Perhaps the most difficult challenge students face as they begin to work in this online program is to determine the correct instructional pace to establish in learning the information contained in our 720 online lessons. The instructional goal for all students, regardless of their background, is to learn any lesson in this program to a point of mastery.

The We All Can Read program is thorough and comprehensive. Some students require a great deal more repetition than others to master concepts and skills. Our program’s philosophy has always been to provide an abundance of material for each new discrete element introduced, so that even the most challenged student will have enough material to access in order to master the concept or skill being taught. However, not all students require the same amount of repetition to learn a new concept or skill, and thus do not need to complete the same number of lessons. Our lessons are ordered so that it is possible for the more advanced students to skip lessons or portions of lessons when appropriate. This document is designed to guide the teacher or student in determining what lessons, if any, may be safely skipped, and the pace to establish in learning the lessons.

Pacing is absolutely crucial. If the student goes too fast and fails to master the information as he proceeds through the lessons, results will be disappointing. On the other hand, if a student goes too slowly, then the student will become bored, discouraged, and ultimately conclude the program is too elementary for his needs.

This challenge is compounded by the fact these lessons must be adapted to the needs of students who span in age from grade 3 through grade 12 and adults as well. Not only do students span a great range in their chronological age, they also represent a great cross spectrum in terms of their background knowledge of phonics. Some students know next to nothing regarding the relationship of letters and sounds; other students with a more adequate foundation in phonics require only a fast and comprehensive review of English phonics. The challenge for a teacher or student at the beginning of this program is to choose the correct instructional track for each student based upon his unique needs.

In order to meet the needs of students who represent such a large cross spectrum in terms of age and background, we offer three instructional tracks that the teacher or student can choose between. The three tracks are not absolute and set in stone but rather represent a continuum of options for the teacher or student to choose between. In the end, it is the teacher or student himself who must determine the optimum instructional pace to establish and maintain while learning the information presented in this online program. As one begins to work in these lessons, he will begin to sense the appropriate pace to establish. When in doubt, go slowly and be thorough — you can always increase the instructional pace, but it is often not so easy to slow down the instructional pace without first starting over or repeating a significant number of lessons.

Why Nonsense Words Matter

But before the three instructional tracks are presented, there is one additional feature of the We All Can Read curriculum that must be considered — the extensive use made of nonsense words in the first half of the program.

Nonsense words (words that have no meaning) are essential to use in teaching phonics to older students and adults. Older students may know thousands of words by sight. Often the only way to insist that these students rely upon their knowledge of phonics to sound out words is to present them with words they have never seen before. The same principle is equally true when dictating words for spelling. Some students have memorized the spelling of hundreds or even thousands of words regardless of whether or not they understand the relationship of letters within a word and the sounds those letters represent. When students are asked to read or spell a nonsense word, they must rely exclusively upon their knowledge of phonics; there is no memory component involved, and thus no other way to be able to read or spell a nonsense word.

Most pages of Sections One and Two in our online program (there are five sections in all) are divided into two parts: real words and nonsense words. No purpose is served by having students call out or spell words they have long ago memorized — in fact, older students and adults who are asked to read and spell one-syllable words they already know will often prematurely conclude that this phonics program is too easy for them. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that older students and adults primarily use the lessons with nonsense words in Sections One and Two of the book.

The two exceptions to this recommendation for students in sixth grade and beyond would be in the instance where students in these grades read and spell less than eighty percent of the real words from any given lesson correctly, or in the instance where students are learning English as a second language.

Choose Your Track

Below are the three instructional tracks. Please choose the instructional track that most accurately describes a student’s situation and learning needs. Once a student begins to work in the lessons, the teacher or student will gain a better understanding as to how the program is organized and be better able to determine the best instructional pace that meets the student’s needs.