A few weeks ago I sent a Richard Gentry article to our local librarian. In the past, we’ve had a few discussions before about my book borrowing choices - pretty much ALL about early learning. Anyway, shortly after she received it she called telling me that she had forwarded on the article to a few key people on staff. She asked if I would speak at both their baby and toddler classes this fall. I’m still in shock because in NO WAY am I an expert - I am only a mom. (Not that there’s much “only” in being a mom!!!)
Anyway, I am writing to ask you to help me. Please. (imagine praying hands here)
If I can repeat myself, I - am - not - an - expert. I am a mom who has simply spent time doing language learning activities with her baby (now toddler) and now has a son who can sight read the first few lists of the Dolch words and can sound out words.
The general topic is “How to teach your young child to readâ€. What I need is some help from you as to what I should talk about - more specifically. Think about who you were back before you knew about early learning. What would you have been open to hearing? What would you have liked to have been told? I believe I’ll only have about 10-15 minutes WITH the children moving around and making additional noise.
I know that they want a recommended booklist and a video list (I’m assuming ones that teach reading – not other languages/music/science/etc). I’m planning to dig through the BK archives to see what DVDs and books are listed in older threads. I know that the fairly extensive library of DVDs that I now have is only because of learning about what is out there (thank you BK parents!). The moms might (hopefully) go out and buy ONE DVD or ONE book about early learning after our chat. If they asked you specifically for the title of your all time favourite DVD and absolute best book, what would they be?
Also, what would you consider an integral part of your program? What is/was it when you taught your baby (under 18 months)? What is/was it when you taught your toddler (18-36 months)?
If this goes well they may ask me to come back again. I am not being paid for this and I don’t want it to become a business – I just want to inform people that it is POSSIBLE and that it is GOOD to teach your young child to read. I would love for me (or any other local mommy/daddy who believes in early learning) to be a regular guest at these Mommy & Me classes. Can you imagine the change possible for our society if more people jumped on the bandwagon of early literacy!!!
I was asked to do a similar talk a few months the ago. Like you, I’m not an expert - just a mom who taught her preschooler to read. What I did was go through our journey to reading & discuss what we did, what programs we used, etc. That way I was just explaining what worked for my child. I included a number of links & info about various reading programs in my handouts. 15 to 20 minutes isn’t a lot they had me scheduled for 30 & the parents were still asking questions 20 minutes later. I hope you have a great audience too.
As for books, my favorite is still Glenn Doman’s How to Teach Your Baby to Read.
! Fake it til' you make it!!!
I luv this advice! That’s what I did. I’m terrible at preparing speeches, so I winged it, which I find easy to do when I an passionate about a subject. I did take some examples of K’s cards placed in chronological order to help me along.
That is wonderful I wish I could go there .
When I went to a montessori course the lady first talked about the baby brain ,how it works and why is it so important to stimulate it. I would add something about the hemispheres, focus on right and then talk about reading .
The best book is Doman’s How to teach…
I am planning to do something similar so I would love to now what you decide to say.
Hi Kizudo! I haven’t been here in a while. It is very exciting to hear you’ll be speaking at your library. You’ll be great! Even if you aren’t an “expert” you have done a lot of reading on the topic and have taught your son a lot. If I were there, I’d love to hear what you did. Then, having the recommended books and videos list would be great! Perhaps you could mark which ones the library owns, so they could check them out on the way home. Then, if they could ask you questions personally after the program, I think, that is what I would have liked.
I agree with the recommended books and videos the others have mentioned. Meet the Sight Words was fun, too.
You could even pull available titles from the shelves and create a display for your speech, along with examples of materials you have made/created from home.
Congratulations This is so good to know that you will be sharing your experience and knowledge with other parents. I wish you the best and your community is lucky to have you.
Wow! You are all so sweet with dishing out the enthusiasm and encouragement! I’m becoming more excited by just reading what you all have to say!
Unfortunately our library has NONE of the books most of us have read and would recommend. So a display table is out - other than stuff that I have made…
:biggrin: :biggrin: GUESS WHAT!!! After typing the above, I put in a quick call to the librarian to talk about this and she said to send her the list of books I found helpful and she’ll try to order them before September’s presentations! Yay!!! But I need to get them to her ASAP.
I’m thinking off hand:
the Richard Gentry book - have to find the title
the Native Reading book - have to find title
a few of the Glenn Doman books
Sidney Ledson’s book - find title
hmmmm…drawing a blank…what else can I include?
They also do not carry non-fiction DVDs but MAY, MAY, MAY consider it. I’ll send her a list for these, too. I’m thinking:
Leapfrog - Letter Factory, Talking Word Factory, Word Caper
YBCR, YCCR and YCCD
Monki See and MemoFlix - all
Readeez - all
Sparkabilities - all
Meet the … (I’ve never seen these, but I think they’re recommended by a few people)
Rock N Learn - Phonics
and I have a Dolch one that I’d recommend but cant think of the name right now…
Yay! Thanks again for your support. I’m still open to ANY and ALL suggestions! Keep them coming! I wish there was a little happy face blowing big kisses to you all! Mwaaa!
What if…you created a monthly support group at the library for parents to meet (kid free preferably?) once a month or every couple of weeks and touch base, share ideas, etc? I bet that would do wonders for your social life & finding of like minded parents! I would reserve the room in advance for 2 months (so two meetings), because parents will want to know WAY MORE than you can cover in 15 or 20 minutes.
