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The most important part of any reading program is the enriched time you spend with your child.
Commentary One: What do you do with children who have experienced massive reading failure and are one or more years behind grade level? You get them on a contract and use Brainsarefun Reading to flood them with fifteen to thirty minutes of reading success every day.
Commentary Two: I am in agreement with E.D. Hirsch, Jr. when he emphasizes that reading and literacy are not neutral and technical skills, best served by contemporary pop fiction.
It is fair to compare reading to watching television, and few would equate watching the current flood of violence, sex and degrading humor with watching a show on history, culture, science or biography.
Effective reading is simply not a skill that allows the student to decipher letters into words. In fact, I have tested hundreds of young people who were very proficient in being able to sound out almost any word put in front of them. However, when these same students were asked to read for meaning and comprehension their scores plummeted.
Why? Because they lack the historical, factual, traditional framework necessary to organize information into a coherent and comprehensible whole.
"To miss the opportunity of teaching children the traditional materials of literate culture is a tragically wasteful mistake that deprives them of information they would continue to find useful in later life. The inevitable effect of this fundamental educational mistake has been the gradual disintegration of cultural memory, causing a gradual decline in our ability to communicate. This mistake is a chief cause of our illiteracy." (E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Cultural Literacy, p.113)
The tragedy of poor literacy cannot be addressed by school policy alone. It must also be addressed by lives at home -- lives that expose children to the wealth of traditional and factual material currently available in every library and bookstore in America; lives that visit museums, factories, historical parks, wilderness areas and national monuments; lives that break out of the mean streets of popular culture into the richness of all that has gone before.
Commentary three: There is no one skill in our society more important than the ability to read. The question remains, "What should we do with our low readers?"
Our children have often been taught such good sight reading skills at school, and are often so good at sounding out words, that if asked simply to "read out-loud," many of our children sound as though they have quite strong skills. Many are fooling us and leading us into a sense of false complacency.
When asked, "Tell me about what you just read. Tell me who the story is about. When did it happen? Where?" students often draw a blank and are often able to say little. They find their inability embarrassing, and they shut down rather than risk additional shame. Their "voices" have been lost.
Should they attempt to speak, should they mistakenly stutter, they will almost always be interrupted by "helpful" questions and comments from parents, teachers or friends. These questions will typically abort the child's attempt, reducing her to silence once again.
If not interrupting with "helpful" questions, well-meaning adults often interrupt with corrections and suggestions for improvement. The problem with corrections and suggestions for improvement? They rarely change behavior.
Commentary four: The problem with television, video and computer games can not be over stated. Television, and all other screens, is a more serious problem than was once believed. They result in too much passive activity that curtails imagination and involvement. The passive viewer of a television show (a description of virtually 100% of any audience) is not able to remember virtually anything seen. Test after test have demonstrated that television is, for all practical purposes, the absolute worst teaching medium available. Visual data is simply too rich to be remembered. What is learned one second is overwritten with new information almost immediately.
The argument that there are a great many good shows on television looks valid, but having a working television in the home causes more problems than these few shows are worth. Most of us would be better served by unplugging the television entirely and limiting its use to an occasional well-selected video. You will be rewarded with more than an hour of extra time every day. The idea that television is an effective baby sitter is a tragedy. The use of video (television) in the classroom is almost always a terrible mistake. I believe firmly that the primary mission of school should be to teach the basic skills to mastery. Telelvision contributes virtually nothing towards this goal, since virtually nothing viewed is remembered.
Commentary five: Living in the Information Age, we sometimes hear that we are entering a post-literate society -- that is, being literate isn't as important as it once was. This is a dangerous and self-defeating prophecy that dooms poor readers to second-class lives at a time when they must be reaching for the top.
In this age of computers and unlimited information it is critical that our children be able to impose meaning on the flood of technical and recreational data with which they are inundated.
This ability to organize, grasp and impose meaning goes far beyond the basic ability to read. It includes possessing a shared body of background knowledge that allows us to effectively communicate with other people and with other societies. People and societies that can effectively communicate, who are highly literate, will prosper and comprise what Robert Riesch, former Secretary of Labor, calls the "Fortunate Fifth," that 20% of the population who will increasingly reap the benefits of our highly complex and demanding future. According to Riesch, there will be this "fortunate fifth" and everyone else , who will be relegated to low-paying service jobs and sluggish upward mobility.
The top 20% will rise to their level of control through their knowledge and ability -- through their mental preparedness to value and improve society. Frustrated by their inability to reap the rich harvest which surrounds them ("Look, but do not touch."), the remaining 80% risk leading lives, as Thoreau so clearly put it, "of quiet desperation." Except that it might not end up being so quiet. Desperation often leads to a wide-range of social pathologies that run the risk of making life very loud and mean for everyone.
