7/31/2019 Some Guidelines for CM Reading Instruction

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CM works specifically on visual skills prior to word building, works onknowing all letters by reflex prior to ***assigned**** word building,does not combine word family words out of context (the PRArticles did useliterature to help bring the 'ideas' behind the 'symbol for the symbol' -or that is 'the idea behind the word' to a very concrete something to thechild - but sentences like "The cat sat on the mat" out of context of aliterary story would be dismal twaddle to Miss Mason), the guidelines ofprogress (word building and reading lessons progressing together toproduce both what she called 'the art of spelling' and 'the art ofreading' - which is ****way**** beyond merely sounding out words), andmore are missing from this simple, effective *for some* sight.

CM will work for all children, even though she advocates that lessons canbe approached differently (with nothing but a book OR with magnetletters and word cards). IMHO, if someone approaches words differently,they are using a crutch to do their work (this is not a derogatory slur -my oldest two sons did this before I understood about CM, and I thinkthey are quite intelligent to come up with *something* that helped themget by).

What CM provides is the 'purpose' behind the reading lessons (what thechild should be doing, cognitively speaking, with words and letters andsentences as his lessons progress), and what portions of his mind shouldbe doing the work (look at letters, then describe what was seen by

drawing the letter without looking: associate those letters with anobject, such as 'b' for 'blackbird', etc.: hear a reading being read toyou, then imagine, then describe: read each word for yourself as an ideaduring pre-reading word building, know what the word looks like, and beable to describe it by spelling it: and after you can do that, work onreading fluidity through reading at sight lessons, and narrate along theway: continue word building lessons with the reading lessons toaccomplish two things: to be able to visualize words whose parts werepreviously understood, and to be able to explore the parts of words whosestructures are unfamiliar.

Prior to all of this, work on visualization skills via nature study and'sight seeing' and 'picture taking' are imperative (making a picture stay

in the memory with explicit detail - beginning with being able todescribe a bug, then a tree, then a scene - well, other things inbetween, but starting small and growing in breadth of 'lens angle' so tospeak). The narration of such things are for four purposes that I happento know of, though there might be more: 1) to help the person bring hisown attention to the 'object lesson' at hand - the whole and its parts,2) to develop lingual skills, 3) to coordinate the auditory and visualprocesses data and systems in general, 4) to help the visual impressionbecome solidly 'impressed' upon the mind (establishing the habit and theactual act of remembering).

HTH,

Lorraine