Being created in the image of God is intimately tied with God as the Word. In John God describes himself as the Word who became flesh. It is the Word who created this amazing world by speaking words. His Words create. His Words save.
It is no wonder that our God would then give us The Word as a means to knowing and fellowshipping with Him. For Words are at the center of His being. It is also not be surprising that some Wycliff scholars believe that the first phonetic language was Ancient Hebrew given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Imagine our God, giving us not only The Word but the means by which to communicate those words!
Our God is a marvelous God who wants to communicate with the people created in His image. Words are an integral part of the Imago Dei.
I believe this is why, some states plan their prison sizes based upon the literacy rates of fourth grade students. For if a child cannot read in fourth grade, despair and loss of hope robs them of their God-given dreams and mission.
I have had many intelligent, creative, talented, brilliant adults describe themselves as stupid to me, because they struggle with reading, or spelling. Ladon, a forty-year-old man from LA, said that he acted out in school, was kicked out, turned to crime, and ended up in prison because he couldn’t read. Ladon is not alone; 30% of fourth graders are functionally illiterate in the United States, and 60% read below grade level. In the richest nation on earth, more people struggle with reading than have mastered it.
But it doesn’t need to be this way! Amazing, beautiful brain imaging research has shown that when people learn how the language works, the rules and phonograms that explain 98% of English words, and practice the five strands of reading, virtually everyone can learn to read! And it doesn’t take that long! Roughly eighty hours of systematic instruction. We can bring hope and stop the hemoraging in our nations’ schools.
However we face a problem. As a culture we have lost the most vital information to teaching people to read. Collectively we have forgotten the answers to the most basic questions about English. Why is there a silent E in have? Why does CH say /sh/ in Chicago? Why don’t we drop the E in courage when we write courageous? Rather than answers, we have been told, “that is an exception.” Good readers have needed to memorize by rote rather than understand. Millions of children right now are drilling sight words in hopes of learning to read the 60,000 words they will need to become fluent, when they could be gaining the tools to understand any of the 2,000,000 words of English.
For this reason, I am on a mission, a mission not only to change how reading is taught, but to reverse the Literacy Crisis in my lifetime. I cannot do this alone, but together, lovers of The Word, we can bring a revolution of healing to our nation.
By Denise Eide, Allume speaker and author of Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Approach to Reading, Spelling, and Literacy.
Read more from Denise at her blog, DeniseEide.com.
Amy Tilson says
October 17, 2012 at 3:39 pmYou have no idea what a geek I am when it comes to learning about language and reading like this!! My proudest professional acheivement came as an Americorps volunteer tutoring reading one-on-one in Franklin, KY in the ’95-’96 school year. I had a very bright 2nd grader that just could not read. It hadn’t clicked, but I could tell he was very intelligent. His father happened to teach another second grade class. This semester he began law school at UK after several years working in the financial sector. We both know how vital learning to read is to his success! I’ve made him promise I’ll be invited to every inaguration.
So excited to learn more at Allume!
Jolene says
October 18, 2012 at 7:56 pmThis is so exciting! I am an ESOL teacher, and I am so excited!!! (Can you tell how excited I am?!) I really want to get one of your books – will you have any with you at Allume? Hopefully I’ll have a chance to meet you. I have quite a few students for whom reading is a struggle. Any ideas and insight will be a tremendous help!! 🙂