Commentary six: The single best predictor we have about a person's success in later life is his or her ability to read. How a student performs in Kindergarten is an excellent predictor of things to come. Is learning to read an "age appropriate" activity for Kindergartners. Absolutely,
If one were to make a very short list of the skills for success the list would have to include: reading, the ability to organize information, writing, speaking, listening, math. This list will not change during the lifetimes of our children.
Commentary seven: Successful communication depends upon shared background information. The teacher or parent who takes the time to "frame" an experience (answering the questions who, what, why, when, where, how, introducing new vocabulary) before the information is presented, will experience significant increases in understanding. With a "frame" the student has a place to hang new information. The framing information we learn in life, a great deal comes from reading.
Commentary eight: The procedures discussed in brainsarefun translate into social approval in our society and an "I can succeed at academics" attitude.
The belief that you can succeed releases ideas and energy -- to do -- to move with speed and focus towards involvement. According to Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of General Electric, in the 21st Century the competitive advantage is speed -- the ability to see reality fast and to act on it quickly. We are required to impose our own meaning and organization on reality. This requires a high level of academic self-confidence and background information.
Commentary nine: The parents of children who are falling behind in reading need big guns, fast! All of the following are discussed in detail in BRAINSAREFUN READING, available at no charge from www.brainsarefun.com. In summary (with some benefits in parentheses):
Children cannot be allowed to avoid reading. Success with reading is a predictor of success throughout school and success with life. Beginning on day-one of school, children who can read are rewarded by being moved to the head of the class. Children with poor reading skills are shunned, embarrassed, humiliated, shamed and relegated to second-class citizenry in the back of the bus. The lives of these children are at risk.
Coupled with contracts, points and rewards, BRAINSAREFUN READING helps students gain the reading competency required -- first achieving grade level, and then reaching the goal of reading two full years above grade level. Two years above grade level is equated with A performance. One year above is B performance. Grade level is C performance.
Reading instruction is often abandoned about the time a child finishes elementary school. This is a mistake. Reading instruction is so fundamental to continuing success it should be maintained at least until the 18th birthday. Far too many adults lead second-class lives because they continue to read below a 5th grade level. This low-level translates into poor speaking, writing, vocabulary; a poor ability to organize information, and a deficit of background information. Poor readers make very poor choices about education. Poor readers spend their lives watching television.
Commentary ten: BRAINSAREFUN READING can be adapted to the pre-reading requirements of Kindergartners who need additional practice with their ABCs. It can be adapted to high-school students who need advanced skills for college placement. It can be adapted to students who find themselves a year or two behind. It can be adapted to students in need of severe remediation. It also works with children who are reading above grade level and who need an extra challenge. Yes, it works with the Learning Disabled and the Learning Challenged too. Yes, it also works with students who are learning English as a Second Language (ESL). With the hundreds of students with whom I have worked, I have never seen the program fail -- no matter what their learning style. On standardized tests, average students (who can already read at a fifth grade reading level) gain a year of reading proficiency, accompanied by an increase in cognitive ability, every twenty hours of instruction.
Commentary eleven: Is there a guarantee that your child can be one of the good readers?
The guarantee is this: that during every hour of practice, no program of which I am aware will have your child reading more, self-correcting more, writing more, speaking more, organizing more, listening more, being exposed to more vocabulary, being exposed to more content, and achieving more academic success than BRAINSAREFUN READING. The program is designed to consistently optimize 52 minutes out of every hour, and works with the widest possible range of students and learning styles. I've never met a learning disorder or learning style it doesn't like.
Commentary twelve: A reluctance to read-out-loud, shyness, embarrassment about previous failure, low, stumbling voices, are rooted in a fear of failure, ridicule and criticism. Fearful of additional humiliation and exposure in front of peers, parents and teachers, children shut down, "No more embarrassment for me." They become sick to death of being corrected by others, and choose the path of least resistance -- withdrawal, and a wide range of inappropriate behaviors designed to win peer acceptance and social approval.
Commentary thirteen: It is very important that you contact me immediately if you experience a program that works more quickly or is more effective than Donaldson Reading. Contact me at roryd@brainsarefun.com. I will make arrangements to begin publicizing the program immediately and will integrate it into my own practice.
Commentary fourteen: What makes a good reader? What allows some children to decipher and comprehend the words on a page while others struggle?
Reading is not an isolated skill. Rather, it is made up of a variety of skills that must be mastered without the fear of failure or embarrassment:
- Being able to see the word;
- Being able to hear the word;
- Being able to say the word;
- Being able to place the word in a literate context;
- Being able to write the word;
- Being able to sub-vocalize the word (saying the word in the throat while copying);
- Being able to repeat the word;
- Being able to test without fear and anxiety;
- Being able to associate reading and speaking with success.
To facilitate these skills you want to:
A) Use a program that, in any given hour, maximizes a student's involvement with active reading activities.
B) Use a program that, in any given hour, provides the student with 10 successes a minute, 500 successes an hour. This is the volume required to overcome years of failure.
C) Use a program that requires very little planning, is always available, and costs little.
D) Use a program that involves the students for 52 minutes out of every hour; developing the skill of staying on task.
