Dr. Louise Rosenblatt and What Race, Culture, and Politics have to do with low reading scores in Black and Brown Communities

 

There has always been two views of literacy, one that is simple, one that is more complex. There are many theories of literacy, but the simple Vs the complex are like ground hog day events. First, lets remove the smoke and mirrors of learning to read.  No one learns to read without learning phonics. We are forever rooted in endless reading wars about phonics Vs no phonics, this is the straw man argument. Yetta Goodman was my dissertation advisor, and she taught me to learn from those that think differently, we all have much to learn.  Now getting back to simple Vs complex views. Phonics is part of learning to read as is the texts use to teach children to read. Simple View proponents value the texts, just as Complex views valued phonics and fluency.  There is a great deal of science in both views, as Yetta Goodman said we have much to learn. Simple Yetta Goodman message the science never ends. 

Let me take you on a journey to 2005, and my conversation with Louse Rosenblatt at the National Council of teachers of English Conference.  

Dr. Dorothy Menosky, (the professor who sent me to the University of Arizona to study with Ken and Yetta Goodman). She knew I was deeply vetted in the literature of Louise Rosenblatt. Dorothy was my outside committee dissertation member, and she loved how I build Transactional Theory in my Literature Review. Dorothy was friends with Louise Rosenblatt, Dorothy told her about my work on the Tohono O'odham Reservation using Transactional Theory as the link to progressive education, American Indian Education, Critical Theory, and Whole Language together. At NCTE 2005 Dorothy arranged for Louise to meet with me for a one on one for two hours to discuss my dissertation. Talk about Transactional moments, this was Dorothy's gift to one of her favorite students. I would leave this meeting fully understanding the importance of my research on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

My research is vetted not on any "Simple View of Reading", (The Simple View of Reading is a theory that attempts to define the skills that contribute to early reading comprehension. According to the original theory, an individual's reading comprehension is the product of her decoding skill and language comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986). The key idea is that both the ability to decode and language comprehension are necessary for reading comprehension.) Key point is language comprehension is second in the simple view of reading. This second is the achilles heal of the Simple View of Reading, no manner how many rope treads they wrap around this view, the reader brings skills not themselves to the text, the rest is smoke and mirrors. 

The text in this view is primary, the reader is the recipient of text based knowledge, even deeper comprehension is text based in this view, you don't understand yourself, life, or the world better, you understand the text better. You bring nothing to the text. In the Simple View of Reading version comprehension does not connect to the reader's personal, social, cultural or political points of view. These are blurred at best. The reader is subservient to the text, and any measure of comprehension is fixed on the text. There is no multicultural literacy views, no cultural literacy views, no racial views of literacy, no personal literacy, no political views of literacy, no world views. Certainly you can see which side President Trump and his “MAGA” Education Reformers fall on. 

This is an old story, it goes back to the very beginnings of public education, one camp wanted obedient subjects, the other liberators. In DC 2025, Liberators are out, and we are losing the literacy battle in communities of color. This is not to say we were ever winning the battle, but at least we had a shot at literacy for freedom. The current reform demands teachers take no shots. 

Even our Black and Brown children who learned to read, see no point of reading in schools. I am a White Literacy Professor who dares to say it out loud, children of color need greater reason to read than knowing their ABCs. Combined this with banned books, school library closures, and defunding local public schools in communities of color, and you can see the NEW Jim Crow begins long before the polling booth. The Simple Views of Reading fits neatly into White Supremacist purpose of education. 

Douglass, F. (2005). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, (Signet Classics).

You can see both the Simple View of Reading and the Transactional view of reading in Douglass's literacy journey. His first exposure to literacy was from Mrs. Maud who was reprimanded by her husband for teaching Frederick his slave the ABCs. She saw no Libration value to reading. Most White women in the south read to kill time, make small talk, to think lightly, not deeply. This is not to say to was true for all southern White women, but Mrs Maud knew her place. Her husband would threaten great harm to Frederick Douglass if she continued. Her lessons ended there. Frederick did not see mere ABCs he saw freedom, liberation and independence in reading. His real literacy lessons began that day. 

