Paul Thomas @plthomasEdD Twitter profile

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Paul Thomas

6 days

Important: Teachers Challenging Language Discrimination in England’s Schools: A Typology of Resistance by Ian Cushing and Dan Clayton

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 years

@nedryun

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

19 days

One of the ugliest facts of the US is many Americans believe poor children should (can) perform academically the same as affluent children *as if the poverty/affluence don’t matter*

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 months

Pay elementary teachers $100,000/yr? Sure But *stop* spreading the lie they don't know how to teach reading *Stop* forcing them to sit thru commercial retraining *Stop* adopting scripted curriculum Pay ***AND*** treat them as professionals

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

Since poor students score much lower than other students on ALL tests regardless of content area, maybe the issue isn’t how we teach any content but the poverty (which we refuse to address)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

My year of lesson plans submitted in advance: Day 1 TBD … Day 180 TBD (Feel free to use)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

5 years

1. Take any normal worksheet with review questions. 2. Cut the sheet into slips. 3. Hide those slips in plastic eggs. 4. Toss the eggs in a trash can. 5. Stop wasting your time and your students' time with worksheets.

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

What if children entering K were healthy and had full access to healthcare, had a stable homes with parents working stable jobs with more than adequate pay, had access to books/texts in home, had the opportunity to live happily and play, loved books/reading for pleasure

Nell K. Duke

@nellkduke

1 year

What if . . . children entering K could write their names, say the name & sound for most alphabet letters, segment the 1st sound in a word, retell a book read to them, communicate w/ strong vocabulary & world knowledge. . . We CAN do this! Please join us:

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

I have been in education almost 40 years and we are making a huge mistake not to point out the complete nonsense being promoted by Republicans about education simply to gain political points A thread 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

@nd_bnd @Arrianna_Planey Women especially but separate accts yes!!! The worst part of marriage is legal joining of financial obligation

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 months

@BrianaNBarner As in

The Often Ignored Consequences of Being Gifted: On Misunderstanding Being Smart

Although routinely misunderstood as well, many people do acknowledge that standardized test scores by students are more strongly a marker for socioeconomic conditions of students and their parents …

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

Edu-crisis rhetoric, the testing industry, and the education material/services products racket all serve each other. Not students. Not teachers. Not parents. Not society.

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

@LeoLionMAGA

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

4 years

Here are 2 problems: (1) US police forces are hyper-militarized and have been killing 1000+ people a year since 2013 (2) Blacks are killed at disproportionate rates compared to whites (B 30/million v. W 12/million) even though in the US there are 5-6 W for every B person. 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Worst post possible about reading … imagine he thinks this is a smart take

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 years

I just published Dear Parents, Your Children’s K-12 Education Is Already Very Conservative

Dear Parents, Your Children’s K-12 Education Is Already Very Conservative

With a half-smile and without hesitation, Mr. Simpkins replied, “Paul, some parents don’t want their children to think.”

link.medium.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 years

Spare the rod, spare the child. There is no benefit to spanking.

torontosun.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book Bans-

Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book Bans

The Illinois Senate has passed HB 2789, a bill whose terms dictate that state funding from libraries that remove books will be withheld.

bookriot.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Demanding ***more of children earlier*** while not demanding that adults address the inequities of children's lives is inexcusable. Pointing fingers at childhood literacy is often a distraction from the lack of political will in adults across the US

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Pronunciation requires context

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Dangerously wrong but also the logical outcome of seeing "reading" as some sort of technical sequence of skills Many, if not most, children learn to love reading from being read to and looking at picture books before any decoding at all

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

Stunning how much time, money, and analysis we put into standardized tests *and* how badly they are designed, implemented, and understood

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

It is important to recognize who rejects and who embraces the following 👇

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

Next on Sold a Story Why did Lucy Calkins cause an earthquake in NY/NJ? Did balanced literacy throw us all off balance?

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

TEACHERS teach STUDENTS to read. Teachers do NOT teach reading programs. Reading programs do NOT teach students to read.