E) Use a program that is applicable to individual students as well as adaptable to classrooms.
F) Use a program that exposes the child to massive amounts of oral reading, listening, writing, speaking and vocabulary until they leave home or turn 18, whichever comes first.
G) Use a program that may be used for a few minutes or up to two hours a day.
H) Use a program that can improve a child's ability to read by as much as one-full year for every 20 hours practiced.
I) Use a program that can be learned by any teacher, no matter what teaching style.
Commentary fifteen: Additional strategies to improve reading
skills:
A) Let the child take you to the library.
B) Take a bag (you will need it to carry home all the books you are going to get).
C) Speak to the librarian (one of our greatest underutilized natural resources). Tell him/her that you have a child who is looking for some books that other children have enjoyed. Ask for some assistance in finding them.
D) Take out ten books on traditional and factual subjects -- any type, any subject.
E) Find out where the audio tapes are, check out four or five.
F) Until the age of 18, read to your children 15 minutes a night, 4 or 5 nights a week.
G) Listen to tapes with your children.
H) Let your children earn points for copying.
I) Do more chorusing.
J) Do more tape recording.
K) Kill your television.
L) Attack books, read in them only as long as they are interesting. Don't ever worry about not completing a book. The more you read, the more you will find that most books aren't worth finishing.
Commentary sixteen: While not being a magic wand or a quick fix, BRAINSAREFUN READING provides a simple, readily available and inexpensive strategy to get children on the road to reading success immediately. It provides you with a course of action. You don't have to wring your hands in desperation any longer. You child can have a success, today.
Any parent who doubts their children's ability to read well should also contact the child's school to discuss testing and additional remedial reading classes that may be available. However, don't accept any short-term solutions. The overarching goal is to have every child reading two full years above grade level. This is the high skill level required for true "A" performance. Achieving such a high level of performance may take many hours of practice. Make them enjoyable.
Ideally, children who are one or more years behind in reading should be reading 50 minutes a day, five days a week until the deficit is overcome. This will require very well developed contracts that lead to success, a motivating reward system and consistency (see "Contracts" that put your child in charge of winning www.brainsarefun.com). There is no substitute for quantity, blended with quality.
Commentary seventeen: Where do you find the time? There is no doubt that lack of time is a very difficult problem to solve. By the time the child tackles a bag full of homework, it will be almost impossible to find the time and energy to add additional reading practice.
Remediation must take priority over sports and other outside activities. Short, one or two-day-a-week tutoring classes are not enough. This problem will be taken very seriously now, or later. The problem never fixes itself, contrary to what you might hear from teachers without solutions.
Commentary eighteen: Solutions that have worked: Speak to the school about arranging early release time for your child, perhaps an hour or two early every day. Explain the program. Show them what you are going to do. This early release will allow your child to have some energy left for the task at hand. In addition, speak to your school's remedial reading teacher and make sure the child is taking full advantage of the school's remedial classes. There is no point in your child being in his other classes if he can't read. For some children with a severe reading deficit, home schooling may be a viable alternative.
Commentary nineteen: It's time to bring out the big guns. Your child needs a lot of help, and needs it fast. The good news is that 90% of poor readers will make significant progress. Is it easy? No. Is it quick? No. Will it make all the difference in the world? Yes!
Commentary twenty: Do you know that the tests you take to get into college are called the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs)? Do you know that if you have a good vocabulary you can significantly increase your score on these tests?
Good vocabulary scores predict good life scores. Exposure to a wide range of words is the first step toward improving your child's vocabulary.
Commentary twenty one: Self-correction is far more effective than being corrected by another. Self-correction is an example of exercising control over one's life and a personal success. Allow the child to experience success without criticism. Reward immediately. If, on a particular day, instruction isn't going well say, "I look forward to trying this again tomorrow." Don't keep going until the child is exhausted and everyone starts to fight.
Commentary twenty two: Yes, explicit phonics instruction is essential. Are your children receiving effective phonics instruction? They are when individual sounds are drilled to proficiency before whole words are introduced. Brainsarefun does not attempt to describe a comprehensive phonics program. References may be found on the brainsarefun homepage under "Other Resources/Ideas."
For a reading program you can begin today see Brainsarefun Reading.
Commentary twenty three: You can do it. Your child can do it. Your child can learn to read and succeed in school. Your daily involvement makes all the difference. Don't ever, ever, ever give up.
Final Commentary: If you believe that the problem of poor reading will take care of itself, then you must set up a quantifiable measure against which you can keep score. You must set up some early-warning flags that will begin to wave if the problem, in fact, continues to get worse. A similar set of green flags need to wave when there is improvement. The Daily Report Card provides a visual picture of behavior that will aid in early detection.
Thank you.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Commentaries on Reading © 2001 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize school success, parents and teachers may copy articles, tools and software for individual, non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional academic-success articles and tools may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. New titles are being released regularly. Suggestions and comments encouraged, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com.
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