-
Jan 1, 1493
Hornbook
The first "book" made of a sheet of paper containing the alphabet in upper and lower case letters. The Lord's Prayer was on the bottom. Hornbooks were at times made of wood, iron, pewter, ivory, silver (or even gingerbread) and
covered with a sheet of translucent horn. This was a time of religious emphasis in reading. -
The New England Colonial Primer
The first book used to teach reading and the bible. It was very small to conserve paper and contained about 70 pages. Originally written by Benjamin Harris. -
Webster's Speller
Webster's Speller SyllabaryThe first published American Speller created by Noah Webster. The speller was one part grammar, and one part reader.Webster claimed that he would teach the country a uniform system of pronunciation that would serve to unify the new nation, and he used numerical superscripts to indicate different vowel pronunciations. -
William McGuffey Readers
The McGuffey Readers were filled with stories of strength, character, goodness and truth. The books presented a variety of contrasting viewpoints on many issues and topics, and drew moral conclusions about lying. The lessons in the Readers encouraged standards of morality and society throughout the United States for more than a century. -
Horace Mann-Whole Word
Horace Mann’s Seventh Report advocates whole word methods for teaching reading. -
Phonics Instruction Found Beneficial
In a survey of Public Schools throughout the United States. Joseph Rice found that phonics led to better results in reading than word methods. In 1895 and 1896, he gave spelling tests to 33,000 children throughout the United States. He found that the best spelling results were obtained where the phonic method was used. Phonics was added to whole word instruction in reading and spelling. -
Charles Hubbard Judd
An educational psychologist Charles Hubbard Judd announced that the “distinction between oral and silent reading is not one which has been clearly recognized in school work. What we want primarily in the reading class is ability to understand the passages. . .” (. Judd, 1914, p. 40). The following year, Judd asserted that silent reading was better than oral. -
Edward Thorndike-Reading is Complex
Edward Thorndike was one of the most influential contributors in the reading field during this time period. He clearly showed the difference between mouthing words and understanding
meaning and demonstrated the need for instruction in getting meaning from the printed page. -
Different Purposes for Reading
In W.S. Gray's "Summary of Investigations Relating to Reading" he reported that there were different purposes for reading and spelling throughout the content areas. -
John Dewey
A constructivist who had a profound influence on American education. He promoted collaboration, cooperation, and use of a democratic vs. competitive style in education. -
The Beacon Primer
A very successful phonics reader used to teach reading. -
Thorndike's Teacher's Word Book
Thorndike's Teacher's Word Book was the first extensive listing of words in English by frequency. It provided teachers with an objective means for measuring the difficulty of words and texts. It laid the foundation for almost all the research on readability that would follow. -
Reading Readiness
Research indicated that first graders were failing. In a U.S.publication of the National Society for the Study of Education that reading readiness was based on maturation. Carleton Washburne stated that it was probably a waste of time to teach a child to read with a mental age lower than 6 1/2 years old. -
W.S. Gray and Bernice Leary
They found that word frequency and sentence length were determinants of text difficulty. -
Dick and Jane
Dick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal readers written by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp and published by Scott Foresman, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States. The focus was on whole word (look-say method) or site word reading. For primary grades the emphasis was on Learning to Read as opposed to content. The books were heavily illustrated with pictures intended to help new readers associate a word with its meaning. -
Why Johnny Can't Read
Rudolf Franz Flesch wrote this book to critique the then-trendy practice of teaching reading by sight, often called the "look-say" method. The flaw of this method, according to Flesch, was that it required learners to memorize words by sight. When confronted with an unknown word, the learner became confused. Flesch advocated a revival of the phonics method, the teaching of reading by teaching learners to sound out words. -
Kenneth Goodman-Miscues
He demonstrated that errors that children made while reading orally allowed educators to understand their comprehension processes (miscue analysis). -
Jeanne Chall's Learning to Read: The Great Debate
Chall's research supported decoding. Early decoding, she found, not only produced better word recognition and spelling, but also made it easier for the child eventually to read with understanding. She was also a strong believer of using phonics as one of the many cueing systems and should be spread out or several years. Her work largely impacted the way basal readers were constructed for early readers. -
Schema Theory
Readers use their schema (prior knowledge) to help them construct meaning from the texts they encounter. The Schema Theory encouraged educators to examine texts from the prior knowledge and cultural backgrounds of their students. -
Center for the Study of Reading-Comprehension Focus
Research was focused on improving comprehension at all levels through developing instructional strategies and routines such as: transactional strategy instruction, K-W-L graphic organizers, and questioning the author. -
Louise Rosenblatt
Wrote the book "Literature as Exploration," and "The Reader, the Text, the Poem." She states that meaning is created in the transaction between the reader and the text. -
Becoming a Nation of Readers
Richard Anderson and his colleagues documented the importance of early literacy, phonics instruction, reading with all content areas, rich content in textbooks, and more independent reading. -
Integrated Instruction
Focus on integrating instruction with language arts (writing, speaking, and listening) and with other subject areas. -
Whole Language Phenomenon
In the late 1980's the Whole Language process of teaching came into the United States. It advocated teaching reading as a whole process using authentic texts with natural language patterns and integration. Whole language is child-centered and teachers are the facilitators of their learning. Basals, worksheets, and skill building were devalued. -
National Reading Panel
NRP In 1997, Congress asked the “Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. -
No Child Left Behind Act
NCLBTo close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind. NCLB -
Common Core Standards
The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.
