1. The Reading Program that Is Customized for Every Child
Every child is different! We all know this instinctively, but our education system, due to
budget concerns and historical precedent, tends to take a one-size-fits-all approach.
Classroom instruction may aim to accommodate individual differences, but its group-based
instruction places this goal out of reach. But the use of computers in education offers new
opportunities for customized teaching that is tailored to each child’s skills and needs.
The Reading Kingdom has been created with this in mind. As a child moves through the
program, the path they take will be customized to their particular needs based on their
previous interactions. Because of this, each child’s experience in the Reading Kingdom is
unique. You could say that the Reading Kingdom is "kid customized".
You can see this right from the start with the Skills Survey. This is an activity that a child
completes before starting the actual teaching. It assesses his or her skills in pre-reading,
reading and writing. Based on the results, the program places each child at the point that is
just right for his or her skill level. This prevents children from wasting time learning
something they already know (which leads to boredom) or being faced with tasks that are
too difficult for them (which leads to frustration).
Then, all the teaching activities that follow have been scientifically designed to take
advantage of a child’s strengths and to help him or her overcome any weaknesses.
For example, The Reading Kingdom:
is structured so that a child skips over words that he or she can already read
and write. That not only saves precious time, but accelerates learning which
adds to a child’s motivation.
offers tutoring techniques that enable a child to overcome any errors he or she
may encounter with the material. That allows every activity to end
successfully, with a resulting increase in levels of skill and confidence.
as each of the five levels of reading/writing is completed, a Progress Check is
provided to assess whether a child has mastered that level. If the achievement
is sufficient, he or she moves to the next level; if it is not, a set of review
activities is provided to bring a child to the level needed for continued
progress.
Finally, there is another component that is vital to learning which is rarely found in most
programs. It relates to having a sense of control over your life. Children, of course, do not
have the option of deciding whether they want to learn to read. But the fact that reading is
required doesn't mean that children cannot have a sense of control over their experience.
The Reading Kingdom gives them this power by offering optional post lesson activities
where they can decide what to do . This optional component provides a sense of control that
is invaluable in motivating learning.