Would love that! Also, I rolled out a new culminating project for Macbeth last year that ended up being one of my all-time favorites—and I’ve taught Macbeth a lot! Feel free to check it out.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

“Don’t be a weirdo with simple solutions” is so on point. 😂

So on point. I’ve always found it ironic (and irksome) that so many of the #EduCogSci folks who bang on about “knowledge” seem to have such a thin understanding of what knowledge is.

The John Oliver bit that (unfortunately) keeps on giving.

I know this is a cliche thing to say, but the theory/practice divide is beyond detrimental to the field and it feels like it’s trending in the wrong direction. Some schools/departments PSTs get placed in to are virulently anti-intellectual spaces. We need both!

Theory 🤝 Praxis

It is actually so insane that two sides on offer are “old guy who says we read via vibes” and “moral panic fueled policies advocating for state mandated adoption of boxed curricula based on a podcast people listened to once.” The crisis is a crisis. How we respond to the crisis is also a crisis.

This is a pretty good summary as well.

www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/who-...

I don't know what it is about literacy and/or phonics, but it seems to have an incredible ability to turn people into that "old man yells at clouds" meme unlike anything else. Even people who are otherwise progressive. 🫠

I have thoughts toooooooo!!

A short 🧵

The fact there's literal legislation being rammed through statehouses right now mandating pedagogical moves and packaged programs based on assumptions about something as complex & fraught as literacy that came from a podcast, not established scholarship, is absolutely unhinged.

Even the data from the article I RT'd paint an incomplete picture. E.g., "proficient" scores on NAEP are actually above grade level. Or that the test isn't the same year-on-year. So those graphs look pretty bleak unless you know how they're constructed. Not saying it's not an issue, just that...

Doing so fails to account for the fragmented, variegated, and wildly inconsistent nature of literacy instruction from school to school, much less state to state, or the entire nation. Without real data about implementation, all we have is a clutch of anecdotes woven into a scary narrative.

As mentioned, I'm not defending three-cueing. It's a fairly dubious practice that has been fashionable, has likely had a negative impact on students, and should be abandoned. Calling that out is a world apart from claiming this *one single pedagogical move* is responsible for mass illiteracy.

Also, the reason people say dumb stuff and struggle to interpret complexity online has very little to do with reading comprehension and everything to do with the interpretation, ideology, & the perverse incentive structure of platforms. Do not blame 3rd grade teachers for bad Twitter takes ffs! 😩

Phonics instruction is good! It’s important! Research supports it and I do too! However, phonics-only fetishism has been a right wing policy hang up for decades. Like to the extent that any broader discussion of purpose or method was labeled as the historical equivalent of “woke Marxist propaganda.”