1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,880 This is the Reading Instruction Show. 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:06,060 I'm your host, as always, Dr. Andy Johnson. 3 00:00:06,060 --> 00:00:13,600 The topic of today's podcast is related to reading and it is banishment. 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:20,040 Now I've been blocked from posting comments on some literacy Facebook group pages and 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:24,680 on other websites related to reading instruction. 6 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,920 They don't want my words to appear on their pages. 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:29,920 Nope. 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,200 And why is that? 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,960 Have I said something offensive? 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,720 Am I trying to sell products? 11 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,480 Have I posted pictures that have sexual comment? 12 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:48,080 Have I posted pictures of some part of my body that no one wants to see? 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:56,200 Have I made remarks that a racist or homophobic sexist, ableist, or insulting, abusive, rude, 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,120 or offensive in some way? 15 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:04,120 Am I making political or religious statements? 16 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:06,120 No. 17 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:12,600 So what in Heaven's name have I done to get blocked? 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,040 What heinous act have I committed? 19 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:23,600 What ungodly sin or vile deed have I done to become permanently banished? 20 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,280 This is what I did. 21 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:37,880 I had the temerity, the audacity, the nerve to post thoughts with which they did not agree. 22 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:39,600 Imagine that. 23 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:45,840 I had an idea that was a bit different than theirs. 24 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:51,920 As a matter of fact, it pointed out some of the possible science of reading shortcomings 25 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,040 and they would have none of that. 26 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,120 They needed to protect their members. 27 00:01:58,120 --> 00:01:59,720 What about the children? 28 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,920 They said, we must protect the children. 29 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:09,640 They cannot abide by anything that does not align with their very fragile science of reading 30 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:11,800 paradigm. 31 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:17,960 Their science of reading paradigm shudders and cracks if it encounters ideas that do 32 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,400 not fully align. 33 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,560 It is oh so brittle. 34 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:30,360 So they create a protective bubble so that new or differing ideas will not be encountered. 35 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,240 They won't get in. 36 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:44,080 And thus I am shunned, banned, disallowed, exiled, expelled, spit out, regurgitated. 37 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,080 How dare I disagree? 38 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,880 I must think with the group. 39 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:52,800 As a matter of fact, I must not think at all. 40 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,040 Just believe what the science of reading group tells me. 41 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:58,240 Happy happy. 42 00:02:58,240 --> 00:02:59,240 Believe believe. 43 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:00,400 Phonics phonics. 44 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,560 Science of reading. 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:08,960 Who could possibly disagree with anything that has science in the title? 46 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:15,600 Who could possibly find fault with anything followed by the word research? 47 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,240 How can one dispute data? 48 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,920 I mean it's data. 49 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:23,160 It's right there. 50 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:25,760 You can quantify it. 51 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,640 Numbers don't lie. 52 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:33,320 And research is conducted by scientists. 53 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,240 They wear white lab coats. 54 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:37,840 They know more than you and I. 55 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,880 So what's wrong with me? 56 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:48,160 This protective barrier guarantees permanent happiness for the jolly inhabitants of this 57 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,280 quaint little bubble world. 58 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:52,960 It protects them. 59 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:58,600 They never have to encounter a thought that would anyway disrupt their orderly view of 60 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,240 reading reality. 61 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:09,280 And in this way, they can guarantee that their thinking will stay the same forever. 62 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,680 Glory hallelujah. 63 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:19,280 In five or ten years, they'll be believing exactly the same things in exactly the same 64 00:04:19,280 --> 00:04:20,360 way. 65 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,720 And what could be more wonderful than that? 66 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:33,120 The same simple answers can be continually applied to all the complex reading questions 67 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,720 that will ever arise. 68 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:41,120 And the same solutions can be applied to all struggling readers. 69 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,440 And who wouldn't want that? 70 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:50,360 And since they've been ensconced in their hermetically sealed world, wrapped in their 71 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:56,840 science of reading blanket, everything makes sense. 72 00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:01,040 Their world is perfectly aligned. 73 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:07,280 We just need to buy the right science of reading approved curriculum, they think. 74 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:13,120 And this will lead to a glorious new era of reading instruction. 75 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,320 All children will be reading above average. 76 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:24,560 All reading problems will disappear and unicorns will be prancing about on school playgrounds. 77 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:32,240 So what do you do with people who say things that are contrary to your way of thinking? 78 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:37,240 Well, duh, everybody knows you shout louder. 79 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,800 You talk over them. 80 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,800 You silence them. 81 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:42,960 You demean them. 82 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,240 You call them names. 83 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,640 That's the way to win an argument. 84 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:55,440 And if that still doesn't work, you distort and pervert their views. 85 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,120 You misrepresent what they advocate. 86 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,720 You argue against something nobody believes in. 87 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:08,760 And then you point out how wrong they are and how right you are. 88 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,960 Now I wish this were an exaggeration. 89 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,760 It's a slight exaggeration. 90 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:24,080 But the reality is my thoughts are not wanted on a variety of Facebook pages and other sites. 91 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,920 That's why on my Facebook page, just like on my YouTube channels, LinkedIn and other 92 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:38,080 media posts, I will never block someone or delete any thoughts as long as they are respectful. 93 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,840 That is when people start calling names and making derogatory marks, I will give a warning 94 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:46,880 and then I will block. 95 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:53,720 Attached to this podcast is a link to my Facebook page, International Literacy Educators Coalition. 96 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:59,160 And here I welcome all ideas related to education and literacy. 97 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,520 If you have a different idea, let's bring it up. 98 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:04,880 Let's talk about it. 99 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,000 What about this podcast? 100 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,080 You say, aren't I being a bit snarky? 101 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:10,360 Yes. 102 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,920 Is snarky the same as name calling and derogatory? 103 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:14,920 Hmm. 104 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:16,520 I don't think so. 105 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:22,880 But I welcome snarky comments on my websites, but I will snark back a little bit and that's 106 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:24,520 okay. 107 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:32,120 The point I'm making, I've had to use snarky to get it out there that instead of engaging 108 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:38,000 and respectful conversation, people are shutting us out. 109 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:46,400 And here's the thing, for any field to evolve, it needs to encounter new ideas. 110 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,400 Nothing is fixed in forever. 111 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,080 And if you're not evolving, you are devolving. 112 00:07:53,080 --> 00:08:00,240 And the field of literacy education will evolve only to the extent that we are able 113 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:07,360 to engage in civil discourse and respectful academic dialogue. 114 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:13,920 Ideas we speak with each other and we listen. 115 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:17,760 And it's important that we disagree. 116 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,560 This is how things evolve. 117 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:27,640 Even I don't agree with me all the time, meaning that the Andy of 2023 sees things a bit differently 118 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,640 from the Andy of 2016 or 18. 119 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:39,440 And I hope my views on things will always keep changing based on new data and new experiences. 120 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:45,800 But it will only occur if I'm willing to hear, to see, or to read things that do not always 121 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,400 align. 122 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,680 But aren't I just re-fighting the reading war? 123 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:52,920 Are there reading wars? 124 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:54,840 Well, here's the thing. 125 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,560 There was no reading war. 126 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:04,240 There was a coup in which one side used power, money, and influence to misrepresent and then 127 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:07,120 silence the other. 128 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:09,920 So how about it science of reading people? 129 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,360 Why are you blocking me? 130 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:14,520 What are you afraid of? 131 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,720 Let's start the conversation. 132 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:19,600 This has been the reading instruction show. 133 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:29,640 I'm your host, as always, Dr. Andy Johnson.