Ardi Summit Kids Blog

It can be challenging to teach children to read

June 25, 2010 4:00 pm admin Kids and Teens

It can be very difficult and challenging to teach children to read, especially if you don’t have any experience with teaching and more importantly teaching children. I have taught kids from different age groups for many years and although I have never had to teach children to read written words, I have had to teach children to read music, both drum notation and melodic music such as vocal songs, percussion marches, drum set pieces, and full band rock, jazz, latin, or funk songs. Many kids want to just jump right into playing music, but there is a lot more to it than just listening to songs you like on the radio or on cd or vinyl. Although listening is a huge and very important part of music it is crucial that kids also learn to read from a young age. This way the patterns of thinking get into their heads when they are little and able to learn faster, making it easier as an adult to recall these skills and use them without having to think about them with the part of the brain that works on real time thought.

An important thing to remember if you have to teach children to read is to keep it fun. Kids won’t do anything they don’t think is fun in the first place and actually give it one hundred percent effort. They don’t realize how easy it is for them to pick up new skills, but as a teacher I know that it really isn’t that hard to teach children to read. Maybe you can tie in something they really like from outside a lesson, like their pets, their favorite songs, their friends, or their parents. The same principles apply whether you have to teach children to read music or teach children to read written words. Both are important skills to have and both skills can be taught in the same way.