My thinking is Frederick Douglass would side with the Transactional view of literacy.   "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. "~Frederick Douglass Mrs Maud's ABC were not void of the evil and painful experiences of slavery. Mr. Douglass brought every lash, every humiliation, every painful loss to his ABCs, and because of what he brought with him, his lessons could not be stopped, he would become his own master of his ABCs. Frederick Douglass was a major common ground in my conversation with Louise that day, he is quote in my dissertation, but more than that his view of reading as freedom in rooted in every word in my work.  

My two hours with Louise began with the understanding " Texts are not expository or poetic, literary or non-literary on their own; those who give texts such labels are actually reporting their interpretation of the writer’s intention as to what stance readers should take. Instead, readers are free to choose their own stance, which guides his selective attention. This will fall somewhere in the efferent-aesthetic continuum. In other words what experiences readers bring to the text impact meaning. Each reader brings millions of life experiences that give each text a unique understanding. Think about it Women, People of Color, Immigrants, Jews, Muslims, Sheiks, Christians, and non believers bring their views to every text. This is what Frederick Douglass taught himself, he found his freedom in literacy. When you understand this, you begin to understand why CRT, DEI and anything multicultural threatens “MAGA” Education Reformers. 

For two hours, I shared how my Native Americans students perceptions of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visually viewing and presenting positively improved the deeper we rooted our reading in Native American History, Poetry, Art, and books written by Native Authors. There were many AHA moments, and pushes to go further.  I came to understand the Critical Pedagogy, Multicultural Literature, Whole Language, Feminist Views, and Progressive Education are deeply rooted in Transactional Theory.  The gist of my view of The Simple View of Reading Theory is offers few pathways to Freedom from the text. Transactional theory questions the text at every level. While I see the science in the SOR View of literacy. I see freedom in the reader. 

I throw my hat into the Arena of Transactional Views  Literacy, like Fredrick Douglass I do not see mere ABCs, I see FREEDOM.
Bless by giants, here is to Louise and Dorothy, 
Dr. Jesse P. Turner 
Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education 

This image is from my last visit to Dorthy Mensoky's home before she went to glory, and tea with Lousie. 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspire my morning walk and conversation with Dorothy it's Barry Lane's "If I ever had a teacher" 
https://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/if-id-never-had-a-teacher

Quick simple reference for Transactional view of literacy > https://sites.google.com/site/readwriteliterature/home/about-reading/rosenblatt-s-transactional-theory <

Our Love is the story two Nuns

 Our love is the story of two Nuns

Last Tuesday we visited Sister Rosemary O’Brien ( Sisters of Charity) at  Covent Station, NJ.  Our love is the story of two Nuns. Carolyn was living in Fort Lee NJ far from Ireland. She met Sister Rosemary at Mass, Sister invited her for tea. Sister asked her if she could help with the Sunday School, and so it was their friendship began.  It was exactly what Carolyn needed - being so far from home. A few months later she suggested a retreat for young people. 

Meanwhile in Jersey City at Saint Michael’s, I was volunteering for Sister Antonella Chunka ( Franciscan Sister) at The Promise, a program helping young juveniles turn away from gang life. I loved this volunteer work. I could have easily been one of these young men just a decade before. There but for the Grace of God as my Mom used to say. I was working in Jersey City at Mt Carmel Guild, as a counselor for Catholic Charities at the time. Sister Antonelle tracked down one of their vans, and asked me if I would take 15 of these young men on a Retreat for young people. Of course I said yes, paid my own way so that another young man could go. Where I grew up,  no Irish Catholic kid would not do whatever was asked by the church... Besides Mom loved bragging about her son helping out at church - to the ladies in the neighborhood. 

And so it was… Two Nuns sent two young people on a Search for God Retreat in February 1984, and it was there we found each other. We were different from our peers, who had grown too cool for church, we attended mass. Another Bragging point for my Momma with her Rosary friends.

In the Fall we will visit Sister Antonelle. These visits remind us that we are blessed by faith and love. The prayers of two nuns for two young people have carried our love for nearly 42 years. In two weeks time, July 14th we will celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary💕

Two nuns praying for us 41 years ago… made all the difference.  Back then my work was helping young Juveniles turn away from Gang life. I would come to understand that their expereinces in school played a significant role in their choices. I would find my way into teaching reading, first to students, and then to teachers. I could not change their home lives, but I could open new doors via books. My youth ministry with Sister Antonelle sparked a life of work with children and teachers. In many ways I never left youth Ministry of The Promise.  7 days before our 41 first Anniversary, we remember Sister Rose and Sister Antonelle. God work in mysterious way, we went looking for God, and found each other. 