That is awesome! I wish people were more open minded where I live.
I would take your cards and your son. That would be a visual aid and something for other people to see that it truly works. People want to see the proof in the pudding so to speak.
You could make an outline on a piece of papers on the topics you want to touch. No need to write a whole speech.
Some things to add for the parents
YBCR, YCCR, YCCD
Monkisee
Brillkids ( of course )
Preschool Prep
Rock and Learn
TMT - LOVE the idea of a “support group”! I think I will send around a list and if there’s enough interest (sincere, not just polite) I just may do that!
TracyR - I’d love to bring my son, because I know that that would make me a believer if I were in their shoes, however, both my husband and I don’t want to put pressure on him or put him “on display” - BUT I TOTALLY get what you are saying - it would be a great asset to have him “perform”. Maybe I could get permission from a few of my BK friends to show some of their youtube segments - or at least list them on the handouts!
Yeah for you, Kizudo! How exciting. I would definitely see if you can get video of your son but if you can’t choose some videos from YouTube to show them. There is tons of proof available on the net. There is a short video of my 18 month old reading sentences on my website that you can show if you would like. I have a lot more video but unfortunately my videographer was my 10 year old daughter who thought it was funny to put her fingers in front of the camera and move it so much that you feel like you are on a wild ride. I have some video of Gabriella and would be happy to get more for you. She is reading better with each day.
When I think back to when I heard that babies could learn to read I had so many questions. I will PM you some of those and maybe you can use them in your outline.
I saw something the other day about Goldie Hawn and how she thought she was not the best actress but she faked it. That is super advice.
That’s great. I agree fake it til you make it. You are an expert at this point but if you feel nervous just pretend that you are confident. Wow I can’t imagine what I would say in just 20 minutes - there is just so much stuff to cover. You could make some packets of info to distribute. If you don’t get to cover everything at least they will understand that you have so much more info to offer. I think this could be a fabulous opportunity for you. Maybe you could get some Little Reader Book samples to bring too. Also I think at one point KL said he would be willing to sponsor early learning support groups. I will look for that link for you. I also like Glenn Doman’s Teach Your Baby to Read. If I had one piece of advice to share with the parents considering early learning, it would be that you can’t mess up. I used to worry that if I did it wrong, my child would get confused and have reading problems. Now I know it is impossible to do it wrong as long as you teach with joy. Also I would tell them that reading is just written language. Therefore, not only, is it easier to learn to speak a new language when you are very young, it is also easier to learn to read. Finally I would tell them to just jump in right away and learn and prepare along the way. In the beginning, I think I spent too much time getting ready to teach rather than actually teaching. They grow up too fast to waste any time on perfecting your teaching skills. Oh, also I would tell them to treat their child like a newly awakened eager intellectual being. They need to explain everything and talk about everything. Synaptic connections are being formed every minute, if they aren’t filled with knowledge they will get filled with nonsense. I’m embarrassed to admit my eldest child knew Spongebob lived in Bikini Bottom before he knew his own hometown.
I’m sure your presentation will be great. Congrats, Lori
congrats! That’s a great opportunity, and I’m glad you’re taking it up!
It’s totally fine that you’re not an ‘expert’. In the field of early reading, who really is? One of the biggest problems is what Dr. Gentry pointed out to me - even the so-called early literacy experts have a blind spot when it comes to teaching babies and toddlers to read, because they simply have never looked at it and assume it can’t be done. He said he had the exact same blind spot too until he started looking into this area.
So, you are as much an ‘expert’ as anyone, and in some ways, more qualified because you have been there and done it.
My advice would be to speak from the position of another mother who has embarked on the journey of early reading, and simply share what you have learned, mother to mother.
When I talk on the subject, that is also my position. If you want (or anyone else, for that matter), PM me with your email and I’ll email you a powerpoint presentation that lays out the structure of a 15 minute talk. It’s not about Little Reader, but about teaching babies/toddlers to read.
Kizudo, Wow. This is exciting! I am happy to hear your librarian is willing to bring the books in for you - I know the SK library system has almost all the ones you listed - and I think Manitoba can request from other provinces. I think having the books on display will help the parents. I like all the suggestions so far. No one has suggested perhaps a small demo of LR or PowerPoint Flash Cards. I know that the few parents who have considered or read a Doman book have never completed the Make Your Own Flashcard project - I think seeing the flashcards on the computer helps parents understand that flashcards are doable. It doesn’t need to be as time consuming as the Doman Books make it out to be.
I love that KL has a basic PowerPoint outline. That will help. I am going to request a copy of that and then see if I have any suggestions based on the presentation.
Again, I am so excited for you. I can’t wait to hear the results from the presentation. Perhaps you can speak in Regina and Saskatoon next?
In case you wanted to add a few stats about the Canadian Literacy Rates, here are a few links:
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Home/index.html - This site has the raw data for the literacy assessments done in 2009. The assessment was done by province and reading level.
I would reserve the room in advance for 2 months (so two meetings), because parents will want to know WAY MORE than you can cover in 15 or 20 minutes.
I have some video of Gabriella and would be happy to get more for you. She is reading better with each day.