All About 1st Step --
The Ideas, Techniques and Methods Used,
and How 1st Step Compares with Connect The Thoughts™

    

Sections -- OVERVIEW

STARTER CURRICULUM (ages 4-6)

ELEMENTARY CURRICULUM (ages 7-8)

SUMMATION


OVERVIEW

I've been authoring Connect The Thoughts courses for over nine years. It is specifically for students ages 9-adult. I authored it for this age range because it was initially constructed for my own children who were ages 10 and 14 when I started authoring it full time, over 6 years ago. Since that time I've written and rewritten and rewritten again over 100 courses, but always for two age groups; 9-10 year olds (Lower School), and 11-adult (Upper School).

Being asked by numerous people to attempt a curriculum for younger students, I authored some first attempts about four years ago. These were tried out with success, but I was so caught up in trying to complete CTT that I didn't feel comfortable leaving it, even for a short time, to author younger courses. However what did become clear to me was that I had some interesting ideas as to how to educate younger students...and that, to work, they would require different techniques than CTT courses.

Earlier this year (2008), having completed CTT sufficiently that I feel it's all there, I was again confronted with requests for courses for younger students. I knew I had made a start, but had forgotten what specifically I had done, so I reviewed the courses authored four years earlier. I was surprised to find as much done as I did. I was horrified when I realized how much farther I had to go.

For years, I had been developing unique techniques for CTT that would powerfully assist the student and enable them to understand materials usually considered too difficult for their age group. One of the first things I realized in looking at the courses I'd started writing for students ages 4-6 was that almost none of the techniques I'd developed for CTT were going to work for younger students. The educational goals were different, so the techniques used were going to need to be different.

The goal of Upper School was to provide what today is generally considered a university-level (or better) education in many areas, while developing the student's ability to think and evaluate for himself. I believe that the Upper School curriculum accomplishes this, as you can see from some of the success stories on our site, connectthethoughts.net.

The goal of Lower School was to develop the student's literacy and ability to evaluate information to the point where he or she is prepared for the work in Upper School, while offering them lots of interesting and coordinated information. Again, I believe the Lower School curriculum has proven effective at achieving its goal.

But the goals for 1st Step (curriculum for ages 4 -8) are quite different.

First of all, I realized that for ages 4-6, we might be dealing with many pre-literate students. To do CTT requires fairly good literacy on the student's part, though the courses work every day to increase vocabulary. I knew that a younger curriculum would need to help the student arrive at a level of literacy where Lower School became accessible and possible. This meant that Job One for 1st Step curriculum was to develop literacy, yet 4-6 year olds are often pre -literate. They had to be provided a hands-on, exciting educational experience that would broaden their horizons and move them toward literacy.

On the other hand, usually 7-8 year olds are not pre-literate, they are in the process of developing literacy. I knew we needed to do everything in our power to encourage that development, while providing a more demanding hands-on experience for this tough age group.

Briefly, this told me that we needed TWO sets of all-new techniques, one for ages 4-6 (which we call "Starter Curriculum"); and another we call "Elementary Curriculum" (for ages 7-8).

I went to work, and here's what I came up with.

STARTER COURSES (Ages 4-6, pre-literate)

Who Uses Starter Study Guides

I realized that Starter courses would need to be Teacher (tutor/parent) intensive, as the students were pre-literate and very young. The technique used in CTT of authoring courses with step-by-step lesson plans read and followed by THE STUDENT were not going to work for this age group. Yet, I wanted to provide a step-by-step set of lesson plans which would result in real educational gains (and fun) for the student, and finished solutions for the parent or tutor.

If the student wasn't going to read the instructions, then the Teacher would have to. This meant the step-by-step instructions would have to give the Teacher everything needed to create an educational experience for the student (or students). These study guides are for the teacher's direct use and not the student's.

Scripted Study Guides

This led me to a happy realization. You see, I'm a playwright by profession. I realized what was needed for Starter level was a combination of two things...a step-by-step lesson plan for each day and subject of study...that included a SCRIPT in every lesson plan. I realized I'd need to provide a word-by-word script for the Teacher to read the information to the students. And I knew I could do that.

Hands-on Action-Based

It also became clear that we could not teach science, history, creative writing or living your life courses (which help the student with basic life skills) to 4-6 year olds without finding ways of turning every new idea into action. My feeling was that if the student could experience the information, and not only be told it, they would be far more likely to see its value and to retain it, even at a very young age. So every lesson is filled with structured things to do, using the ideas and information offered in the Teacher's script. These allow the young student to experience and evaluate the information from a perspective appropriate to their age.

