Former Marine, Current Student, Future Teacher, but always a Dad!

Before I get to far along in my “Blog journey” to discover the in and outs of the different methodologies of teaching reading I want to mention that it takes more then just the perfect methodology to teach a child to read. If we could just look at the different methods in teaching a child to read I am sure that some sort of conclusion would be ascertained fairly quickly. We all know that all children are the same though. They come from different cultures, with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Some students have learning difficulties while others have different disabilities. There are many different variables that come into play in any given classroom, let alone school, district, state, or country that the question of what methodology is pretty tricky. The complexity of the issue was illustrated in a column by a Carol Cedarholm, a reading teacher in Ithaca, NY in which she writes:

As a result of my 23 years of teaching reading in the Ithaca City schools, I can say with certainty that the ‘direct instruction’ method is a method used in most classrooms in Tompkins County. Any teacher who stands in front of a group of first graders and tells them: “This is the letter A. It makes the sound ‘aaaaaaaaaa’ like at the beginning of the word apple. Let me show you how to make an ‘A’ …” is using a “direct instruction” method. This is a tried and true method but not the only one.

Teaching quality is also a very critical factor in reading success as a letter writer to The Journal pointed out on Nov. 9 (“Improving teaching is the key”). Poverty, racism, parents’ level of education and health care are just a few others. I don’t mean to minimize the importance of teaching method on reading success. In fact the best teacher won’t be successful using an ineffective method. Neither will an excellent teacher be successful using Direct Instruction/Reading Master if the child is hungry, hasn’t slept, hasn’t been read to, can’t focus, has only 30 minutes of reading instruction four times a week, etc. My point is that Lion, although well meaning, exhibits a naïve understanding of the task of teaching reading in today’s world.

I don’t think anyone can argue that some of the points being made in the above article. There is much more to teaching reading, or any material/subject for that matter, then just going into a classroom with what you believe is the best method and giving a lesson based solely on that method. Children have issues beyond just receiving and working through the curriculum we are using. This does not mean that we as teachers throw up our arms and say, “Its not my fault Joey or Suzy can’t read because she’s poor and he’s ADHD,”.  What we have to do is take the different dynamics that a child or set of children bring to the educational table and be aware of them when coming to decision on the tactic we will use. As I discuss the different methods use in teaching reading I will try touch on the different aspects involved in a child’s learning process and each methods viability in addressing these variables.

Carol Cedarholm – Guest Columnest                                                                                            January, 3, 2007

The Ithaca Journal – www.theithacajournal.com – Ithaca, NY