Sad news about Joyce Morris

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debbie
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Sad news about Joyce Morris

Post by debbie »

Jenny Chew alerts RRFers that Joyce Morris has died:


http://rrf.org.uk/messageforum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6084


Please do read Joyce Morris's paper on 'phonicsphobia' - it is very relevant to this day.

http://www.englishspellingsociety.org/j ... sfobia.php
In my view, the time has come for 'phonicsphobia' to be publicly identified in discussions about phonics following publication of the consultation document for the revised National English Curriculum. This is because phonicsphobics must not be allowed to influence the requirements of the English Order at a time when there is the best chance for many years of systematic phonic teaching being given its rightful place in educational provision for literacy, including teacher-training.
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

An important piece about a very important and special lady.


http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... yce-morris

How utterly tragic that, to this day, we still have such widespread lack of knowledge and understanding about the importance of phonics, about the content of phonics teaching, about the nature of the English spelling system and how best to teach it, about the huge body of research on reading and phonicsphobia is, without doubt, still in existence.

Further, the latest NFER May 2014 report in England, commissioned by the Department for Education, provides evidence that perhaps up to three quarters of the teaching profession in England still believe in and promote multi-cueing reading strategies that work against high-quality short-term and long-term reading - and that are warned about as a consequence of research on reading.

Joyce Morris was one amazing lady - a shining example to us all of how to be observant, reflective, scientific, determined, steadfast and pioneering.
Joyce Morris obituary

Educationist who improved the literacy of generations of children

Joyce Morris, educationist, who has died aged 93

Joyce Morris was instrumental in developing the phonics-based system of teaching literacy

Greg Brooks and Roger Beard
Friday 16 January 2015

Joyce Morris, who has died aged 93, was a tireless worker for the better teaching and learning of literacy. She influenced generations of children through her input to the pioneering BBC television series Look and Read (first broadcast in 1967) and Words and Pictures (from 1970), and her Language in Action series of initial reading books (1974-83). Both were informed by her analysis of the phonetics of English – a system that she dubbed Phonics 44, published in 1984 but devised much earlier – and by a keen appreciation of how to make reading appealing to young children.
:cry:
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

I have just sent the message below to the DDOLL network of Australia - of which I am a very recent, and grateful, member.

I have already started to suggest international use of England's Year One Phonics Screening Check - and I intend to increase my efforts regarding this idea:


It is striking that the amazing Joyce Morris was such an observant, objective, reflective and pioneering professional – and yet here we are in 2015 with the same old, same old, problems that she identified many years ago – and did something about.

Roger Beard and Greg Brooks have written Joyce’s obituary and I can’t help but think it feels like a ‘groundhog’ moment.

I’ve developed a thread about this as I had already flagged up Joyce’s famous phonicsphobia article.

http://phonicsinternational.com/forum/v ... =2118#2118

Joyce would be dismayed to know that the organisation she helped to found, the United Kingdom Reading Association, now the United Kingdom Literacy ASsocition is headed up by folks who present as having a ‘phonicsphobic’ tendency.

The UKLA is amongst many other literacy and teaching organisations, and a large number of children’s authors headed up by Michael Rosen, who are vociferous on their attack of the Year One Phonics Screening Check. See David Reedy's (UKLA) protestation here:

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/screener_debate.pdf

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/reedy_response.pdf

http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Wes ... ite%20.pdf

The best thing we can do for worldwide literacy is to use England’s Year One Phonics Screening Check worldwide to get a snapshot of just what is going on in our schools regarding foundational knowledge and phonics skills.

People may well argue that it is not the most well-designed check possible with its inclusion of some real words – although that in itself allows the collation of interesting figures to see how results for the real words compare with the results for the pseudo words – but the check is already produced and made freely available in England which is a huge, huge change from previous practice in England.

It is very easy to administer, it is quick and gives a ‘snapshot’ from school to school and authority to authority. It could give a snapshot from country to country.

It would be a worldwide starting point – and in these days of the internet and so much internationalism, why not?

I have had results from the British School of Costa Rica – a bilingual context – and the results that year were higher than the average in England – 88% compared to 69%.

How interesting, and important, to know how bilingual schools fare.

Joyce would be proud of us all if we opened up our doors to some honest objectivity and worldwide assessment.

Debbie
Debbie Hepplewhite
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debbie
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Post by debbie »

Take a look at the format of these phonics checks here:


http://phonicsinternational.com/forum/v ... =2039#2039
Debbie Hepplewhite
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