Children (and adults) often learn best by seeing and doing
Watching our Commander-in-Chief read Where the Wild Things Are (HarperCollins, 1964) at the White House Easter Egg Roll gave us chills, even though we had to experience it vicariously on YouTube. We had often heard the new president suggest to parents that they “turn off the TV and read to your child.” Now he was modeling just how to do that. And he did a pretty darn good job of it.
Modeling is something we find ourselves doing more and more in our work with adults. It has long been an important part of Multnomah County Library’s (MCL) service to the child-care community. Rachel Altmann, one of MCL’s library outreach specialists, offers childcare providers a series of five visits, where she models storytime in their homes or classrooms. “I explain that I’m primarily there for them, not the kids,” Altmann says. She provides adults with information on early literacy on her first visit, along with a checklist, “What Makes a Great Storytime,” that they refer to as they observe her reading with their kids. The checklist encourages grown-ups to watch for things like “following the lead of the children” and “discussing unfamiliar words or concepts.” The beauty of modeling, Altmann says, is that adults “see me do it, not just talk about doing it. That helps them remember it.”
Research tells us how valuable this approach is. At the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, ME, researchers in the 1960s developed a “learning pyramid” to show the average retention rates of adult learners. When grown-ups learn from a lecture, they retain five percent. But when they see a “demonstration,” which is equivalent to what we call modeling, the retention rate is 30 percent.
Altmann likes to tell about the time she read Eric Carle’s From Head to Toe (HarperCollins, 1997) and the childcare provider had an “aha!” moment. Altmann had been talking about the importance of involving the children in the read-aloud process. “Oh, my gosh!” said the teacher as the children actively participated in the actions with Altmann. “I’ve only ever just read that book to them!”
Modeling is the centerpiece of many of MCL’S parent services, too. Nell and colleague Steven Engelfried, who provide many of MCL’s programs for parents of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, often read aloud an entire picture book with their adult audiences. They use the parents’ observations to encourage a discussion of early literacy skills and effective read-aloud practices. The importance of talking about the pictures, asking questions, and discussing new words can be demonstrated effectively with most picture books. “Reading aloud breaks the ice with the adults,” says Engelfried, “and as with any shared story, a bond forms between the reader and the listeners.” Both trainers find that this helps them and the group relax and become more open to their information. Like Altmann, the trainers believe that modeling helps people remember the information.
Most of our current parent programs target families at risk for low literacy. Many of these families are English-language learners. We’ve noticed that modeling is a great way to reach across language barriers. It’s especially helpful for parents who did not grow up with children’s books. In their fine new book Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners Pre-K–2 (Guilford Press, 2008), Diane M. Barone and Shelly Hong Xu, both EdDs who work in teacher education, are adamant about modeling. In a chapter on “working with families,” they tell teachers: “Before asking families to read a book aloud to children… model the procedure.” They suggest doing this at an open house at the beginning of the school year and during a parenting class.
We don’t know if President Obama would agree, but we’re convinced that modeling a wild rumpus is not only effective, it’s a lot more fun than lecturing about one!