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Preface
Years ago, I took on the challenge of teaching in an agricultural area in southern California, where things were not going well. About half the students in the school were the children of migrant farmworkers. Those children, along with several of the native English speakers, were not doing well with the traditional reading methods teachers were using,
I had already been inspired by the work of two groundbreaking educators, Maria Montessori and Sylvia Ashton-Warner. I was eager to experiment with what I’d learned from them. I thought if I could devise a synthesis of their two approaches, it would solve the problems many children there and elsewhere were having with reading. So, while I knew what I had in mind would be difficult, I accepted the offer from this one-school district and plunged in. As it turned out, it was well worth the effort.
You’ll see in this book what I learned from my experience with those children. Specifically, I’ll explain how to ensure children develop literacy skills based on Ashton-Warner’s work, along with how to organize a completely individualized program within an active setting similar to a Montessori classroom.
I’m sharing this here to help parents, teachers, school administrators, and anyone else interested in finding a more child-friendly way to help a child learn to read. Approaching reading in this more natural way allows a child to read with much the same pleasure and ease they learned to speak. This, even for children who had little exposure to print in their early years.
The Situation
All this took place in an unusual situation. First, board members in this small district were well aware of what was going on and willing to make changes quickly. So, while administrators elsewhere might look askance at unusual methods, this administration was open to new ideas as they interviewed teachers for a position in the primary grades.
And I did come to the interview with an unusual idea. I’d recently become aware of a concept developed by Ashton-Warner, known as Key Words. I’d been experimenting with it in a practical teaching class I was taking in the local college. With Key Words, the adult introduces print by writing words the child uses to describe something of heartfelt interest.
This idea intrigued me. It made sense that using words with strong meaning for the child would make reading easier than either of the two traditional methods. It seemed obvious that a child would find it easier to work with words with strong meaning than the two traditional options: memorizing phonics and sight words out of context. Or using the carefully controlled vocabulary in a basal reader. Neither of those methods, still in use now, focuses on topics of special interest to a particular child or uses words with strong meaning for every child.
I’d already decided I didn’t want the position unless I could convince them of what I wanted to do. So, I brought a child’s Key Words with me to the job interview. I explained why I thought starting with the child’s own words was a promising idea and proposed experimenting with it. I was quickly hired and given free rein.
This was the beginning of a unique and valuable opportunity. The board members in this small school were aware of how children were struggling, understood what I was trying to do, and gave me the support and patience I needed to work it out. In fact, knowing it would be a challenge to establish routines with a large group at once that first year, I asked to start half my class a week before the rest of the school began. They agreed and hired a special bus to bring the children to class.
The Students in My K-2 Classroom
My class was diverse in various ways. First, I had asked for a multi-grade class, so ages in my K-2 classroom ranged from five to eight. Many of my kindergarteners could not speak English and knew nothing of print. In addition, while most of the older Spanish-speaking children had been in school awhile and spoke English well, many of those in the 1st and 2nd grades had not made much progress in reading.
Many of the native English speakers were the children of the landowners and professionals living nearby. Most of them had been raised in an unusually print-rich home environment and already knew a lot about print. In fact, one child arrived in 1st grade already reading at a 6th-grade level. On the other hand, a few of the boys in that group were spending a second year in first grade because they had not yet begun to read. Those few were also very disruptive.
Faced with a wide range of skill levels, two languages, and some unruly students, I set out to devise a completely individualized approach to reading based on Key Words. Of course, I’d have the help of a bilingual aide in the mornings, as did all the primary teachers. Still, managing an individualized program with a group of just under 30 children was a daunting prospect.
But I thought I could work it out by drawing from another experience I’d had several years before.
Montessori Influence in Organizing My Program
When my two daughters were preschoolers, I had established a Montessori preschool for them. Not having Montessori training, I’d hired a Dutch Montessori directress. Seldom entering the classroom while it was in session, I did spend many hours discussing theory with her. In addition, I often observed, through the two-way mirrors I’d had installed for visitors. From that, I learned how she organized and managed the entire group of 35 children, with just the one aide she had insisted would be enough help.
With that background but having no clear idea of how I would proceed, I set out to combine Key Words with what I had learned from the Montessori experience. The first year was quite a struggle. I had more than one sleepless night envisioning the learning activities needed to ensure skill development. While at the same time, I was struggling to establish the organizational structure that would create a smooth-running, active classroom.
As you might imagine, the class was a little chaotic at times that first year. But I eventually devised a framework to guide the children’s skill development. It was a series of increasingly complex follow-up activities for Key Words we referred to as The Steps. Gradually working their way through The Steps at their own pace, all the children could eventually write their own thoughts fluently.
Some advanced to independence quickly, while others took much longer. It appeared that those not from a print-rich environment just needed more time to fill in the wide gap between being able to talk — and reading what someone else had written in a book.
I had expected the writing skills the children were developing would readily transfer to reading, and it was a pleasure to see that happen. Some made the transfer so effortlessly they claimed they had “just happened” to learn to read. Others needed a little more help.
The management and organizational structures gradually emerged, too, as the children became accustomed to the work routines they were to use and behavioral guidelines they were to follow.
The Path Forward for Me
By the third year, word got out that my children were doing something unusual and remarkably effective. So, we began having visitors during our early morning Writing Work Period. During those 90 minutes, the class was very active. The children could choose where to sit and were free to be up, walking around and talking with one another as they carried out their Steps activities.
Visitors often made similar comments. Besides how well the children could write, they remarked how seriously they took their work. Eventually, someone brought in a nationally known reading expert, Jeannette Veatch, to observe. Dr. Veatch urged me to leave the classroom and get my graduate degree. This, to teach this approach at the university level. She also became my trusted mentor and friend.
After my fifth year of classroom teaching, I followed her advice. Then for the following 20 years, I worked as a contract consultant to the California Dept. of Education and a private consultant to various school districts. I also taught teachers and school administrators at Claremont Graduate University. In addition, I served as chair of the Language Experience Special Interest Group of the California Reading Association in my off time.
My Purpose in Writing This Book
Leaving those children was hard for me, and I never forgot them and their delight in seeing what they were able to do. Therefore, I’m still very concerned for children who have far to go when they first enter school. Most of them will still have to contend with traditional methods, which haven’t changed much over the years.
So, retired now, I’m writing this book to share what I developed that helped all my students. For it’s not just to help children with a different home language that we need to improve reading methods. Both traditional approaches to reading still in vogue bypass writing, making learning to read more challenging than necessary for any child.
That problem is now compounded by technology. Previous generations of children could see parents using paper and pencil to write. That gave them some idea of what print was all about. But that’s changed. Most of us use our phones and other devices to send texts and emails, create lists, etc. That makes it more difficult for children to see what parents are doing as they write.
With that, more young children will likely have little or no idea of what print is for and how it works. If so, they’ll enter school with a gap between speech and reading books — a gap learning to write easily fills. Bypassing writing to start by memorizing phonics and sight words — or starting with basal readers is likely to confuse more children than ever.
Once confused, a child is more likely to struggle, lose confidence, become a “reluctant reader,” or simply give up.
All that is entirely unnecessary, for we can do better. We can and must move beyond traditional approaches. And we need to do that now more than ever.