Pat Wyman on Weekend America
Oh, no! Not another reading guru!
I was washing dishes as I listened to Weekend America on WUNC, when the topic suddenly shifted from baseball to reading.
Reading scores are low, the title says. Big news, I thought. But let’s hear what the guest has to say. The guest was Pat Wyman, but of course I didn’t know who she was.
Weekend America for Saturday, October 22, 2005
[photo removed at the request of Ms. Wyman]
Parents know of the importance of reading to their kids, but it seems the reading skills of our children are not improving. This is according to the latest scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress. Weekend America speaks with Pat Wyman, an educator and former teacher, who says she know why.
She started by saying that kids don’t read as well because they spent too much time indoors. TV viewing and video games are no substitute for playing games and walking in the nature, she says, and that’s why children don’t have the necessary visual skills for reading.
What? I almost dropped my plate. And when the host asked for clarifications, she said that video games do not develop visual tracking skills needed for reading, and she was quick to refer to a technical term — accommodation, which she should have learned in highschool — as a problem for reading.
As the risk of repeating myself, let me point out that (a) Video Games May Improve Visual Skills, (b) visual tracking is not the cause of reading difficulties in the majority of children, and (c) reading is about the last activity that requires super accommodation skills.
At this point I went back to washing dishes, knowing that she was going to make a fool of herself on the radio. Sure enough, and she dragged her daughter along, too. According to Wyman, her daughtor, a 3rd year medical student now, could read at age 4. But she was asked repeat first grade by her teacher because she couldn’t read. She talked on the radio how shocked she was, being someone with a Master’s degree.
What? Again I had to stop, this time wondering how in the world Wyman, a Master of Arts (presumably in an education-related field), who clearly has much less sense about reading than a regular parent, could continue to talk like a learning guru.
Yet, she did, completely unabashed. She advises parents to stop after reading the first one or two pages to their children, and ask them to look up — literally, above eye level — and imagine what the characters look like, how they are dressed, etc. Sounds like a visual skill, does it not? Let’s see how that changes NAEP reading scores.
So who is this Pat Wyman? I dried my hands and googled. There she is:
[Image removed at Pat Wyman’s request]
Pat Wyman, M.A.
Corporate Spokesperson of Howtolearn.com"America’s Most Trusted Learning Expert"
As a best selling author, founder of the award winning website HowToLearn.com, sought after speaker on Instant Learning® success strategies, corporate spokesperson and frequently interviewed media personality, Pat simplifies life for everyone by sharing her Instant Learning®, tips on learning, memory, parenting, ADHD, reading, higher grades, workplace learning success, and learning styles.
Pat is frequently asked to appear in infomercials endorsing quality educational products and programs, and well as endorse home, parenting, and educational products that include learning tips in several areas, making her an ideal spokesperson.
More:
In addition to being an internationally recognized learning styles expert, Pat is also a reading specialist and director of the non-profit, I Read I Succeed Foundation. Her mission is to bring the visual skills to every child which allows them to read at or above grade level. She is working to change national legislation on school vision screenings, has testified in the California State Legislature, and is working on a new book destined to reveal the secrets behind, and solutions to, America’s reading crisis.
Academic credencials:
Ms. Wyman is also an Instructor of Education at California State University, Hayward, Continuing Education Division, and has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities.
A course that she offers:
TED 7585 - Super Teaching Strategies: Raising Student Grades and Test Scores
Your time is precious and many of your students may need a jump start to success!’ Watch these practical and inspiring videos at your leisure, and easily incorporate the success strategies at the same time you’re teaching your regular subjects (Summer course options also available). Great for any teacher with students in grades 1-12, (appropriate for school psychologists, RSP, school administrators and teacher assistants too), these strategies have already raised the grades of over 90,000 students to A’s and B’s! Internationally known learning expert and best-selling author, Pat Wyman, M.A., will guide you, step by step, to:Quickly bridge the gap between how students learn and how schools test
E-mail: patwyman@howtolearn.com. All videos and course materials, along with over $100 in FREE materials for your classroom, are included with your fee and delivered upon receipt of the registration.All credit for this course is conferred by CSUEB Continuing Education.
And, most importantly,
Her work is also featured on the cover of Nickelodeon’s Nick Jr. Family Magazine.
I don’t give a dime about what Wyman says, but I am utterly disappointed at the NPR program. Did she pay to get on the radio?