Education Page

[Home] [Math] [Blend Phonics]

This page is dedicated to the dissemination of materials of value to parents and educators interested in improving the quality of education in America and throughout the English speaking world. I hope to include many PDF files of valuable books from the past. I will include select links to web sites and articles that I judge as being particularly valuable. 

Below is my third grade picture.  The lady on the right is my first grade teacher, Mrs. Monroe. She taught my dad for seven years in a one room school house.  He skipped the 5th grade. She taught me in first grade and second. When I went to school there were two classes in each room. Mrs. Monroe taught me phonics which explains why I have always loved to read. She read us wonderful books like Bears of Blue River by Charles Majors. She taught me to write cursive in first grade which is all I ever used until I became a teacher. Everyday in her class was fun, as her former students can all testify. She passed away in the middle of my second grade year.   Her students continue to call her blessed for she blessed our lives with gift of the love of learning. My uncle Albert Potter taught me in seventh grade and was the principal of our little country school.  

Click here for my You Tube Videos: DonLPotter

DOWNLOAD HISTORIC ARTICLE: "Can Dyslexia Be Artificially Induced in School? Yes, Says Researcher Edward Miller." In March of 1992, Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld published a breakthrough article on whole-word dyslexia featuring the work of Mr. Edward Miller, the author of The Sight Word Eliminator and the Miller Word Identification Assessment (MWIA).Here is the same article in Spanish. Here is my YouTube clip explaining the MWIA. Here is another valuable article by Dr. Blumenfeld that I have retyped for fast download and easy reading: Miscue Analysis: Training Normal Children to Read Like Defective Children. Here the scanned original: "Miscue Analysis For more information on Miscue Analysis read: Critique by Hempenstall. Here is a new article Dr. Blumenfeld sent me (6/06/05): How to Cure Dyslexia. You can read more of Sam's insights from this file: The New Illiterates - Quotes. The new version of Blumenfeld's Alpha-Phonics has just been published. If you would like to purchase a copy, please send a check for $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling (total: $33.45) to Sam Blumenfeld, 73 Bishops Forest Drive, Waltham, MA 02452. Please mention the donpotter.net web site on your order. Sam recently started a web page for the updated Alpha-Phonics. Here is an important speech Mr. Blumenfeld delivered at the 1974 Reading Reform Foundation convention: Why America Still has a Reading Problem. And here is a 1975 speech, Letter Precision. Here is a recent article (2008) Sam sent me "Why Pictures in Reading Instruction Are Harmful."

Dr. Blumenfeld's insight is basic: "When you impose an ideographic teaching technique on an alphabetic writing system you get a reading disability. By eliminating the sense of sound from the reading process, one is breaking the crucial link between alphabetically written words and its spoken equivalent. Also, using sound symbols as ideographic symbols, one creates symbolic confusion." I like to say, "Using a sight-associational method to teach a sound-associational system creates associational confusion (whole-word dyslexia)"

MAJOR PUBLISHING EVENT: I am proud to publish a major new work by Mr. Harry Hattyar, Illiteracy in America: Understanding and Resolving a Grave National Problem. This comprehensive work is thoroughly researched and entirely up to date. On 3/5/07, Mr Hattyar send me a pdf document of his Easy Steps to Reading for free download. A major feature of this new work is the plethoras of decodable sentences (decodable but definitely not predictible!) For those who prefer the convenience of a spiral bound printed edition, you can purchase it from Amazon: Easy Steps to Reading. Another book by Harry: The Primal Code

Download Free Phonics Programs (Programs from Don Potter)

FREE DOWNLOAD: Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades by Florence Akin, published in 1913. Here is perhaps the finest phonics program ever published. It is now (12/20/04) in large type on a standard 8 1/2" x 11" page, perfect for making transparencies. Be sure and read my "Note" at the end of the book. Here is an alphabetical list of all the word in the book: Word Analysis. This phonogram method is especially good for self-teaching because it relies more on simple phonics patterns than complicated phonics rules. Gene Roth of Arizona recently sent me Akin's earlier 1908 phonics book, A First Book in Phonics: Pages 1-12, 12-24, 25-35. It is a cute little book, but not nearly as comprehensive as Word Mastery. GoogleBook has made available a good copy of Word Mastery. You can compare my typed edtion with this scanned editon. The print in my book is much larger.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade (1980) by Hazel Loring. Here is the easiest method for teaching beginning reading that I have seen anywhere. This little booklet will show any first grade teacher how to teach all children to read in four short months. It is also good for remedial reading instruction for any age. You can download a Blend Phonics' Certificate of Completion. Here is my Blend Phonics Reader. Here is an exhaustive analysis of the words taught in Blend Phonics: Word Analysis. For a stirring recommendation of Loring's method, see the article by  Robert Sweet Jr: The Century of Miseducation of American Teachers.  Charlie Richardson has written a helpful supplement to Blend Phonics (or any other synthetic phonics program), for teachers who need a brief but informative introduction to phonics, entitled: The Alphabetic Code & How It Works. For audio-instruction on the "Alphabet Code," click here: Alphabet Code - mp3. In 1982, Hazel Loring won the prestigious Watson Washburn Memorial Award for Excellence in Education. Mrs. Loring wrote an excellent biographical article in The Reading Informer, a publication of the Reading Reform Foundation in 1979: "Intensive phonics the only way to go." Loring wrote, "All of my teaching experience has confirmed my belief that directional guidance, inherent in the blend phonics system, is the key to success in teaching reading." One of the primary goals of this web site is to provide every kindergarten and first-grade teacher with a copy of Loring's Blend Phonics. I have recently started a web page for Blend Phonics Campaign. I have also launched a www.blendphonics.org web site. Here is a YouTube Blend Phonics Video Clip.

