English For Life®—The Madsen Method® is a field-tested, non-consumable, use-it-with-all
students, non-graded, integrated (language arts skills are never taught as
“Subjects” and students of varying ages may be taught together),
research-based, complete** English Language Arts course of study
(Speech, Penmanship, Spelling, Grammar, Written Composition, Reading,
Self-Study Preparatory). It is fully
scripted (for teachers and students).
No training is required. Its underpinning is Phonemic Awareness
(which is Explicit Phonetics or Phonogram Study).
** Complete means that using
our non-graded, non-age-specific, fully scripted study guide, you will teach
all of English in 6 to 8 years, laying the foundation for self-study in the
first 3 to 4 years, teaching yourself and all your children what other
language arts programs (philosophies) do not, even cannot, teach in 12+ years!
In a rather large "nut
shell" that’s what it is!
Author/Master Teacher, Sharon
Madsen, began teaching in 1966 but soon discovered she (and many others) could
not teach all their students to become
"independent" in correct speech, penmanship, spelling, reading,
grammar, written composition, and reading … let alone tasks that required
self-study.
Hoping to learn how, she
completed a K-12 Special Learning Disabilities Master of Arts Program
(SLD). In 1970-72 she dispensed two
federally funded SLD programs, but the programs’ "compensatory"
standards were unacceptable; the intention to remediate students was
missing. She refers to special
education programs then and now as "handholding, ineffectual, keep
children in ignorance but keep teachers employed and schools afloat
education."
Wholly disappointed, she
began examining “the history of how to teach a sound-symbol based
language.” During the next 20 years, 72
teachers, mostly home educators, joined her (she joined them; both are true) in
examining evidence about how to teach and what to teach. In 1990, Mrs. Madsen began incorporating
their collective research into a scripted presentation so they could teach
themselves and their children (children of many ages and many needs) English
proficiency. At the same time, thirteen
schools participated in field-testing their original scripts. The
Madsen Method® is the what to teach
and how to teach result. To
date, 600 home school teachers have participated in the ongoing project.
Our program is a complete
language arts curriculum. The program
is both diagnostic and remedial; as the teacher guides students through its
scripted pages, they (both teachers and students) identify all “holes” in their
language arts shields—and fill them. It
is the complete body of knowledge we call English language arts: there is nothing else to buy or teach.
The oldest test we could find was standardized for
spelling in 1915. The test also is an
indicator for speaking, spelling, written composition, and reading
proficiency. This test is provided
with the program.
Mrs. Madsen reassures parents
and teachers: "What's in a
student's file is not the most important part of the picture. What is most important is an evaluation of the instruction he has
received!" She says: "If he can speak and hear and manage a
pencil and see, I can teach him!"
Without hesitation she adds, "So can you! English for Life®—The Madsen Method® is a proven tool; we offer it to
you!”
What
does history show? Spelling
is the “performance indicator” that reveals a student’s overall literacy level. Therefore, knowing how to spell facilitates
acquisition of all language arts content and skills. To become a good speller, a student needs to
know the sound-symbol units words are made of.
There are 88 of these phonogram units (a, ay, eigh, th, pt, rh, sc,
r, f, t, etc.). A student should
learn to say and write them early in the language arts instructional
sequence. Syllable eight is a two sound-symbol unit
frequently-used, English speaking/spelling pattern: eigh and t (two sounds
are represented by two symbol units).
If we don’t teach these
sound-symbol units as a basis for spelling, we are asking each student to
remember hundreds (thousands) of word configurations (alphabet
letter arrangements), which is nearly impossible. The solution is to teach students to say and write the sound-symbol
units all by themselves; then use them to spell the frequently-used, English
speaking/spelling patterns through a seven-step, say and write, spelling
process. The result is: the student understands how words are spelled and he only had
to study and apply 88 sound-symbol units instead of memorizing as many as
80,000 word configurations. 88 vs.
80,000! Sounds like a good trade
out to me. The equation illustrates why
our forefathers could teach English so well, so fast!