If you like to listen to the tune that inspire my morning walk today it is "Here I am Lord" 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnO5B_G505w <

Reading is the door to freedom

Frederick Douglass said: Once you learn to read, you are forever free
 

Random thought of this retired teacher. I use to teach high school students from the Tohono O'odham Reservation. My students were upset with their United States History Teacher who never glanced over Native American history in their course. They came to me, saying what can we do about him? I said I don't know about him, but I know what we can do. Let's read!.

So, we began reading Black Elk Speaks, the Lakota Medicine Man who created the Ghost Dance movement. A movement White leaders feared in the west and in Washington. We would learn together harsh truths, truths that brought awareness and pride to my students. Our reading not only opened their eyes, but my eyes as well. I began to see Native Americans in new brighter light. Reading not only transformed them, but me as well. By the way not one student complained about the reading. Black Elk was a primary source, that would spur endless more reading. 

"According to commanding General Miles, a "scuffle occurred between one deaf warrior who had [a] rifle in his hand and two soldiers. The rifle was discharged and a battle occurred, not only the warriors but the sick Chief Spotted Elk, and a large number of women and children who tried to escape by running and scattering over the prairie were hunted down and killed."[37]

We read Black Elks's narrative of the day. We saw his bravery and character when reading how with his sacred bow he rode into battle. We read how he saw a child in the open on its own in the snow with bullets passing near. In the mist of that gun fire from 4 massive Hotchkiss guns. He stopped, climbed down off his horse, moved the infant to safety, tied his scarf near the child, to be rescued later. He climb back up on his horse and continue charging soldiers. 

His sacred bow was not a functioing weapon, it was ceremonial. He would say the creator and his Ghost Dance Shirt protected him from any harm. My students began to spread the word at school, we discovered a second Wounded Knee, the Sand Creek Massacre, about AIM (The American Indian Movement and their occupation of Alcatraz. They proposed a mock trial for the Sand Creek Massacre. It was the era before high-stakes testing stole teaching and learning. So, we did it, and invited their families and the public. The more they read, the more hungered for more reading. They crave for innovative and meaningful way to respond publicly. They proposed an art project that would tell the story of the Trial of Tears, the Indian Removal Act, signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, the Navajo Long Walk. The size of their art project would take 1/3 of the space of an extremely large exhibit. It became the most visited exhibit, visitors let passionate reflections about powerful it was, how it was , truthful, harsh, sacred, and hopeful at the same time. 

Back to Black Elk, we learned Whites did not understand the Ghost Dance was not a physical rising, but a spiritual rising. A non-violent rising. Like today's members of ICE all they saw was skin color.  

Facing historical truth takes courage. It takes real courage to read, write, discuss, and respond to. Reading truth made my student BRAVE. Made me shameful, but proud that I was their teacher.

"After attempting to disarm the Lakota, who had been rounded up to be put on a reservation, a single rifle shot rang out - the U.S. troops immediately opened fire, indiscriminately firing on the large group.Four Hotchkiss guns [an early variant of machine gun, but with much larger rounds], joined in on the mass of tipis, randomly killing helpless women and children inside them. In addition, the killing continued as Natives tried to flee. An eyewitness wrote afterwards: “Helpless children and women with babies in their arms had been chased as far as two miles from the original scene of encounter and cut down without mercy by the troopers... Judging by the slaughter on the battlefield it was suggested that the soldiers simply went berserk..."  

Up to 350 Native Americans were killed, over 200 of them women and children. Along with 20 Army troopers (the troopers died, mostly by their own friendly fire).

After the massacre, the U.S. Army awarded 20 Medals of Honor to soldiers who participated that day - a prestigious award, normally awarded “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” - for the deliberate and wanton killing of unarmed men, and over 200 women, children, and babies. A massive stain on the honorable award, that continues to this day. "

If you like to learn more about my high school teaching day, see the link below to my dissertation "Inventing A transactional classroom: An Upward Bound, Native American Writing > Community https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/279997 <

30-years later, I have discovered they were my teachers, and truth inspires reading, 

Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor Emeritus Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education. 

