Why Johnny Can't Read

[Hunter]

I did not know Don Potter had a whole webpage devoted to the book, Why Johnny Can't Read. The title "Rudolf Flesch Audio" didn't mean anything to me. http://donpotter.net/education_pages/flesch_audio.html

 

Reading through these resources helped me better appreciate Blumenfeld's work, of which Don Potter also has a webpage. http://donpotter.net/reading_clinic.html Blumenfeld's Home Primer lessons 1-6 cover the same material as Why Johnny lesson 1, if you find lesson 1 overwhelming, and want to break it up. http://donpotter.net/pdf/blumnfeld_home_primer.pdf

 

I now understand the order of instruction in both programs and trust it more. I see the big picture. What previously looked messy to me, now seems perfectly clear and logical.

The Natural Sequence of any phonics method is:
Step One: The five short vowels and all consonant combinations spelled by a single letter.

Step Two: Consonants and consonant combinations spelled with two or three letters.

Step Three: Vowels and vowel combinations spelled with two or three letters.
Step Four: The five long vowels: v-c-e (mate, mete, mite, mote, mute)
Step Five: Irregular Spellings.

 

It looks like Blumenfeld and Flesch were both heavily influences by Hegge, Kirk and Kirk.

http://donpotter.net/pdf/remedial_reading_drills.pdf. Discovering Hegge, Kirk, and Kirk, is similar to discovering Grube's method for arithmetic. I like to know who was the first main published author of a method, and then to read how later authors added their unique ideas and tweaks.

 

[Hunter]

Why Johnny Can't Read

 

List of exercises

http://donpotter.net/pdf/natural_phonics_primer_exer.pdf

 

Notes for teaching the exercises

http://donpotter.net/pdf/teaching_johnny_to_read.pdf

 

Large print printables of the exercises

http://donpotter.net/pdf/fleschphonicsexercises.pdf

 

Phonograms for the exercises

http://donpotter.net/pdf/flesch_phonograms.pdf

 

Audio files for the exercises and lots more

http://donpotter.net/education_pages/flesch_audio.html

 

Scope and Sequence to combine Reading Bear with Why Johnny Can't Read.

http://www.readingbear.org

http://donpotter.net/pdf/reading_bear_scope.pdf

 

 

[Shay]

I have a lot of respect for Don Potter. However, for many students, teaching in this sequence could be troublesome. Teaching all the vowel sounds up front would not be the way I would want to go. Many students, especially those with dyslexia would struggle with that sequence. For example, similar sounding vowels such as /i/ and /e/ or consonants /f/ /v/ should be separated out in teaching sequence. Those similar in appearance should be separated out in the teaching sequence /b/ /d/ and m, n, as well.

[Hunter]

In the past, I didn't know to use Flesch as an OUTLINE of all the curricula based on Hegge and Kirk.

 

I looked at lesson 1 covering most of the consonants and short a, and then lesson 2 on short e and thought, "that moves WAY too fast" and went right back to Blumenfeld and totally missed that the order of instruction were so similar.

 

Hegge and Kirk, does a good job of explaining that one lesson can take weeks and that the instructor is expected to break off small chunks to work on, one at a time.

 

Lesson 1 covers all of

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But

 

Introduce the Method Gradually. 

The child is shown the letters s, a, c, t, and p, and if he is unfamiliar with the sounds of these letters, is taught them. For example, a may be written on the board. The instructor may tell the child that when a baby cries it says “a-a-a†(a as in cat). The letter is erased, and the child is asked to reproduce a in writing from memory, and to say a at the same time. This may be done several times. Then the child may be shown the letter s and told that it sounds like the hiss of a snake, “s-s-s-sâ€. Then the child may write s from memory and sound s at the same time. The letters s and a may be presented irregularly until the child knows both of these. Similarly, c, t, and p, are presented and worked upon until the child knows the five simple sounds. When this task is finished, the instructor may present the child with the word c a t and have the child call out sounds one at a time. He is shown that these three sounds may be blended into a word. Then the words cat, pat, tap, cap, at, sap, sat, are written on the board or on paper and the child is aided in blending these sounds and calling out the words. It should be explained to the child that because he knows the sounds of five letters he can now readily read at least seven words. An explanation may follow in which the child is shown that he could start with short words and proceed to more complex words which he would soon be able to read as readily. 

 

With most children the procedure just outlined takes only a few minutes. The child now experiences success and realizes that he can learn sounds fairly easily. Even with some children of subnormal intelligence this first period is sufficient to teach the sounds of most of the consonants and of one or two vowels. Other slower learners may require a week or even two or three weeks to reach the same stage. To insure success at the outset of training the child should be presented only with tasks which he is able to master. Although simple, the pre-drill period is given as an extra precaution against any chance of failure. 

 

[Hunter]

Blumenfeld version

Lesson 1: Tell the child that he is going to learn two words with the short vowel sound a: am and at.  

Lesson 2: Now take the word am, erase the m and replace it with n. By doing this, we show the child how the beginning sound is retained, but how the final sound is changed. Play around with this concept by replacing the second letter in the word am to produce these different words: am, at, an, ax, as.  

 

Ruth Beechick's The Three R's is almost the same method. I don't remember what letters she used as an example, but she was giving an example more than a order of instruction of letters.