On learning to read

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Website owner:  James Miller

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On learning to read

Of all the things that one learns in school I think one skill stands way out above all the others in importance: the ability to read. Being able to read well is the basic, vital foundation needed for doing well in school and for acquiring that huge trove of knowledge and understanding the world has to offer. And of all the many things that one studies in school, I think learning to read is what at least a great many people have the most difficulty with. Some people never learn to read and many others never learn to read well. So it is natural to ask the question: What is the best way to learn to read? What is the best method for teaching reading? People have different ideas on the best way to teach reading. Some advocate a phonetics based method. Others advocate a “whole word” method. I ask myself, “How did I learn to read?” Well, our reading class consisted of going through a textbook containing reading selections of ever increasing difficulty. (In addition, I had classes in English grammar and “spelling”. In “spelling” we used a spelling book containing lists of words that we had to learn to spell and were given spelling tests each week.) I don’t remember having any individualized one-on-one instruction on reading. I attended a small one room country school where the teacher was teaching eight grades plus kindergarten and each daily class for a particular subject consisted of only a five or ten minute session at the front of the classroom. The teacher may have quizzed the members of the class on their ability to read a small selection in the assignment they had been given, but that was it. I don’t remember any particular emphasis on phonetics or pronunciation. So what was the main mechanism by which I learned to read? I think it was mostly by just doing a lot of reading. We had a traveling library at the rear the schoolroom with a good selection of books that changed periodically. I would usually have finished doing my school assignments for the day by around 2:00 PM in the afternoon and I would then spend the rest of the day reading some book from that traveling library that I found interesting. Also, in those years I was reading a lot of comic books (Looney Tunes - Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, etc. obtained from school friends). In those days I read for pleasure. I read what would give me pleasure, which was generally stories that stirred the imagination. I liked history and geography but didn’t care much for science. I also read the Bible a lot. I remember that in my reading I often encountered words that I didn’t know the meaning of and just guessed at their meaning from context — and kept on reading because I didn’t want to interrupt my reading by going to the trouble of getting out a dictionary and looking up their meaning. So how did I learn to read? I learned by doing a lot of reading, propelled on by interest, curiosity, and pleasure. I rarely used a dictionary, didn’t want to take the trouble. (If I had looked up the meanings I would have spent all of my time in a dictionary instead of reading, ruining the entire experience.)

Thus, from what I have just said, if you are trying to teach a child to read perhaps the very best tool is a good varied library with many interesting books at many different reading levels. The big key may be a good library. Each child may have different interests and you need a library where each child can find something that sparks his interest and gives him pleasure.

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel. Socrates

You don’t drag a horse to water and try to force him to drink. You lead him to water and let him drink if he wishes. You need to find a way to kindle a child’s interest in reading.

July 2018