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

“You can ban my books but you can’t ban me” @IamGMJohnson @ncte #NCTE22

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

8 years

How white people can avoid having their feelings hurt when called "racists":

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

4 years

What is the phonics rule for pronouncing Wind What part of speech is it? (Oops. Cannot do these in isolation. Reading is not letter by letter, phoneme by phoneme, word by word. Reading is always in context.)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

The #scienceofreading movement is yet another anti-teacher movement in education reform. Just like TFA, charter schools, and the VAM-era of Michelle Rhee. Bashing veteran teachers and teacher educators and coaxing new teachers with false blame and false narratives

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

Despites decades of scientific research, guess what you’ll never see catch on in edu-fads? The science of poverty The science of racism What really impacts achievement the most …

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

5 years

@emrazz In my ed foundations class today we discussed consent and students confirmed that male and female students STILL have drastically different definitions of consent. Women students deeply troubled by this ... so much work to do with men

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

The Science of Reading movement: The never-ending debate and the need for a different approach to reading instruction (NEPC Policy Brief) via @plthomasEdD

The Science of Reading movement: The never-ending debate and the need for a different approach to...

Please access this policy brief on the “science of reading” movement from NEPC: Thomas, P.L. (2022). The Science of Reading movement: The never-ending debate and the need for a differen…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Pro Tip: Doesn't matter if you claim to be a Democrat or progressive, supporting a "back to basics" movement in reading with a hyper-focus on phonics-first/phonics for all is supporting a very CONSERVATIVE agenda that overlaps with the censorship movement 1/2

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Chuck, Try being. A. Teacher Signed, Teachers

Coach's Diary

@ACoachsDiary

1 year

“Sports is the only job in the world where we let people call in who have never touched a ball give their opinion and we listen. We wouldn’t do that if we were doctors. Like, hey, let the public call in and talk to us about surgery. We would never do that.” - Charles Barkley

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

Big collecting day ... grabbed #Daredevil 1, 2, 3 from local comic book store #tangledwebcomics @manwithoutfear @Daredevil

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

“Good teaching, effective teaching, is not just about using whatever science says ‘usually’ works best. It is all about finding out what works best for the individual child and the group of children in front of you.” — Richard Allington, February 2005

A chronicle of Kappan’s coverage of the reading wars - Kappan Online

As Ullin Leavell wrote in these pages, in December 1943, “reading ability is a premier skill basic to an efficient participation in the American way of living” (p. 52). For our schools, teaching...

kappanonline.org

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 years

@nhannahjones "Racial Discomfort" in an Era of Erasing Curriculum

“Racial Discomfort” in an Era of Erasing Curriculum

My neighboring state of North Carolina has filed copy-cat legislation being proposed across the U.S. by Republicans as part of the manufactured Critical Race Theory (CRT) crisis. As Justin Parmente…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

11 days

Science Of Reading Has Sucked The Joy Out Of Learning To Read, Experts Say via @forbes

Rigid Approach Has Sucked The Joy Out Of Learning To Read, Experts Say

Relying on formulaic texts rather than real books risks making reading a chore instead of something children do for fun, a new study suggests.

www.forbes.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

After making a good faith effort to interact with SOR advocates (with one person responding thoughtfully and both of us coming to realize we have many big picture agreements), the responses turned nasty and then nastier (what I notice is common among many SOR folk) 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Attack on "Balanced Literacy" Is Attack on Professional Teachers, Research via @plthomasEdD

Attack on “Balanced Literacy” Is Attack on Professional Teachers, Research

The allusion in Robert Pondiscio’s Why Johnny won’t learn to read accomplishes something different than intended. Pondiscio’s uninformed swipe at balanced literacy actually reveal…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

4 years

Dear @educationweek : If you persist in pushing the "science of reading," you must not prop up your arguments with ***unscientific surveys and anecdotes***. Meet the standards you expect of others, and do the due diligence, or listen to the profession.

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

8 months

Science of reading advocates need to do WAY more that "Oops! We don't agree with M4L!" SOR folk need to interrogate WHY all the extreme rightwingers LOVE SOR and then reconsider the SOR narratives that are essentially conservative talking points and not facts

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

States are spending 10s of MILLIONS of $$ to train teachers with LETRS without research showing training needed LETRS increased teacher confidence but has NO IMPACT on student learning Brilliant use of "science"

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

You know it is a grift when the SOR folk scream Units of Study and F&P are not scientific But cite the PUBLISHERS' "research" when promoting the new reading programs Been in education since 1984. Every single program and education resource has been research/evidence-based

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

#scienceofreading support for structured literacy/scripted reading programs = de-professionalizing teachers/teaching SOR policies requiring "all students must" = ignoring that students are INDIVIDUALS with different strengths and needs (including students with special needs)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Students suffer from teachers who do most of the work *for* them and call it writing instruction or feedback. Rubrics and marking everything for students are *not* effective for fostering students as writers. Students come to conflate "feedback" with doing the writing for them

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

This Republican assault on education and teachers is simply a set of bald faced lies Period 5/5

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

What if, after the pandemic dip in NAEP scores, we admitted that standardized testing of student achievement is *mostly* a reflection of out-of-school factors—and not teacher quality, instructional methods, etc.? [Narrator: Research always shows test data = 60-80% OOS factors]

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

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 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

When higher ed "discovers" something about teaching and learning and acts as if the field of education hasn't been research it for ... a century ...