FREE DOWNLOAD: 1824 American Spelling Book by Noah Webster. This is my "Easy-to-Read, No-Frills" edition (2/3/07). Of all the powerful phonics-first methods offered on this web site, this method remains the finest ever published. It is equally good for beginning or advanced readers - from kindergarten through college. I personally use my edition for advanced phonics. It is power is something to behold! Here is an edition that I produced that will be acceptable in public school classrooms: Webster for Modern Public Schools. Here is my third edition of the 1824 American Spelling Book with the jpg pictures deleted. This allows the book to be downloaded much faster, but this has all of Webster's original expository material: Webster Without Pictures.

FREE DOWNLOAD:  How to Teach Phonics, 1916 supplemental phonics book by Lyda Williams. I found this book in a used bookstore in Lubbock, Texas. I think you will be as impressed as I was with the excellence of this phonics book. Note how it begins with lessons on phonemic awareness - in 1916! Very few of the modern reading programs can begin to compare with this little gem. Project Gutenburg has just republished my scanned copy of Williams' book, 7/29/06.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Through the Phonics Barrier: Student Manual by Dr. Charles Child Walcutt. Dr. Walcutt's method uses an older and very powerful phonogram method of teaching reading. I am including a Phonics Briefing for teachers, Step by Step Instructions, the Title page, and Notes concerning the method. Word Analysis. Here are my mp3 audio files for learning how to teach reading with Through the Phonics Barrier: Teacher mp3 files.  Read Dr. Walcutt's 1965 article in the Michigan Quarterly Review, The Reading Problem: Its Roots and its Fruits.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Remedial Reading Drills (1936) by Hegge-Kirk-Kirk. Rudolf Flesch used these phonics drills when he cured Johnny of his sight-vocabulary induced guessing habit. I have retyped the entire book in large, easy-to-read font and added some helpful instructional notes from Samuel A.Kirk's (1940) Teaching Reading to the Slow-Learning Child. Now you can see for yourself exactly how Flesch helped his Johnny. Today (3/30/07) I got an e-mail from Academic Therapy Publications announcing that they have just published a two volume editon with reproducible pages www.AcademicTherapy.com. I am delighted to see that this excellent method is available in an updated format. Teachers will welcome the reproducible pages: Phonics Reading Lessons: Skills and Practice.

Free Online Reading Programs (Links to other sites)

1. Mrs. Elizabeth Brown has just published an excellent, interactive, online reading program for students from second-grade through adult. All you need is pencil and paper and the newest edition of Quick Time. Click here: The Phonics Page.

2. Here is a simple online children's phonics (www.starfall.com) course that is interactive and lots of fun. LEARN TO READ

3. Stairway to Reading: by the Society for Quality Education (SQE) of Ontario, Canada is one of the best reading programs I have seen. It
is very complete. The decodable sentences are great. While specifically designed for older children with reading problems, it can be used effectively to teach beginning reading..

4. How to be a Reading Tutor by Brad Hill: Reading Tutor. This phonics program has free phonics cards of words and sentences.

5. Dr. D. W. Cummings, an eminent researcher into the science of spelling, has made his years of fruitful investigations into the English spelling system - and how best to teach it - available on his web site: D. W. Cummings - Spelling.

6. Phondots is a relative new way to teach reading that looks promising to me because it teaches from the sounds: www.phondots.com.

7. Cat Phonics by Mona McNee is a step-by-step synthetic phonics program. Also see her Myths of Reading Mona has just published a new book (2007), The Great Reading Disaster This book is a bombshell that is destined to cause a cosmic shift in the teaching of beginning reading instruction in the English speaking world. Here is a real gem of wisdom from Mona: "Guessing is a terrible thing. It is not a 'strategy' for reading. It is a a danger signal tell us that the pupil cannot read from the letters. The only 'Don't' in my lessons is 'Don't guess.'"

8. The Sounds of English web site by Dr. Norbert Rennert of the Summer Institute of Linguitics in British Columbia. This unique Online program gives educators or students access to the patterns of the English language in a systematic and controlled manner for any stage of the reading or writing progress.

Valuable Reading Programs from the Past from www. Googlebook.com
I have examined each of these programs for effectiveness - and freedom from dyslexia producing attributes.

1. The 1909 Edition of McGuffey's Eclectic Primer Here is a link to McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book (1879). This, by the way, is the one that my ancestors studied in their one room school house. You can purchase a beautiful hardback copy at:McGuffey's Spelling Book

2. Rebecca Pollard: Synthetics Phonics: It is pity that this method ever went out of print: Rebecca Pollard's 1897 A Complete Manual: Synthetic Method of Reading and Spelling. Here is Pollard's First Book for Little Folk (1898). Pollard's 1895 First Synthetic Reader, Second Synthetic Reader, Third Synthetic Reader Here is the 1897 Primer. Here is the 1896 editon of Pollard's Synthetic Speller. Here is the 1887 edition of Pollard's Advanced Speller This is perhaps the best phonics method ever published in the history of reading in America. It is certainly the most beautiful. The stories, poems and maxims are of the highest caliber. I highly recommend downloading the Googlebook.com PDF.

3. Katherine E. Sloan: Primary Readers: Containing a Complete Course in Phonics (1905, 1917) First Reader. Second Reader.
New Sloan Readers Manual, Primer, New First Reader, New Second Reader, New Third Reader. (Warning: The Primer is sight-word.)

4. The National Pronouncing Speller by Richard G. Parker and J. Madison Watson. A masterpiece!

5. Lewis B. Monroe wrote a set of readers that include valuable information on the English speech sounds and phonics: How to Teach Reading, Monroe's New First Reader, Monroe's Fourth Reader,

6. The Phonetic Reader by Charles W. Deane (1896). From the looks of this little jewel, it appears that decodable texts are nothing new.