Encoding (spelling) is the
basis for decoding (reading). A student
may do well in the first 3 grades (the statistical average) with “remembering
how some words look.” But in Grade
Four, when word difficulty begins to accelerate, students quickly fall behind
because visual memory cannot keep up with “new word acquisition” demands. How many words can a student simply
“remember?” Sight word memorization, writing alphabet letters in blanks, circling
letters, drawing lines from words to pictures, copying
words, and using alphabet letters to spell words neurologically puts all
students at risk but also does not equip them for future language arts
tasks.
Phonics’ instructional
demands require a fourth grade
student to spell at least 2 grade levels above his current grade. How well is your child spelling? The test that measures his current level
should be one that is generic, not one that measures only what his
spelling program is teaching him.
Choose an objective standardized spelling measurement tool. We use the Morrison McCall Spelling Scale, which was standardized in 1915 when
literate spelling was valued, literate
spelling that is still the standard for English proficiency.
The
bottom line is: All
students can learn to read by learning to spell! “Good
spellers are invariably good readers while the opposite is not true.” A good speller is a well-balanced, fully
literate student because he can SPEAK, SPELL, WRITE, READ, engage in SELF-STUDY, and TEACH ANOTHER!
Research shows the test of a language arts program’s
efficacy is who does not learn by it. All
students participating in the field-testing of The Madsen Method®
demonstrated proficiency! Why? The program is shaped on history’s
objective, observable, verifiable facts—facts that show us what works the fastest with the most students—facts
that show how all students attain fast and permanent language arts
acquisition!
With our program, all
parents—if they can read the script—can be “good teachers” without expensive
training. And they can see that their
students are developing proficiency in every language arts skill.
This program integrates all
language arts basic skills in an optimal instructional order: individual speaking; handwriting (printing);
spelling through phonogram study; vocabulary development by verbally directing
the learning of his four-member neurological TEAM; correct speech through
phonogram study; in-unison choral rehearsal; independent reading; oral and
written grammar; notebook development; chart making and chart interpretation;
there is more. See Program Description.
This program integrates all
cognitive skills in an optimal neurological order: attention, memory, organization, analytical
thinking, association, and comprehension.
This program is a complete
Tool Kit. The student will
learn each tool's name and use. On his
subsequent journey through the "language arts world," he will find he
has the Tools to perform every English language arts task, plus he will
perceive structural likenesses between English and other sound/symbol languages
(like Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian, Greek, etc.), making
acquisition of these languages easier.
Let’s go back to the most
urgent question: “Why
is The Madsen Method®
guaranteed to work with all students?”
The teacher appears to perform miracles. However, credit goes to the method of instruction. It gives each student a “natural
learning advantage,” using his neurological strengths to repair and remediate
his learning weaknesses, as he guides his TEAM to join together in learning his
language! It is the method
used in early American colonies when literacy was nearly 100%. It did not have a name and was not written
in a teaching manual but was passed on through practice and was described in
fiction and nonfiction books, and essays and letters written during that
time. See Bibliography (H.L.
Menchen; The American Language, 1941 Edition)
Though nearly hidden in
modern curricula, we have unveiled substantial historical information (and our
teachers still are finding more evidence supporting our instructional
choices). We have named the
forefathers’ method of instruction Full-Spectrum Neurological Response Instruction
(NRI) to depict the historical way English was administered,
integrated, applied, and mastered. Our
scripted presentation brings this kind of teaching to light. All a teacher has to do to achieve
excellent, even extraordinary, results is follow this program's explicit say
and do script!
Sincerely,
Joe and Sharon Madsen: Line & Precept Education Foundation®
NOTE: Thanks to Sherry Frattini for editing our
Web Articles and Letters to Teachers, thereby
improving my understanding of the inseparable oral/ written English Grammar
partnership.
We use our forefathers'
method of instruction.
English for Life®—The Madsen Method®
P. O. Box 4298 Helena, MT 59604
1-800-640-3607
info@madsenmethod.com
