Understanding Reading

Part one, understanding literacy.

You can't very well teach something if you don't know what that something is.

So let us first try to understand something about literacy.

Literacy is a system.

A system is a thing with a bunch of parts that interact with each other.

A car engine is an example of a system.

Each part within the system depends on all the other parts.

Thus, a change in one part within the system impacts all the other parts.

Also, the whole of any system is always more than the sum of its parts.

Literacy is a system with five interacting and interdependent parts.

Reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking.

A change in one part impacts all the others.

Thus, to most effectively enable all children to develop their full literacy potential, we must attend to each of the elements within the literacy system.

This means that good reading instruction includes writing, thinking, speaking, and listening, as well as reading.