7. The New Code 1871, Reader and Speller. A most unusual book of considerable educational value.

8. New Education Readers: A Synthetic and Phonics Word Method, 1900.

9. Illustrated Phonics: A Text-book for Schools (1909). This is a very helpful book.

10. The New Beacon Primer 1921. This was a very famous and successful phonics method. Here is the 1912 edition which has the phonics charts in the front of the book, they were moved to the back in the 1921 edition. Here is the Second Beacon Reader: Folk Tales. Hazel Loring's Reading Made Easy with Blend Phonics for First Grade was influenced heavily by the Beacon method.

11. English Words as Spoken and Written: Designed to Teach the Powers of the Letters and the Construction and Use of Syllables and Words by James A. Bowen, 1900. An excellent book.

12. Modern Word Book for Primary Grades: An Elementary Course in Phonetics, 1914. Teaches both script (cursive) and print. Here is a more advanced and comprehensive method by the same author: The Modern Spelling Book, 1896.

13. Reading without Tears by Favell Lee Mortimer (1866). This primer must be used with caution because it uses printed words to teach letter sounds. The author is careful to tell the teacher to spell the words from the beginning with the sounds of the letter. If this advice is followed, there should be no problem. Her religious reader for children, Peep of Days, is also available.

14. First Steps to Reading by J. S. Lauria (1862). This is an unusual phonics method based on a very careful classification of English speech sounds taught in an equally careful order. It would serve as a useful supplement. It is rich in decodable text.

                                                   Recent Brain Research on Reading: Geraldine Rodgers

New Essay by noted reading researcher, Geraldine Rodgers:  The Born-Yesterday World of the Reading "Experts:" A Critique on Recent Research on Reading and the Brain. (also Born Yesterday WP2). It gives me great pleasure to invite all visitors to my web site to read this recent and thorough critique of leading brain based research projects. To see my attempt to draw and explain the "Reading Triangle" mentioned in the this paper click: Reading Triangle. On Sept. 5, 2005, I produced a Power Point presentation of the Reading Triangle which will help you visualize how it works It is a big file - 20 meg. The concept of using a triangle to illustrate the two paths to reading was published by Henry Suzzallo in 1913: Beginning Reading. Miss Rodgers cuts right to the heart of the reading problem in this article: "WHY NOAH WEBSTER'S WAY WAS THE RIGHT WAY." Here is the 1912 article by Myrtle Sholty that mentions the two types of readers: A study of the reading vocabulary of children. Also note Josephine Horton Bowen's 1911 article, Learning to Read.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL: Have you ever wondered how students today would compare with students one-hundred years ago? On June 22, 1983 in New York City, Geraldine Rodgers presented a paper at the National Institute of Education Competitive Hearings on Proposed Research Projects. Her proposal (which may be read by clicking on the following title.) was "To Urge the Repetition of the Ayres' Spelling Test of 1914-1915 to Confirm the Existence of Massive Present-day Reading Disability and to Establish its Cause and Cure." Ayres' book and Miss Rodgers' proposal are published here in hopes that researchers will seriously consider the proposal and the important information it would provide for policy-makers. Here is a copy of Leonard P. Ayres' book A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling. Here is the Chart that was included as a foldout in the back of the book or as a separate sales item: Ayres' Chart. Charlie M. Richardson shows us how the Ayres Scale can be used as A Ready Made Literacy Scale. Here is Geraldine Rodgers' Introduction to Ayres. Here is link to a very nice scanned edition of Ayres Spelling Scale. Mary Ayres Burgess published a statistical work, The Measurement of Silent Reading in 1921 that my visitors might like to compare with Leonard P. Ayres Spelling Scale. Here is Ayres' Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery. For those who care to know more about Ayres work, here is his The War With Germany: A Statistical Analysis.

History of Reading: Anyone interested in the history of beginning reading in the United States should be sure to read The History of Beginning Reading by Geraldine Rodgers. It is available as an inexpensive e-book at AuthorHouse.com. Miss. Rodgers has a shorter book bearing the intriguing title: The Hidden Story: How America's Present-day Reading Disabilities Grew Out of the Underhanded Meddling of America's First Experimental Psychologist. You can read my quotes from the book by clicking The Hidden Story - Choice Quotes. And here is my YouTube clip: Hidden Story. For a brief, but insightful introduction to the two fundamental approaches to reading, "sound" vs "meaning," read this two part article by respected researcher Charles M. Richardson: Reading His personal web is: The Literacy Council. For an early critique of the sigh-reading method, read Samuel T. Orton's famous 1929 article, The "Sight Reading" Method of Teaching Reading, as a Source of Reading Disability.

1977-1978 Oral Reading Research. Miss Rodgers compares the results of teaching the popular sight-word beginning reading programs with phonics-first programs in her book recently published book (2006): Why Jacques, Johann and Jan CAN Read. Research was conducted in several languages. The results lead to her insight into the two kinds of readers. This is fundamental, ground-breaking research. Order Your copy at: Why Jacques, Johann and Jan CAN Read

1981, 1982, 1983 Indictment against silent reading tests and their devious negative influence on reading ability in America: Case for the Prosecution View my YouTube videos where I read all of Chapter 2, "Why Would Anyone in Their Right Mind Want to Teach Sight Words, Anyway?

Phonics Pathways

I have found Phonics Pathways by Dolores Hiskes of particular value in helping children with whole-word dyslexia. It is equally good for beginning readers or remediation. Order you copy at: Phonics Pathways  Dolores has a second book that is great for developing fluency. It is aptly called Reading Pathways It focuses on strengthening the eyes, increasing eye span, and improving blending and syllabication. I highly recommend that everyone read her recent essay on why students are having comprehension problems (It may not be what you think!):  Comprehension: extracting vs. construction meaning.  

