…Teaching Children How to Teach Themselves to Read

Principles of Teaching Children How to Teach Themselves to Read

• Children in large part teach themselves to read
from the instruction and activities we provide
them. They learn how to figure out things on their
own, like unfamiliar phonograms and new spelling
patterns.
• The application of the alphabetic principle to
identify letters and words is the basis of all the activities
in this method and it is how the child will
teach himself to read.
• Effective early reading instruction is based on activities
that guide the student from speech to print,
from sound to symbol and which move from the
concrete to the abstract.
• Teach the alphabetic principle before you teach
the alphabet.
• The foundation of alphabet mastery is beginning
sound isolation.
• Letter knowledge is best learned by the child
through his application of the alphabetic principle
using self-guided materials to match beginning
sounds to printed letters.
• The foundation of reading and spelling words is
phoneme segmentation, the most important beginning
reading skill. Struggling readers often lack
this ability to separate spoken words into individual
sounds.
• Decoding skills are best learned by the child
through his application of the alphabetic principle
using self-guided materials to match sounds of
spoken words to letters in printed words.
• The organization of materials in the environment
is crucial in implementing effective early reading
instruction. The various games and activities
for each skill level are grouped together in
an attractive manner and made easily accessible
to students. This helps to structure the learning
environment so that students understand which
games they may freely choose to work with.
• Freedom to choose is key to gradually shifting responsibility
for learning to the student.
• Freedom to choose individualizes the learning experience
for the student according to his strengths
and interests.
• Teaching is not testing. Don’t ask a student a question
unless you are sure he knows the answer. If
the child gives a wrong answer, that means you’ve
asked the wrong question. If you give him a choice
of answers, he will usually choose the right one.
• Repetition is the teacher’s best teaching tool and
the quickest, most direct way for a student to master
skills and information. Repetition is the healing
balm of education.

• Emphasis must shift from a traditional model of
memorization through drill, to a deeper, more
permanent learning through self-guided handson
activities.
• Do not do for the child what he can do for himself.