P. L. Thomas, Professor, Furman University. Teacher/Writer/Poet. Twitter is not my classroom. Tweets represent me only and no organization
Dec 4, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
With Deshaun Watson returning to the NFL, reminder that Dabo and Deshaun represent the BS veneer of playing the Christian card to hide the ugly and very dark sides of BIG TIME college and pro football
1/xtheguardian.com/sport/2019/sep…
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Dec 4, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
As more people are coming to realize, the "science of reading" movement is built on a series of claims that are mostly fabricated and/or anecdotes that are circular reasoning.
See \/ the basic media narrative that lacks evidence
One of the (many) failures of partisan politics is the use of false equivalence. The "association with Jeffrey Epstein" situation is an excellent example.
A thread 1/x
Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Alan Dershowitz are all *associated* credibly with Epstein. Photographs, documentation, and allegations.
Yet, these are not all equal even as we should find those associations *disqualifying*
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Now is especially a horrible time to invoke MLK Jr in ways that shame the oppressed, marginalized, and murdered *by the state*, instead of being in solidarity for anti-racism
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Mandela: Dishonored by Passive Radical Myth radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/man…
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May 13, 2020 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Shouldn't be a surprise, but EdWeek has chosen once again to keep our evaluative gaze on Teachers by posing a survey as "scientific" [see the awful and misleading SoR misinformation campaign]
Here are some ways to unmask the bias (a thread)
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EW frame: 1. Teachers are working less than before the pandemic hit.
Alternative: 1. Teacher labor has shifted during move to remote instruction during pandemic.
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May 12, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Important comments that I have had to navigate as a teacher of writing at the college level - thread
There is now a political and public hand wringing about the need to make sure students "catch up" after the Covid-19 disruption in spring schooling -
a thread why this is deeply misguided
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Helping students "catch up" is fundamentally misguided in the same way as "remediation"
"Remediation" is a flawed concept because *all teaching* is helping students acquire learning they do not yet have; therefore, *all teaching is remediation"
unless ...
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Apr 16, 2020 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
Unpacking forensic "science" to understand the "science of reading": A thread
Examines wrongly convicted while focusing on use of bite marks as forensic evidence
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One of the key turning points for bite mark use was elevated to "science" was the celebrity of the Ted Bundy serial murder case
Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb. are horrible people *and* mainstream Republicans who represent one of the ugliest American Myths: the undeserving poor
Poor/ working class whites have embraced this
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See The Undeserving Poor: America's Enduring Confrontation With Poverty, Michael B. Katz amazon.com/dp/0199933952/
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Mar 22, 2020 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
Thread on the problem with "science" in the "science of reading" (SoR) movement re: @NEPCtweet / EDJE policy statement nepc.colorado.edu/publication/fy…
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SoR focuses heavily on research conducted by behavioral psychologists and often the use of the term "science" or "scientific" is code for experimental or quasi-experimental research: random sampling, control groups, causal generalizations writing.colostate.edu/guides/page.cf…
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[a thread for clarification and a nuanced discussion; not a thread for grandstanding, not reading, and angry Tweeting]
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First, MSM coverage *doubled down* on the exact problems the policy statement addresses: blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teach…
Fumbling "balanced literacy" and overstating research on systematic intensive phonics
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Feb 18, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
What's really wrong with student reading achievement/ teaching reading in the U.S.? [a thread]
1. Political, public refusal to acknowledge systemic inequity reflected in reading test scores: poverty, racism, sexism, education funding inequity (see schoolfinancedata.org/wp-content/upl…) 1/x2. Political, public, media failure to recognize *historical* patterns in reading debates and student reading achievement; ahistorical responses to "current" crisis = same mistakes, same crisis rhetoric, and same failed policies repeated 2/x
"science of reading" demanding systematic phonics *for all students* (misguided) v. balanced literacy includes phonics but stresses students receive whatever they need to learn
See the important first-hand reflection by an elementary teacher
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Jan 23, 2020 • 19 tweets • 16 min read
I have been a teacher educator for 18 years now. I am a strong proponent of Education as a major and a field, but I very much reject certification (the primary mechanism for when pre-service education degrees are ineffective). So here is a thread about a report from @ILAToday 1/x@ILAToday The ILA report claims 60% of respondents say teacher prep did not prepare them to teach reading literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-s… 2/x
Dec 12, 2019 • 19 tweets • 16 min read
Thread:
Reconsider the tone policing and respectability politics of #dyslexia#scienceofreading responses to Richard Allington's talk blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teach…@educationweek@educationweek The first responses to Allington I saw were on Twitter by #dyslexia advocates. They repeatedly misrepresented his comments to be far more extreme than they were even though the thread had the audio to refer to. Leading a criticism with misrepresentation hurts your credibility +
Nov 2, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Serious questions and expecting serious replies that remain *on topic*. For dyslexia and "science of reading" advocates:
Please name a distinct period in history over the past 100 years in the US when there was political and public consensus reading achievement was "good." +
Please identify *scientific research* from that period that shows some positive causal relationship between how students were being taught reading and that "good" outcome.
Please identify any period of testing in US when outcomes were not mostly related to socio-econ status +
