A Balancing Act As said throughout this book: if you are against something, you should at the very least know a little somebody about that which you are against. SoR enthusiasts are often against something that isn’t. In this case, they are against what they call balanced literacy, but it certainly isn’t balanced literacy. It turns out that they’re against their un-understanding of balanced literacy. So let’s begin by defining our terms: Balanced literacy is merely balancing skills instruction with opportunities to practice those skills in authentic reading contexts. And what that balance is depends on the student. Some students need more skills instruction and less practice, others need less skills instruction and more practice. But all students need lots of reading practice. Could you imagine getting better at anything without practice? Could you imagine being able to play the piano if you never practiced playing real music? How effective would your early learning be if you just did scales and fingering exercises without playing music? Which is a nice transition to the next section. The Music of Reading I’ve sang in choirs and vocal groups most of my life. However, about ten years ago my vocal cords became damaged to the point where I was no longer able to sing. But I still wanted to create music. As I was writing this book, I decided to re-learn to play the baritone horn. I last played 47 years ago. During my horn re-learning process, I began to see many parallels to the reading process. These parallels provide insight as to what balanced literacy is and isn’t. Both musical and alphabetic text are read linearly from left to right. Both require some fundamental skills work. Automaticity and fluency are required for both. Also, the skills with both are acquired best within meaningful contexts. However, playing the baritone horn is a little more complicated than reading. Here you must learn how to breathe correctly, form the right embouchure, interpret time and rhythm patterns, and develop automaticity with your fingering. I hadn’t looked at fingering for 47 years. Fingering refers to the combinations of valves pressed for each note. There are three valves that can be pressed in the following combinations: 0, 1, 12, 123, 13, 2, 23, and 3. The right fingering must be correlated with the correct pressure of the lips to produce the desired note. I found that the fingerings were still in LTM, but packed far back in my cognitive storage locker. I had to significantly strengthen the related neural pathways in order to achieve automaticity. Automaticity here is very much like reading. Here I would be able to see the symbols on the page and press the correct combination of valves instantly, without thinking. Automaticity would free up space in short-term memory so that I could focus on meaning, or in this case, creating music. When I started there were pauses between seeing the note on the page and pressing the correct fingerings. This is not at all good for making music. To improve automaticity, I initially did a lot of scale work. This was a matter of going up and down familiar scale patterns. And just like reading alphabetic text, I found I was more effective if my eyes focused just a little ahead of the note I was reading. If I tried to read note-by-note my scales work was slow and cumbersome, I made a lot of mistakes, and the scales sounded stilted and labored. Also, my scale work was much more effective if I could get a sense of the notes within the pattern before I played them. In other words, micro-predictions enabled me to play more fluently. Perhaps I was engaged in a psycho-musical guessing game? Just like fluency with alphabetic text, I developed fluency with musical text by repeated reading activities and practice. Sometimes I slowed down and repeated the musical text, and other times I pushed the reading pace just a little faster with which I was comfortable. Fluency is something that most musicians will always be working on. Also, there’s a causal relationship between practice and fluency. More practice leads to more fluent music reading. Less practice results in less fluent music reading. No practice devolves music reading fluency. After two months of practicing 60 to 90 minutes a day, I am still not at the level I was at 47 years ago. The most profound re-learning occurred when I moved from scales work to playing real music. Real music sounded and felt much different from playing the artificial scales. The breathing and fingering came easier. My micro-predictions provided a sense of what the note should be, resulting in more accurate fingerings and lip pressure. Also, I played with a greater sense of fluency. But most importantly, I enjoyed playing real music much more than doing scales work. Music Lessons I’m not saying that learning to play the horn and learning to read are exactly the same, but there are enough similarities between the two that one can be used to help us understand the other. And most importantly for this context, horn playing can help us understand what balanced literacy is and isn’t. Balanced literacy and music instruction are based on the following principles: 1. There needs to be a balance of skills work and opportunities to practice those skills in authentic reading and playing contexts. 2. The balance of skills vs. practice is different with each student and changes over time. 3. There is a causal relationship between practice and ability. 4. Practice enhances continued development; lack of practice impedes development. 5. Practice should be a joyful experience. 6. Students should have opportunities to practice reading and playing what they want to read and play. 7. Skills work should be within students’ zone of proximal development. 8. One-size-fits-all instruction fits very few and does not enable readers or musicians to develop their full potential. 9. Automaticity and fluency are important, and they’re developed over time with continued practice. 10. The primary focus should be on creating meaning with alphabetic and musical text. 11. Individual skills are developed best in the context of authentic reading and playing experiences. Big Finish Let’s finish with three important ideas: 1. Balanced literacy does not ignore systematic, explicit, and direct instruction of phonics and other reading skills. 2. Balanced literacy instruction does not ignore the big five pillars of reading instruction. In fact, most would include seven more pillars to provide a much more comprehensive reading curriculum. 3. Even the National Reading Panel Report advocates balanced reading instruction. Look it up if you think I’m making this stuff up. It’s on page 2-97.