How It’s Different

From infancy, the way that all humans learn language is by sound. We hear a sound first. Then, later on for reading, we “assign” a character (letter or group of letters) to represent that sound.

Other Reading Programs
Most reading programs are incomplete—missing key elements—or the programs start out fairly well but break down, leave out critical elements for reading smoothly, and become confusing for the student.

How Language Works
All people—all across the globe—start learning language with sound first.¹ For our infant, or for an adult learning a language, we point to an object. Then we name the object (“Mom! Mmmmooooooommmm. Say, ‘mom’!”). With the word, we are assigning a representation to the object—a group of sounds, together, that make up the word. (In our example, in the word, “mama,” we have two sounds, /m/ and /o/–and the three-sound combination represents the parent.)

Putting sounds together to represent an object, person, or action (or any other part of a sentence) is how we use language. It begins with sounds.

How We Read (Correctly)
When it’s time to learn to read, the first step is to “pull apart” the word for its sounds. The word bird is separated out into its sounds, or phonemes, like so: /b/, ir, /d/.

Then, with the sounds “pulled apart,” we can now assign a letter to each sound—and can “write down the sound.” With the sound written down in the word, we can “see” and “access” the representation at any time.

What’s important is that each sound in any language across the world is “drawn” in its own unique way. Again, it’s how language works.²

When we “start with the sounds,” teaching your child to read is simple—and natural. “Here is a sound: /b/. Here is how we draw the sound.” Looking at the drawing of the sound, we learn that the drawing, or picture, represents the sound.

Letters don’t speak. Any method of reading that comes from the “visual perspective” and teaches that the letter “speaks” quickly breaks down. (For example, the letter “A” isn’t just representative of the /a/ in “apple” and A in “acorn.” It can also represents /u/ in “America,” and /e/ in “Evan.” This is why phonics has so many “exceptions”: the visual approach “doesn’t work” beyond the alphabet.)

¹ Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals physically begin with the object or action, then assign a representation—a hand movement—for American Sign Language. The concept is the same: begin “outside,” and then make a representation of what you hear—or see.

² English is a bit trickier than many other languages because it doesn’t have a one-to-one correspondence (one sound, draw one picture, and BOOM! You’re finished!). To see how English is different—and how True North Reading addresses each of those differences for your child’s success, visit #30 on the FAQ page.

Because reading originates in sounds, as infants and toddlers, when we hear our parent(s) make babbling sounds, we have already begun the process of what it takes to read well. We learn to read only after we’ve learned the sounds, after we’ve learned the words and their meanings, and after we’ve learned how to string together many words, to communicate. 

Because we learn to speak before we learn to read (with learning sounds first), it makes sense that when it comes to learning to read, the instruction follows suit: sounds first. And research bears out the contextualized sound-first approach.^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

To learn to read efficiently (and correctly) beginning with sound, here at True North Reading we learn to read with active, hands-on, enjoyable games and activities. And what’s going on from a teaching and learning perspective is this: 

1. Say the sound.
2. Assign a “picture” to the sound. “Here is the sound. This is the picture for the sound.”
3. Through games and fun activities, learn to visually recognize the Sound Picture and “decode” the picture to the sound each and every time.
4. Practice decoding both ways: sound-to-picture (spelling skill) and picture-to-sound (reading skill).
5. Practice easily recognizing the Sound Picture (by itself, in words, in sentences, and in passages) to immediately and easily, “say the sound.”
6. Add Sound Pictures together randomly (in games) and in words, phrases, and sentences (reading), to gain fluency and confidence.
7. Add vocabulary and verbal/written constructions, constantly challenging the reader to read unfamiliar words, learn meanings, grow in verbal and communication knowledge and skill, and raise the student’s understanding and use of words in all of communication.
8. Deepen comprehension through verbal, written, and game-based learning, for one-to-one correspondence through the discovery of implied meaning.

Another benefit to this sound-based method of learning is this: ALL of the sounds in the English language are named. Every single sound has a Sound Picture. Learning to read is finite. There is no guessing.

With all of the sounds grouped logically, in easy-to-remember Sound Boxes, student know exactly where to go, to “get the sound” in their memories. Reading makes sense.

