Intended to help educators explain an instructional program to parents, this document presents and discusses the following ten statements reflecting traditional views about teaching reading: (1) Reading is a simple, passive mental process. (2) An efficient reader pronounces every word in the passage. (3) When children come to an unfamiliar word, they must be able to sound it out. (4) If children don't read well, more phonics will help. (5) Reading should be error free. (6) There is only one basic sequence of reading skills. (7) Using the finger to point to words will cause a beginning reader to become dependent on this strategy. (8) All readers need practice in oral reading. (9) Children learn best by sitting quietly and listening to the teacher explain the skills. (10) Children are most like adults in their thinking and least alike in their feelings. Material for transparencies illustrating the text and presenting reading tasks to the audience are included. (EL)