I heard a report on the radio the other day about children learning to read at the age of two years. I wasn't impressed with the aspect of earliness for two reasons. One, I think early reading is overrated. There is so much to observe and investigate physically in this world that the ability to read often mucks up the cognitive event.
The second reason I wasn't impressed is that, in my opinion, learning to use words as they are meant to be use removes the element of word play that early learners hopefully experience.
I remember playing with how words sounded together as a child and I easily recall my own children rhyming words, making up words, flubbing words and laughing about how silly it all sounded.
Once I was driving my four year old and her three year old friend in a car. He was reading all of the billboards! He was definitely not ready for the messages of some of those signs. What's more, he was focused on the words, which were rampant, and missing out on the colors, shapes, and dimensions around him--the relationships those qualities had with one another and how they interacted with one another to project information outside of the written language.
So why am I writing about NOT reading in a writing column? I want you to think about how you acquire information beyond the written word. What sense is your predominant one? Do you have a sense that is impaired in some way? Using the prompts, write about these thoughts. Or not. Maybe just think about it, reflect on what you've discovered about yourself and allow that knowledge to inform your writing in the future.
A keen observation is a writer's best friend. A dictionary makes a good bed mate.
From last week's prompts that included persona/personification, we received:
Tahiti of Santa Rosalia by Lynn Doiron
I'm Not Your Possession! by Marilyn is looking for whatever there is N.
Masks by Angela A.
The Phillies Phanatic Souvenir by Lynn P.
Dark Love by Sheila Deeth
A No. 2 Pencil's Fallen Glory by Susan Budig
Prompts for August 5th:
- include three senses in your article
- mention a book by title, either a real book or one you've made up
- use the word "page"
- make sure someone shows a noisy reaction such as cry or scream or roar with laughter, etc.
- tag with wwe
You have the whole week to write this. When you tag it with wwe, I can easily find it, comment on it, and highlight it in next week's column. I welcome both prose and poetry, fact or fiction. Write with energy. Do your best.
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Comments: 64
are we to stifle kids in what they read because we may not be ready for them to ask us what they mean?
to me, that's doing more of a disservice to the kids than not letting them read and raising them ignorant.
perhaps you should have thought about the impact of what you are suggesting before you present it as such.
You are welcome to comment as you wish, but I will be maintaining my focus on the issue of knowledge acquisition.
kids today are in constant bombardment of images at high rates of speed due to television, perhaps to that child it was more interesting to see the words for a change rather than just the pictures/images being thrown his way? and perhaps he noticed more than you were giving him credit for, but found that he was more excited by the written words?
too many people fail to take the time to truly teach their kids in this day and age, relying more on television and schools to do the work for them. kid programs like Sesame Street and other kids programs with puppets are of some use in educating kids, but you can't quite understand body language and facial expressions of puppets as easily as you can through the intricate and infinite expressions of the human body. perhaps he didn't pay attention to the connection of the images to the words as he didn't know how to correlate them together yet.
forcing a kid to learn in a specific manner without considering how the child wants to learn is what does the child a disservice. some need a tight regiment while others need a broader scope, but in the end if the kid doesn't want to learn in a certain way, there is no amount of forcing that will make it happen.
but to condemn something based on one or two isolated experiences without knowing fully how that child was raised or taught doesn't make much sense either.
reading the comments below show that others felt similar to what i did as they too went on to talk about the merits of young readers with no discussion of the issue of knowledge acquisition and you applauded them. i'm going to chalk that up to you taking umbrage at my last line of my first comment. it wasn't meant to vilify you, rather to make you think things out a little further than what you presented above.
Sarah, below, described how her child used his whole body as he learned about ABCs. It became a tactile experience. Another talked about singing as a method to learn spelling--making learning/acquiring knowledge an auditory one. I'm looking for stories such as those so that we can all remember that learning is more than the written word.
yesterday while waiting for a prescription to be filled at target, i passed the time playing with the new books they have out for kids. my favorites were the ones that had tactile qualities such as leather, fur and motion via pull/push tabs. there are tons of books out there like that to teach kids to read from more than just an alphabetical stand point.
i'm sorry i don't have children of my own to regale y'all with stories of their learning, i can only share my own, and having taught myself to read by the age of 2 and then getting to first grade and being bored to tears since they didn't know what to do with me as they taught the other kids to read, i learned better on my own without instruction.
i have taught some kids about the fun side of art using a 4 ft fuzzy off angled top hat to show mass, form, texture and balance.
by the way bob, the shift key is perfectly fine on my keyboard. unfortunately my disabled muscles don't like to function properly and so far no one has the fix for that, but i appreciate your concern for my keyboard's health.
This child was also a musical prodigy and was playing classical music very early, and could play perfectly by ear at age 5. He lost his full scholarship to college, however, because of poor work habits. He took a year off, became a car salesman, and became the best car salesman the company had ever had.
He returned to college and is doing fine.
Most kids read spontaneously (really take off and read chapter books) around age 6.
There was one child who entered my daughter's kindergarten grade already reading. She was and is very bright, but she has no friends.
It is important to get kids interested in books at an earlyu age, but not to expect them to do much more than sight word memorization of a few easy words by kindergarten.
It is all about readiness.
Featured in the Triple Name Club.
We gain so much when we tune into the rhythm of our natural world.
I think early reading is a sign of parents or others spending quality time with a young child at a time when physically the brain is at an important time of development. Leaving a child to experience his or her environment without instilling a love for reading and books and language leaves a deficit which can never be filled.
Oliver's grammar at age 6 is better by far than that of many on Gather!
Again, though, the focus of my column is not early reading, but knowledge acquisition via other methods than the written language.
