Sourdough Poolish and THE Science of Teaching Reading, Programs, and Teaching Anything Where it Can Be Learned

 The other day, I tried to make some "real" sourdough bread - the stuff with an ear and open crumb. It took 42 hours. I followed the instructions to a T. Minute by minute. Step by multimillion step. The result:  a huge mess and inedible disappointment. By the next day, that stuff had hardened into a flat, cracked, dusty rock similar to the stuff the Red River couldn't wash away under the Palace Aides in the Palo Duro Canyon. About as tasty as sandstone and red clay too. 

What did I do wrong? They guy with the recipe didn't have my four, Amarillo water, the Panhandle climate, my culture, my baking equipment, or Mom's oven. I knew everything was going pretty well until it was time to shape the loaf. I knew that the lazy spreading mass didn't have enough structure, but I had followed the program, you know? I marched on with the "expert's" solutions and steps. The dough smelled wonderful...up until it didn't. I followed the instructions for the cut with the lam (found out later, this guy was plain wrong about how to do it). Mom stood there, shaking her head as she chunked that hunk of concrete into the trash can. 

Y'all. We are trying to make "real" readers and writers with the kids we have in front of us. That brings more variables and issues than sourdough. To be successful, we need to know the science behind the processes of reading and writing. Then, we need to combine that with what is happening with the individual kids in front of us. That takes a reasoned response that is more than following a curriculum, a narrow view (often misguided or flat out misleading about the truth of how reading and writing are learned) of teaching. That kind of teaching is more than what some are proposing and preaching right now. Of course we believe in phonics and all that jazz. That's not even the point. This isn't about whole language or balanced literacy or reading academies. 

There are many sciences of reading. None are settled. There is no programmatic panacea or pedagogy. If you only follow, overemphasize, or neglect any component, the results won't (and haven't historically) be what you want. The only solution comes from allowing teachers the freedom to make informed decisions that fit the nuances of the kids in front of them.