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Sold a Story is not good journalism. If you are not willing to read and consider the sizable scholarly analyses that show it is misleading, false, melodramatic, and anecdotal, then you just want confirmation journalism for your assumptions

The “Science of Reading” Era: An Open-Access Reader [UPDATED]

[Header Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash] [Revised and Updated] Increasingly since around 2012, the media story around the “science of reading” has resulted in legislation that bans…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

5 months

Reading program X is not the problem Reading program Y is not the solution The reading program merry-go-round is the problem Get off that ride, teach children not programs

Reading Programs Always Fail Students and Teachers

Despite growing up in a working-class family with two parents who never finished college, I entered formal schooling with a turboboost provided primarily by my mom. I was a reader, and by tradition…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

There simply is no reading crisis, no data supports that media manufactured crisis

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

Systematic phonics for all students is a MARKET position Not a scientific one Reading program X failed is a MARKET position Not a scientific one 2/3 students not proficient readers is a MARKET position Not a scientific one

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

7 years

@chrislhayes @jwpetersNYT

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

Revision is writing Revision is learning Submitting writing for a grade defies the value of both writing and learning (My students are nearly incapable of writing or learning because of grade culture)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Took 40 years to acknowledge A Nation at Risk was politically skewed, flawed, and essentially gaslighting I likely won't be here for that reckoning for the SOR movement but it is exactly the same misguided template for the crisis/miracle reform approach to politicizing schools

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

4 months

The SOR backpedaling includes revisionist history and “defining” SOR with exact same valid definition for … balanced literacy The nonsense is real

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

@CalvinKLai @estarianne Hang onto it. Will come in handy for a future round of trashing Leonardo DiCaprio

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

My curriculum not the reason kids can’t read via @ILTimes

My curriculum not the reason kids can’t read

Your Feb. 29 cover story, "When Kids Can't Read," references Springfield public schools and my curriculum, Units of Study. I applaud Springfield for attending to...

www.illinoistimes.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

11 months

Claims of a "reading crisis" are almost always driven by media, the public, and political/market interests Not educators 2/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

@tressiemcphd @nytimes The KFC detail …

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

5 years

@ncte The Big Lie about the "Science of Reading"

The Big Lie about the “Science of Reading” (Updated)

While too often inordinately dangerous* for the most vulnerable, social media can be a powerful window into how we think about and judge education. Recently, the reading wars have been once again i…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

Just shared scientific research with SOR/dyslexia advocate. They responded by hoping I go to hell and burn for eternity So. Science only if it is what they prefer … which ain’t science

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

7 months

Since a co-authored article of mine has triggered the SOR trolls and their only response is personal attacks and LIES, let me offer some clarifications on social media. Note that lies and attacks show they have no real rebuttals, just lies and attacks a thread 1/

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 years

@ScottHech @AliWatkins

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

When your circle of scholars/teachers/friends include folk who are equally kind, brave, and brilliant @ShawnaCoppola

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

It is possible and necessary to refute this harmful work (her work is HURTING people and is MISINFORMATION) and to be compassionate about her anxiety (even as she herself is NOT being compassionate about those who work is hurting

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

As the report out of UCLA noted and as CR noted openly, the attack on education and teachers (and being "woke") is entirely "caricature" designed for gross political points and aims 4/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

The "science of" nonsense can't get more nonsenser. People are posting this on social media and saying it is "new research" from SOR and "science of writing" This is from Best Practice, newest ed 2012

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

If you are an SOR advocate You cannot cite Journalism NCTQ EdWeek surveys Publishers Louisa Moates Podcasts Your own experiences None of that is scientific None

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

7 months

Please recognize that for some of us, shorter daylight and earlier sunsets result in genuine negative physical and emotional consequences The awful slide from now to the winter solstice is the worst time of year for me and I want to acknowledge this for those like me as well

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

A major flaw of the SOR reading movement is that SOR advocates are repeating an essential flaw in edu-debates for about a century+ Misrepresenting and incorrectly defining terms, approaches in order to discredit them A thread 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Where is the media coverage and podcast covering how much APM, Hanford, Moates, and Lexia are making off the SOR scam?

