Charlotte S. Huck

1. Charlotte S. Huck An electronic poster presentation prepared by Susan Edu T & L 705 November 27, 2001

2. Critical Reading Project, • Columbus, Ohio • In 1967 this research project determined that elementary school children can be taught to read critically without interfering with growth in other reading skills. • Teacher questioning influences child’s critical thinking. Lower level questions looking for facts from text promote lower level thinking. Higher level questions, asking for analysis, evaluation, and/or opinion, promote higher level thinking. • Teachers should take care not to neglect the thinking aspect of reading in favor of reading mechanics. • “The Gift of Story” • Our lives are stories that resolve problems, even for young readers. • Reading, talking, singing, and nursery rhymes are important to early brain stimulation. • Primary teachers should read aloud 3-4 times a day. • Re-reading stories is essential to literacy development. • Children should talk about a book, link it to experiences, and somehow make it memorable through re-telling, drama, art, etc. • Books should serve as springboards for children’s own writing. “Children’s literature should be at the core of reading instruction.” Charlotte S. Huck • “Literacy and Literature” • Literate families share books with children for their delight and enjoyment—not to teach them to read, yet their children become avid readers and writers. • Reading aloud is valuable because children associate reading with pleasure, and it develops vocabulary of the story and the talk surrounding the story. • 3 types of literature based reading programs: • Basal readers which use literature content (selections, not whole books) • Real books used as if they were basal readers, with contrived teacher’s guides that provide non-related worksheets and activities • Comprehensive literature program where literature permeates the curriculum. This helps children not only know how to read but also to become readers! • Reading Recovery Project, • Columbus, Ohio, 1984 • Huck used Marie Clay’s successful program to train 7 teacher teams to provide reading assistance for “at risk” first graders. • Provided an average of 12-14 weeks of individual reading assistance, using “little books” in conjunction with story writing. • The more children read and write, the more independent they become. • Study children scored significantly higher than comparison groups on: concepts about print, dictation, word tests, writing vocabulary, and text reading. • Follow-up study of pilot children showed they maintained gains • even after assistance stopped.