Embed Notice

While prepping for an upcoming talk about content production tools, I've been digging into the history of early childhood literacy education, with a particular focus on the "Reading Wars" of the 80s and 90s.

Traditional "skills-based" education, dating back to the 1600s (!!!!!!) relied heavily on phonics: teach a kid the sounds that each letter of the alphabet corresponds to, allowing them to "sound out" any written word. Voila! Their existing spoken vocabulary is linked to written words.