Core Principles of Teaching Children How to Teach Themselves to Read:
Effective early reading instruction is based on activities that guide the child from speech to print, from sound to symbol and which move from the concrete to the abstract.
Teach the alphabetic principle before you teach the alphabet.
Letter knowledge and decoding skills are best learned through the child's application of the alphabetic principle using self-guided materials to match speech sounds to printed letters and words.
Freedom to choose activities in the learning environment is key to gradually shifting responsibility for learning to the student.
Freedom to choose individualizes the learning experience for the student, according to his strengths and interests.
Repetition is the healing balm of education. It is the teacher's best teaching tool and the quickest, most direct way for a child to master early literacy skills.
Emphasis must shift from a traditional model of memorization through drill, to a deeper, more permanent learning through self-guided hands-on activities.