Last week, I celebrated a milestone birthday. I’ve been living and breathing for four decades! Wow! Saying that feels crazy. But alas, it’s true. I celebrated with a throwback party- an ode to my favorite decade, the 90’s. It was fun to reminisce and celebrate life back then, and it reminded me of the many changes that have occurred in each decade since. The fast paced advancements in technology, changes in style and influence of fashion and music, the becoming and then all-being creation of social media, and the many changes in classrooms and education. It feels like a century’s worth of change has occurred in the last 30 years.

Think about the simple pleasures of being a kid and clapping chalkboard erasers together, filling the air with clouds of dust, and avoiding breathing it in less you choke. Playing Oregon Trail in the computer lab, with a tray full of floppy disks that hold your completed work, just beyond the monitor. The excitement you felt when your typing teacher brought in bottles of white-out so you wouldn’t have to start over every time you made an error on the typewriter; or even the satisfaction of beginning a new sentence on this bulky, but fantastic machine! *Cue cash register sound*. Oh, was that just me? There were simple joys, both in and out of school.

Those days though, are far gone, which is not such a bad thing. We’ve settled into efficiency with information right at out finger tips, and answers to questions always a simple Siri or Alexa request away. Whiteboards, then Smart Boards and Jamboards, have made interactive learning much easier and fun for teachers, as well as students. Social media has also given us quick access to people, schools, and businesses; allowing us to communicate more freely, and learn and spread good news much faster. Though this last one has its downside, change, can be good!

Teaching and reading instruction has also changed. While in the 80’s we were very focused on reading instruction based on phonics, the 90’s introduced us to a focus on whole language. Think of the most popular phonics program, which kept our focus on letters, sounds, and blending of the two. It worked for some. But then there were those who simply could not blend sounds together, and so introducing “educated guessing”, or whole language reading became the new trend. This method, which says to focus on the context and meaning, instructed students away from phonics. Again, it worked for some. But the pendulum had swung from one extreme to the other. Our national education system hadn’t yet found a middle ground. Then in 2000, the National Reading Panel stated that “there are five essential components that must be taught in an effective reading program”: 

• phonemic awareness 

• phonics

• reading fluency 

• vocabulary development

• reading comprehension

Essentially, it wasn’t that we needed to learn reading with either phonics or whole language, it was that we needed both. We needed instruction that developed and taught us to rely on the integration of these skills. Thankfully, this new theory has been widely accepted, and informed decisions made. That took decades of theory, evaluation, and research. We gained information, made an advancement, gained new information, and advanced again.

In the decade that followed, educational laws, classroom modifications, and programming continued to change based on new information. While some of the implementation seems to be ineffective, and certainly the changes don’t happen as quickly as it seems it should, our world and the way we live, socialize, and educate within it has completely changed. My how and why are continually developed in the way I teach my students. I hope that the heart for research and problem solving will stay at the forefront of why we make the changes that are to come. If not, how will we benefit from what we’ve learned?

Happy growing!

Tia

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