Thursday, February 25, 2016

Kids can't read. Why?

Teaching reading is the single most important thing schools can do, because the ability to read is the main way we receive and communicate information in our world. Videos work for lots of things.  I use them for DIY instructions, and lots of other stuff. But if you want to imbibe and absorb information, reading is king.
However, lots of kids don't know how to read. I started out as one of those. When I was in the first grade, my teacher told Mom that she thought I should be tested, because she believed I was "slow." I didn't learn reading "the school's way."
Mom knew better. She knew me.
So she sat my 6 year old behind on her lap, and read to me. Every day.  As she read, she carefully sounded out the words, placing her finger under each word as she read it so that I could see it.
By the 2nd grade, I was reading fine, and by the 4th grade, I was tested to find out my IQ.  I was immediately admitted to the "gifted" program (later to become the Gifted and Talented program). The teacher who thought I was "slow?" She went on to mess with other children's heads.  The problem? It really was not the teacher, or the way I was taught, except the crazy stupid stuff they tried to use to teach me to read--"See Jane. See Spot. See Jane and Spot." Even a two year old would be bored, much less a 6 year old of normal intelligence. It drove me nuts.  I still remember thinking "Is this reading? Waste of time!" or something like it.
So how did I learn to read? Individual attention by someone who loved me so much she could never have explained it.
The method? Simplicity itself. She read interesting stuff to me. She sounded out every word. She pointed to each word as she sounded it out. She kept it up. She did it until I not only could read the words myself, she did it until my mind turned words into imagination, and then turned imagination into visions of reality.
Mom used this technique with both me and my brother. We both have advanced postgraduate degrees, earned with honors from good schools. Our abilities were there, just never unleashed.
So what's this rant really about?
It's about the many kids who can't read, but who can be taught to read by parents who hold them on their lap and read to them. However, it's too late if these kids are older. They can still learn, but it's only with much greater effort and time.
If you're a parent, take the time to help your child(ren) learn to read. It is the single most important thing you can do for their education. It's more important than helping them play soccer, more important than teaching them to use a computer, more important than anything except loving them completely.
Do it. Don't make excuses. Just do it.

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