Reading History

1
Reading History

• Reading as a Cultural Asset, 1880-1910

2
Motives for Reading Instruction in a Cultural Age

• Patriotism intelligent citizenship, but
  diminished
• Peace and prosperity provided time for cultural
  pursuitsmusic, the arts, literature for
  literatures sake (Sarah Arnold, p. 109-110)
• German educator Herbart developing character
  through the use of literary and historical
  stories

3
Aims of Reading Instruction in a Cultural Age

• Elocution and proper pronunciation continue to be
  important
• From a course of study for teachers teaching
  reading in Flint Michigan (p. 114, near bottom)
• Teach children to read
• Teach children to like to read
• Enable children to know and prefer good literature

4
Reading Materials

• Professional Books appear
• Laura Scudder, Literature in the Schools (1888)
• Sparse courses of study, the beginnings of core
  curricula
• Supplemental materials
• Classic literature in upper grades
• Additional sets of readers in lower grades and/or
  books of fairy tales
• Combined alphabetic and phonetic systems the
  Scientific Alphabet
• Reduce letters, example wuns for once

5
Materials continued

• Basals limited instructions for using the new
  methods
• Mother Goose, folktales, literature
• Cloth covers
• Colored pictures
• First series of graded readers

6
Methods of the Era

• The sentence and story method
• Tell story or rhyme to familiarity or
  memorization
• Read story and analyze into separate words and
  phrases
• Study phonics of letters within words
• Sometimes writing was included

7
Methods or era (cont.)

• Elaborate Phonetic Methods
• Start with the sounds of letters
• Build word families
• Write letters, words, and sentences on blackboard
• Mark letters, words, and sentences in personal
  workbook
• Write letters, words, and sentences from
  dictation
• Recitation of letters, words, and sentences by
  students

8
Methods of era (cont.)

• Defining/dissecting method for upper grades
  literature
• Discuss and understand allusions to all subjects
  in lesson of one subject
• Learn irregular words
• Learn new unfamiliar words
• Paraphrase lesson in writing
• If very important, memorize

9
Other significant ideas

• Beginnings of reading research
• Very limited
• Usually related to reading speed, differences in
  silent and oral reading, and individual reading
  differences
• First attention to reading disability
• Congenital alexis (word blindness)