History of Reading News. Vol.XXII No.1 (1998:Fall)
by SIDNEY J. RAUCH, HOFSTRA, & BARNABY BROWN

Any description of accomplishments or progress (real or imaginary) over the past 50 years must begin with an acknowledgment and tribute to my first Professor of Reading, Dr. Ruth Strang of Teachers College, Columbia University. This lovely lady and scholar, by word and example, enabled me and countless others to progress, as in my case, from teacher of English in a Brooklyn Vocational High School to a senior Professor of Reading and Education at Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY. She set standards as a person and teacher that I tried to emulate. Many times when faced with an academic or personal problem, I would ask myself, "How would Dr. Strang handle it?" Her words of comfort and praise were like Olympic medals. In her quiet, modest manner she motivated me as no other professor. Thank you, Ruth (though I never dared to call her that).

Another scholar/teacher who had a great impact upon my career was Abraham Maslow, the distinguished humanistic psychologist, with whom, by accident, I shared an office at the University of Vermont for six weeks, Summer Session 1951. My appointment as an Adjunct Instructor in Reading was obtained through the personal influence of Dr. Strang. It was my first teaching experience with graduate students, after five years of teaching junior and senior high school students in the New York City schools. I was promised an office of my own so I could complete work on my dissertation along with my regular assignment of two graduate Reading courses.

When I arrived at the university, I was informed, with regrets, that no individual offices were available. I would have to share an office with another Visiting Professor, that person being Abraham Maslow. Talk about the "bad news-good news" effect. I was awed by his presence and reputation. However, the Master made me feel most welcome and comfortable, reassuring me and reducing my anxieties and fears about teaching graduate students. He even invited me at frequent intervals to share coffee and doughnuts with him at the university cafeteria. Only years later did I realize that Dr. Maslow was taking care of my "physiological needs," the lowest level of his famous "Hierarchy of Needs." I was decades removed from the highest level, i.e., "Self-Actual-ization," to become "whatever the individual is capable of."

It was Dr. Maslow, who after listening for countless hours about problems with my dissertation and plans for the future, momentarily lost his humanistic cool, and cut me short with "Please Sidney, don't talk--write." For those working at the graduate or undergraduate level striving for advancement and a better life, the advice still has merit.

And now for a more or less chronological overview of my teaching experience, with a few asides about personalities and reading theory and programs.

I began my first year of teaching in September 1946 (that really makes it 52 years a reading teacher) as a teacher of English at East New York Vocational High School in Brooklyn. It was equivalent to taking the rawest Army recruit and placing him with Stilwell's Rangers during the Burma Campaign in World War II. Every day a new problem, a new skirmish, loss of control, and frustration. This teaching experience began exactly one year from the date of my discharge as a Cryptanalyst Technician in the 849th Signal Intelligence serving in England, North Africa, and Italy. The only times my army experience came in handy was in decoding the weird handwriting and highly individualized spelling. My students were strong proponents of "invented spelling" long before the term became fashionable. I was a pioneer in the field without knowing it.

To my job I brought an M. A. in the Teaching of English (June 1946, fifteen credits of which were taken in the English Department of Columbia University just across the street from Teachers College and miles apart in theory and content. I took courses in Shakespeare with Oscar J. Camp-bell and Alfred Harbage; Modern Drama with Joseph Wood Krutch; American Literature with Lionel Trilling; and British and Irish Literature with William York Tyndall--all giants in their fields. Thank God and the U. S. Congress for the G. I. Bill of Rights following World War II. Without it, who knows? Definitely not a Professor of Reading and Education. All this impressive background in English and American literature to work with high school students who, with few exceptions, were reading at a 5th-7th grade level! To give some idea of the disparity between the students' reading level and the texts selected by the administration, a basic text assigned for 11th grade English classes was The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens(1931). I recall one student's remark after thumbing through some of the pages of this book: "Hey Teach, I can't read this book. The words are too close to the page." Whether he was referring to the unattractive format with too many words crowded on each page or questioning his ability to comprehend this formidable-looking book, I can only guess.