  Rudolf Flesch (Phonics-First) and Ed Miller (MWIA)

Instructional Audio for Flesch's 72 Exercises

No book has shaped my thinking more than Rudolf Flesch's 1955 best seller, Why Johnny Can't Read and what you can do about it. The book remains a model of solid research and clear thinking. The best part of Flesch's book are his 72 Exercises. Experienced remediation experts like Ed Miller, the author of the Miller Word Identification Assessment (MWIA I & II), have verified that these Exercises are highly effective in helping students suffering from whole-word dyslexia (WWD). Flesch's book should be in every reading teacher's library. Buy your copy at:  Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It. Here are my Audio Instructional Lessons for teaching Flesch's program. Here is my chart of Flesch's Forty-four Speech Sounds of English. Here is a more detailed chart of Flesch's analysis of English speech sounds, with examples: Foundation for Phonics 26 Letters for 44 Sounds. Here is how Flesch developed his "sound" based reading method: Natural Phonics Primer™ - How to Make One. Here is my outline of Flesch's instructions for teaching his phonics method: Natural Phonics Primer™: How to Teach It. You can see the contents with this Natural Phonics Primer™ List of Exercises. For those who want to teach Flesch's 72 Exercises to whole classes of students here is my Natural Phonics Primer™ with Blend Phonics. For a progress chart, click on: Natural Phonics Primer™ Progress Chart. Here is a Certificate of Completion that I made for the Natural Phonics Primer™. On 9/23/06, I published the Natural Phonics Primer™ Phonograms. Natural Phonics Primer™ Phonogram Chart. Flesch also published the his 72 Exercises in a separate book in 1956 by Grosset & Dunlap, Teaching Johnny to Read. Here are his helpful "Notes to Parents and Teachers." To determine if a student has whole-word dyslexia,  give him the short version of the Miller whole-dyslexia assessment, the Miller Word Identification Assessment I (MWIA I). This assessment tool consists of two lists of fifty words each, a Whole-Word List and a Phonics List. If the student reads the Phonics List slower and/or misreads more phonics words than the Holistic List, they have whole-word dyslexia and need immediate remediation. I am making the test available as of 9/27/03 at this site: MWIA I Instructions and Test. I hope that many teachers will print the pdf file of the test and give it to as many students as possible. Photographs of an actual test are available as a jpg files: MWIA I Sample Test and Sample Summary. The MWIA I & II are available as of 7/22/03: MWIA I & II Manual, Tests, Summary Sheet. I usually give the MWIA II. Click here for an MWIA II Analysis I prepared for one student: Student Word Processing Strategies Analysis. Mr. Miller also has a Sight Word Eliminator (SWE) that can help students with WWD. To view my attempt to produce a small SWE, click here: Great Stone Face SWE I. Here is an Explanatory Introduction to the SWE based on Mr. Miller's original SWE. [Don Potter's 'Notes on Ed Miller's Complaint to the FTC concerning Dr. Seuss' sight-word books.]] Here is my editon of The Great Stone Face in uppercase letters. A wonderful organization called Keepers of the Faith sells a timely revision of Flesch's 72 Exercises (Victory Drill Book) along with a set of Spalding type phonogram cards and Wall Chart by phonics guru, Michael Brunner (Phonics Made Plain). Lately I have been using the Phonovisual Phonics Charts to help students learning to read with Rudolf Flesch's Phonics Exercises: Phonovisual Charts. These were first published in 1943 and are still in print! Flesch recommended the work of the famous American linguist Leonard Bloomfield. I highly recommend his book, let's read: A LINGUISTIC APPROACH. It is highly valued because of its careful phonics sequence and plethora of decodable texts. MWIA I.

Webster Blue-Backed Speller

1824 American Spelling Book

In the history of reading in America, no book has had as profound an impact as Noah Webster's Blue-Backed Speller. Rudolf Flesch in his justly famous book, Why Johnny Can't Read, and What You Can Do About It, wrote of Webster's Speller, "The Blue-Backed Speller was a fourteen-cent medicine that cured you of illiteracy. Nobody dreamed of criticizing it as wrong, unscientific or ineffective." Miss Geraldine Rodgers explains the advantages of Webster's Spelling Book for teaching beginning reading in her brilliant essay: "WHY NOAH WEBSTER'S WAY WAS THE RIGHT WAY." Miss Rodgers' comments refer to the pre-1828 editions. I am presently publishing a "No Frills, Easy-to-Read" edition of the 1824 American Spelling Book, which I consider his best. Except for the personal and place names, the entire book is completed. I made final additions and numerous corrections on 3/01/07. Here is my mp3 audio for for Webster's Analysis of Sounds. And here is the Webster's KEY the vowel sounds and his Syllabary: Vowel Key and Syllabary. Here is a Quicktime movie of the Webster's Syllabary, I did the audio and Elizabeth Brown developed it into a neat Qucktime move. In the interest of getting Webster's method back into public schools, I have produced a "secularized" version which retains all of Webster's awsome phonetic method, but deletes the reading sections, which however full of Biblical wisdom, would be unable to make it past the public school censors, Webster for modern public schools.

FREE DOWNLOAD: I have scanned Webster's 1908 (1857, 1866, 1880) Blue-Backed Speller for you to download to use in your teaching: Webster 1 - 20, Webster 21 - 40, Webster 41 - 60, Webster 61 - 80, Webster 81 - 100, Webster 101 - 120, Webster 121 - 140, Webster 141 - 160, Webster 161 - 174
Essay by Laurie Bluedorn: How to Use Webster's Speller.

