18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you read only one book about reading..., July 29, 2005
This review is from: Read Right: Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading (Paperback)
This book is, surprisingly, the most gripping read I've had all summer. Call me a nerd, but if you are a teacher or a parent concerned in any way about reading problems and reading instruction, put down your romance novels and your spy thrillers and pick this up.
Dr. Tadlock has done a couple of things here--she has laid out her reading program in a simple and frankly fun way and, at the same time, demystified the whole field of reading for lay people and experts alike. By the end of Read Right, you feel like you could do a better job of teaching reading than most of the experts who work in public schools across the nation.
The key claim of Read Right is that reading problems are caused by wrong-headed reading instruction. Our kids are taught to decode and identify individual words when they should be allowed to do what the brain naturally wants--to take a snapshot of a passage and refine it through a rapid-fire process of guessing and correcting. In short, reading instruction in the United States interferes with the natural processes of the brain as it teaches itself the skill of reading. Thus: a nation of poor readers.
Dr. Tadlock has gathered intriguing evidence to illustrate this point. For example, why, she asks, are there no reading problems among the Chinese? Because the ideographic form of their written language makes it impossible to apply the faulty decoding and word-identification tactics American kids are taught.
As a teacher in one of Chicago's legendary low-scoring high schools, I encounter below grade-level reading skills in a majority of my students. This has always been puzzling because so much money and time is devoted to reading instruction in this and other public school systems.
I came across Dr. Tadlock's method at the 2005 International Reading Association conference and I have begun to study it with student reading tutors. So far, the results are astounding. Across a range of normally apathetic or low-performing students working with tutors who are themselves high school students, following Dr. Tadlock's suggestions, in every single case the struggling readers have expressed a positive desire to read with and without the tutors. Without sounding like a lunatic, I can't express how simple and effective this approach has been in turning reluctant readers into confident readers.
The core of Read Right's methodology is something that sounds like old-fashioned repetition, but it is subtly sophisticated. Students hear a highly competent reader read a passage out loud; the student then practices reading the passage until she feels she can produce an excellent reading--not a copy of the proficient reader, not a correct reading, but an excellent one, which completely communicates comprehension and integration of the passage.
There isn't any vocabulary work necessarily involved, no worksheets or graphic organizers. It's important to choose passages at the correct level for each student. After the student decides she can produce the excellent reading, the tutor and she discuss it and either practice more or move on to another passage.
The main thing in successful reading instruction, according to Dr. Tadlock, is for the tutor to get out of the way of the student's brain. That requires a grasp of the way the brain functions in reading and some practical knowledge of do's and don'ts. These are provided in Dr. Tadlock's book in, as I said at the outset, a remarkably enjoyable manner.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Right Way to Teach Reading!, July 20, 2005
This review is from: Read Right: Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading (Paperback)
In ten years of teaching in both public and private schools, from Phillips Academy at Andover to the New York City public schools and now in Eugene, Oregon, I have never encountered a reading program that has worked for EVERY SINGLE student who walked into my classroom. But the Read Right methodology does just that! It works for all students - from those with dyslexia to Advanced Placement students. Using Dr. Tadlock's methods, I have seen high school students who have struggled with reading since entering school become excellent readers. If more schools utilized these methods in the early grades, we would have far fewer high school students who are still struggling readers.
Fortunately, this incredible book provides guidelines for parents to use Read Right's methods with their children so that they can learn to be excellent readers from the start. The techniques are clearly laid out, with step-by-step instructions and suggestions of how to employ them. The methods are applicable not just to reading, but to a myriad of other activities as well, making the book suitable for parents of very young children as well as school age children. Dr. Tadlock's mixture of theory, history, and instruction for employing her methods is the perfect balance for parents or educators. It is a fascinating journey through the current research on brain development and function, as well as reading theory.
Throughout the book, Dr. Tadlock engages the reader with compelling vignettes of people for whom Read Right has made a dramatic difference. These stories ring true because I have seen Dr. Tadlock's methods change the lives of each student I have taught with Read Right tutoring. This book is well worth reading for anyone who wishes to open the rich world of literacy to a child, student, or any person who is learning to read or who struggles with reading.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THERE IS HOPE!!, September 19, 2005
This review is from: Read Right: Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading (Paperback)
I wish that this book was published one year ago when I enrolled my 9 yr old son in the Read Right Telephone Tutoring Program. It truly explains all the reasons his Read Right Tutor coaches him the way she does along with the meaning of *excellence*. I could tell the program worked, I just didn't understand the *hows* and *whys*. Now I do.
I would highly recommend the book AND the program for anybody at any age. The program works and my sons tutor seems more like a family member than somebody whom we have never met face to face.
The Read Right Program gave us hope when there was no place else to turn for our son. By having this now published book, I am able to share with his teachers why Read Right works and why the other programs in the school have not. His teachers are also now able to understand his needs as a Read Right student and what they can do to help him with his journey.
Thank you Dee for explaining your story and giving us all hope.
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