Teaching the ABC's

This is what I put up on the board yesterday... for my seniors! Some of them had been complaining that there are letter combinations which they don't know how to read. That's because they were taught "sight reading" rather than good old phonetics. The strange sguiggles are Hebrew for those unfamiliar.

As you probably notice, I color-code a lot. Except for those color blind, it helps organize things.

I taught the seniors first lesson of my day, and then I taught all of my other classes. The freshmen and sophomores have been getting my method in drips and drabs, so they weren't interested, but the juniors, whom I taught last, were curious. They are my most difficult group, the only class not working.

I offered to explain the method, even though I've spoken to their two previous high school English teachers, who claimed to have taught reading to them. Well, I was shocked. They were totally riveted on the lesson. Not a word, as I explained things. OK, they didn't write anything down either, but I've never had their attention for more than a second.

They said it was a shame that no one had a phone camera. So I told them that I had photographed it with my digital. One asked for a printout of it.

Maybe this is the beginning of something good!