storybooks

Mindy,

What kind of concepts are you talking about? Vocabulary? Comprehension?

Janis

I may be misreading this — and apologies to Mindy if I am — but “reading concepts” is often a piece of “whole language” code/jargon. The idea seems to be that you teach kids *about* reading instead of just teaching them reading.

Actually, there is some merit to the idea, if you don’t go too far with it. Kids have to learn that books contain stories — kids from language-deprived homes may not realize this. They have to learn that the stories are contained in the print, not the pictures. They have to learn which side is the front of the book, and they have to learn to go through the book page by page in order from front to back. They have to learn that groups of letters separated by white spaces represent separate words — and they have to learn what a single word is (not a distinction that is often made in ordinary speech, especially those little connecting words that cause guessers so much trouble). They have to learn to go left to right and top to bottom. They have to learn standard storytelling techniques — the introduction of the characters, the setting, the problem and solution. These are all important concepts and they do have to be taught.

The argument comes up in how you teach these concepts. Personally I teach the kid to decode and to read a basic vocabulary in ultra-simple books; the other concepts come along the way naturally in modelling, practice, and discussion as we work our way steadily up through the books in a series.
The “whole-language” classrooms apparently try to teach these concepts directly, before the kid can actually read.

It’s ironic that they go to such levels to teach *those concepts*, but don’t teach reading and spelling directly! Reading and spelling are much harder than the all the preschool type concepts that Virginia talks about— yes valid, but not enough.

The book “Straight Talk on Reading” has better info than you were taught in school.

—des
……………………

Mindy,

I agree with both des and Victoria. Do get a copy of “Straight Talk About Reading” by Susan Hall and Loiusa Moats. It is very worthwhile reading and SHOULD be a required college text for those in teacher training.

Janis