Teaching reading
If I had a lowlight reel for my teaching career, it would definitely include my first attempts to teach G to read. He had expressed an interest in reading, so I bought a series of controlled vocabulary phonics readers and started teaching. I was following the recommendations to the letter: I’d read the book, pointing to the words. I’d ask him questions about what he saw on the page. Then I’d go through word by word reading and asking him to repeat. Finally I’d go through pointing to each word and asking him to read and helping him when he asked.
By the time we got to book 2 of 24 we had tears, yelling, and G decided he did not want to read.
So now we’re taking Pam Sorooshian’s approach. We do nothing beyond answering questions. It is working much better. G can read the names of all the planets, quite a few asteroids and Kuiper belt objects, and all sorts of other things he cares about. When he’s looking at a science book with good illustrations, he can usually figure out what is going on.
S is the surprising one. We’ve never pushed reading on him, and he loves letters. I’ve known he could read pretty well for a while, but I always figured that he just had a good memory and made some good guesses from context.
Last night I decided he could really read. We were watching the movie Madagascar, and there was a scene where the animals put up a big “HELP” sign on the beach. The P fell apart and turned into an L. S came up to me and said:
“The sign said help but then the P broke and it said hell.”
I know he didn’t get that from context, and I sure as heck didn’t teach him that word.
This morning, I’ve seen him reading quite a bit more. Labels on clothes, cereal boxes, etc.
So we have one reader. That was pretty easy.
LOL (and sob, gasp)- we had the opposite with our firstborn, an instant reader and brilliant natural philosopher-psychologist who STILL won’t ask anything about math and is wary of anything I suggest to start her on that path. At 17 and in college, she finally is beginning to see that she needs some math even whether she ever wants it or not. Which she doesn’t. Pam never explained to me what to do about this . . .
JJ
August 17, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I think that need is usually enough motivation for someone to learn math as long as they haven’t been scared off too badly yet. I like to think that math is worth learning for its own sake, but it doesn’t seem like everyone agrees with me… I’m guessing that math will be a lot easier for her to learn since she gets to approach it after maturing a bit.
It’s amazing how different kids can be. Looking at my two oldest boys, G has always been interested in patterns and the world around him while S is interested in words and letters. It is fun watching them grow up.
Rolfe Schmidt
August 17, 2007 at 7:47 pm
I admit I did ruin it for her early on, scared her off by being too enthusiastic and just assuming she would think it as fascinating as I do. Sigh . . .
JJ
August 18, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Confession: My daughter is just now beginning to recover from my attempts to *teach* her how to read. I was using the 100 EZ Lessons program, now known as The Evil Yellow Book, which she actually hid from me every morning!
Lynn
August 20, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Hah ! I was kept on a very strict diet re: TV and novels were my entertainment. Reading speed might not be up to today’s standards, but I had classmates who did not believe I was actually reading because of my quick progress.
opit
August 21, 2007 at 1:05 am
Lynn, JJ: I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who has traumatized my kids in the name of education. We’re still not recovered yet — it’s amazing how long the effects of a little mistake can be. Fortunately it seems that most kids turn out fine despite everyone’s efforts to help them.
opit: I’m pretty sure my reading speed isn’t up to yesterday’s standards, but I still get by and manage to read a fair bit. And I’m still getting better at it. I guess when you’re learning to read, nothing beats actually reading.
Rolfe Schmidt
August 21, 2007 at 8:21 am
[...] and it is hard not to notice how other people react to them and how they counter-react. I’ve mentioned before that S has figured out how to read and now he is reading everything he comes across — books, [...]
“Gifted” oder Gift? « Rolfe Schmidt
September 9, 2007 at 6:35 am
When checking for fixes don’t ignore the obvious : a vision check.
opit
September 9, 2007 at 1:09 pm
You know, I hadn’t thought about that opit and probably should. I don’t think there’s a problem because he makes pretty elaborate drawings and seems to pick up small details in images. But it’s worth looking at, thanks for mentioning it.
He seems to learn images and icons quickly, but words throw him off. Maybe he should learn Chinese.
Rolfe Schmidt
September 11, 2007 at 11:18 am
Many a truth is spoken in jest. Spelling English ….didn’t the example of “ghoti” being pronounced as “fish” when the correct examples are strung together pretty much tell the tale ?
opit
September 12, 2007 at 3:39 pm
[...] entirely. Some of the incidents have been dramatic, like the time I reduced G to tears by trying to “help” him read a phonics book. Mostly they have been subtle and cumulative. At this point we have given up on anything like [...]
How we homeschool « Rolfe Schmidt
November 14, 2007 at 3:35 pm