References
¹ https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00733.x
² https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-01730-002
³ https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-21055-004
⁴ https://content.taylorfrancis.com/books/download?dac=C2013-0-22456-5&isbn=9781315843872&format=googlePreviewPdf
⁵ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1529-1006.00004
All references were accessed November 13, 2019; more references are available upon request.

If we wanted to read the word win, but we added the “uh” on the end of each consonant letter’s sound, then we would say this: wuh, ih, nuh. When you blend the sounds together with “uh” added on, the result is wuh-ih-nuh. Wuhinuh is not a word.

(The correct way to say the sounds of the Sound Pictures in the word win is OO-ih-n, or OOin.)

How about the word bat? If we incorrectly use the “uh” at the end of the consonant sounds, the word would be spoken like this: buh-/a/-tuh. Now, blending the word with the extra “uh” sound attached, we get buhatuh. Again, buhatuh is not a word.

Added sounds make reading more difficult. Added sounds puzzle language learners. Pure sounds are necessary, for fluid (and correct) reading.

That’s right. We’re being “sneaky”—but in a wonderful way.

Advanced learning ideas are introduced with subtlety throughout. In this way, we effortlessly predispose the child’s mind for easier learning over time. The child has seen or experienced a concept that is critical… but it’s not time yet, to learn that specific concept.

Later on, when the more advanced concept or skill is truly “introduced,” the mind has already seen or experienced the concept or skill “in the background”… and on a subconscious (and often conscious) level, the student recognizes the picture, concept, action, or idea. (“Hey! I’ve seen that before! I get it!”)

Our minds are always looking for connections. Often, the mind (working in the background) loves to “find” these connections—and gets excited and delighted when the connections are discovered. This anticipation and “always alert” characteristic of the human mind is understood here—and smartly used in the way your child learns to read.

Because of the early, hidden “embedding,” the meaning of the already-introduced concept (now exposed in all of its wonderfulness) is understood faster and is able to be used right away with success.

For example, with True North Reading…

• The way that the English language works is hidden in the Basic Code—so that early readers learn how language works, how reading works, and how spelling works—right away. (The child’s mind can “get to work” on reading faster—because it already knows the framework for how reading and spelling truly work.)
• Preschoolers see end punctuation and sentence structure cues within visual discrimination pages—so that, far before they use the knowledge in writing in elementary school, the brain has seen (and is used to seeing) how punctuation works—giving the child understanding faster, because the concept is familiar.

(These are just two ways… there are more!)

In reading, we speak the sound first—and then we assign a picture to the sound. The term, Sound Picture, constantly reminds students know how the English language truly works.

Sound Pictures give students “visual cues,” too—ways to remember the letters (and letter combinations) more easily. Especially in English, where we don’t have a one-to-one correspondence (one sound = one picture), findings ways to differentiate sounds that are sharing the same picture (letter or groups of letters) can be tough. Visual cues, along with the physical cues of the Sound Sign, can help students remember faster and more completely.

So why are most reading programs teaching capital letters first?

The reality is this: Learning capital letters first hinders reading. The student has to “sort through” little-used Sound Pictures (the capital letters) to get to the most-used Sound Pictures (the lower case letters).

Because most of our written language is in lower case, it makes sense to teach (and work within) language learning that focuses on lower case letters.

Reading the word “man” becomes a six-step process: “Em, /m/… A, /a/… En, /n/.” Did you see it? Say it aloud. Do you hear it?

Reading letter names first, the child has to then decode the letter name to “make the sound.” It’s a two step process.

Naming the letter first slows reading… actually doubling the work of reading. Letter naming makes the mind work harder (extra) with an unnecessary step.

Here at True North Reading, we don’t learn the name of the sound first—because we want the child to read fast and smoothly.

For example, the letter “m” is a Sound Picture for the sound /m/. Learning ith True North Reading, when the child sees the letter “m,” he or she doesn’t think of the name of the letter first. The child understands the “m” drawing is representative of a sound—and immediately recognizes it as the /m/ sound. Reading the word, “man,” becomes smooth and easy: the child says the /m/, /a/, /n/ sounds immediately, with none of the extra “mental gymnastics” of two-step naming.

The child reads right away.

Yes, the child will learn the letter names soon… but only after the child understands how reading works and is already reading. Right now, there’s no reason why the child should be burdened with the name of the letter (and the “double work” of reading letter names, with six steps instead of three).

Because the Basic Code is sound based, the Basic Code sounds are spoken using pure sounds. The names of the letters are not spoken.

