DART overview
Direct Access Reading Technique
DART
Direct Access is a method of helping children learn to read when the methods used by the school are not working. Direct Access can also be used as a primary method of learning to read, in conjunction with any reading or literature book or collections of literature, or even with stories created by the students themselves (as with the Language Experience program).
Direct Access provides a powerful means of helping children learn to associate the written word with it's meaning. The method consists of having the student create a pair of study cards for each word to be learned. The word is written or printed on one card, and the student creates a graphic on the other card that represents the meaning of the word (to that student). The graphic can be drawn by the student, drawn and colored by the student, cut out from a magazine or catalog by the student, chosen from clip art by the student, or created in a paint or graphics program by the student. It is very important that the student create or choose the picture to represent the word. Creating the graphic follows a discussion of the word and what would be a good graphic. The teacher or guide can suggest choices and possibilities, but the picture must be chosen and created by the student. The word should NOT be on the picture card. (If it is necessary to keep track of the words for the picture, the cards can be photocopied into pages for an "answer key" notebook.)
The student then spends time interacting with the cards, matching the word to the card. The student can use multiple sets of cards to play various matching games. Concentration can be played by the student alone, and the student can play with others in variations of fish or rummy, to match the picture and the word card. In addition to matching games, the student can use the cards to create "sentences", using either the picture or the word for any word.
