Schools rate high in reading

By Mary Alice Garrett

This article originally appeared in The Ypsilanti Press in the 1960's.

Reading has probably received more criticism than any other area of elementary school education.

Some of it has been justified, and some of it has not, say educators.

Most of the complaints have come from parents who say that phonics, and nothing more, is all that is needed to start Johnny on the road to reading. Others have held to the sight method. Still others have relied on reading records.

How do the Ypsilanti schools rate in the teaching of reading?

Very well, according to an expert on the subject at Eastern Michigan University. He is Richard D. Elder assistant professor of reading.

Mr. Elder says he has observed reading classes in every second and third grade classroom in the Ypsilanti Schools and rates the quality of education highly.

Ypsilanti schools use a combination method of teaching reading, he said.

There have been numerous approaches to reading, and not all have been necessarily sound, according to Prof. Elder.

There are three "very fundamental approaches to reading," he said, that continue in good usage.

All include instruction in phonics, the sight method and a combination of methods.

The three approaches are the Language Experience Approach, the Basal Reader Approach and the Independent Reading Approach.

The Language Experience Approach is used as a transition from pre-reading readiness to the basal reader. Under this method, the teacher compiles reading lessons using the children's own language. A topic is selected and the students are asked to comment on it. From this, emerges "little stories" in the students' own words.

This approach "has been used for well over 100 years," Prof. Elder said. Missionaries have used it when no books were available. The public schools in San Diego, Calif., recently "re-discovered it," Elder added.

The Basal Reader Approach is the most familiar approach It's the type of book that begins, "Susan, Susan, Susan. Look, look, look." It is a program for gradually introducing children to wods. Word meaning is stressed, not merely reading to make noise.

The Independent Reading Approach "has gone by many names," Elder said. It has been called Individualized or Personal Reading Approach. It is essentially an approach were students select their own books and "works beautifully" for some, Elder said, but not all. The chief weakness and strength is in the child setting his own pace and determining when he needs help.

"Superior teachers have always urged children to read on their own," Prof. Elder noted. These same teachers have also used both the Basal Reader Approach and the Independent Reading Approach simultaneously.

All three approaches include instruction in phonics.

Phonics is the learning of sounds for letters and blending the sounds together.

Ironically, about 40 per cent of youngsters teach themselves phonics, Elder said. This happens by the time they are in the fourth grade. The remaining 60 per cent, he continued, will not learn phonics without formal instruction. It is for this reason that phonics must be a part in the total reading program, he said.

"During the 1920's, many teachers went over to the Look, Say Sight Method," Prof. Elder said.

This method which emphasizes learning the entire word without breaking it down into syllables and sounds has received the greatest criticism as producing both poor readers and spellers.

Despite the early popularity of the sight method, good teachers never completely abandoned phonics, Prof. Elder added.

A combination of methods is best in teaching reading, Elder said. "We've discovered this turns out the best readers."