How NOT to Teach Reading: Make a Connection

I Guess Not!

Part Six of a 12-part video series showing the flaws of common word reading strategies taught in schools– Moral: Do not teach struggling readers to guess!

Make a Connection – Crabby the Connector Strategy:

This strategy is similar to strategy #1: Chunky Monkey. This strategy teaches that when a child is faced with an unfamiliar word s/he should recognize that the word is connected to other structurally similar words they already know. For example, having prior knowledge of the word round would help a child read the word sound.  The problem with teaching word connections as a strategy is that, unless the child has first been taught how to identify specific word structures, their attempts may be haphazard and confusing.  For example, the <ou> letter sequence is not always associated with the same vowel sound (e.g., Compare <round>, <soul>, <young>).

It is important for readers to make connections between similar words, but they need to be taught how to make these connections. It is often not intuitive.