Again, the representative sounds the letters are spoken, as opposed to saying the letter names. So reading the Basic Code is making each letter’s pure sound.

Here is the Basic Code:

There are many differences between the alphabet and the Basic Code. To learn more about the Basic Code and why it’s different, go to the FAQ page here, (and read numbers 19 through 25, to see and understand why there are differences).

It’s proven: Using physical movement helps students learn. An estimated 85 percent of students in the classroom are kinesthetic, or body-oriented, learners—and there’s a growing body of evidence to support the connection between physical movement and increased student academic achievement.^{1, 2}

Movement can also help your student stay with learning sessions longer. Movement can help your child stay on task, stay focused, and stay learning.^{3, 4, 5} Because different senses “light up” different areas of the brain, physical movement gives your child one more layer of being able to remember and use Sound Pictures well. Learning to read a Sound Picture isn’t just visual.

Sound Signs are hand movements with a purpose that help the student remember the sound and the Sound Picture. In addition to Sound Signs, the Lead Card Game, Word List activities, and more have specific movements that can help give your child the best learn-to-read experience.

References

https://tinyurl.com/22bvxpnw

¹ https://file.scirp.org/pdf/JSS_2015052115361287.pdf 
² https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZBkuCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=how+physical+movement+increases+learning&ots=F6fzc6Mvgh&sig=TpcWb6__TfrMQmVwwOCsdwobkUE#v=onepage&q=how%20physical%20movement%20increases%20learning&f=false
³ http://mat2012wells.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/54431635/Wells,%20MRP.pdf
⁴ https://www.wittfitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/10-Reasons-to-Promote-Emergent-Literacy-through-Movement-Active-Learning.pdf
⁵ https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/ycyoungchildren.69.4.80.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
⁶ https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gcshAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=how+physical+movement+increases+learning&ots=Xel-9VNqIb&sig=355tpVhD6ycTTh3LYKRV5eOLs1g#v=onepage&q=how%20physical%20movement%20increases%20learning&f=false
All references were accessed November 13, 2019.

As a curriculum developer of over 20 years, the creator of True North Reading has taken the task of reading and broken it down into each of its single links. More than other programs on the market today, your child gets help to perfect each part of reading.

• Students don’t simply decode; they learn (and practice) the three steps of decoding.
• Students learn to hear each sound, to make spelling easier (auditory discrimination)
• Students learn to see each Sound Picture easily, to make reading easier (visual discrimination)
• Students don’t simply “blend across a word; they practice “finding Sound Pictures” inside of words, so that the mind is skilled and adept at the “interior decoding” portion of reading—before blending.

What’s more, students learn the single sounds, words, phrases, sentences, multiple sentences, and paragraphs linearly, in easy to “more challenging” order—to get rid of struggle, build confidence, and increase learning momentum. 

This kind of simple-to-complex “mastery of the little things,” with “chunking” and “chaining together,” is one of the reasons that with True North Reading, your child can learn to read with ease.

With True North Reading, your child is taught to read with only the “long sounds first”—so the student can read faster, with fluid, easy blending (and reading). All of the sounds of the English language—and hundreds of beginning reading words—have been analyzed for you, from long to short. Reading is taught in the easiest way possible for your child’s success—with long sounds first.

Here’s an example of long-sound reading that’s smooth and easy:

The word run is made up of all long sounds. You can hold each of the three sounds out “forever” (as long as you have breath). While the student is holding out the rrrrrrrrrr sound, the student’s mind is free to look at the next Sound Picture, to “figure out” its sound. With the /u/ sound figured out, the student now voices the next sound—saying, rrruuuuuuuu. And while holding the /u/ sound, the mind is free to think of the /n/. Finally, the student “gets to” the last sound in his or her mind and says the /n/ sound.

Reading the word run is complete. And there were no gaps in sound. The word run was “held out” and “read through” smoothly.¹

In the above example, the length of time the child holds the sounds is irrelevant. There are no gaps. Reading the word run is a success. With success, the child feels good about reading—and wants to read the next word.

On the other hand, reading the word bat is a challenge—because the word bat starts with a short sound. The /b/ is a clipped sound that stops fast. You can’t hold out the /b/ sound.

The correct way to read bat smoothly is by doing what we here at True North Reading call “reading in and through.”

