| The jury is still out about the best ways to help young children become literate in spite of the recent influence of government mandates. In this study, a classroom teacher used two different methods to help 31 kindergarteners and first-graders who were recommended by their seven classroom teachers for reading intervention. Comprehension, fluency, attitude and writing ability were compared. The students were instructed by the same teacher using a writer's workshop model or a direct instruction method, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Comparisons of results from the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile Assessment and the Developmental Reading Assessment found that the kindergartners in the direct instruction method excelled in sublexical skills, but they could not apply those skills when reading a text that was not strictly decodable. The first graders in both groups improved their fluency and were more confident in their ability. Writing ability improved for the groups in the writers workshop model. The relationship between the teacher and the student seems to be the most important factor in becoming literate, rather than a particular method of instruction. |
