Occasionally things don’t go well when it comes to working with a child on reading (or other subjects). The child complains, cries, refuses to work. Baring some external reason for this, it may be that what they’re expected to do doesn’t match how they learn best. So it may help to rethink the entire situation, asking this question:
Am I teaching reading and writing, (math, science) — or helping a child learn these things?
The answer to that question leads to one of two very different paths. In the case of reading, adults who see themselves as teaching reading, will either break the act of reading into its individual parts and have the child begin by memorizing phonics — the sound/symbol relationship. Or they will repeatedly expose the child in the entire act of reading, using basal readers. These are books of simple stories with a carefully controlled vocabulary. Reading is traditionally taught using one of these two approaches — with a phonics first or a basal reading program.
But if adults see themselves as helping the child learn to read and write, they will look first at how they have already helped a child learn to do other things. That’s what I did on the page, The Child’s Natural Learning Strategy, and have been pointing out throughout this website. Then in the case of reading, the path they take commonly uses what’s known as a language experience approach — where the child starts by seeing how their own “talk” looks in print.
We look a little closer now at how practices differ along these two separate paths.
Traditional Approaches To Reading
1. Phonics First. Recognizing that part of reading is decoding words by “sounding them out,” adults have the child first memorize the sounds the letters commonly make. Later they have them learn word families (i.e. pat, cat, rat and right, might, fight, etc.). They have them practice with corresponding phonics books.
2. Basal Reading/Whole Language. Here, adults expose the child to books that gradually introduce a carefully controlled vocabulary. The same words are used from page to page, with new vocabulary slowly added. Many people are familiar with the basal readers shown here: Dick and Jane, Janet and Mark.
Both phonics first and basal reader approaches usually test children against lists of “sight words.” These are words judged to be appropriate for each grade level. If the child hasn’t learned to recognize them from their books, they are to use flash cards or lists of sight words to memorize them. Also, if in a classroom, the child may be assigned to one of 3 or 4 small reading groups, based on reading tests.
Some children do well with either of these approaches. Some struggle, others fail entirely. This appears to depend on their prior experience with print. Those who come to school with little or no idea what print is for, are especially vulnerable. They may become confused, lose confidence, eventually give up.
In addition, a traditional program focuses only on reading. Learning to write their own thoughts is usually left until later.
This is a very general description. There are many variations and swings of the pendulum in the popularity of these two basic approaches. So many arguments, they’re referred to as the “reading war.” See a sample here.
Language Experience Approach to Reading (LEA)
Those taking the other path use what’s known as a Language Experience Approach (LEA).** It’s based on the child’s own life experiences and the language they use to describe them. The adult takes the child’s dictation — showing them how their own words are translated into print. Children are not expected to master phonics before they begin reading. It is generally not treated separately, but is integrated into the writing process — as needed for spelling.
In doing this, LEA is the closest practitioners have come, so far, to mirroring the way we help a child learn to speak. For as I’ve pointed out in detail, on in the page, Why Writing First:
We don’t “teach a child to speak.”
We model speech with meaning.
The child automatically absorbs and practices the skills involved.
Thus in ways we cannot see, they manage to copy what they see and hear us doing.
Large Group and Individualized LEA
Following is a very brief description of activities in a language experience classroom.
Group Charts. The children take turns dictating parts of a group story. The adult writes what they say, creating a class chart. It might be titled, Our Fall Walk, or perhaps Today’s News, etc. The children practice reading back parts or all of the story. Doing this repeatedly, they eventually absorb and practice some of the skills involved. The teacher leaves these charts up where the children can reread them and find the spelling for words they need for the stories they write.
Independent Writing. Learning to write is an integral part of LEA. The group stories serve as inspiration and a source for spelling. So the 
children gradually begin to write their own simple stories.
In many, if not most, LEA classrooms, the teacher holds separate sessions for phonemic awareness. These help children become aware of and recognize the sounds they speak, so they can recognize them in the words they need to spell. But phonics– the sound/symbol relationship — is usually not treated as something to memorize, in separate sessions. Rather, phonics as it’s emphasized as it’s integrated into the writing process. There, the child unconsciously absorbs it. For how this can be done, see Write/Read Naturally! and Step 2 in Detailed & Brief Directions.
At this point, it seems worth repeating Montessori’s words, as she points out that the young child is able to learn in an effortless, unconscious way. For whether familiar with her teachings or not, advocates of the language experience approach are putting one of Montessori’s basic beliefs into practice.
See more about the Language Experience Approach.
Key Words & “The Steps” Provide Increased Motivation and Structure For Individualized LEA
The strategies described in this website are based on Key Words — the “caption for a child’s the mind picture.”* With Key Words, a child describes something of special interest and watches as the adult writes a word (or two) that represents what they’ve said.
Having the chance to sit with someone more “grown up,” tell with them what’s on their mind, and watch that “talk” being turned into print is highly motivating. Once a child experiences that, they want to learn to do it, too.
So Key Words are very motivating. But the question is how to be sure the child gains the skills needed to translate their speech into print. For this, I developed The Steps — a series of 6 increasingly complex follow-up activities for Key Words. So the Steps provide the structure that ensures the child will learn to write.
Adults continuously read back what they’re writing, to see if it’s what they really want to say. Young writers do the same. So they’re practicing reading from the beginning — first from reading back what the adult has written for them. Later when reading back what they’ve written.
Further, the child is creating books as they work through The Steps. They “read” them repeatedly (from memory). So, the child’s writing books serve as theirs personal pre-primers.
With all this, out of The Key Words & Steps process, the child learns not only to write — but also to read.
Another Example of An Individualized, Sequential Structure Using Key Words
By now you know that I believe Key Words to be an essential component in any reading program. For those words are as close as I can imagine getting to what’s really meaningful and thus interesting to the child. In addition, since they come from the child’s experience, they are the best way to tie new learning to what’s already there.
Therefore, I see Key Words as the easiest and most effective way for a child to gain literacy skills. For using Key Words leaves the child both writing fluently and having learned to read in a “fail-safe” way — thus avoiding any struggle. And ensuring success early on is especially important for children coming with little or no experience with print. For they are very vulnerable and can easily lose confidence.
However, I’m offering the sequential structure I developed not as a recipe for exactly what must be done. Instead, I’m using mine as an example of what can be done with Key Words.
But there are other ways to structure Key Words, and I discovered one in my study of Outstanding Effective Classrooms. See a description of it in Another Sequential Writing Process.
What About “The Reading Wars”?
Chances are if you’ve read this far, you’re considering taking a language experience approach. If you do, chances also are that you run into articles, questions, or criticism from advocates of traditional approaches.
This is nothing more than a continuation of what’s often referred to as the “swing of the pendulum” — or what’s also called, The Reading Wars. The most recent, for instance, comes from those who look at brain research and claim it proves we should focus on phonics first. Advocates also often urge that we should “follow science.” One recently went so far as to announce, the reading wars are finally over!
I don’t agree. On the following page, I’ve described my view of The Reading Wars.
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* This concept was developed by Sylvia Ashton-Warner, in New Zealand. There, working with the children of the Maori tribes, she found that the British basal readers were too far removed in language and life experience for those children to understand. So she used their own words about their experiences at home and in the village as the content for reading.