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23 Mar 2006 - 13:19
source:
Loganberry Books
Christopher was asking us this morning about the Dick and Jane books. I bought one for Andrew awhile back, which has now gone missing along with our Battlestar Galactica DVD, my Robert Scott scarf from England, and my copies of Learned Optimism and Why We Run (those are just the items I know about), so I'm pulling this image from the web and putting it some place where I know Andrew can't get to it. Have I mentioned that Andrew's mission is to Pilfer and Hide All Our Stuff? I don't believe I have.
The Rare Book School
The Rare Book School has what looks like a nice, brief history of American primers:
Needless to say, the Dick and Jane books were an innovation associated with John Dewey:
I had no idea the Dick and Jane series went back that far. I should have guessed. My mom has told me that her younger sister was taught to read using the look-say method, so she didn't learn to read fluently. To this day my mom's sister doesn't read for pleasure. Pretty much your only defense in a country filled with look-say books is to be hyperlexic without the autism. Which I was (Christopher, too).
also see:
Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane
Tom and Betty
Dick and Jane see the airplane
Father Helps the Family
Look Up
-- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006 Back to main page.
Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
The Dick and Jane books are usually associated with the "Look Say" reading method which was the predecessor to the dreaded whole language movement. So though they may look harmless to the causual observer, evil lurks below those charming scenes. So when I read the words I can't help mentally inserting something like a severed ear in that innocuous looking box. -- KDeRosa - 23 Mar 2006
When my older brother started first grade back in the early 1960s, he could already read. While the rest of the class struggled through Dick and Jane, he sat at his desk, staring into space because he was bored stiff. He chose to be quiet and non-disruptive with his boredom. When it came time for the parent-teacher conference, the teacher told my mom that my brother didn't seem too smart (or something like that). My mom was furious! Years later, it still bothers her that this "experienced" first grade teacher didn't have a clue. For what's it worth, he was class valedictorian and he's now a doctor. : ) -- KarenA - 23 Mar 2006
While it's not what they were designed for, I don't see any reason not to use the Dick and Jane books as a part of a phonics-based reading program. (My wife and I did exactly that with our son.) They use words that are easy enough to decode that they tend to build confidence in a new reader. -- DougSundseth - 23 Mar 2006
Of course, that's right. Any book is an acceptable basal reader once the child knows enough phonics to decode 90%+ of the words. -- KDeRosa - 23 Mar 2006
I just wish to heck I could find the one I bought for Andrew. -- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006
Also I want my scarf to come back. -- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006
Hmmm, in the 1970s and early '80s my parents were bringing me up on Richard Scary books which were heavily phonetic (e.g. pages dedicated to words starting with each letter and a few pages for words starting with letter combinations like "ch"). My diagnosis with a speech disability made sense for my parents of my hatred of the "th" page and refusal to read it aloud. -- TracyW - 23 Mar 2006
I can't think of a more mind-numbing way for a kid to practice reading than the Dick and Jane books. I despise them with all my being. -- BrendaM - 23 Mar 2006
I can't think of a more mind-numbing way for a kid to practice reading than the Dick and Jane books. I despise them with all my being. Hey, Brenda! Tell us how you really feel! -- CatherineJohnson - 24 Mar 2006
WIT AND WISDOM -- CatherineJohnson - 24 Mar 2006
One of the first books I ever read was Dr. Seuss's ABC, which begins, "Big A, little A, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator, A, A, A!" What sadist gives the word "alligator" to a 2-year-old?! B is something something (maybe "Bouncing Baby, Ball," or "Buggy Baby Bumpers") and a bumblebee... Hey, you get big whole words AND individual sounds (what begins with K?). Being a true child of the 60s (that is, I was a child in the 60s), I also read the Dick and Jane books. If we had them in school, I probably found them boring, because I was long past that by then. -- GoogleMaster - 24 Mar 2006
Dick and Jane
source:
Loganberry Books
Christopher was asking us this morning about the Dick and Jane books. I bought one for Andrew awhile back, which has now gone missing along with our Battlestar Galactica DVD, my Robert Scott scarf from England, and my copies of Learned Optimism and Why We Run (those are just the items I know about), so I'm pulling this image from the web and putting it some place where I know Andrew can't get to it. Have I mentioned that Andrew's mission is to Pilfer and Hide All Our Stuff? I don't believe I have.
The Rare Book School
The Rare Book School has what looks like a nice, brief history of American primers:
Reading with and without Dick and Jane.
The politics of literacy in c20 America.