If you like to listen to the song that played during those reading days...it is Robbie Roberson's It's a good day to die" >  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C34ryDYlR8g <

At 70 I know better...

 

We hear a great deal about teachers not being explicit enough, systematic enough, not keep fidelity to their scripted programs...  Policymakers, legislators, and CEOs of commercial learning programs promise that explicit systematic teaching guarantees learning.  Well they never knew my Momma.

When I was a boy, on a cool summer evening in Hoboken, Mom and the neighbors would sit on folding chairs outside our apartment building. I was safe there, we were all safe there. These women came from different places, had different faiths, but they were united by motherhood, and folding chairs... We lived two blocks from the train station, and the ferries. The world passed their chairs each evening ~ as their children played.

Mom would say hello to people passing, these women didn't judge each other or anyone else for that matter. "Hello" did not require you to have the same faith, the same skin color, the same language, or birthplace.

Here I am at 70, and I have well learned from them. No, not from their explicit instruction, but from their actions. She loved to ask me what I'd learnt at school each day, I would say 3 + 3 is 6, the moon is not a planet. She would say that is interesting son, but what did you learn? You can find out lots of things in books Mom. She liked that, remember that one! She was a believer of "We don't always learn what is taught; and often learn from what is not taught."

Listen, honestly, I am not against teaching explicitly. But we all know, there are lessons not listed on the lesson plan, and whoa do they matter! I doubt that I remember any of my teacher's lesson objectives, BUT their unwritten objectives, those are the ones that matter most...
Be kind,
Be respectful,
Try your best,
Remember to take turns,
Listen,
Wash your hands,
Share,
Be your best self,
Open the door for others.

Today, at 70, those lessons are etched into the very fabric of me.

My teachers taught me these, no teacher ever wrote them into their lesson plans.

These wonderful women sitting on their folding chairs, taught me these same lessons ~ without ever stating them.

Were they explicit? Let me just say, they lived their lessons in the authentic context of real world instruction. They never had to explain them, they lived them.

I learned from the best,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood Education
Mom's "Golden Boy"


If you like to listen to the tune, that inspired my morning walk, it was Crosby, Stills, and Nash 'Teach your children" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOaUnSmJr8

Sending Out A Walking Man SOS

 

I met author Diane Ravitch in 2010 (in person) while she was speaking at Yale University.  After the event I asked her if there was a possibility that she might speak at the 2011 Save Our Schools Rally... I was being bold and shooting for the moon!  She did speak at the rally, and I have been following her ever since. 

In her 2020  book Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools, Ratvitch identifies me "as one of the David's, Fighting to Save Public Education" (pg: 61)

A vast amount of my ground resistance struggle is scattered across many different mediums of  social medial.  Finally, some 15 years later I now find myself  pulling those examples of my resistance altogether in once place!

This fight is far from over. I am still in the thick of being "A David"  slinging stones at the status quo who seek to dismantle our public school system. 

I still dream of a movement that occupies our court houses, legislative offices, governor mansions, and the United States Department of Education. 

I'm looking for some help/feedback ~  with this new website I am in the midst of building to bring all my stones together; one home to evoke a call to all Davids/Divadas ~ hurlings their stones. A place to remind the world that the Fight to Save our Public Schools is Our Good Fight. This is not my struggle this is Our Struggle. 

Here is the link to my "hub of sling shots" https://childrenaremorethantestscores.com Be easy on me... it is, as they say in social media "a work in progress". Please take a look, and feel free to comment and make content suggestions.  Most importantly, let me know about your resistance efforts. Maybe one day, we can all build a hub for all us Davids and Dividas. So if you have some time check my website and email me some suggestions as well. turnerj@ccsu.edu

We can't win this fight alone.  We will win it together! When we fight we win. 

Still Slinging Stones...

Dr. Jesse P. Turner (AKA The Walking Man)     

If you like to listen to the song that inspired my morning walk today, it is Barry Lane's Jesse Turner is a Walking Man > https://barrylane.bandcamp.com/track/jesse-turner-the-walkin-man < 

 

Teachers can be heroes

 

Teachers can be heroes

Dear President Trump ~ you can't stop this teacher!

This is what happens when Mrs. Stansfield is your very first Black, Language Arts teacher...