Here is what I believe is an 1800 edition: Webster's Spelling Book  It is virtually identical to the 1824 edition I am transcribing. Here is another very valuable site for Webster's Blue-Backed Speller This is older than the 1824 edition, and a bit different. If you prefer to purchase a hard back copy of a pre-1828 edition, follow this link:  Webster's Blue-Backed Speller, 1824. Here is a edition of Webster's American Spelling Book, 1822. The year 1829 was a turning point for Webster's Spelling Book. He switched from figures (numbers/superscripts) for coding his sounds to dictionary diacriticals and added some sight-words. Here is the 1829 editon in a 1833 printing: 1829 American Spelling Book Here is a 1832 printing: Webster. 1829 Here are some sample pages from Noah Webster and the American Dictionary by David Micklethwait.

Other popular spelling books: Here is Dilworth'' 54th Edition published in 1793: New Guide to the English Tongue. And here is the 1726 Oxford Spelling Book. Here is a book giving rare insights into how reading was taught from "THE BLACK-BOARD" by John Goldsbury, 1847.. Here is Webster's "An Improved Grammar of the English Language, 1833, 1843. Here is a Webster Dictionary from 1833. Here is Lyman Cobb's Address to Teachers. Here is Cobb's New Spelling Book (1842) Here is The Pronouncing Spelling Book (1830) by J. A. Cummings. This book is important because it shows how Webster's Syllabary was pronounced. Check out this valuable 1846 book: The New English Spelling book Designed to Teach Orthography and Orthoepy. Here in an invaluable 1853 spelling book both practically and theoretically: The Student's Spelling Book. Here is Wright's Orthography. Here is 1860 The Scholar's Companion.

School Phonics

Unique, unusual, fast, fantastic, delightful, colorful, fun, scientifically based, and exciting are all words that describe School Phonics published by Didax Educational Resources. The authors, William C. Carroll, and Kenneth A. Lexier, are experienced hands at publishing reading methods for children. It will teach first-graders practically everything in phonics by midterm, like its predecessor the original Open Court. I suggest visitors to my site consider the program for adoption in public, private, and home schools: School Phonics. Here is excellent article by Jann Flury on the program: Happy Chaps at School. Here is my detailed Analysis of the 1985 Open Court Headway Program. Interesting book review by Diane Ravitch concerning a recent book about the old Open Court: "The Triumph of Look-Say"

New Ultra-Simple, Ultra-Powerful Phonics-First Program

Isabel L.Beck has recently published a practical introduction to phonics that ranks with Florence Akin, Rudolf Flesch, and Hazel Loring for practicability: Making Sense of Phonics. She clearly works her way through the theory of reading and ends the book with a phonics method that is the ultimate in simplicity and effectiveness.

TOE BY TOE
A Highly Structured Multi-Sensory Reading Manual for Teachers & Parents

Here is a little 287 page self-contained cure for dyslexia that my friend, Elizabeth Brown (www.thephonicspage.org), sent me on 10/27/07. Toe-by-Toe includes some attractive features that I had never seen before. Learn more about the program at their web site: Toe-by-Toe.

Mary Johnson's Two Sentence Reading Test

Here is a very clever Two Sentence Reading Test you can give your students. I am adding articles by Mrs. Johnson at the end of this test. Mary Johnson was the author of Programmed Illiteracy in our Schools, (1971). Mary Johnson also wrote a phonics based ESL method which I plan to make avilable later this year. [GREAT NEWS: Marsha Palansky, Volunteer Services Coordinator of the International Centre of Winnipeg is sending me a complete set of Mary Johnson's ESL materials. I appreciate Marsha's help.]

Sidney Ledson's Method

Sidney Ledson's Teach Your Child to Read in Just Ten Minutes a Day teaches two year old children to read with an excellent phonics-first method. Visit the Sidney Ledson Institute web site. This is the best method for very young children.

Edu-Steps by Pat Doran

I piloted this phonics program for older students when I taught junior high. The program was developed by professor Pat Doran of Gilbert, Arizona. Her program is called Phonics Steps to Reading Success. It is a fast-paced word attack system for developing and improving reading skills. Pat has over 30 years experience working with students with reading problems. The program teaches high-level decoding skills (over 5,500 words) using transparencies, making it possible to teach large groups of students in an effective and economical manner. I especially recommend her fascinating book, The Secret Club: Why and How We Must Teach Phonics and Essential Reading Skills to Under-performing Readers of All Ages. One junior high student improved four grade levels in only 11 hours tutoring with me.! The program usually takes between 20 to 30 hours to complete. Dramatic results have also been reported by other teachers using the program. It is appropriate for ages 10 to 100. Here is a short essay by Pat: Steps to Reading Success.

TATRAS Direct Vertical Phonics

Every parent and reading teacher will want to carefully examine the TATRAS Direct Vertical Phonics Program by my mentor and good friend Mr. Frank Rogers. His TATRAS Phonogram Sequence Chart is a single piece of paper that contains the entire phonetic system of written English. TATRAS stands for Teaching America To Read And Spell. In April of 2003, one five year old boy demonstrated mastery of all 68 phonograms and 840 Core words. He scored independent third-grade on the 1987 Riverside Informal Reading Inventory. He had a perfect score on the MWIA I proving that he had absolutely no whole-word dyslexia! You will want to read the story I wrote for him: How Johnny Learned to Read in Kindergarten. Here is the Progress Chart I made for my class: TATRAS PROGRESS CHART. Here is a certificate I give the students once they have mastered all the TATRAS Core Words: Student Teacher Certificate. Be sure and visit Mr. Rogers informative web site:  Vertical Phonics. Johnny's teacher continues to use TATRAS.

