Dear WinkWorld Readers,
I have been writing about a cool ranch kid, whom I have been observing. Henry, now age 9, is the only kid I know who learned to read from ranch circulars (weekly newsprint flyers about tractors, cattle, big tires, fertilizers, etc.) Before Henry could decode, he would run to grab the newsprint flyer, and his little pointer reading finger would go to work. I have even seen him get excited “to read” about new credit card offers.
However, I have not yet posted the story of Henry as I keep getting interrupted by questions from friends who are relatively new to literacy, and they always ask: “But, Joan, what about phonics?” This caused me to dig out something I wrote about phonics and the “whispering of the juxtaposition” of another fabulous little guy, Jonathan. This story was published in the first edition (1997) of Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World. This story was cut from later editions. I have no idea why, as it was some of my best work. (Apparently, WordPress has no emojis….)
This is sort of like doing your homework for reading about Henry, which is coming soon.