She prepares you to be the change you dream is possible. She links everything you read to freedom, and the world around you.  You don’t merely comprehend; she has you dig much deeper.  You see beyond surface facts, simple responses. You come to see literature as the doorway to liberation and freedom.  She made you brave, made you unafraid, and she gave you the courage to reimagine the world as it could be.  How could we read Victor Hugo, Maya Angelou, Charles Dickens, James Baldwin, and Beowulf without knowing William Wilberforce, Marcus Garvey, Cesar Chavez, Jose Marte, MLK, Jim Crow, and JFK’s Camelot.  

This current administration see teachers like Mrs. Stansfield as a threat to tyrannical  dreams. I still remember her clearly asking us, "Why is it that we need to read? Why do you need to write?" As all good poor kids (high school students) we replied "to get a good job, to go to college, to succeed". We were playing right into her hands.  "Hmmm so you read and write to be good little worker bees".  She then proceeded to walk to the chalkboard and wrote a James Baldwin quote: 

“You write in order to change the world, knowing perfectly well that you probably can't, but also knowing that literature is indispensable to the world... The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimeter the way people look at reality, then you can change it.” 

She then asked us if he sounded like some good little worker bee?  Readers/writers can be worker bees, or they can be like Cesar Chavez  challenging an unjust world. Imagine reading the library books James Baldwin reads.  The Gallo Grape company would want JB to read all about being a better farm worker bee.  She told us we were going to be reading his heroes; and we read all about William Wilberforce decades long struggle to end the slave trade.  

As a highschool sophmore I didn't knew these guys... but she changed that, and connected her heroes to everything we read.  In the 70's Jersey City NJ Ghetto Teachers, were not restricted to teaching poor kids just the facts, and dates.  They were free to go beyond that box. Control was not the goal.  Education to those teachers was about liberation!

Pedagogical Compliance with the status quo was the last thing on the minds of our teachers. 

Decades later as a graduate student, I came to recognize Mrs. Stansfield pedagogy in Paulo Freire's writing. “The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”  

Mrs. Stansfield empowered her students to understand that reading can really change your world.  She also taught me and my classmates that we could be heroes.  

I am the books I read. 

I can be a hero, because I had teacher heroes.  

Books were our liberators. 

To quote Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop "Books are mirrors, windows, and sliding doors to our world. Pathways to ourselves, others, and humanity".  

My teachers were "old school" teaching outside the box!                                                               
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Unafraid to follow in the footsteps of my heroes

If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my morning walk today, it is David Bowie "Heroes" link: htts://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFHC6t13hi0
 
 

Tell a truth long enough, until it sets in!

 

RACISM 101
Under no circumstances whatsoever can commercial curriculums, high-stakes testing or "For Profit Ed Reformers" ever fix a moral wrong!

Tell a truth long enough, and it may just set in.
Spread the word, Dr. Turner knows why they call our public schools the: The School to Prison Pipeline.

Children, teachers and parents are not responsible.

The system spends $23 billion more each year on White Schools, than the schools in predominantly Black and Brown Communities.

Say this truth loud. Say it often. Call it out.

Spread the word until it is undone.

"Nationally, predominantly white school districts get $23 billion more than their nonwhite peers, despite serving a similar number of children. White school districts average revenue receipts of almost $14,000 per student, but nonwhite districts receive only $11,682." Simple Google AI Search Quote

Don't blame teachers, parents, children, or poor schools of color.

Read the source: Link https://edsource.org/2020/budget-deferrals-today-could-force-schools-into-a-23-billion-hole-next-year/636749

Telling The Truth ~ Until It Is Made Right.

Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, Early Childhood Education
WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power Host If you like to listen to the tune that inspires my walk this morning...

it's Jimmy Cliff "Many Rivers To Cross" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzS-Jis7kfA

"School Choice" ~ without equity ~ is just a cover for inequality in our public schools!

Dr. Robert Cotto from Trinity College talking "School Choice" with Dr. Jesse P. Turner Literacy Professor Emeritus, and Readman: Truth to Power Hour host on 103.5 FM New Haven on Friday 6/6/25. 

Dr. Cotto and I see school choice as smoke and mirrors for the status quo of inequality here in Connecticut, and around the nation.  This supposedly "School Choice" gives cover to legislative leaders for inequality in our schools. It leads to massive declines in the local public school population.  It takes away much needed funding from community public schools.  School choice has not desegregated our schools.  It has actually increased racial isolation for Black and Brown children. 

