Siegfried Engelmann and The audacity to teach your children well

Some of you have written that you are scared that your little ones may be mistaught at school or, at the very least, that they will not learn the amount and at the level they can master.  I STRONGLY recommend the books listed below. 

Yes, they are all by this fellow--Siegfried Engelmann.  Engelmann is a philosopher in a school of education.  The branch of philosophy is logic.  He has figured out (since the mid '60s) how to cut through all the fluff and all the irrelevant communications and activities and get down to communicating facts, concepts, rules, and strategies at increasingly high levels of complexity.  For example, Reading Mastery (which he designed) begins with m says mmm and ends with kids analyzing MacBeth.  By "kids," I mean fith graders.

How is this possible?  Because the entire sequence is a faultless logical argument or logical progression.  Everything needed for the next learning task has already been taught and reviewed. And everything taught and reviewed is used in the next, and later, tasks.  So, no time is spent RE-teaching week after week, and no time is spent learning what you don't need.

Is it rote learning?  NOOOO!  All knowledge systems begin with rote learning.  This symbol    4  does not TELL you that it signifies and symbolizes ////  Someone has to say  This (4) means ////.

Once the needed rote learning (e.g., meaning of symbols) has occurred, you can then USE the symbols to communicate much more complex concepts, rules, and strategies.

Engelmann figured out that the acquisition of knowledge is nothing but induction, and that application of knowledge is nothing but deduction.  [And I transmitted that to you in an earlier post.]  He then found that there is a simple communication format for teaching each kind of COGNITIVE knowledge--

1. Facts.  Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. Boston is the capital of Massachusetts,  There are five phases of cell division....

2. Concepts. red, color, democracy, political oprganization.

3. Rules. Exploitation fosters opposition.  When the sum is greater than 9, carry....

4. Strategies.  The routine for analyzing a poem, writing a paper, developing a model that summarizes different kinds of wars.

I gave an example of this in an earlier post.

So, if a teacher uses the correct format, he or she can be sure that communication will be as clear and therefore as effective and efficient as you can get it.

And that is how Zig Engelmann and his colleagues develop all those Direct Instruction progams--which are field tested for YEARS before they are sold. 

Engelmann once told me that he worked five years on a program called Reasoning and Writing--I think that was the one.  The teachers who tested it told him it had logical flaws.  "So," he said, "I burned it in the backyard and started over."

I asked him how he creates a program (that could have 300 lessons).  He said that he starts at the end (what are students supposed to be able to do when they are done?) and works backwards.

Let's be honest, unlike the ordinary ed perfesser, eduguru, and fly-by-night edubook writer (who come off badly--brainwise--when put up against a chicken) Engelmann and his colleagues are geniuses--which means they work REAL hard for a loooooong time.

They say you can't be a prophet in your own country.  Well, that's true here.  Engelmann (and DI in general) has been shunned by the progressive ed establishment all these decades.  Why?  BECAUSE DI WORKS!!  It works so well that it becomes clear that any other form of instruction (less logical) DAMAGES kids.  So, to save themselves (because junk is what they sell) they have to demonize DI and hide the data showing how well it works.  How do you spell f r a u d?

[You can thank George W. Bush and Rod Paige for emphasizing systematic and explicit instruction in reading, and next math--because DI is THE EXEMPLAR of that.]

I'm not saying that DI is the only way to teach, and I have NO financial interest in the publisher (SRA/McGraw-Hill), but if you want instruction that has these features--clear, effective, efficient, high level--then DI would be your best bet.

 

Engelmann's bio 

Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons.

Preventing failure in the primary grades

Give your child a superior mind

If your kids are struggling to read k-3, then use 100 Easy Lessons.  [In fact, teach them to read before they get to school!!] If your kids are older (grade 3 to adult) DEMAND that your school use Corrective Reading. 

You can be sure that your kid is not alone.  It should be a schoowide endeavor.  [I can explain if you want.]

If you get the three above books, you will know just how much your kids CAN learn and just exactly how they SHOULD  be taught.  And you will be able to teach them.

In planning any operation, it is vital to remember, and constantly repeat to oneself, two things: "In war nothing is impossible, provided you use audacity," and "Do not take counsel of your fears." [George S. Patton, Jr. War as I knew it, 1947.]

Comments

[Michael]

I just wanted to leave you a quick note thanking you for the resources that you have posted. I came across your site through AveryTooley.com and it is refreshing to see your point of view as I am in a Master's of Education program and am planning to teach Elementary school. Reading instruction is especially important to me and I find myself frustrated with some of the thoughts that seem to be prevalent among my instructors and classmates. Your blog and recommendations have given me much to pursue and I shall be reading your blog regularly. Thanks again for your inspiring thoughts.

[silvermine]

Thanks for the links!

Hopefully he will read before he starts school. I was the only person in kindergarten who could read...