Remembering How You Learned to Read

Folks in my classes continue to report not remembering how they learned to read. A couple here and there do, but most do not.

One woman who learned to read before she went to school, again, like Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" got in trouble when she read along with the teacher.

I haven't spent a lot of time this spring reading with the seven year old in my life. I got an adult book out of the library on pirates. The pleasure and pride came to his face when he once again could tackle an adult book. I helped him when he stumbled with the decoding.

He stopped at one point and said, "My teacher says that if I come across five words that are hard to pronounce it means the book is too hard for me." "No way", I shouted gleefully! His look of relief warmed my heart.

He read the first page of the introduction. Took him 23 minutes of concentration and effort. I gave definition to the words he didn't know.

Kids want to be in the real world with adults. They really like to hang out with adults who treat them with respect who have an interest in the world.