Needless to say, the Dick and Jane books were an innovation associated with John Dewey:
William McGuffey's phonics-based primers, which emphasized the sounding out of words by learning letter-sound associations, dominated American primary education from the middle of the c19 until the early c20. During the Progressive Era, some educators and social scientists began to believe that McGuffey's moralizing texts were too complex for young readers, and they argued for a simpler approach, one that used a carefully limited vocabulary and story lines that were more relevant to the lives of contemporary children. After World War I, publishers began to produce primers incorporating some of the changes John Dewey, William S Gray, and other experts advocated. In particular, illustrator Zerna Sharp worked with the Scott, Foresman publishing company and with William Gray to devise a series of basic primers that would include his suggestions. The new primers introduced characters with whom children could identify, and they contained stories featuring the same set of siblings engaged in normal day-to-day activities. To develop a national audience for the new series, the primers de-emphasized regional characteristics: there were no treks through snowstorms or into barren deserts. The result was Dick and Jane, who made their debut in 1930 in Scott-Foresman's Elson-Gray Basic Readers, accompanied by a guide urging teachers using them in their classrooms to adopt the whole word (or look-say) method, one that emphasized the meaning of words, rather than using rote phonics drills.
I had no idea the Dick and Jane series went back that far. I should have guessed. My mom has told me that her younger sister was taught to read using the look-say method, so she didn't learn to read fluently. To this day my mom's sister doesn't read for pleasure. Pretty much your only defense in a country filled with look-say books is to be hyperlexic without the autism. Which I was (Christopher, too).
also see:
Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane
Tom and Betty
Dick and Jane see the airplane
Father Helps the Family
Look Up
-- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006 Back to main page.
Comments
After entering a comment, users can login anonymously as KtmGuest (password: guest) when prompted.Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
The Dick and Jane books are usually associated with the "Look Say" reading method which was the predecessor to the dreaded whole language movement. So though they may look harmless to the causual observer, evil lurks below those charming scenes. So when I read the words I can't help mentally inserting something like a severed ear in that innocuous looking box. -- KDeRosa - 23 Mar 2006
When my older brother started first grade back in the early 1960s, he could already read. While the rest of the class struggled through Dick and Jane, he sat at his desk, staring into space because he was bored stiff. He chose to be quiet and non-disruptive with his boredom. When it came time for the parent-teacher conference, the teacher told my mom that my brother didn't seem too smart (or something like that). My mom was furious! Years later, it still bothers her that this "experienced" first grade teacher didn't have a clue. For what's it worth, he was class valedictorian and he's now a doctor. : ) -- KarenA - 23 Mar 2006
While it's not what they were designed for, I don't see any reason not to use the Dick and Jane books as a part of a phonics-based reading program. (My wife and I did exactly that with our son.) They use words that are easy enough to decode that they tend to build confidence in a new reader. -- DougSundseth - 23 Mar 2006
Of course, that's right. Any book is an acceptable basal reader once the child knows enough phonics to decode 90%+ of the words. -- KDeRosa - 23 Mar 2006
I just wish to heck I could find the one I bought for Andrew. -- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006
Also I want my scarf to come back. -- CatherineJohnson - 23 Mar 2006
Hmmm, in the 1970s and early '80s my parents were bringing me up on Richard Scary books which were heavily phonetic (e.g. pages dedicated to words starting with each letter and a few pages for words starting with letter combinations like "ch"). My diagnosis with a speech disability made sense for my parents of my hatred of the "th" page and refusal to read it aloud. -- TracyW - 23 Mar 2006
I can't think of a more mind-numbing way for a kid to practice reading than the Dick and Jane books. I despise them with all my being. -- BrendaM - 23 Mar 2006
I can't think of a more mind-numbing way for a kid to practice reading than the Dick and Jane books. I despise them with all my being. Hey, Brenda! Tell us how you really feel! -- CatherineJohnson - 24 Mar 2006
WIT AND WISDOM -- CatherineJohnson - 24 Mar 2006
One of the first books I ever read was Dr. Seuss's ABC, which begins, "Big A, little A, what begins with A? Aunt Annie's Alligator, A, A, A!" What sadist gives the word "alligator" to a 2-year-old?! B is something something (maybe "Bouncing Baby, Ball," or "Buggy Baby Bumpers") and a bumblebee... Hey, you get big whole words AND individual sounds (what begins with K?). Being a true child of the 60s (that is, I was a child in the 60s), I also read the Dick and Jane books. If we had them in school, I probably found them boring, because I was long past that by then. -- GoogleMaster - 24 Mar 2006
| WebLogForm | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Dick and Jane |
| TopicType: | WebLog |
| SubjectArea: | AboutBooks, LanguageArts |
| LogDate: | 200603230818 |