National Right to Read Foundation

Mr. James E. Williams has produced two outstanding phonics programs: one for K-2nd Grade, and another for 3rd-Adult. His use of nonsense word and sentences for older readers is especially to be commended. You can visit his web site at: WeALLCanRead.

Ernest H. Christman has produced a very distinctive method for teaching reading with phonics-first in "five levels of phonics difficulty." One unique feature of his program is that he teaches the long and short vowels together in "Level One." Each level is accompanied by enjoyable decodable stories. The book can be used as an invaluable sequel to other phonics programs or as a stand alone program. I uses it as a follow-up to Alpha-Phonics to teach advanced phonics. It is the most complete review of advanced phonics rules that I have seen. Order your copy from Amazon: Rx For Reading: Teaching Them to Read with Phonics Or directly from the the publishers (large print readers available): Tutorial Press

The Spelling Doctor: Raymond Laurita

One of the major influences on my understanding  teaching of reading is the work of Mr. Raymond Laurita. He rightly calls himself The Spelling Doctor. He is the creator of Orthographic Structuralism, a new and exciting scientific way of looking at written English. His web site was closed in December 2007.  Ray has given me permission to publish his articles on this web site.  The article "Spelling as a Categorical Act" serves well an introduction to his foundational book, Orthographic Structuralism: The New Spelling. Click on the title of the article you want to read: 
1. A Critical Examination of the Psychology of the Whole Word Method
2. Basic Sight Vocabulary: A Help Or A Hindrance
3. Frustration and Reading Problems
4. Spelling as a Categorical Act
5. A Plea to Restore Reading as a Spoken Activity
6. Vertical Word Processing: A New Approach For Teaching Written Language to The Learning Disabled Adolescent. Phillip W. Trembley. MA.
7. Reversals: a response to frustrations?
8. Understanding the Significance of the Individual Letters of the Alphabet in the Development of Full Literacy. Here is a much faster-
to-download, easier-to-read edition of this invaluable document: Understanding the Significance of the Individual Letters of the Alphabet in the Development of Full Literacy.
9. Rehearsal: A Technique for Improving Reading Comprehension. (Teaching Teenagers)
10. Errors Children Make. This 1967 article is the essence of wide experience and sound judgment.

Spalding Progarms (Writing Road to Reading)

Myrna McCulloch of the Riggs Institute has an unusually rich mine of invaluable information available concerning beginning reading. Her articles are all worthy of careful study: Riggs Institute. 

Alpha Phonics

I would certainly be amiss to fail to mention the one book that I have used to teach more students to read than all the others combined: Alpha-Phonics by Dr. Samuel Blumenfeld. I taught Sam's comprehensive, easy-to-teach reading program for seven years in the public school classrooms and in private tutoring. You can order Alpha-Phonics at: Alpha-Phonics His book The New Illiterates ranks with Rudolf Flesch's Why Johnny Can't Read, and Charles Walcutt's Reading: chaos and cure as one of the great exposes of the sight-word fiasco.  In the school year 1999-2000, I taught Alpha-Phonics to a second grade bilingual class. Teachers interested in teaching Alpha-Phonics to large classes of students in a single school year should find my detailed lesson plans of great value. You can find them at  Potter's Daily Lesson Plans for Teaching Alpha-Phonics. Here is a jpg file of the Certificate I gave the students: Alpha-Phonics Certificate. You can download a set of Orton Phonograms that I developed to assist me in teach Alpha-Phonics to a large class. I have prepared two audio instruction files for the Alpha-Phonics Phonograms: (1) a Long Version and (2) a Short Version. Perhaps others would like to read my Word Analysis of Alpha-Phonics, which I produced to satisfy my own curiosity. I have also written an analysis of Sam's Blumenfeld Oral Reading Test (BORAT). You can order other products by Mr. Blumenfeld at: How to Tutor. Here is a progress chart that a homeschool parent just made (1/26/05) for her kindergarten daughter who is sailing through Alpha-Phonics: Alpha-Phonics Progress Chart. The new version of Blumenfeld's Alpha-Phonics has just been published. If you would like to purchase a copy, please send a check for $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling (total: $33.45) to Sam Blumenfeld, 73 Bishops Forest Drive, Waltham, MA 02452. Please mention on your order that you read this ad on the donpotter.net web site. Here is an article Sam wrote in Sept. 1994 on Cursive First.

Handwriting

Peterson Handwriting: Good handwriting and good reading go together, both should be automated in order to free up the mind for good comprehension and creative composition. The Peterson Handwriting Company has done some highly sophisticated research into process of automated handwriting. Visit their web site at: Peterson Handwriting. They have published a REVIEW COPY of their entire program at: Handwriting - The Complete Program. This is a MUST read. Matthew McNatt has written that, "Just as well-taught writing can help students' reading, poorly taught writing can hinder students' reading." Read his comments on the effectiveness of the Peterson Method at the McNatt Learning Center. Here is a link to the once famous Palmer Method (1915). I like this 1866 method by my namesake, S. A. Potter, Penmanship Explained. Sam Blumenfeld maintains that we should start children writing with Cursive First, just as everyone in America learned to write before 1923. I totally agree, especially since I was taught Cursive First when I began school in 1953. Here is a good link to some old handwriting methods: Nib. Here is the Zaner method of cursive handwriting and a lot of other school ideas from 1921: Zaner Penmanship. Public School Penmanship: A Handbook for Teachers. 1909. Manual of Free-hand Penmanship, 1877. How to Teach Writing, 1892. The Theory and Practice of Handwriting, 1897. This is a theoretical and practical book advocating vertical penmanship. Here is a very satisfactory handwriting method with complete details: Complete Manual of Commercial Penmanship, 1893. Teacher's guide for the Palmer Method.

