in uni I did a paper on reading and dyslexia. One of my sources... and I analyzed the "phonemic magic bullet", the "whole language" approach, phonic approaches and some other forms of cruel and unusual punishment. The people who did the meta analysis (who are significantly smarter than me) said that the most important variable was having a teacher who cared about the students and was dedicated. There's a sort of a positive feedback loop created by trs who love their ss and expect them to succeed. The love and expectation feed and improve the st's self efficacy causing the st to give the tr more of what most trs really want which is the love and admiration of their ss. (those smiles that we never forget). this gives a happy boost to the tr's self efficacy who becomes more dedicated and so on and so forth.
I have an English school (a very small... learning center), and I'll hire teachers with dodgy degrees or none at all... I'd even take energetic youngsters taking a year off between high school and college (though I'd supervise closely). The real magic is in the relationship which develops between the caring adult and the st/child.
I had asshole full prof's in school with published books and a wall full of qualifications... who I got jack shit from for useful information. I had friends who partied and cheated their way through college who finished dumber than they were when they came in. Some of the most educated people I know make terrible terrible teachers.
In fact, my 10 year old stepson likes to teach with me on the weekends... he get's A.3 kids to read more clearly than some of the adult thai teachers I've worked with... and he's 100% Thai. That is, my A3 kids read more clearly than some of the Thai's trying to teach English.
Sorry about that... bit of a brag and and a rant... forgive me, I'm WUI (writing under the influence) but I'll post anyway...
