Module 5: Reading Reflection

Where does phonics instruction fit within a comprehensive literacy program? When and how would you teach phonics?

 

I do believe phonics instruction is important in the primary grades and should be incorporated into a comprehensive literacy program.  However, I do not think children must have phonemic awareness before they can learn to read. I actually think phonics instruction plays a bigger role in a child learning to spell correctly than learning to read.  The Weaver text referred to three relationships between phonemic awareness and learning to read.  The third relationship stated, “Learning to read and phonemic awareness facilitate each other.”  Right now I would have to say I agree with this relationship the most.  They are a “reciprocal mutually supporting relationship” (Weaver, 2002, p. 316).  Students will be able to learn how to read without the explicit phonics instruction, but in my opinion the lessons don’t hinder the reading process, so I prefer to use them. 

I have taught phonics by embedding it into the reading instruction, and I’ve also taught it by using a phonics program with daily lessons.  I have to say I prefer having the phonics lessons while teaching.  This way I am sure to cover all the age appropriate phonics skills.  There is no way I would have taught the 100+ phonics lessons during my reading lessons, this past year with my first graders, without having access to the phonics program.  The phonics lessons only take about 15 minutes.  I don’t teach the phonics lesson and think I’ve taught my students reading for the day.  I look at it as a separate component and a tool for the students to use while learning to read and spell.  My students have a 45 minute block of reading centers, about 15 minutes of phonics, and 30-40 minutes of reading instruction.  I believe the goal of reading is to gain meaning from text, and I do not think phonics lessons help students gain meaning, but it does help them understand words and sounds.  I don’t remember being taught phonics as a child and spelling was never my strongest point, and I believe lacking basic phonics skills and knowledge early on in school may have been part of the reason why.  Once I started teaching phonics in my own classroom I began to learn a lot that either I was never taught or maybe forgot, but immediately I thought about how critical the letter and sound knowledge was for spelling.  By no means do I expect my students to memorize all the phonic rules because I don’t even know them all, but I do think the exposure to the phonics rules and lessons is beneficial for emergent readers and writers.  Since I have a separate block of time for phonics instruction in my class I don’t have to worrying about covering it during my reading instruction, and I can focus on reading skills and strategies and developing comprehension and the importance of gathering meaning while reading.

I support the separate phonics lessons because once my students have been exposed to the them I start to notice them pointing out words with blends, digraphs, final stable syllables, long vowels, suffixes etc. while we are reading.  I also teach coding symbols for long vowels, short vowels, etc., and I also notice students using some of the coding symbols while writing to help them spell.  I truly believe the 15 minute systematic phonics instruction is beneficial to my students, because I see them using the knowledge and skills they have learned from phonics lessons while reading and writing.  The Weaver text mostly talked about how having separate phonics lessons isn’t necessary, but I fully support the phonics program I use because I feel I saw more results with using it this past year than in previous years when I didn’t.  However, I believe the purpose of phonics lessons is to help students understand letter/sound relationships and how words are made and not to teach students how to read.   

Module 4: Instructional Challenge

Marcus is a student who very frequently miscues by substituting words that start with the same letter or first few letters of the word in the text, but his substitutions often are not syntactically or semantically acceptable (they neither sound right grammatically nor make sense). What possible teaching strategies would you suggest to help Marcus?

 

I think Marcus could benefit from listening to others read, whether it be a teacher, parent, or friend, while he follows along with the text.  This way he sees and hears the word correctly.  He could also participate in echo reading.  This strategy would allow him to see, hear, and say the words.  This repetition could be beneficial to Marcus.  I often suggest to parents to use this technique at home with their child if he/she is struggling with reading.  He could also use books on tape or a computer program that reads books aloud while showing the text on the screen to serve this same type of purpose.    

Sense Marcus doesn’t seem to realize or stop when the word doesn’t make sense in context I think he could also benefit from pausing to answer questions throughout his reading.  He could also stop after each page or so to write a sentence about what is happening in the book.  If he is unable to answer a question or comprehend enough to write a sentence he would need to go back to read the page again trying to focus on the meaning of the entire sentence instead of just recognizing words.

You could also keep a list of the words he makes the miscues on, and review the words later explaining why his substitution wasn’t accurate.  Explain to him that he is getting the beginning letters or sound correct but the middle and ending letters in the word don’t match the sounds he is saying for them.  He may benefit from phonics lessons focusing on middle and ending sounds.     

Module 4: Activity 2

Which NRP topic area(s) or “missing pillar(s)” that Allington describes do you find to be most vital for children’s literacy success? Why? 

                Both the original five pillars and the five additional pillars of scientific reading instruction are critical in a child’s reading development.  However, based on the information I’ve already read this summer I would have to say I believe “Access to interesting texts and choice” is vital for children’s literacy success.  I recently researched the reading workshop model and a variety of texts along with each student having a choice of their reading material was heavily stressed.  If the classroom library has leveled text and the child knows their reading level they will be able to make appropriate choices.  Allowing this choice instills a sense of independence in students and they begin to take ownership of their learning.  As a bonus they can choose books about things they are interested in and hopefully discover some new interests in the process.  This makes the reading process much more enjoyable for the readers and gives students more exposure to texts and from what I’ve read has a positive impact on reading assessments.  It changes the reading attitude from being “something I have to do” to “something interesting that I enjoy doing and look forward to.”  I am more interested in the reading workshop model after my research and would like to implement this model it in my classroom.  I support it even more now that I see it incorporates some of Allington’s “missing pillars.”       

Module 4: Activity 1

Watch the video and reflect on what strategy or strategies Robin used most to help him learn to read.

Robin started out using the green and yellow letter tiles to create words.  I also use these same tiles in my classroom.  He was able to create words in the same word family.  He practiced changing the beginning letters and sounds to create a new word with the same ending.  

Robin was able to find smaller words within a word.  This strategy helped him figure out long or difficult words.  He noticed the word “rat” in “congratulations.”  Then he put the /g/ sound in front of rat and said “grat.”  When he said this out loud he was able to correctly figure out the complete word.  He was using the “chunking” strategy to decode words and sound them out. 

Also, as Robin was reading I noticed him going back to reread when he felt like the sentence didn’t make sense.  Sometimes he would go back several times and change a word or two trying to gain meaning from the sentence.  Eventually he would get it right and was able to move on.  I only noticed the teacher correcting him a couple of times.  For the most part he was able to keep trying until the sentence made sense.       

Instead of reading only words and books Robin was also practicing reading things that could help him out in everyday life such as newspapers, website, cards, and signs.  I think these real-world examples of text were very beneficial to Robin, especially at his age.