PHONOVISUAL METHOD

Since its publication in 1943, the Phonovisual Method has proven itself to be a highly effective method of teaching reading with phonics. I have been using the Charts in my tutoring work and have found them to be very useful when used in conjunction with Rudolf Flesch's 72 Phonics Exercises in his book Why Johnny Can't Read and what you can do about it (1955). My success promted me to investigate the historical background of the method and to analyze the linguistic organization of the Charts. Here are the results of my investigation: Phonovisual Reviews. Their web site is: www.phonovisual.com. Here is Caroline Yale's 1946 Formation and Development of Elementary English Sound containing the original Northampton Charts. Here is Alexander Graham Bell's 1906 The Mechanism of Speech.

Right Track Reading Lessons

I recently received a review copy of Mrs. Miscese R. Gagen's Right Track to Reading Lessons (2004). The program would be very easy to teach. It is quite complete, even teaching lots of prefixes and suffixes to help students decode multi-syllabic words. Her web site is loaded with excellent, original articles, worth multiple visits to her web site. At only $25.00 this is a real value. Mrs. Gagen's has just published a remedial course for older students (3/30/07) Back on the Right Track to Reading.

Phonics e-Seminars For Puzzled Parents and Frustrated Teachers
by Ann Ireland: On Top of the World Press

On Nov. 24, 2006, I stumbled upon a very inexpensive ($40.00) and complete phonics program by Ann Ireland: Phonics e-Seminars.

I heartily recommend two following COMPUTER PROGRAMS for helping student learn to read.

The first is by my good friend David Hickerson of 4:20 Communications. One third grade student recently completed Phonics Tutor Frequent Words in less than three weeks and increased her reading level by three grades!  These programs are very complete presentations of the entire English Orthographic System. I might add that all their work evidences a thorough understanding of English Orthography and a solid grasp of good educational psychology.  Here is their web site: Phonics Tutor

The second program is one I have found extremely valuable for all children. I have used it with students in all the elementary grades, bilingual, and English only speaking. It is called Read Write and Type. It teaches phonemic awareness, touch typing, vocabulary, reading, and spelling all in one super fun program. It has special Spanish toggle that gives assistance in Spanish.  The web site is: Read Write and Type  Here is a review and evaluation from the Florida Center for Reading Research. To make Read, Write, and Type work on Windows XP, you will need to download a special Patch: Patch for RWT I also use their newest program Wordy Qwerty for advanced spelling and reading.

Advanced Decoding Skills: M. K. Henry's WORDS program

One program that sees heavy use in my teaching is the incomparable WORDS program by M. K. Henry. I say incomparable because this one program teaches, phonics, vocabulary building, reading, and spelling by instructing the students in the three levels of English orthography (spelling): Anglo-Saxon, Romance, and Greek. The author recommend the program for third grade and up, but I have used it effectively with second-graders. Order your copy at: WORDS She published a very valuable article concerning the organization and effectiveness of her program in a book published by the Orton Dyslexia Society entitled All Language and the Creation of Literacy (1991). I am pleased to announce that I have received permission from the International Dyslexia Association (www.interdys.org) to publish the article on my web site. You can read it by clicking on the title, Organizing Decoding Instruction.  Her newest book Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding & Spelling Instruction is a gold mine of information.  For a most revealing insight into the absolute necessity of systematic instruction in the three levels of English orthography, see the revealing charts by Don McCabe at: Reading by Grade Three. Say What? 

Where to Start

A good  place to begin research in reading is with Diane McGuninness' block buster book, Why Our Children Can't Read  and What You can Do About It. The second chapter explains the four faulty reading strategies used by most students: 1. letter-name-decoding, 2. name-to-sound-translating,3. sight-word-reading, 4. and real-word-guessing. She observes, "Failure could come a early as first grade or as late as third, when the real-word guesser with the fabulous visual memory and terrific vocabulary finally breaks down. A child's poor reading strategy will not self-correct without appropriate remediation. ... Most of the time, a child's decoding strategy is invisible to the teacher and parent. In order to discover a child's reading strategy you need do listen to him read individual words and record each misread word phonetically."  (26) Order this breakthrough publication at: Why Our Children Can't Read: McGuinness Her son Goffrey and daughter-in-law Camen created the , Reading Reflex: The Foolproof Phono-Graphix™ Method for Teaching Your Child to Read. I have used and highly recommend this method. Dr. Diane McGuinness recently wrote a very thorough article on reading for the Reading Reform Foundation in Great Britain: A Prototype for Teaching the English Alphabet Code. Samuel Blumenfeld wrote a review of McGuinness' book: Review of McGuinness.

Just Read Florida

THE SOURCE: A Curriculum Guide for Reading Mentors. This is a 184 page, information-packed, comprehensive guide for reading mentors.

Cognitive Process in Education

Sylvia Farnham-Diggory, a modern master of the science of cognitive psychology, has written two very valuable books detailing the implications of recent developments in cognitive psychology for education. The first book, Schooling,  is a popularization of the implications of recent advances in the scientific understanding of the human mind as an information processor. Her larger work, Cognitive Process in Education, details the history and implication of cognitive psychology for education.  Schooling is in print and can be ordered at:  Schooling. Her larger college textbook, which is out of print, can be ordered used at:  Cognitive Process in Education. 

A Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction

Barbara Foorman, Jack Fletcher, and David Francis: Center for Academic and Reading Skills (CARS)1997: Scientific Approach

Progress in Understanding Reading
by Keith Stanovich

For the brave soul who is willing to tackle a mountain of information to gain a clear and unobscured view of what we know about effective reading instruction, I recommend Keith Stanovich's Progress in Understanding Reading. He began his research with a bias in favor of the so called psycholinguistic, top-down approach of Ken Goodman and Frank Smith. His research led him to very different view. You can purchase the book, and even read a few very interesting pages at: Progress in Understanding Reading. Click here for a link to his valuable essay, What Reading Does for the Mind. Here is another essay by Stanovich, one which has has made a lasting impression on reading research: Matthew Effects in Reading. Here is his essay: Romance and Reality.