Starter Creative Writing

At the Starter level, Creative Writing presented a challenge, of course. Gradually it became clear that what was needed was the simplest possible starting point. In this, the Upper School materials came slightly to the rescue. There is nothing more basic to writing than "what is a word". We use words to describe everything we see, experience, think, know or understand. Knowing this, I had a good starting point for the youngest students, age 4-6, one that worked with limited literacy skills.

This is a teacher intensive level, in fact, the most teacher intensive in all our curricula. The student who cannot write is going to dictate his creations, and gradually take over writing them as he/she progresses through the three years of available courses. The goal is to let the student create unhampered by their literacy limitations! There is no reason why literacy difficulties should stop a student from exercising their creative muscles. And seeing their stories in writing (dictated to and printed by the teacher) can only encourage them to want to do the writing themselves. Or course, a smart tutor will follow the instructions in the courses and gradually turn over the actual work of writing words down to the student.

Starter Reading

And yet, it was also clear that these young students had to learn to read. There are an infinite number of reading programs out there, but they are nearly all based on phonics. I am not going to say that phonics is a poor way to teach a child to read, it has its definite values. But we all know that for nearly every rule in phonics for English, there are many exceptions which somewhat render phonics ineffective as a tool. English is a mutt language, and is the combination of many other earlier languages, borrowing words shamelessly. These languages each had their own rules of pronunciation, and they often do not align with phonics. This factor alone can make English a very hard language to learn.

I did not learn to read through phonics, and I have read very well since age seven. I learned through what I call "word identification". I was asked in 1st grade by my wonderful teacher to go through Webster's Dictionary with her, word by word, aloud. I did, and I learned to look at a word, pronounce it correctly, and remember how it was pronounced and what it meant. I did this with thousands of words that year. By the end of a year that started out with my nearly complete inability to read, I was reading nearly 1000 words a minute. (I was tested, though I guess it probably sounds ridiculous.)

In developing the Starter and Elementary Reading Programs, I "back-engineered" how I learned, and developed a new way for parents and teachers everywhere to teach via word identification. Again, I am not suggesting anyone throw away their phonics program! I am saying that the method presented in 1st Step's Reading Program, used accurately, will result in a student whose literacy should improve quickly. It worked for me, and here it is far more detailed and "user friendly" than how my teacher and I did it, 45 years ago.

Starter Testing

Another significant difference between this level and all the other levels we offer is that Starter has no tests. Not a one. Why on Earth would anyone give a four year old, or even a six year old a test, other than to compare their progress to other students their age? And why should anyone really care how one child compares to another in this or any other regard?

Every child is special and unique. That is actually how most parents want it to be, which is for the best because that is HOW IT IS! Most of us know how particular and special our children are. All children develop in their own way and at their own speed. Every child learns certain things well, and other things with a certain amount of struggle (if at all). Every child has areas of interest they naturally gravitate to and excel in. If tested in their area of interest, they are going to do well. If tested in an area of non-interest, they will not do well. Interest is largely the determining factor of a success or failure in any activity, and interest can only be enhanced (or killed) by teaching techniques, or enforcement techniques, or anything else. Interest is the senior factor in a student's progress, and by this, I mean the interests of the student, not the state or the tutor or the parent.

No test can ever tell you anything other than one of three things: 1) How a student compares with other students in their ability to recall pre-selected and limited data; 2) What he did or did not learn out of a pre-designed body of information, and 3) What skills or understandings a student has acquired based on studies. This first sort of testing is nonsense, for all the reasons described above. Besides, memorization itself is not learning because to learn, information must be more than memorized -- it must be understood and evaluated.

The second sort of test has value, but not for a student who is very young. A body of information to a four year old is useless without practical, hands-on usages. The only tests that matter to this young group is "how are they doing". Are they gaining control over their environment? Are they experiencing life as a wonderful thing, one that is increasingly comprehensible?

So Starter "tests" are buried inside every exercise in every lesson plan! We ask the student to take the information presented in the simplest of terms in the "script" read to them by the teacher, and to do-do-do! In a structured, detailed approach, the student uses everything taught to them. At this level, we present learning as an experiential pursuit.

Starter History

As is true in CTT, I determined to begin the student's experience in History with a sequential accounting. History is best learned (as history ) in order. But we are dealing with pre-literate students in Starter who have no real concept of "hundreds of years", much less thousands. A barrage of famous names and events and places and such seemed too difficult and pointless an approach for the age group.