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

Since I have been discounted as "someone who has never raised reading achievement" I want to admit: I have never claimed to raise "reading achievement" by training high-poverty children to pronounce nonsense words in order to boost my status as a reading "expert"

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Curriculum and programs should be aligned with ***the students being taught*** And there is no silver-bullet, one-size-fits all, prepackaged way to do that Not programs, standards, or trendy way to teach reading

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

What sound does the science of reading make? Ka-Ching Ka-Ching $$$

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

@heymrsbond The Color Purple

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

As an educator/scholar/writer grounded in critical pedagogy/ literacy/ discourse analysis, I am *not* compelled by "camps" that advocate "my way is the right way" "Critical" is not asserting/proving "my way" but constant questioning "are we sure this way is good enough?"

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 months

There *should* be one more Sold a Story episode Full retraction and apology Tierney and Pearson cited and then franchise shuttered

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

11 months

Take just a few minutes to scratch beneath the surface of "scientific" SOR charade is filled with market interests (LETRS, CORE, O-G, etc.), think tank representatives (mostly right-wing), and no distinction between media articles/podcasts/surveys and scientific research

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

19 days

Living in poverty reduces cognitive function the same as being sleep deprived.

The Science of Scarcity and Sleep that Education Reformers (Want to) Ignore

In the middle of the Obama years of education reform, I discovered and cited often Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir’s Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much. Mullainatha…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

Hella brilliant first sentence @doctorow

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

The nonsense of teaching nonsense words

How this common practice hurts dyslexic kids and makes it harder for them to learn how to read.

blog.dyslexia.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

11 months

A fundamental problem with the long history of "reading crisis" cycles over the last 80+ years includes the following a thread 1/x

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

11 months

Column: How Mississippi gamed its national reading test scores to produce 'miracle' gains

Mississippi's reading test scores showed that its educational policies were spectacularly successful, triggering news reports of a 'miracle.' But it was a statistical illusion.

finance.yahoo.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 months

AND THEN put those professionals in teaching and learning conditions that they and their students can be successful *Stop* demanding that students and teachers overcome impossible conditions

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

10 months

What if I told you There is no such thing as “learning loss” (Or days/weeks/months of learning)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

4 years

@michaelharriot When being an introvert comes in conflict with being anti-authority ... Don't *tell me* to stay away from people! (But I would prefer to stay away from people)

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

9 years

My university in winter glory @FurmanU http://t.co/4qhTye2bRr

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 months

Scripted curriculum forces teachers to conform to demands of fidelity to the programs over the individual needs of students The locus of authority is in the commercial program and policed by administration

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

3 months

Since before Covid shut down, I have presented about 40 times all over the US on SOR to 1000s of teachers The main responses I get are thanking me for addressing media/political misinformation and urging me to continue Teachers are tired of being lied TO and ABOUT

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

6 months

@RealEmirHan Postman Always Rings Twice

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

20 days

When we get serious about student reading proficiency, we will: Stop the reading program shuffle Address out-of-school factors (poverty, healthcare, access to book in home and community) Address teaching/learning conditions AND completely change reading assessment 1/

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

2 years

It is ... interesting ... that those uncritically applauding Sold a Story ... have been ... sold a story

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

STOP recommending Sold a Story It is melodramatic ***misinformation*** campaign SOR marketing boondoggle ... Lacks historical and research grounding Get the REAL and FULL story

Reading Science Resources for Educators (and Journalists): Science of Reading Edition [UPDATED]

[Download Word file HERE] Since around 2013 and then increasingly since 2018, states have been adopting new or revised reading legislation often prompted by or identified as the “science of r…

radicalscholarship.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

Teaching 2022

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

A fundamental problem with systematic phonics or grammar instruction and reading or writing programs is that ACCOUNTABILITY inevitably focuses on whether or not teachers cover the material or implement the program. Student learning becomes secondary, ignored, or often just data

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

7 months

Stories Grounded in Decades of Research: What We Truly Know about the Teaching of Reading - Compton‐Lilly - The Reading Teacher - Wiley Online Library

The Reading Teacher | ILA Literacy Education Journal | Wiley Online Library

The recent dissemination of selective research findings related to reading privileges a narrow body of reading scholarship and a singular, unproven solution—teaching phonics. We offer a research-ba...

ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Paul Thomas

@plthomasEdD

1 year

K-12 educators are secretly a cabal of Marxists K-12 educators are secretly committed to grooming children to be gay or trans K-12 educators are teaching white children they are to blame for all racism None of these claims make any sense in the context of who teachers are 3/x

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