Misreading Analysis 
Gives Insight into Faulty Word Identification Strategies and Informs Effective Remediation

In 2002, I began to carefully record student's misreadings of words in order to gain insights into their word identification strategies so that I could design effective remediation instruction. I was influenced to do to this by three masters in the field who had done similar work, Raymond Laurita, Diane McGuinness, and Helen Lowe. Helen Lowe wrote two articles of particular value, one in Atlantic Monthly (1959), and a longer article in Charles Walcutt's book of essays, Tomorrow's Illiterates (1961). Here is her insightful Atlantic Monthly article: Solomon or Salami. I recently found the entire article on the Phonics Institute web site: Phonics Institute. Geraldine Rodgers recently sent me an earlier article published by Lowe entitled How They Read.  Here is the more extensive article written for Tomorrow's Illiterates: The Whole-Word and Word-Guessing Fallacy. Here is a link to Helen Lowe's granddaughters web site: Granddaughter Link. Here is a 1954 essay that includes an interview with Mrs. Lowe: "Why Don't They Teach Them to Read." Here is a research summary from 2001: How Psychological Science Informs the Teaching of Reading. Here is a briefer summary by the same authors: How Should Reading be Taught.

Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of Balanced Literacy
by Louisa Cooks Moats

I am well aware of the popularity of Balanced Literacy in American education circles today. It is a supposed healthy balance between Phonics and Whole Language, as if the two somehow could be made to work together. Rather than comment here concerning my opinion in the matter, I will let Louisa Moats' devastating critique of Balanced Literacy speak for me. You can read her in-depth article at: Whole Language Lives On. Here is a very important paper criticizing whole-language from a linguistic view point: 40 Professors of Linguistics. For a well documented historical intoduciton of the phonics/whole-langauge controversy read this article by E. Jennifer Monaghan. Here is a recent paper by Dr. Moats that is well worth reading: Whole Language High Jinks: How to Tell When "Scientifically Based Reading Instruction" Isn't. Here is Sebastian Wren short article on "Reading and the Three Cueing Systems."

Bilingual Education

I would have to say that bilingual education is one of my greatest loves. My thirteen years as elementary bilingual educator were among the most wonderful in my life. I was fortunate to have been trained by three of the best mind in the field: Dr. Robert Medrano, Dr. George Gonzales, and Ms. Les Vela. They taught me the value of building a strong cognitive foundation in the native language, while quickly developing the student's oral and literary competencies in English. My Raleigh mountain bike is a familiar sight to all my former students who were used to seeing me ride up with a backpack full of Spanish and English books ready for them to read to me. Their parents always invited me in and offered me the their typical hospitality, which often included watermelon, burritos, tacos and a glass of water or ice tea. Bill Honig wrote a balanced and interesting article on bilingual education that you might enjoy reading:  Dealing with Non-English Speaking Learners.   

Cognitive Psychology Meets Word Recognition

Here is an article on "Word Recognition" by Kevin Larson a Font Expert at Microsoft. If your are into cognitive psychology, you will have some real fun reading it: The Science of Word Recognition. Kevin writes, "The goal of this paper is to review the history of why psychologists moved from a word shape model of word recognition to a letter recognition model, and to help others to come to the same conclusion." To me, the implications for teaching phonics-first are obvious.

Interviews with leading researchers in reading instruction can be found at The Children of the Code.

The Reading Reform Foundation: UK has a lot of very good information on synthetic phonics-first: RRF UK.

Test your Phonics Knowledge: Practice Quiz on Phonics.

If you made it to the bottom of this long page, you deserve a little humor. Here is a funny, but sadly true article on whole-language:
Thank You Whole Language.

Susan Jones has some excellent material at here website: Resource Room. Susan is the Academic Development Specialist at Parkland College, Campaign, IL.

Here is an Online program that will let you do a Readabililty Analysis in several languages.

On-line Reading Lab: America - Today and Tomorrow

Here is one of the best finds this year: On-line Reading Lab. Here are excellent information articles with self-grading comprehension tests. This reading practice at its best. This is not phonics, but it is excellent reading practice. Thanks to Dr. John Paul Loucky's who sent me the link.

Here are Flash Cards for about everything under the sun!

English Lab Work by Dennis Doyle. It is for his English class, but the material is very useful.

On Line Etymology Dictionary.

Books Online

Miss Maggie's An Old Fashioned Education is loaded with great material for a great education for your child.

For great site for free book classics Online click on: bartelby.com

Old Children's books can be found at The Baldwin Project.

For over 90,000 books Online: Digital Book Index

University of Virginal Library: e-books

Making of America (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the ante-bellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 9,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.

Pure Phonics for Home and Kindergarten, Burnz.

Phonics and Reading by Van Liew and Lugas (1897). This is something of an advanced reference book.

Practical Studies in Sentence Analysis by Howard L. Hunt, 1919.

S. G. Green's 1875 Grammar of the English Language.

How to Write Clearly by Edwin Abbott, 1890. An excellent expositon of the principles of clear writing.
How to Parse. Another book by Edwin Abbott. A marvelous work.
English Lessons for English People by Edwin Abbott, 1901. This is a masterwork.
His Hints on Home Teaching will be most helpful to homeschool parents.
How to Tell the Parts of Speech: An Introduction to English Grammar. Another book by Edwin Abbott.

The Derived Spelling Book by John Rowbotham