The student looks inside the word first, to see the “a.” The student then “hears” the /a/ sound in the mind and holds the sound there, silently. Now the student mentally attaches the clipped and percussive /b/ sound directly to the long aaaaaa sound. 

So in order to read bat smoothly, the student used the “read in and through” method (see #12 below).

The student says aloud, “baaaaaaa,” holding out the aaaaaa sound while looking ahead to the last letter, “t.” The fact that the word ends with the clipped, percussive, non-voiced /t/ sound doesn’t matter for blending smoothly; the student can simply end the sound (and the word). Again, because readers can hold out the aaaaaa as long as there is breath, the reader can take his or her time to finish reading to the end of the word.

The end result: The student says, “Baaaaaaaaat.” With the “in and through” method of reading that has been taught from the beginning of reading, fluency is easy.

¹ Here at True North Reading, we teach the child to never “hop” over sounds, but to hold the sounds out. Beginning with the longer sounds, the child gets into the positive habit of smooth blending. We don’t “hop” across sounds (e.g. r-sound, pause/silence, u-sound, pause/silence, n-sound). Because “short sounds” can’t be held out, reading programs that teach short sounds first (giving the student words to read that begin with short sounds, such as cat, bat, top, and so on) are actually hurting the child’s “smooth reading ability.” These short-sound words can teach a child to “hop” (pause between) sounds—hindering fluency. Teaching your child to read with long sounds first is critical to your child reading smoothly and easily.

Most school reading programs and early-reader books include words that your child can’t decode—because the child wasn’t taught the sound of the word yet. You’ve seen it before: an “early reader” book with a word made up of sounds your child has never seen. Yet the child is expected to “figure out” the word.

Why in the world would we set the child up to fail like this?

Some research shows that trying, struggling, and failing first actually helps the child to learn more deeply. We believe that, too… for later-on instruction, not at the beginning. Because when the most basic tools for success aren’t given to your child to read, it’s like giving the boards to build a table—but no hammer or nails. We can’t only give boards and then say, “Here—here are the boards only. Go, build this table.” We must give all of the necessary tools to succeed.

In reading, that means making sure that every single word can be decoded.

Here, with True North Reading instruction, we believe fully in never giving your child a word to read where he or she doesn’t have the tools to decode the word. Every single bit of reading—every word on every list, every word in every sentence, and every word in every book—is decodable for your child.

So your child can have success, gain skill, and gain confidence.

The foundational, key reading skill is this: to “finding the Sound Picture inside the word.” Unless the mind can visually group letters together in a word, it can’t decode the word. The mind has to be able to visually “pull out” the separated letters, to be able to then blend the word.

Here at True North Reading, through hands-on games and activities, your child learns to see “in” the word first. The skill of being able to “look inside the word for a Sound Picture”—before learning to blend—is not only important… it’s critical for smooth reading.

For example…
Here is how we read “in and through” the word, teacher.

The word teacher has four Sound Pictures:
t – ea – ch – er

For a beginning reader to read smoothly, he or she goes through the following steps:

1. The fluent beginning reader’s eye “looks inside the word” and “finds” the “ea” picture first.
2. The reader decodes the “ea” into the E sound.
3. The reader “holds” the E sound in the mind, then adds the /t/ sound in the mind.
4. The reader reads “TEEEEE….”
5. As the reader holds out the E sound of “TEEEEE…” he or she sees the “ch” Sound Picture—and decodes the sound to /ch/ in the mind.
6. Because the /ch/ sound is short (it stops right away—it can’t be “held out” like a long sound), in order to read fluently, the reader must look ahead to the “er” picture.
7. The reader decodes the “er” Sound Picture into its /er/ sound and holds the sound in the mind.
8. Now, with the /er/ sound decoded, the reader can “mentally attach” the /er/ to the short /ch/… in the mind.
9. “All this time” (which is a fraction of a second), the reader has been holding the “TEEEEE” sound. With the “cher” held in the mind as /ch/-/er/, the reader can attach the last two sounds to the first two.
10. The reader finishes saying the word, teacher.

For the fluid reader, this mental process happens so fast—he or she often doesn’t know it’s happening. For fluent, easy decoding and reading, it’s critical that the individual knows this process. That’s why from the start, with the Young Beginner and Basic Code, your child learns how to “look inside a word,” find the Sound Picture, and fluently attach both long-to-long and short-to-long sounds in the mind.

