Jamie! Yikes!! If I didn't know the man I'd swear he was trolling us . . . All I can say at the moment is that Toby Curry, who teaches at the Dewey School, a whole-language Detroit public school in a very economically disadvantaged area, and who does wonderful things with those kids, says that it's a mistake to think that a whole language teacher would never use phonics. Now, if you wanna blame some ills on the "whole language' textbooks my kids are bringing home, show me where the line's forming . . . Marcy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Marcy Bauman Writing Program, University of Michigan-Dearborn 4901 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128 fax: 313-593-5552 http://www.umd.umich.edu/~marcyb [log in to unmask] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=