Inquiry Project Questions

Part I: Exploration

1. I plan to focus on how good reading skills correlate with good writing skills. I believe that young children best learn things like grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and organization from reading and not being "taught" how to write.

2. My mom spent a great deal of time reading to me when I was younger. As a result, I've spent my life reading anything and everything. I believe that I learned to write as a result of my strong background as a reader.

Also, I attended a Montessori school from the preschool-kindergarten. I think that this innovative approach to learning really helped me give me a strong foundation for the rest of my education. I'm interested in taking a closer look at the "Montessori method" and how it factors into reading/writing development.

3. Personally, I feel that my experience with reading is what taught me to be a strong writer. Perl and Sommers say that "unskilled writers" are those who trip over "knots and tangles"- but I think that students who spend a lot of time reading can easily overcome these obstacles and avoid this writing stage all together. I'm interested in seeing if anyone else has theorized the same thing!

4. I have some general knowledge about this topic. I know that being a strong reader is something that will benefit people in all facets of life. I want to see if focusing on reading at an early age will allow writers to alleviate the problems that beginning writers normally face. I'm most curious about seeing what studies have been done on this theory and to find if statistics are available.

5. Composition theorists may not really like this idea, because it eliminates the need for some of their proposals. In my view, reading will negate the need for theories on teaching things like grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. I'm going to argue that heavy emphasis on reading at an early age will help students subconsciously learn to become familiar with all of these things so that they are not a problem when they begin to write. After all, in my experience, I can always tell which students spend a lot of time reading by taking a look at their spelling. The only way to really learn something is to experience it- and the only way to experience different spellings and definitions is through reading.

7. My boyfriend's sister Lauren is a kindergarten teacher and she is currently in a master's program to get a degree as a reading specialist. I want to ask her if she has any personal feelings on this theory or if she has learned anything about it before. I'm also going to ask her if she has any professors who I may be able to contact via email about this.

Furthermore, I'm thinking about contacting the Montessori school I attended/researching how Montessori schools work.

Part II: Developing strong reading skills in young children will help them to become accomplished writers because it will subconsciously teach them what constitutes "good writing" and therefore help them to avoid the struggles that "unskilled writers" usually have.