Reading, Writing and Ideas

Question: What are children doing when they read and write?

Answer/Quote: “One cannot separate learning to read from learning to write. Children must understand that they do not read reading, but that they read ideas. Children should know that writers begin with ideas, express those ideas with language, and share them in print. The reader begins with the print, discovers the writer’s language, and then understands the writer’s ideas through the reader’s background of experience. Children need to understand that because they are writing ideas when they compose, they are also reading ideas when they read.” P. 456.

Comment: I think this passage suggests the true nature of reading and writing and says it eloquently. The source of both reading and writing is ideas. RayS.

Title: “When the Principal Asks: ‘Why Are Your Kids Singing During Reading Time?’ ” Bill Harp. Reading Teacher (January 1988), 454-456.