Take a quick look at the desegregation failure of School Choice programs.  Here is a link to UCONN https://today.uconn.edu/2022/06/understanding-segregation-and-school-choice/# 

Listen to Dr. Cotto an I as we discuss School Choice today on air,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7GAi3AAzQ  Be informed. 


Listening to this song that inspires me today, Joe Bataans "Poor Boy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIB2av7TvN4&list=PLJLAdjFrCeXq_MwhyveDIJPyfyv7D69Nn&index=4

The new Attack on Public Schools in Communities of color

 

Just saying if they really cared

"More than 50 years of research across more than 60 studies show that students with access to well-resourced school libraries with certified librarians consistently perform better academically and score higher on standardized assessments.2 While underserved students see even bigger gains from robust library services, they are less likely to have access to these resources. Meanwhile, information literacy is becoming increasingly important in an age of misinformation and disinformation. Yet since 2000, there has been a nearly 20 percent drop in school librarian positions, which translates to 10,000 fewer full-time school librarians across the country.3 While more than 90 percent of schools in the United States have school libraries, only about 60 percent have full-time librarians, according to a 2019 report from the American Library Association (ALA). Read on to see the trend of closing school libraries and the damage being done. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/investing-in-school-libraries-and-librarians-to-improve-literacy-outcomes/

Moving beyond the endless same old same old, the test scores are falling 

Rather than talking about the low scores of Black children, we should talking about the decline in funding for school libraries in Black and Brown communities. One of the most harmful trends in America’s public schools in poor communities of color is cutting librarians and media specialist in these schools. Not to mention the total defunding of libraries in poor communities.

If your aim is to ban books, nothing bands truth like closing libraries.

Trust me Connecticut is not immune from this trend.

So, before you start talking low scores, let talk underfunding the very places that provide access to large selections of book to Black and Brown families.

Expect a 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power show in August on this issue.

6 decades of research point to the libraries and access to books as one of the best ways to improve test scores.

Tell it on every street corner,

whisper it in every alley,

Shout it at every school board meeting,

Tell it on every mountain,

Leadership that defunds and closes school libraries in poor communities does not care about all children.

I will not be silent,

Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Professor Emeritus of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Childhood,

Host of The 103.5 FM New Haven Readman: Truth to Power Hour



The song the inspired my morning walk today is Public Enemy "Don't Believe the Hype" https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=jfxvYcen4KI

Mr. President 880,000 TRIO Trafromative Voices beg to differ

 

Today, as the President talks of cutting TRIO programs from his budget, 4 TRIO Program voices from 1974 to 2025 spoke up for future TRIO students.                                                     We are the voices of TRIO hope.  President Trump wants to end TRIO Programs at our colleges and universities. Today, on the Readman: Truth to Power Hour, at 11:AM EST on 103.5 FM New Haven Community Radio. We paid homage to Rev Allen, my Equal Opportunity Grant College advisor. He loved wearing bow ties. He was the director of a TRIO College Program at Saint Peter's College. EOP was a place where a kid who had the heart but not the means to pay for college was given an opportunity. Rev Allen, we say TRIO opened the door, but you have to run with it. I expect to see you all on graduation day. Today I interviewed Julio Muniz from Academic Affairs, Teacher Prep Coordinator, and a former TRIO Graduate like me. He is bringing two TRIO students as well. We talked about the TRIO story from At Risk to Resiliency. We did not call the President out. We shared our TRIO voices of hope to help him understand that these programs are the things that give hope to the American dream.  We simply share our stories, hoping to persuade him to change his mind.  Amanda Gorman in her Inaugural Poem "The Hill We Climb" opening words: " When day comes, We ask ourselves, Where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, A sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast, We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, And the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before, We knew it, Somehow, we do it, Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken, But simply unfinished. " When she said these words for President Biden's Inaugural, I felt as if she was reaching into the hearts of all TRIO students. This one is for all our millions of TRIO sisters and brothers, This is the link to our show and a summary as well.  https://www.facebook.com/NewHavenIndependent/videos/909040844636312  The Readman Truth To Power Hour: Trio Promise: "At Risk To Resiliency" May 9, 7:52 am, 58 min "The discussion on "The Readman Truth To Power Hour: Trio Promise: 'At Risk To Resiliency'" highlighted the transformative impact of the TRIO program. Dr. Jesse Turner and guests, Ericka Alfred, Angel Diaz-Salgado, and Julio Muniz, shared personal stories and the program's benefits. TRIO supports students from middle school to graduate levels, helping over 880,000 annually. Ericka and Angel emphasized the program's role in fostering community, academic success, and personal growth. Julio underscored the program's holistic approach, including mental health and career guidance. They urged policymakers to recognize TRIO's importance in promoting education and social justice."  If you like to listen to the tune that inspired my show today, it is Scoot Huron: The Revolution Won't Be Televised https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwSRqaZGsPw  Fight the power, Dr/ Jesse P. Turner  Amanda Gorman