An Experiment with the Air Force

Two years at the Vocational High School were followed by four years as a regular licensed "Teacher of English and Common Branches" at an inner-city Brooklyn Junior High School. Another tough job, but I was learning. At the same time, I was involved in the doctoral program at Teachers College, taking whatever course Dr. Strang was offering. In my third year at the junior high, I was invited by Dr. Strang, along with three other doctoral students, to take part in an experimental study involving Air Force officers at Tyndall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida. Approximately 180 Air Force officers were involved in the study: one group (taught by the four Teachers College doctoral students) concentrated on specific reading and study skills; the second group used tachistoscopic devices to improve speed and span of perception; the third group received motivational talks from high-ranked officers stressing the importance of reading and study skills necessary for advancement as an officer; the fourth group (i.e., the control group) received no special reading instruction. They just followed the usual classroom instruction given at the Air Base. The study was to take 10 weeks, beginning in May 1950. The Korean War broke out in June 1950, and the classes and the experimental study were decimated. No sufficient data or results were obtainable. However, one outcome of the study was the publication of the book, Study-Type of Reading Lessons, College Level, co-authored by Ruth Strang, Sam Duker, Imogene Dever, Algard Whitney, and Sidney Rauch, published by Teachers College Press, 1951. It was my first publication. What a great thrill to be on the title page with Ruth Strang.

While in my fourth and final year at the Brooklyn Junior High School (1952), I was asked by Dr. Mirian Schleich, founder and guiding spirit for forty plus years of the Hofstra Reading Department, to join the staff as a part-time Reading clinician. In the summer of 1952, I taught my first two graduate Reading courses. I accepted a full-time position as an Assistant Professor of Reading in January 1955. It may be of interest that this mid-year appointment was the result of Dr. Robert Karlin's leaving to take a position at Southern Illinois University. Later, Dr. Karlin returned to Queens College, New York, and distinguished himself as an authority in the field of high school reading. His text, Teaching Reading in High School, (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964; 2nd ed., 1974), was widely used by teachers throughout the country.

Between 1955 and 1970, the Hofstra Reading Department added the following distinguished educators to its faculty: David L. Shepherd, Harvey Alpert, H. Alan Robinson, Harold Tanyzer, Janice Studholme-Ross and Lenore Sandel. Under Dr. Schleich's leadership, we became one of the leading and most productive Reading Departments in the United States, and one of the first to offer a doctorate in Reading. I look back with pleasure and pride to my association with these distinguished scholar-educators for more than forty years.

In 1974, Globe Books published the first edition of World of Vocabulary (co-authored with Alfred B. Weinstein and Zachary J. Clements). In the past 24 years, this series of eight workbooks, designed for secondary school students reading below grade level, has sold over two and one-half million copies. The most recent edition was published in 1996. I'm pleased to say that it is still going strong.

Starting to Write Children's Books

In 1988, I started to think of a project that would keep me in touch with children and teachers, after my retirement from Hofstra in September 1991. I wanted to try writing chil-dren's books, inspired primarily by the talents and success of my former graduate student, Patricia Reilly Giff. I once wrote, "If you teach long enough, you are bound to have one or two students who will achieve national and even inter-national recognition--and you can always claim some credit, even if your main contribution was taking attendance." It's amazing how an audience perks up when I mention my association with this distinguished author of children's books. I bask in reflected glory! Now that Mrs. Giff's most recent book, Lily's Crossing, has been named a Newbery Honor Book for 1998, I tend to exaggerate my influence upon her career as my speaking engagements continue.

So I started to write my Barnaby Brown books featuring a ten-year-old boy from Sweetwater, Texas, and his look-alike "twin" from the planet Erehwon. The "twins" concept provides an opportunity to compare and contrast personalities, attitudes, values, etc. Book 1, The Visitor from Outer Space, was published in 1989; the fifth book, Barnaby Brown: Home from Erehwon, in 1991. Occasion-ally, a teacher will ask, "How do you get a book published?" I reply, "It helps if your publisher is a former student who still owes you two end-term papers." Howard Berrent, the publisher, doesn't mind this slight distortion of the truth. He welcomes the publicity.

