shake
Semolina________________________________Is No Meal
Contradiction___________________________Accord not in it

-Anagrams in Famous Names- (try your own name)

Elvis___________________________________Lives
Elvis Aaron Presley_____________________Seen alive? Sorry, pal!
Madonna Louise Ciccone__________________One cool dance musician
Clint Eastwood__________________________Old West action
William Shakespeare_____________________I’ll make a wise phrase
Marilyn Manson__________________________Manly man? No sir!
A Homer Simpson_________________________Mr. Homo Sapiens
Giovanni Pergolesi______________________I love opera singing!
George Bush_____________________________He bugs Gore
Osama bin Laden_________________________A bad man, no lies
Saddam Hussein__________________________UN’s said he’s mad
Adolf Hitler____________________________Do real filth
Alec Guinness___________________________Genuine Class
Princess Diana__________________________Ascend in Paris (freaky, right?)
Shannah B Godfrey_______________________Fans go by her hand (writings)

This one's truly amazing:
"To be or not to be: that is the question, whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." ~ William Shakespeare

And the Anagram:
"In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten."

And another long one:
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." ~ Neil Armstrong

The Anagram:
"Thin man ran; makes a large stride, left planet, pins flag on moon! On to Mars!"

With early reading the right way, no one has to miss the joy of anagrams!

• http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/SavingJackJillcanagiftedchildhavealearningdisability

3 reasons why sleep is so important for children

Did you know that sleep deprivation affects learning, IQ, and behavior?

The affect of sleep on learning - this is such an important reason to reduce the noise and visual distractions at nap-time and bedtime for everyone, whether learning-disabled, bipolar, or normal. Turn off the radio, turn off the TV - noise really hampers a child's sleep and brain development.

Sleep is extremely important for bipolar children, especially in stabilizing mood swings and rages.

On the Audiblox website, http://www.audiblox2000.com/sleep-deprivation.htm, a multi-sensory brain-training program that claims to be effective for dyslexia and other learning disabilities, I found an interesting article about the affect of sleep on learning. To quote:

“To achieve optimum performance, people [and children] need good quality sleep. Impaired sleep reduces performance on many mental tasks. Mitler’s studies of catastrophes, such as the Three Mile Island nuclear power accident and the Challenger space shuttle explosion, concluded that poor sleep quality impaired decision making and contributed to each catastrophe.

“According to Coren, scores on intelligence tests decline cumulatively on each successive day that you sleep less than you normally sleep. The daily decline is approximately one IQ point for the first hour of sleep loss, two for the next, and four for the next. After five successive days of sleeping less than you need, your IQ can be lowered by up to 15 points. This means that a person of normal intelligence could have an effective IQ of only 85, the level at which you would need special education in order to learn. Even a very ‘bright’ person (IQ of 120 plus) can be reduced to robotic thinking, as though on automatic pilot.

“Research has also revealed an association between sleep deprivation and poorer grades. In a 1998 survey of more than 3,000 high school students, for example, psychologists Amy R. Wolfson, PhD, of the College of the Holy Cross, and Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, of Brown University Medical School, found that students who reported that they were getting C’s, D’s, and F’s in school obtained about 25 minutes less sleep and went to bed about 40 minutes later than students who reported they were getting A’s and B’s.”

The affect of sleep on learning. Enough said.

http://thegodfreymethod.com/content/SavingJackJill3reasonswhysleepissoimportantforchildren