Spot and Puff too!
Posted on 08/29/2022 7:31:52 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
I have a question that I hope someone here can help with – especially if you taught elementary school education in the late 1950s to early 1960s or have knowledge of public education history of that era.
I remember nothing about how I learned to read!
I recall that my parents never really talked ‘baby talk’ to us; as soon as we were able to learn words and speak, they spoke to us in more or less adult language. So, I grew up knowing a lot of words, and probably using a lot of them without really knowing them except by inference.
But I don’t recall having any instruction in the alphabet and spelling until I actually went to school, in September of 1958; and I can’t for the life of me remember how I learned to read!
I recall a little about singing the alphabet in school and learning to write letters (big fat pencils on lined paper almost like newsprint :-), but the rest – for all I recall – was just picked up through some kind of ‘osmosis’.
I know I became an avid reader at a young age, but can’t figure out how I got there.
Is there anyone here who knows the techniques that were used in public schools in those days, or can recommend any old books or manuals about this?
Thanks very much!
-JT.
What’s ‘eulexic’?
“I recall that my parents never really talked ‘baby talk’ to us; as soon as we were able to learn words and speak, they spoke to us in more or less adult language. So, I grew up knowing a lot of words, and probably using a lot of them without really knowing them except by inference.”
I was exactly the same with my kids and it was just like what you said - they’d talk to their grandparents at 6 years old and the grannies would comment to me that they sound like they’re talking to adults.
Baby talk is like not feeding them, you’ll stunt their growth either way.
Iremember that ‘round robin’ reading; and I think it was useful for some kids. It made them extend themselves.
We had our gggf big Bible (published 1860) with big words and I learnt to read with it when I was 3 ... My mother taught me ...
When I started school at age 5 I skipped 2 grades ...
Phonics.
I knew the alphabet before first grade because I had a puzzle of the letters. I might have known some words too.
I noticed with my sons, who are all good readers, that they had a concept of written words before they even started any kind of formal instruction. Maybe around the age of four. For example, they would see a word (example, the Disney TV logo, or words on a billboard) and ask me what it said. I might have done that myself.
You make a good point that the language parents around children use is important. I found that is true even with my dog, who has a pretty good list of words she understands.
Thanks for that. Another Freeper recommended it a while ago, and I’ll look at it. I just thought it was before that time,
I showed up my first day of first grade knowing how to read. All of us learned on Mom’s lap.
Are you trying to teach someone to read. I have lots of suggestions if that is the case.
My daughter has a brain injury and didn’t talk until she was 5.
I made sure she could read, and can make recommendations.
She has a master’s degree in Data analytics.
See Spot Run, all I remember. lulz
Round robin reading can permanently stunt children who struggle to sound out the words.
Senior citizens I know will not read aloud because they were embarrassed as children for being ‘slow’. The stigma is still there.
I remember round robin reading in our high school Latin class. We would be working on the sentences were suppose to translate while the others were reading theirs.
Even as a sub when the teacher gave me instructions for them to take turns reading,(even in jr. high) I would ask the student that read to explain their passage. . . .most couldn’t.
I don’t have a child to teach right now, but I’m interested in KNOWING the best way to teach.
I figure I was taught very well, even though I can’t remember very much of it. That’s why I referenced my own education and era.
I’d appreciate your recommendations very much.
Oh, oh oh!
Look, look!
Oh, look oh!
Thanks, I didn’t have experience with that.
I like reading aloud; I just don’t have a voice for doing something like Librivox - though I’ve greatly appreciated some who do :-)
“I remember nothing about how I learned to read!”
As others have said, PHONICS, which is very simple and everyone who can read will learn phonics - they have no choice.
Phonics is simply ‘sounding out words’. Each letter in English has a name and usually one sound (sometimes two). For example, the sound for the letter “M” is “ma” as in “mad”. If the kid learns sounds like that, they’ll be reading a couple of months.
The BIG DIFFERENCE is whether the kid is taught phonics BEFORE any other crap, like “Sight Words”, “Whole Language” or God knows what else the Left will come up with. If this crap is introduced first, then the kid will always be confused as to whether to use Phonics or some useless Leftist crap. But if the kid learns Phonics and quickly becomes a good reader (the two go together), then there is literally NOTHING that the Left can throw at them to take away their reading skill - so crap like Sight Words cannot hurt them.
One other thing - NEVER, EVER, let the schools (public or private) teach your kid to read, even if they claim to use Phonics, as they will make that claim just to mollify parents...while not even attempting to understand what Phonics is.
So the key is that kids should NEVER be shown a word and told to memorize it by its looks. We all wind up doing so, but kids can NEVER even learn First Grade reading by this method, as there are numerous fonts, capitalizations, and other variants of how a word looks - so if you see that, run away, and FAST.
Spot and Puff too!
“I do know that we did ‘sound out’ the sounds of letters, and maybe I just don’t remember.”
This is what I remember also - sounding out. Spelling had a lot to do with this also. I loved spelling and have always been a good speller. Remember the Dick and Jane books with their dog Spot?
I also don't remember how I got to LOVE to read.
I DO know I spoke adult talk to my kids and forced them to read while driving (as they were learning, of course).
I'd have 'em read the signs as we passed . . . slow, stop, yield, no parking. . . etc.
... and I a always responded to their gibberish (ESPECIALLY in public) with real language . . .
"Blibber blabber goo gah kapoodle bop"
"Yeah, I thought so too, but did you even CONSIDER driving instead of walking ?"
It was and is my theory that language skills are best learned AS a language.
All my kids are literate but the two boys don't LIKE to read
Thanks very much. I’ve heard many criticisms of ‘whole language’, and even with my limited memory of how I learned, I think it’s nuts.
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