Young children can decode any word using “in and though” reading (using the Sound Pictures he/she has already learned).

Young children will move slowly through the process. Able to “hold” only a few Sound Pictures in the mind at a time, the beginning reader goes through the above process slowly. As the reader increases in skill, he or she recognizes the Sound Pictures in the word faster.

Also—with age, developmental level, and practiced skill, the reader is able to “hold” more Sound Pictures in the mind before speaking the word. The reader can actually “see” the “ea,” “ch,” and “er” pictures all at once.

How? As with driving a car, we use peripheral vision to “see more at once.” While driving, our eyes (and mind) can process and decode more than one element in front of us. While reading, our eyes (and mind) can process more than one Sound Picture at a time. Similarly, the split-second process of “reading in and through” is like a pianist’s skill. Pianists can see a piece of music’s chords and melody line at the same time. Playing the piano, both are understood and used at the same time.

Our minds are brilliant—created with multiple level abilities and proficiencies. Across many disciplines and activities, we as human beings use those brilliant levels not only subsequently (in a line) but also concurrently (at the same time) process, understand, and execute a task.

Reading is the same.

The act of reading is not simplistic. It is multi-layered. After slowly helping the mind to see how to process the sub skills—those tiny, first-second-third parts of reading—then our mind can use its split-second processing and multi-layered doing together, to read fluently

Here’s the most important idea to take away from the above: The “in and through” process of reading—identifying the Sound Pictures, decoding the pictures to their sounds, seeing the long sounds first, and attaching the short sounds to the longer sounds—is critical to fluency.

Answer this question: If your computer’s desktop is messy—filled with files “all over the place,” how easy or hard is it to find a specific file? (It’s harder.) But if your desktop has folders, how easy is it now to find the information? (It’s easier.) Finally, if your desktop’s folders are organized well—with like-groupings in 1-2-3, make-sense order and ways of remembering where each file sits in the folder—then how easy is it to find and use information? (It’s the easiest of all.)

When information is grouped well, we can access the information faster—and use it more easily.

When the Sound Pictures of reading are grouped well, we can access (remember) them faster—and use the sounds to decode, read, and spell more easily.

That’s why Sound Pictures are organized into “Sound Boxes”—those groups of sound that “make sense together.

• Sound Pictures are most often grouped into Sound Boxes by like sound.
  For example… the following Vowel Name Code Sound Box has Sound Pictures that are all for the same sound (A):

• Some Sound Pictures in the upper-levels are grouped by visual similarity.
  For example…the following Imposter Code Sound Box has Sound Pictures that all have the letter     “e” attached to a Basic Code sound, with the pictures functioning as “imposters” for the Basic Code sound:

• A few Sound Pictures in the upper levels are grouped by their “kind.”
  For example… the following Imposter Code Sound Box has Sound Pictures that are all vowel imposters:

• A few Sound Pictures are grouped by their location in a word.
  For example… the following Combination Code Sound Box has Sound Pictures that have “end of word” locations.

Every Sound Box has a reason for its contents—and every arrangement of the letters within the box have meaning, too.

Using memory systems—including visual placement, pitch, rhythm, physical movements, games, and more—students learn and remember each Sound Box and its contents quickly.

• Spelling is “Sound to Picture Learning”™: Here is the sound. Now let’s draw the picture for the sound. 
• Reading is “Picture to Sound Learning”™: Here is the picture. Now let’s say the sound that goes with that picture.  

The logic easily goes both ways. And, with the ability to flip between Sound Pictures and their sound, both reading and spelling become easier.

Research supports teaching reading and spelling together: “Evidence indicates that teaching beginners to spell phonetically facilitates word reading,” and games that practice inventive spelling are also proven to “promote learning to spell and read words.”¹

That’s why here, your child gets ahead with reading and spelling together.

¹https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17852/ctrstreadtechrepv01987i00408_opt.pdf?sequence=1, accessed November 13, 2019.

Used in curriculum design, teaching and learning, and classrooms from preschool through college since the early 1990s, the Mastery Seven Principle was created by True North Reading’s CEO Erin M. Brown to help parents, educators, and curriculum designers help students learn to their absolute best ability.

To find out about the Mastery 7 Principle, visit the Why It Works page here.

