Reading, How To

by Herbert R. Kohl

Second edition. Previous owner's name on half-title page, light yellowing to pages, otherwise text clean and tight

Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Educator best known for his advocacy of progressive alternative education and as the author of more than thirty books on education. He founded the 1960s Open School movement and is credited with coining the term "open classroom."

Reviews

[Jamie Leighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herbert Kohl writes "If you are in a position to help someone, it frequently helps to remember how you learned something yourself. this doesn't mean imitating your teachers so much, as looking at the process of learning you went through, often despite your teachers."

The preface begins, "There is no reading problem. There are problem teachers and problem schools. Most people who fail to learn how to read in our society are victims of a fiercely competitive system of training that requires failure. If talking and walking were taught in most schools, we might end up with as many mutes and cripples as we now have non-readers."

The book is very thought-provoking, and I haven't finished thinking about it. He believes any reader can teach/help others learn to improve their reading skill. He believes in a natural approach that does not involve constant assessment. A lot of his opinions are probably right. I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about literacy issues in 2014-- even though the book was initially published in 1973.

With the professionalism of teaching, we tend to forget that people learned to read in many different ways throughout history; some were even self-taught. Kohl sees everyone, including his children and himself, as both teachers and learners of reading, and he does not believe that it takes a "Reading Specialist" to teach reading. In fact, he opposes standardized testing, and things that teachers in traditional schools often do more harm than good in terms of encouraging reluctant readers.