Reading and Writing–Two Trips Down the Same Street - Summerbook Company

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Reading and Writing–Two Trips Down the Same Street

Did you ever stop to think that reading and writing are essentially the same process just done from opposite directions? Reading, as you are doing now, is looking at squiggles and changing them into words and thoughts inside your head. Writing is taking the thoughts and words inside your head and changing them into squiggles on paper, computer screens and the like. When either reading or writing, you are changing words into squiggles and back again.

Processes like reading and writing are very similar to driving down a street from north to south. As you look out the windows you see buildings from the north side first. If you were to turn around and drive back up the same street from south to north, you would see the same buildings. However, this time you would see the south side first, and the buildings that were across the street from you on the trip from north to south would now be on the same side as you are. The things you see are familiar, but they also look somewhat different.

Now imagine a small child sitting in the back seat stretching to peer out the side window. As you drive from north to south, he sees only the buildings on his side of the street which is the west side. When you drive back from south to north, he sees only the buildings on his side of the street which are completely different because now he is looking at the east side of the street. To him, it seems that you have driven down two completely different streets.

You and the child rode down the same street together, but your perspectives were completely different. To see things from your point of view, the child should be encouraged to look out all the windows in the car as much as he can. You, the adult, need to point out important things such as traffic lights and signs and explain their meaning.

When a child is learning to read and write, he needs an adult to point out how the processes are similar. He needs to be shown what is important to notice and what the punctuation marks mean.

The articles on this site will help you, an adult, teach a child to read and write. Simple explanations in child-friendly terms will help you point out the important things to your child and explain what they mean.

Teaching a child (or another adult) to read is a very rewarding experience. You are giving to another the keys that unlock the knowledge in our world.

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