What was determined instead was to build each history course around a period of human history, or a civilization, delivered in sequence as they occurred. For each era or civilization, the central contributions to human existence would be studied and experienced. In this way, the student's appreciation for the past and how it created the present would be developed alongside an understanding of history.

This also allows the student a lot of hands-on fun, using historical ideas and accomplishments as the impetus for exercises. The key was to take central historical concepts and turn them into focused activities. This keeps the student in action while learning.

Starter Living Your Life Courses

Finally, the "Living Your Life" courses, an experiment successfully begun four years ago. Educating children of such a young age seemed pointless to me without providing them ideas and experiences which would increase their control over the environment and improve their chances for survival.

Children this age are often uninformed when it comes to the most basic survival techniques...what to do when you get lost; how to be safe when playing; how to be safe around cars and streets; how to be safe at home; what to do when someone around them is hurt.

I realize that it is largely a parent's job to teach a child these things. That said, we all live in a very busy world, and sometimes even important jobs slip through the cracks. What's more, it is a school's job to teach a child how to be safe in the highly social environment that is school. But home schoolers don't go to school, and they still need to master these skills. What's more, it seemed upon review that schools, many having a less than stellar track record in the area of safety, could use a little help. And as 1st Step was clearly going to be "hands on" curriculum, it seemed well-suited as a tool to teach children hands-on survival skills in a creative manner.

Starter Summary

Starter curriculum is for pre-literate students. The Teacher has a step-by-step lesson plan in hand, follows the steps, reads aloud materials to the students (and is read to as a part of the reading program in a most unique way...), and guides the students as they experience the information in many creative ways. Tests are passed every hour, and they are essentially "can you understand this information and use it?"

Starter courses require few if any outside study materials. Each course can stand alone and is self-contained, allowing a parent to easily and effectively use them to "fill in gaps" in their student's educational needs. But we think our curriculum works best when used in its entirety, as the methods used and materials presented are coordinated, and compliment each other in ways that strongly enhance the educational experience.

ELEMENTARY (Ages 7-8, beginning literate)

It was very clear that Elementary curriculum required different goals than Starter, and so required yet again different techniques.

How To Get Ages 7-8 Reading Well?

First and foremost as a goal at this level, literacy must be developed. The Reading Program is very effective at this level, but I knew we had to offer something in every lesson plan in every subject that would improve the student's ability to read. So the first decision made was to take the idea of what in Starter was "script", those sections read to the student, and in the Elementary program have those entries (with more information and slightly tougher vocabulary than is Starter) read aloud by the student to the teacher. This reverses the mechanics from Starter to Elementary. This demands of the student that he/she read every hour, and provides the teacher a real indication of daily progress.

This technique also serves to start to unwed the student from a chronic need for the assistance of a tutor. Yes, Elementary is still teacher-intensive, as is Starter. But it is less so than Starter, and increasingly so. A purpose of Elementary is to prepare the student for Lower School, where he is provided far more responsibility and less guidance. In this way, Elementary acts as a bridge into Lower School, while providing an education in and of itself. This was a constant focus in the development of Elementary.

Taking this approach meant that almost every lesson in every subject required a carefully authored article able to be read by a student who is developing literacy skills. This also meant that some difficult concepts had to be expressed in simple language. And it meant I could borrow one technique from CTT -- I could define some of the important or "difficult" words before the student read the materials. Though this was a lot of work, it was clear it had to be done for Elementary to approach the desired result - to have Elementary curriculum serve as a literacy bridge into Lower School, and to be able to use it to improve any student's literacy, whether they are moving into CTT or not.

Reading Program

The Reading Program for 1st Step was designed (as described above) as an answer for the student who either reads poorly or not at all, or who wants to seriously improve their ability to read, even if it is good. The program increases vocabulary rapidly, and is based entirely on the principle of word identification. Given the goal of Elementary level curriculum, the Reading Program stands at the core of what needs to be accomplished. It is designed to work equally well with remedial, average, or advanced readers, and is certainly unique in that regard!

Grammar, Reading and Creative Writing -- A New Approach

Since Elementary deals with literacy, I was also forced to approach a subject I'd avoided to that point, grammar. Dealing with literacy, I could hardly avoid grammar any longer. But how could 1st Step teach grammar essentials in a creative manner and without having to author dedicated courses in grammar? After all, there are plenty of grammar courses out there and no one is trying to reinvent the wheel. (That's why we don't offer mathematics. There are too many good programs in math out there.) We're pretty motivated to keep the number of subjects offered and hours of study required limited through a careful integration of subjects.