The Barnaby Brown Books have provided at least three principal pleasures: (1) Invitations to speak to children in Grades 2-5 in various sections of the country; (2) Hundreds of letters from children expressing pleasure in reading my books; and (3) I am now recognized as an author. Somehow, the writing of four texts, 30 workbooks, and 80 plus articles did not qualify me as an author. The recognition came from the writing of children's books. Another by-product of these children's books is the contribution they have made to the Rauch Endowed Scholarship at Hofstra for graduate students majoring in Reading and Education. In 1997, the fund provided two $2,000 scholarships for doctoral students working on their dissertations. It's a good feeling.

Earlier in this memoir I mentioned that I would say something about reading theory and programs. In the past 50 years, I have discussed, written about and, at times, shared the platform with proponents of the following programs or methodologies: the Mae Carden Phonics Program, DISTAR, Programmed Instruction, the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ita), Words in Color, the Laubach Method, Basal Readers, Linguistic Readers, Tachistoscopic devices, Controlled Readers, O.K. Moore's Responsive Environment, "Talking Typewriter," and a variety of skills programs. Like the question, "Where are they now?" that frequently appears on the sports pages, most graduate students would give a blank stare in response. In the past five years, I have watched "Whole Language" decline seriously in popularity, while its nemesis, phonics, has regained much of its popularity. I have watched phonics programs make more comebacks than George Foreman.

As teachers we know that most approaches or methods have their advantages and disadvantages. They don't work with all children or even with the majority of children. We must use our experience and judgment to decide which is best for each child. Some five decades ago, Emmett A. Betts (another name from the past, arguably the most published Reading educator of his time) wrote: "Teaching is the practical recognition of differences." I have always been a proponent of "balanced reading instruction." I still am. Back in the 1960s, I may have used the term "eclectic approach," but the idea or philosophy remains the same.

Fifty-two years have passed since I first walked through the doors of East New York Vocational High School. I don't feel that old. I'm reminded of J. B. Priestly's comment when he reached the age of 80: "You're just the same inside. You are doing a character part."

I remain reasonably active as a speaker, consultant, and writer. Occasionally, when a former graduate student sees me at a conference or workshop, a familiar question pops up: "Dr. Rauch, why do you continue to do all this?" I could give the usual answers: "Because I enjoy doing this." or, "I like the idea of keeping active," or "It gets me out of the house." Instead, I show the questioners some of the letters received from children or repeat some of my favorite comments from children. Here are a few: (1) "Do you ride in a limousine?" (2) "Were you a friend of Dr. Seuss?" (3) "What does your wife look like?" (4) "Do you have your own teeth?" (5) "P. S. Tell Judy Blume I say 'Hello.'" and (6) "I have some great ideas for books. My telephone number is 747-5804."

How do you place a value on the pleasures and laughter derived from such thinking? So I continue to visit schools, talking to kids, and we motivate each other.

Editors' Note: Rauch's other publications include 85 articles in Reading journals and conference proceedings and six professional books.

Robinson, H. Alan and Sidney J. Rauch. Guiding the Reading Program: Handbook for the Reading Consultant. Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1965.

Robinson, H. Alan and Sidney J. Rauch. Corrective Reading in the High School Classroom. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1966.

Rauch, Sidney J. Handbook for the Volunteer Tutor. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1969.

Rauch, Sidney J. and Joseph Sanacore. Handbook for the Volunteer Tutor, 2nd Ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1985.

Rauch, Sidney J. and Alfred B. Weinstein. Mastering Reading Skills. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968.

Rauch, Sidney J. and Philip Trocki. A Need to Read (A series of 15 reading skills workbooks for elementary grades). New York: Globe Book Company, 1980.

SIG Executive Raises Dues

At the SIG executive meeting at Orlando in May the following decisions were made: Annual dues for the SIG will be raised to $10.00, beginning in May 1999. The thesis/dissertation award will be offered as a thesis and/or dissertation award, depending on the quality of the submissions. The SIG will cooperate with the IRA in mounting an exhibition of old children's readers at the next convention in San Diego, in May 1999.