• Modeling
  Modeling is what a teacher does to show novice readers how to do something they do not know how to do. And according to research, there’s a need in reading both model the physical aspects of reading and the mental processes.¹ From modeling the correct physical pronunciation of sounds with Sound Signs—to modeling the “in and through” thought processes—learning is modeled throughout, so your child knows exactly what to do. 
• Give Choices
  Offering students choices about their learning is one of the most powerful ways we can boost our child’s learning.² Choice also can increase intrinsic motivation and “ownership,” decrease apathy, increase independence, increase competence, help our child take responsibility for learning, motivates to stay on task and engage deeper, and simply helps students to have more fun.^{3, 4, 5} In every single True North Reading lesson, your student is given choice in an aspect of learning.
• Let the Student Lead
  Student-led or self-directed learning “is based on the idea that we are naturally curious about the world around us. By allowing kids to explore, you encourage them to be life-long learners and to take responsibility for their education. Instead of satisfying requirements and ticking off boxes, students are given a central role in deciding how they will spend their time.”⁶ Following meaningful instruction and modeling, when students manage their own learning in the games and activities, with a parent “overseeing,” the student-led learning can empower the students to make real-life connections and learn to love reading.⁷
• Combine Direct Instruction with Cooperative Learning
  According to research, cooperative learning allows students to excel academically and succeed in interpersonal skills.⁸ Cooperative learning teaches differences, increases personal development, and gives your child more chances for feedback in the learning.⁹ Cooperative learning also increases retention and internal motivation.¹⁰ True North Reading’s game-based focus creates cooperative learning experiences each and every week.
• Use Think Time  (build in processing time)
  The concept of “think time,” also known as “wait time,” is to allow for periods of silence after questions. Research shows that if after a question there is a silence of least three seconds, students’ answers became longer, the answers were more correct, “I don’t know” and no-answer responses decreased, and their follow-up questions were of a higher quality.¹¹ In the activities and games, and across learning, parents are shown how to use Think Time to help raise your student’s success.
• Practice Across Time (use “distributed” or “blocked” practice)
  “Distributed” or “blocked” practice is the use of intense bursts of learning over time. Research shows, to master a new concept, it’s best to work hard for a short period of time, take a break, and then focus on learning again.¹² In the blocked practice, your learner performs a single skill thoroughly, in many different ways and with multi-sensory repetition as the key to both learning and having fun. We show you, the parent, how to spread your child’s learning over time, in blocks of games, activities, and practice for single-idea mastery.
• Practice with “Mixed Content” Learning (use “Interleaved” practice)
  “Interleaving” is mixing many subjects or topics and practicing many skills together, which also boosts learning.¹³ Research also shows that interleaving improves retention of new information, increases the acquisition of new skills, and improves mastery of a student’s existing abilities.¹⁴ With True North Reading, once your student has made single concepts strong with blocked practice, the student then uses interleaving to move back and forth between ideas, concepts, and subtopics, to see connections between the ideas in (and skills of) reading and spelling.

What does all this have to do with my child’s learning to read?
Everything. Because here at True North Reading, we’ve “done the homework.” What’s here is already vetted—and intentionally designed for your child’s best success. So you can feel confident that you’re giving your child what’s needed to learn to read with excellence.

References
¹ https://www.jstor.org/stable/20199919?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
² http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/116015/chapters/The-Key-Benefits-of-Choice.aspx
³ Ibid.
⁴ https://www.kappanonline.org/engage-students-give-meaningful-choices-classroom/
⁵ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10573560308217
⁶ https://www.readandspell.com/us/what-is-child-led-learning
⁷ https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/blog/four-ways-schools-can-support-whole-child
⁸ https://search.proquest.com/openview/f78583a350f514f01c9c6ca3f18236fa/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=27755
⁹ https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/coopcollab/index_sub3.html
¹⁰ http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/cooperativelearning/cooperativelearning6.html
¹¹ http://ocw.umb.edu/early-education-development/echd-440-640-eec-language-and-literacy-course/learning-module-1/module-5/Wait%20Time.pdf
¹² https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/science-says-this-is-the-most-effective-way-to-learn-but-you-werent-taught-it-in.html 
¹³ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-interleaving-effect-mixing-it-up-boosts-learning/
¹⁴ https://effectiviology.com/interleaving/
All of the references above were accessed November 13, 2019.