As I have already mentioned on Facebook, I am backed up in my blogging. Life happens sometimes and apparently, I lost my "groove" for a bit...
For the past few months I've had the joy of working part time as a Reading Interventionist. This has been a joy because I get to do what I love, help children read, yet at the same time I still have ample time with my own little one.
My commute is about thirty minutes and during the ride to and from work, I daydream about blogging. Once I get home however and I become "mom." By the time I get a chance to sit down at the computer I'm exhausted. Tonight I am making time for this... Please note that I have not researched any of these ideas yet but if I went back to school for my doctorate, I would love this topic to be my thesis.
Patterns
Most of the time when we think of patterns, we think of math. There are simple patterns like ABABAB, (apple, orange, apple, orange, apple, orange) or ABBABBABB, and so on. Patterns repeat and are predictable.
Now let's take that concept and apply it to reading. Wouldn't it be nice if the curriculum taught children to be aware of patterns? If a child cannot extend an ABABABAB pattern, I would guess that the child would have difficulty reading. Isn't reading imbued with patterns? There are letter and sound patterns like "ai" and there are story patterns (predictable plot elements), even the way books are organized follow a predictable pattern: front cover, title page, table of contents (if applicable) and so on.
I have long been interested in miscue analysis (looking for patterns in errors) as an effective technique to help struggling readers.
What if we taught the children to be attuned to patterns? I feel that if we study how the brain processes patterns, we can apply it to teaching children to read. This would be a whole different approach. Beginning readers or struggling readers would have to master simple patterns before being expected to learn spelling patterns. Teachers would continue to teach all forms of patterns.
Does anyone know if there are any reading readiness tests that test simple patterns like circle, triangle, circle, triangle? I am just curious and would love to see this topic explored and studied more in depth.
As it is the middle of the night, I hope that my idea is coming across clearly. I know that I probably need to elaborate further but this is the gist of what I pondered during my drive today....
On a side note, I sell on eBay and promote other sellers. If interested check out my eBay Store: Lowery's Loft
. My username on eBay is GroovyEducator (just like this blog). 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments! I appreciate helpful and productive feedback. Kindness counts!