Creative Writing was the first curriculum offered in Connect The Thoughts. It was never built to teach grammar, and in fact we ask teachers and parents to please not correct their student's grammatical errors in their work. Our Creative Writing Courses have always been built around an unusual idea...that a non-critical-approach to art is required for a student to feel safe enough to express themselves in artistic terms. There were many success stories that proved this approach was the right one.

Still, for ages 7-8, as it had been determined that literacy was going to be the key, it was clear that some essential grammatical rules would need to be taught. Staring at Creative Writing a while, it finally occurred to me that I could design Elementary Creative Writing in a completely novel way, an approach which would USE grammatical concepts as the springboard for Creative Writing exercises.

Words, as mentioned earlier, are the "basic" in writing, and words are categorized in usage. There are nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. It occurred to me that I could teach the student what a "noun" was (as an example), and then provide them numerous creative writing exercises using nouns and built around the definition of "noun".

Elementary Living Your Life

As does Starter, Living Your Life teaches the student essential skills. But the skills taught are age-appropriate. At ages 7-8, the student is in a far more "social" environment, and must take more responsibility for his own well-being.

The LYL courses at this level deal with skills and understandings no 7-8 year old should be without. An example of the subjects covered includes first semester studies such as what is time and how to best use it, organizational skills, how to do research, and the uses of money (information which is amplified in history courses). The skills developed will be used by the student nearly every day of their lives.

As is the case with Starter, LYL courses are experiential in nature. The student is provided information and then asked to use it in structured exercises. However, the skills and subjects covered in Elementary are for the more "worldly" age group of 7-8 year olds.

Elementary History

CTT Upper School History is broken into two waves. The first wave (9 courses, at least 3 years of study) teaches history and related subjects in sequence, as does Lower School History. (Upper is far more detailed than Lower School.) Then two additional courses act as the "second wave", considered a "Master's" level of study in CTT. These deal with a summation of history's lessons, and with "Sociology" as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary: The analysis of a social institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole.

Starter History does the same sort of thing (in the simplest possible way) as Lower and Upper School History. Elementary is structured to do what the Upper School Master's courses do. In a hands-on way, they teach the student about the big ideas that drive history and modern life. First semester subjects include intensive studies of what is history, the history of religion, politics, economics and technology. Future semesters will deal with the great civilizations, leaders, and artists, and their accomplishments.

Every lesson in Elementary History revolves around one important idea to be learned from history, and then "objectifies" the idea, giving the student tangible activities using that idea. This brings the most important ideas to life, and will color the student's understanding of (and enthusiasm for) history throughout the rest of their days.

Elementary Science

Lower and Upper School Science deal with large categories of science and their specifics, such as Geology, Physics, Chemistry, etc. But they both start with a Science Basics course which explains the essential ideas and tools of science.

Elementary again acts as a bridge up to Lower School, and actually provides far more details and activity in the specifics of science and its tools. Semester I covers scientific measurements and tools, and categorization, presenting ideas that are clearly defined and simply expressed (and read aloud, developing reading skills). Then each lesson turns those ideas into activities that make them real and tangible for the student. Vocabulary and reading skills improve as the student "gets his hands dirty" using the most essential of scientific concepts. Science is used to improve reading and vocabulary, while teaching real science.

Elementary Testing

Unlike Starter, there are tests in Elementary, as there are tests for students of this age range in schools everywhere. However, 1st Step's tests align with the philosophy of testing used in CTT. We are only interested in test types two and three -- tests that tell us what the student did not learn (so he can restudy and learn the information needing review), and tests demonstrating competence (which the student does every time he does an exercise well, in every lesson plan), We do not condone the issuing of grades. Why on Earth would anyone grade a 7 year old in anything? Tests and answer guides are provided.

Elementary Summary

Elementary Curriculum is designed to be both a bridge from Starter (or early literacy) to Lower School, and (alternatively) a stand alone curriculum for students, ages 7-8.

Like Starter courses, Elementary courses require few if any outside study materials. Courses are self-contained and can be done independently from the curriculum. Again, this allows a parent or tutor to use them in an effective manner to "fill in gaps" in their student's educational needs. But as always, the best way to experience 1st Step, as with Connect The Thoughts™, is as a replacement curriculum in its entirety.

SUMMATION

We hope this article provides you with a clear idea of the ideas behind 1st Step, and the methods used. More can be learned at my1ststep.com.

     Steven Horwich
     Connect The Thoughts™
     1st Step™