Read the lives behind the books

Where did the magic go in literacy?

 

A colleague who is a Science of Reading believer, cliaming the science on reading is done. Recently informed me that Whole Language Advocates believed that children learn to read by osmosis.  Reading is hard he said, there is nothing natural about it. I did not engage in his dogma. Instead I told him my story of grandad and I, and our visits to the library. He thought the story was cute, but didn't make the connection to reading. Reading is anything but simple, it is complex and complicated journey with numerous connected turns. 

It takes a village to make readers, children spend 13% of their lives in school. What about the other 87% of their time?  Still he did not get it.  He read off test score data numbers.  Hey come back to me in 5 years, when those same fixed numbers belong in his camp. These psychometric measures in use for literacy in America, guarantee that the numbers will reflect failure. 

Enough silly dogma talk. 

Let us talk magic. 
 

Osmosis has nothing to do with becoming a Reader

A few years ago... a child on the library floor sitting next to my grandfather.  He was reading the Irish Independent from the International Papers section. I ask "what am I supposed to read?"

His face lights up, his mind starts turning, "wait here" brings back a copy of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes illustrated by Gustave Dore.  Big, old, but something about the leather bonding attracts me to a book I could not yet read, but would try. The beginning of our new grandad/grandson connections.  We took the book out, renewing it continuously over and over again for about a year. Each time we read together it set us off on hours of adventure, reading, laughing, imagining, and of course acting it out.  

We all know there is a magical space between books and people that literacy researchers overlook. They love to study how teachers teach reading, and sadly ~  ignore the magical stuff. 

My grandfather was a WWI vet.  He never even finished high school. In my childish eyes his home library was the biggest and best I'd ever known. He had them all, de Cervantes, Hugo, Tolstoy, Dumas, Dickens, Swift, Wells and all the poets. He could quote from them on demand. My dream back then was to read everything he read.  Now that I'm retired,  I'm gonna catch up to the old man. His memory is forever with me ~ because of books.  I cannot go to sleep at night without reading a page or two; still I find the magic hidden among the pages...

Many Literacy Researchers inform my thinking.  Few understand that it is less about how we learn to read and more about why it is that children should become readers. A story comes to life not from the print, but from the mind reading the story. The imagination gives reason to reading, not the printed word. 

Frank Smith always talks about the invitation, inviting children to join the Literacy Club, "It is infinitely more useful for a child to hear a story told by a person than by a computer. Because the greatest part of the learning experience lies not in the particular words of the story, but in the involvement with the individual reading it".  My Grandad was a master reader, and an expert in creating invitations to read. 

Frank Smith got the magic, and magic is never done through osmosis. "We are learning all the time - about the world and about ourselves. We learn without knowing that we are learning and we learn without effort every moment of the day. We learn what is interesting to us... and we learn from what makes sense to us, because there is nothing to learn from what confuses us except that it is confusing." Frank Smith 

These literacy experts need to revisit Frank Smith.  Spend more time thinking about creative and innovative ways to invite children into the Literacy Club.

Louise Rosenblatt, another seldom-read expert these days.  No she is not on a Podcast.  She is a lifetime study for any researcher interested in literacy.  Rosenblatt always sees the magic, she understands readers bring themselves to the texts.  Then in partnership with the text ~ something magical happens. 

She knows there is no osmosis involved in reading "The reader brings to the work personality traits, memories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a particular mood of the moment and a particular physical condition. These and many other elements in a never-to-be-duplicated combination determine his response to the text." ~ Louise Rosenblatt.

