Editing Zerna Sharp (section)

===Creator of the Dick and Jane readers===
Sharp created the characters and concept for the [[Dick and Jane]] readers, which were widely used in classrooms in the United States and in other English-speaking countries for nearly four decades before they were replaced with other reading texts.<ref name=NYT-6-1981/><ref name="Communications1999">{{cite journal|publisher=Emmis Communications|title=In Other News: 1927|journal=Indianapolis Monthly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA214|date=December 1999 | volume =23 | issue =4| location =Indianapolis, Indiana |pages=214 |access-date=July 8, 2019|issn=0899-0328}}</ref><ref name="Kismaric2004">{{cite book|author=Carole Kismaric|title=Growing Up with Dick and Jane- Wal Mart: Learning and Living the American Dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbXhjoKvhy0C|date=November 1, 2004|publisher=Harpercollins|isbn=978-0-06-076681-8|page=21}} (Reprint edition)</ref> She came up with the idea for the [[Basal reader|beginning readers]] for elementary school children while working as a reading consultant and textbook editor for [[Scott Foresman|Scott, Foresman and Company]], a publisher in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]].<ref name=NYT-6-1981/><ref name=AmericanEducators290/>

[[William S. Gray|William Scott Gray]] (1885–1960), director of the Curriculum Foundation Series at Scott Foresman and dean of the [[University of Chicago]]'s college of education, hired Sharp to develop the characters for the readers and to combine her approach with his ideas for a process of learning to read.<ref name=GS304-05/> Sharp noted the reduced [[Reading (process)|reading ability]] of children and urged the development 
of a new reading format for [[Primer (textbook)|primers]]; Gray's research focused on methods to improve reading instruction using content that would be of interest to children and develop their word-recognition skills.<ref name=Jorgenson>{{cite encyclopedia| author=Gerald W. Jorgenson| title =William Scott Gray (1885–1960) | encyclopedia = Education Encyclopedia | publisher =StateUniversity.com  | url =https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2021/Gray-William-Scott-1885-1960.html | access-date =July 8, 2019}}</ref> Gary and Sharp wanted children who read the books to be able to readily identify with the characters. They also wanted the characters in the stories to participate in typical activities.<ref name=Tandy>{{cite web| author=Elizabeth Tandy| title =Reading With and Without Dick and Jane: The Politics of Literacy in c20 American, a Rare Book School exhibition | publisher =University of Virginia | date =June 9, 2003 | url=https://rarebookschool.org/2005/exhibitions/dickandjane.shtml | access-date = July 8, 2019}}</ref> Before the appearance of the Dick and Jane stories, reading primers "generally included Bible stories or fairy tales with complicated language and few pictures."<ref name=Gabriel>{{cite news| author=Trip Gabriel | title =Oh, Jane, See How Popular We Are | newspaper =The New York Times | page=C1| date =October 3, 1996 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/03/garden/oh-jane-see-how-popular-we-are.html | access-date =July 8, 2019}}</ref> 
  
Sharp was not the author or illustrator of the texts. As the creator of the Dick and Jane beginning readers, Sharp designed the format and content. She also selected the storylines from ideas that others submitted. Gray co-authored with William H. Elson the ''Elson Basic Readers'' (renamed the ''Elson-Gray Basic Readers'' in 1936), which Scott Foresman published in Chicago, Illinois. The "Dick" and "Jane" characters, created by Sharp, made their debut in the series in 1930. After the Elson-Gray series ended in 1940, Sharp's characters continued in a subsequent series of primary readers that were better known as the "Dick and Jane" readers.<ref name=Jorgenson/><ref name=Tandy/>

Sharp worked with Gray to create the characters and primary readers that incorporated his input and used the whole-word or [[sight word|look-say]] method of word recognition (also called sight reading).<ref name=Gabriel/> The look-say method used a controlled vocabulary and taught readers to memorize the words through repetition, placing limited emphasis on teaching [[phonics]].<ref name=Ravitch>{{cite journal| author=Diane Ravitch| title =The Triumph of Look-Say | journal =Education Next | volume =7 | issue =1 | date =Winter 2007| url =https://www.educationnext.org/the-triumph-of-looksay/| access-date =July 8, 2019}}</ref> Teacher guides accompanying the texts also encouraged adoption of the whole-word (look-say) method of identifying the meaning of words from the illustrations and repeating words introduced in the text.<ref name=Tandy/>