Reading Model
Cindy remembers when she was in early elementary school and taught
to read. They did a lot of worksheets and focused on phonics; kids in
her class seemed to do fine with this type of instruction. Now her
daughter, Kayla, is in primary school, and there is a different focus,
more on thinking during reading and everyone working on their own
level. Cindy wants to know why they changed things up when the old
way worked just fine.
During a parent – teacher conference, Ms. Dobbs, Kayla’s teacher,
explains that there are several reading models, or ways educators
instruct and teach reading. Each is based on a belief or philosophy on
how children learn to read.
Types of Reading Models
Top down: It is based on the philosophy that the brain and reader
are at the center of understanding and succeeding. This method
argues that readers bring an understanding to the print, not print to
the reader. In other words, the experiences a reader has help him or
her to read, decode, and make sense of text. Top – down models ask
readers to construct meaning from text; this knowledge is made
from the whole (text) to the part (words). This model does not focus
on phonics and decoding, but instead, allows children opportunities
to read ‘real’ books and make sense of them. Finally, the top – down
method utilizes making sense of grammar and text clues to figure
out unknown words.
o In other words, Ms. Dobbs explains, the focus in a top down
model is not on phonics instruction but rather on getting
students to read complete sentences, paragraphs, and books.
This model relies on children mastering skills through
experience. The whole language approach, where learners are
Cindy remembers when she was in early elementary school and taught
to read. They did a lot of worksheets and focused on phonics; kids in
her class seemed to do fine with this type of instruction. Now her
daughter, Kayla, is in primary school, and there is a different focus,
more on thinking during reading and everyone working on their own
level. Cindy wants to know why they changed things up when the old
way worked just fine.
During a parent – teacher conference, Ms. Dobbs, Kayla’s teacher,
explains that there are several reading models, or ways educators
instruct and teach reading. Each is based on a belief or philosophy on
how children learn to read.
Types of Reading Models
Top down: It is based on the philosophy that the brain and reader
are at the center of understanding and succeeding. This method
argues that readers bring an understanding to the print, not print to
the reader. In other words, the experiences a reader has help him or
her to read, decode, and make sense of text. Top – down models ask
readers to construct meaning from text; this knowledge is made
from the whole (text) to the part (words). This model does not focus
on phonics and decoding, but instead, allows children opportunities
to read ‘real’ books and make sense of them. Finally, the top – down
method utilizes making sense of grammar and text clues to figure
out unknown words.
o In other words, Ms. Dobbs explains, the focus in a top down
model is not on phonics instruction but rather on getting
students to read complete sentences, paragraphs, and books.
This model relies on children mastering skills through
experience. The whole language approach, where learners are
