A Natural Approach To Personalized Learning 

In the first blogpost, I introduced the strategy of Key Words, stressing that everything in this approach is designed to support the child’s natural learning strategy. That is, I recognize that the child comes to us equipped with the  ability to absorb and copy what they see us do. They are willing to put a lot of effort into it. That like all living things they’re propelled by an inner guide to work on certain skills as different times. We see that clearly with motor skills, like sitting up, crawling, eventually walking. We don’t teach them those things. Their physical development guides them. And the same is true of cognitive and fine motor skills that go into writing and reading.

So recognizing their natural learning strategy and inner guide, I see that our best way the see the impulse of their inner guide is to watch what they’re interested in doing. That is, they see us doing a lot of things, and they don’t copy everything we do, so we can judge what their inner guide dictates, by seeing what they’re interested in trying. So one our best guides is their reaction to what we offer them. If uninterested, resisting or rebelling, they’re either not ready, or what we’re asking themto do, is not in sync with their natural learning strategy.

So, how do we us Key Words and The Steps to do that?  We use kw so right off we know they’re interested in the topic, because by definition, a KW is their own talk about them. So the content were using is interesting.  And as we have them watch us, we notice how interested they are in how we write — plus whether they recognize the words the following day. We give it a few days to decide. If interested in watching us write and in playing with the Word or drawing about it, they’re ready — even if they don’t  remember the word the following day. And as long as they’re enjoying it, they’re absorbing something of what they see. And their going from the concrete skills involved: talking, listening, responding to our invitation to tell us what’s on their mind — to say nothing of what they’re absorbing from our saying the sounds/names of the letters we use to spell the words.

 

I designed the approach to make use of the powerful strategies nature has given children — their ability to absorb skills and concepts effortlessly in their early years.

For in working with children over the decades, I’ve experienced the same phenomenon Montessori expresses in the image shown here.

I’ve also seen that a child comes into the world with the ability not onlyto absorb, but the desire to copywhat they see us doing. In addition, I’ve learned as Dewey says, that with students of any age, it’s more effective to model new skills while doing something in a real-life situation with strong meaning for them. 

Recognizing and valuing the gifts nature has given children, I’ve devised an approach that uses the child’s natural energy, rather than fighting against it.

Interest And Match To Skill Level Is Key 

Interest is key to the power of this approach. So from the beginning and as much as possible throughout, activities are based on the child’s heartfelt interests and structured to allow them to grow at their own pace. 

Believing that as with all living things, a child has an inner timetable guiding their growth, I see our role as supporting the child’s natural development.

Pushing them or holding them back are both counterproductive. So rather than use age/grade level to decide what skill/concept a child should be working on, I encourage you to decide by watching the child’s reactions to what you model within the framework/structure provided here.

No child should feel forced, or be bored. No child should be struggling, perhaps losing confidence. So when things aren’t going well, we look to interest and/or match to skill level and adjust accordingly.

So, now, let’s look at how we handle the development of reading and writing skills, with these 3  important factors in mind: Interest, match to the child’s pace of skill development, and

3 General Literacy Components

Three major components build toward general literacy. As described in the Federal Register, general literacy expands beyond the usual reading/writing skills, to include speaking English, computing and solving problems.

Notice that these are all skills. It’s our intention here to help them develop those skills so fully that an older student leaves us with the ability to deal effectively, in a general way, with virtually any newcontent they encounter.

The images of children show you the general literacy components.  Each builds on the one before to create a framework that guides skill development as the child grows.

As shown, once the child can talk, we help them learn to distinguish the sounds in the words they speak. This prepares them to develop sound/letter relationships, commonly referred to as phonics.  Along with that, we show them how the words they say look in print, using Key Words.

From watching how we write their words day after day, they gradually take over the process themselves.. Then because their writing skills readily transfer to reading, they also begin to read. Once comfortable there, they begin carrying out projects on topics of interest to them.

These projects develop the higher level thinking skills involved in investigating, analyzing, and reporting. We have them focus on projects, for implicit in the long-term goal stated above, is the need to deal effectively with any content.

All this prepares them to deal with the rapidly changing world of information, ideas, and forces in the 21st century.

A Framework Of Strategies

Within each of these components, you’ll find strategies and examples of specific activities. These are not meant to be recipes, but examples to trigger your own ideas. For activities are to focus on topics of genuine interest to the child. So as a child expresses an interest in a particular topic, you show them how to  find what they need, often using the internet. The strategies here outline the process for doing that.

So this is a structure to guide your thinking and action — not a curriculum to “cover.”

The theoretical base for this approach is illustrated by a few images you’ll find repeated on various pages of the website. These are sprinkled throughout to remind you of why I’m recommending that you guide the child and older student as described.

Time & Timing

In this approach, writing comes first. For from birth forward, a child is intent on communicating what’s on their mind. At first, all they have is body language and crying. Next comes speech. Once they can speak, the next step is translating that speech into print. On the other hand, reading is interpreting what’s on someone else’s mind. That’s the farthest out from the child, so we don’t ask them to begin there.

Instead, we begin by showing the child how their own speech looks in print, and soon they’re writing on their own. But actually, the child learns to both read and write at the same time. For in writing, a child must read and reread what they’ve written, in order to see what more they want to say. And when finished, they want to read it to others. So writing skills readily transfer to reading what others have written.

Further, I’ve found children accomplish both reading and writing in the same amount of time they might otherwise only learn to read using an approach that starts with books.

As for an individual child’s timing, where they fit into this structure depends on their skill level. And skills depend mostly on experience. So only the adult working with a child can judge where they fit within the structure described here and how slowly or quickly they need to go.

We want them to be somewhat intrigued and challenged by something new, but never overwhelmed. The adult makes that judgment by watching the child’s reaction to what they’re modeling for them — then adjusts accordingly.

Finally, as this image indicates, I do not believe speed of development is a reliable indicator of intelligence or capacity. What really counts is the adult’s expectation that every child can and will succeed — that their job is to figure out how to support them. That’s why we observe the child’s reaction, then do our best to make this a truly personalized curriculum.