Teaching Reading & the Three Period Lesson

http://www.montessori.org/imc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=96:the-three-period-lesson&catid=79:principles&Itemid=70


This year we have begun reading lessons with the Ginn basic reader, We Are Neighbors. As you will find with many reading series, new words are given for each page in the back of the book. I use a technique for teaching reading based on Montessori's "three period lesson". For details on how to implement the three period lesson, see the link above.

The first thing I do is go to the back of the book to see if any new vocabulary words are listed. If there are, I point to the word on the page and simply say it, ie., "This word says neighbor." If it is a phonetic word, I will also demonstrate sounding it out. I have Beezy look at the word carefully and repeat it. This is the first period.

In the second period, I take one paragraph at a time and ask Beezy to find certain words, ie., "Point to beautiful." She really enjoys picture and word searches, so this is especially effective in reinforcing previously introduced words, and it helps me to see what needs additional attention.

In the third period, I have Beezy read the page we have just covered to herself while I leave the room. When she is finished, I return, and she reads it to me. During this period any issues of comprehension can be addressed.

This whole process makes reading lessons fun and provides a solid method for building reading confidence. It is this one-on-one teaching that makes homeschooling so ideal. There is no need to go any faster, or slower, than the child is able to go. Sometimes I have focused too much on how many pages are read rather than on how well vocabulary is being learned and the story is being understood.

Always in the forefront of my mind, I endeavor to instill the joy to be found in reading, to help my child build confidence in her abilities, and above all, to nurture her spirit. These are the ultimate goals. Progress, not perfection. Heaven first, and peace on earth.

Believing in Unschooling, Part 2

Continuing with the discussion on reading from Part 1, I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I had known more about unschooling and had let the process develop organically. Everything was going fine in the beginning. I took my cues from Beezy, answering her questions about what letter a word started with. I would tell her both the sound and letter name. We had Leap Frog alphabet refrigerator magnets, and we used Montessori sandpaper letters and shaving cream tracing for learning the sounds with lower case letters. I disagree with those who advocate starting with capitals, because most of the text we read is in lower case. Making words with letter tiles and blending letters together to sound words out was fun.

Then I hit a road block with the beginning readers I could find, because they used so many sight words which could not be sounded out. A friend suggested BOB books from Scholastic, which use small, phonetic words (3 or 4 letters), and only gradually add a few sight words. This is the part where I feel guilty. Things started out promising with these books, but then there were issues. Beezy struggled so much with sounding words out. She did progress, though slowly and painstakingly, and I became frustrated. I made her read for too long at first, but eventually I realized, thanks to Charlotte Mason, that lessons should be short; so Beezy only had to read half a book at a time. Even so, reading became not so fun for either of us.

However, I did not continue what was clearly not working. The BOB books were not only uninteresting, but the pictures were horrible, and Beezy's artistic sensibilities were terribly insulted. As I have written before, I finally pulled out our 12 book set of Dick and Jane readers, and she loved them! Allelujah!! I don't care what anyone says about Dick and Jane being dumbed down and repetitive. The repetition worked for Beezy, and finally her reading skills took off. The pictures are great, and somehow, inexplicably, the stories were engaging. Never question God's grace--just go with it. From there I found the Ginn readers from the same era on Ebay, so we have been able to continue along with books that are similar in style to Dick and Jane, with increasing levels of difficulty. For a long time I still required phonetic words to be sounded out and would simply tell Beezy what sight words said. Once I was bitten by the unschooling bug, I understood the rationale for not forcing the painful experience of making her sound out the words. But like I said, I began to doubt the process.

I think that since Beezy can sound out words well enough, I should have her do more reading to herself. She can come to me if she doesn't know a word. If I'm not sitting right beside her, she will likely figure most words out on her own. Too much hovering is a bad thing. A couple of weeks ago Beezy told me that her piano teacher got a phone call during her lesson, and Beezy said she played so much better without her teacher watching her! She told me the same thing during practice yesterday at home. I will try just getting her started and then leave the room to let her practice. More and more I see the wisdom in not interfering too much in the child's learning process.

Unschooled children learn to read when they are ready. They may ask to learn to read or do it spontaneously at any age--4, 8, or 10--and suffer no ill effects from either learning early or late. They end up being avid, proficient readers. I proceeded with teaching reading when I did, because Beezy showed readiness in learning letter sounds. She was asking for help, so I don't think we started the basics too soon. But what if, when the BOB books were not working, I had simply backed off reading lessons and waited to see if Beezy would figure it out on her own? Or if I had just left reading alone for a few months and then come back to it? At least as a homeschooling mother, I had the time and the interest to try different things until I found something that worked. I trusted my intuition.

I still worry. That's a mom's job to a certain extent. We need to trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, though, and rest with confidence under Mary's mantle. She holds our children there too.

Our Lady of Guadalupe with Child

Dick and Jane Readers

Do you remember Dick and Jane? And their sister, Sally, and dog Spot? A few years ago my mother-in-law gave Beezy a new, 12 volume set of these books. I was initially discouraged from using them for homeschooling, because they contain a lot of sight words, and I was focusing on the Montessori method of teaching the phonetic letter sounds first, then putting them together into three- and four-letter words. A homeschooling friend of mine suggested the BOB books from Scholastic, and at first I thought these were great, as most words could be sounded out, with only a few sight words gradually being added. The art work for these books is, quite frankly, terrible. I think I could do better illustrations, which is a sad statement indeed. It is actually okay for a child to pick up words from the context of pictures in a book. This is a relational skill, so there is no reason for bad drawings.

After awhile I noticed that Beezy would yawn profusely whenever she read the BOB books, but she would not yawn during any other lessons! She always commented on the bad art, and as it turns out, she really does not enjoy sounding out words. I was relieved to read in Charlotte Mason's manual that sight reading should begin once the basics of phonics are learned, as this is where real progress in the art of reading happens. I have found that this is indeed an effective method, simply putting a finger under each word and having the child repeat it. Mason would not have liked the "twaddle" of either the BOB readers or the Dick and Jane series. So we use Beatrix Potter's wonderful books of high quality literature, interesting stories, excellent vocabulary words, and extremely fine illustrations.

Still, I did not want to completely give up on sounding words out, which one should be able to do in the event that one comes across an unfamiliar word, or in case one wishes to look a word up in the dictionary. So out of curiosity, I looked at Dick and Jane again, which at least has good art work. To my surprise, Beezy has progressed quite well in her reading as a result! The repetition of the sight words gets them into her head, and she doesn't have to stop so often to sound something out. She doesn't seem to mind the simplicity of the language and lack of intriguing plot. The feeling of success in developing reading skills without such laboriousness as we found with the BOB books is evidently enough reward to compensate for the lack of literary value.

Once again, the point is well made that you do what works best with your children. Don't be afraid to trust your instincts and try something different when progress is not being well made. And after all, I learned to read with Dick and Jane, and I am an avid bookworm of exceptional reading abilities! The worst thing to do is to force a skill that your child is not ready for, or to allow lessons to be so boring and tedious that they kill the natural joy in learning that we want our children to possess. Go, Sally, go!