When my daughter was in Kindergarten, they started a RAH program (reading at home)- reading for 20 minutes each night.
I had always read books to her (even before she was born), and she owned a small library of her own, but she explained that she was to read a book to me. I wondered how that could be right. She could recognize many words, but had not started reading complete sentences yet. She insisted that was the deal, so she chose "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". We struggled through it, with tears from her over thinking it was too difficult, and worrying about why she could not read it flawlessly on her first attempt. I kept thinking that something was not right, and came to find out the next day, that I was supposed to read the book to her. Too late; she was a stubborn one and insisted on doing it herself. She never let me read to her again after that- saying she didn't need me to when she could do it herself. I always felt a little cheated by that, but she was determined to read her own books.
Today, at sixteen, she is an avid reader and has always read well above her grade level. Just yesterday, while in the swimming pool, she told me she is working on a plan to expand her vocabulary. She thinks there are too many good words out there to miss.
My issue is learning to read in an unnatural way, for the sake of prescribed outcomes rather than organically. Some children need to look at a dish of spaghetti and play with the lines of pasta for a long, annoying long time. Then suddenly it comes to them. "Hey, look! I can make the letters S O S with that. And I heard dad reading a book to me last night with that 'word' in it. I can read!"
This opposed to the parent/teacher instructing the child who's drifting attention ends up out the window. It relates to the common writing mantra, "Show, don't tell."
"They are giving away free drugs in school."
It was his interpretation of the sign, "Drug free school."
Sorry, but as I mentioned before, I am away and my computer time is severly limited. I will rejoin the writing world in two weeks.
A Book
THERE is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
Bob spoke spoke of kindergarten being a gateway to further education in the schools and her students were blessed by one who felt there were many ways to educate a child. I work with the birth to three program for children with developmental disabilities or delays. The most common delay is in speech. Many parents revert to rote language drills rather than teaching language in the context. Yes we need to identify a ball or a block as what it is, but to merely label it as such does not teach what the potential for the toy is. Learning in context is much more effective than rote skills in my opinion.
Word recogniton is important, but so is the story. I was chastised in the first grade when reading Dick, Jane and Sally readers because I always said more than the words. I looked at the words in the context of the pictures and elaborated. My teacher was experienced enough to recognize I saw more than what the written word identified. She told me I had to read the words like they were on the page, but I could tell a story from what I saw in the pictures. It worked.
When I was in college, they had an educational daycare, that my son was then young enough, (around four) and lucky enough, to be a part of. I volunteered whenever I wasn't in class and it was one of the best experiences that I had.
The focus wasn't on learning to read, though we did read to the children, after separating them into age-groups, but one thing we did with all of them, was to take them outdoors every chance we got. There were field of wildflowers to smell, to touch, to pick, to enjoy and look at and some of the best memories came from those times. The times, when indeed, every sense was used as some of the little ones came from places where they didn't see wild flowers, birds, etc's...
Using the senses is one of the best things we can show our little ones. Our son, now grown, is still an avid reader, like I am, but he also loves the outdoors and everything that goes along with it.
Excellent prompt, Susan, now to find time to do it! :)
Marilyn
My father, being a court reporter and shorthand writer, constantly spoke phonetically, and his word play was more than entertaining. Through the years I have appreciated
the memories of his actions with words, and also some of the notes he left for me using phonics. When on paper called Dottr, I knew I was daughter. I think he helped me take notice of the sound of words, and somehow that enriched my world.
Reading is important. But there's a lot more to an education that being able to decipher words. A total education will incorporate all the senses, and they all need their times to be experienced.
My brother went to kindergarten and was a genius. I didn't go to kindergarten and could not read starting first grade, but in 4th grade was able to read at a 10th grade level. Hanging back didn't seem to hurt my ability to learn to read. My friend who did not learn to read using phonics struggled with reading her entire life, yet she studied far more than I ever did.
This is a fascinating topic.
I managed to make other kids hate me with the wide variety of personality problems I had. I annoyed them with precocity, but it was one negative among many.
I'm ambivalent on early reading. It depends on what the parents expect from it. I don't see that learning to read at an early age limits a child unless the parents set up barriers to other stimuli. I am violently opposed to the dump truck of facts emptied directly into the skull approach that some parents take with pre-schoolers. Kids have plenty of time to learn facts. What they need to learn most before they start school is the basics of getting along with other people and as much abstract thinking as their brains can handle (OK it's not much at that age but it's worth a try.) They can always learn the state capitals and Mozart's birth date later.
Mostly, I need not just a task but, a description of the task and a mental picture of the task to fully grasp it.
“Hello”, my name is Lee P. You are my friend and I’m just stopping by to say hello. I hope that today will be your best day yet and that all your tomorrows will be filled with joy and happiness.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977764200
I'm glad you like it. It is an interesting writing resource - very dynamic. It gets a bit rowdy, though, when the writers exercise folder host a house party.
I browse the community often and post occasionally. Following their threads helps me sharpen my novice writing skills. It's a, 'hold no punches,' community so post with caution. That philosophy, however, is beneficial for final drafts, especially when you need an objective review.
I liked that thread because it pointed out how people have different lead senses and that lead sense dominates how a person learns, and consequently writes.
My oldest son struggles with dyslexia, like both his parents, so reading early was not an option. He processes information primarily through touch with audible input being secondary. His public school, however, does not teach using touch, but they do use phonics. I make up the difference at home.
My primary sense is vision, with tactile being secondary.
What senses do you initially use when you take in something new? Do you see this in your writing too?
I do, because my writing is often lacks odoriferous descriptions.
LL