Yesterday in the late afternoon, I received a request from the Oranim College spokesperson, asking me to write a short response to the Ministry of Education decision to place all grade one reading instruction on hold until schools reopen. The decision followed the widespread discussion in the media on the effectiveness of online reading instruction at the beginning of grade one. A news reporter from the top Israeli newspaper asked for the response and needed it very quickly. I sat down and spent an hour crafting a paragraph stating my opinion on the topic. Unfortunately, this morning I received an apology that they shortened the article, and that they cut out my response.
While my thoughts didn’t make it into the article, I am sharing my approach to teaching the first steps of formal literacy instruction under total lockdown here.
Yesterday, the Department for Primary Education sent a four-page document to schools and the press, explaining that as the lockdown began so early in the new school year, it is not realistic or feasible to start formal reading instruction via online classes.
Grade one students in Israel have just begun getting to know the world of school: their teacher, their classmates, the rules and what school learning means. They were only at school for a fortnight before the lockdown was announced and schools were closed.
I was happy to read the document and agree with the approach adopted by the Ministry. I believe that while students are studying from home, many of them without the support and adequate physical and technological conditions for learning, teachers shouldn’t begin teaching their formal reading program. Continuing to teach reading, according to the original plan, as if nothing has changed, is likely to entrench mistaken understandings, widen the inevitable gap between students, and cause frustration for students and their parents.
I suggest teachers strive to create a learning community in which the students continue getting to know each other and their teacher. Individual meetings with the teacher and instruction in small groups will allow the students to return to the classroom with a sense of belonging and security.
It is essential to plan short, relaxed sessions which aim to enrich the language of the students and to arouse curiosity and interest in the written word. Through listening to stories, scaffolded conversation, sharing stories, and playing games with vocabulary, teachers will be paving the way for successful literacy learning. Effort should be made to ensure that all the students know all the letters of the alphabet – their sounds and their names, and they should continue the crucial strengthening of phonological awareness through games, rhymes, and songs. These are the building blocks necessary for formal reading instruction. The students’ names, for example, can be used to continue to create personal connections between the students and can provide a relevant collection of letters and sounds for instruction.
One of the suggestions outlined in the Ministry of Education document is for teachers to prepare inquiry activities with illustrated children’s books. Although I believe that books must be at the heart of all literacy instruction, and know that enjoyable rich learning can result, I am deeply disturbed by the lack of books in many Israeli homes. I hope schools and local councils will think long and hard about making books accessible to all children as the lockdown continues. Community book boxes like these or these, located outside schoolyards and in neighbourhoods may be a start.
In individual and small-group learning sessions, teachers will be able to identify students who are lacking necessary literacy skills and those students who learned to read and write in kindergarten. Providing appropriate learning activities for these two groups may assist in preventing frustration and difficulty in the future.
I do not doubt that students who maintain significant personal communication with the teacher and receive regular positive feedback on their efforts, will return to their classrooms ready to learn and will achieve success in reading and writing. I believe teachers have the ability and the willingness to create unique spaces of communication and learning. I sincerely hope that the negativity brewing in the media and the stress experienced by parents won’t prevent that magic from evolving.