 

I am inspired by voices and books of the past                                                                                                 Dr. Jesse P. Turner                                                                                                                                Professor Emeritus of Literacy                                                                                                         

just another Literacy Club Kid... 

If you're wondering what tune inspires my writing today ~ I Don Quixote from Man of La Mancha 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UUDguFEa5E <

Where would I be without libraries

 

In this day of Trump's war on everything public, how long before he notices that libraries educate people?

When my father abandoned us, we were homeless for nearly 2 years. My mother worked from 9 to 4, serving tables. The rule was after school I would spend my time in the library.

Homeless kids are the quiet ones. We don’t want to bring attention to us. There is a shame with being homeless that leaves deep wounds. I was not special, not more gifted, but blessed by kind hearts. God sent me angels when I needed them most. Not special, but blessed by others.

Everyday for those two hard years, Mrs. G greeted me with cookies and hot chocolate. She knew without asking. She would always give glowing reports to my mother when she came to pick me up. She did not judge my mother, she understood - there go I, for the grace of God.

Her kindness, her humanity, and her choice of The Count of Monte Christo held me strong. She fed my hunger without asking. Her humanity fed my soul.
Where would I be without a public library?
Dead or in prison. If you are wondering what tune inspired me today....it's Deseree's You Gotta be > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRUwSk9UTrA <

CNN's Danny Freeman came to our CCSU Literacy Center to talk about the sinkholes of illiteracy

In the movie, The Wizard of Oz Dorthy's dog Tota pulls back the curtain on the Great OZ.
" If you were really great and powerful, you'd keep your promises!” cries Dorothy, stamping her foot in outrage saying: "But the man behind the curtain is just a man. There is no other wizard but him." Dorothy offers an inside view of how policymakers, people in power, and our legislators hide behind the curtains of endless failure. There are people in power behind the curtain of America's Public Schools.  The cracks and the giant sinkholes of public schools in America are a direct result of their failures to give every child an equal education. In America, the quality of your education depends upon your Zip Code, the Color of your skin color, your economic status, or your immigration status. 

Time to return to the tragic story of Young Brave Aleysha Ortiz, the girl who fell into one of our public school's sinkholes. 

CNN Dan Freeman asked if this story about high school graduates who can't read is common or uncommon? My answer is yes and no. We would spend the next two hours discussing her tragic story, the broader issues of literacy, and the roles states and the federal government play in helping America's children learn to read. First a look at this courageous young woman who dared to share what most non-readers would never share.  She opened up to tell the whole world her story. 

The Alisha Ortiz case

"In recordings shared with the CT Mirror, made from March through June of this year, district officials acknowledged that in 12 years, Ortiz never received reading instruction or intervention. The CT Mirror also reviewed Ortiz’s educational records, including her recent IEPs and other documents." The link to the Connecticut Mirror Story:
> https://ctmirror.org/2024/09/29/cant-read-high-school-ct-hartford/ <   

I have reviewed her story and examined the details in the press. I find my thoughts thinking Groundhog Day 100 years. I would be remiss in not pointing out that children spend only 13% of their time in school. What about the other 87% of the time? Literacy is not just a school affair; it is a family affair, a community affair, and a national affair. When a child graduates high school unable to read and write, I understand there is plenty of blame to be shared. Who is responsible? Everyone is responsible. However, two groups always get a pass, but in my professional opinion, they are the most responsible. They love to call out others, but never look at themselves. Like Pontius Pilate they are forever washing their hands, claiming innocence. Who are these hand washers? They are the one who hold the purse strings, legislators and policy makers. 

Pontius Pilate

Link to time spent in school numbers: > https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/resources/2/Principal/2004/S-Op6.pdf  <

Behind these public education policy sinkholes

Of course, the Hartford Public Schools failed Ms. Ortiz, according to the story, literacy intervention services were non-existent for a non-reader for 12 years. Yes her school played a role. However, the state of Connecticut played a bigger role. We all played a role in her story.

In Bob Dylan's "Who Killed Davy Moore" song has six "Not I" verses  "Who Killed Davy Moore is about a boxer who died in the ring.

1. 1. " Not I said, the Referee, 
2. Not I said, the Angry crowd,
3. Not I said, the cigar-puffing manager,
4. Not I said, the gambler, 
5. Not I said, the sports writer,
6. Not I said, the man whose fists laid him low."

Not I said, the Connecticut Supreme Court