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Reading Endorsement - Competency 2: Application of Research-Based Instructional Practices
In this course teachers will scaffold student learning by applying the principles of research-based reading instruction and integrating the six components of reading. Teachers will engage in the systematic problem solving process: use data to accurately identify problems, analyze those problems, design and implement interventions, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and intensify instruction based on individual student needs.
What does phonological awareness look like in your classroom?
ReplyDelete•Phonemic awareness as I understand it is the ability to distinguish the sounds, or phonemes, in spoken language as they relate to the written language. In my classroom it is a daily routine but it becomes a part of the lesson to begin a new spelling skill as related to a new story. The lesson therefore, is more related to phonics as we know it than what phonemic awareness is defined according to text. For instance the current phonics instruction will center on vowel consonant –e pattern. Words related to this pattern will be used as spelling words and are prominently displayed in the classroom in a designated area. Phonics instruction is then related to this rule for the next 1-2 weeks. Students are allowed to practice this skill as part of the daily lesson and as part of their home learning activities.
•Students are also taught to emphasize segmenting words into individual phonemes while reading. This skill was highlighted at the beginning of the school year to teach students what good readers do when they encounter words that may be unfamiliar. This technique has given students the confidence to be risk takers when reading or when selecting books to read independently. As part of the fluency/comprehension part of my reading lesson, students are also given the opportunity to practice the skill orally under my directions and observations. Students get to listen to each other and have become active in correcting each other.
•Each activity does have a clear focus on a linguistic unit that is appropriate by level. To complete this task spelling is used to teach phonemes. The student may be asked to spell words by listening for individual phonemes and identifying letters that represent phonemes. Differentiated Instruction (DI) activities are chosen according to student need. Activities are pulled from Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) website and used to teach during small group instruction. Some activities utilized are Phoneme Matching, Blending, Isolating, Segmenting and Manipulating. All activities are grade specific, objectives are clearly stated and instructions for each task easy to follow.
•I believe that the difference is clear between oral language manipulation and written symbol manipulation. The most recent activity completed during the reading lesson involved blending syllables to say words. This activity was taught as a whole group where students were given the opportunity to say words and identify their syllables. While teaching, oral language manipulation became fun and made it easier for others to understand and become more involve in participation. This same activity was then given as a written activity later in the week to manipulate words into syllables.
•Students practice daily. They are also able to complete home learning activities to complement what was taught in class.
•Progress is measured by the student the growth made during DI, and the ability to manipulate sounds orally to correctly identify words. As part of a cumulative activity at the end of each story, students also complete a spelling test base on the phonics instruction related to the story.
Juliette Hinds
What does phonological awareness look like in your classroom?
ReplyDeletePhonemic awareness as I understand it is the ability to distinguish the sounds, or phonemes, in spoken language as they relate to the written language. In my classroom it is a daily routine but it becomes a part of the lesson to begin a new spelling skill as related to a new story. The lesson therefore, is more related to phonics as we know it than what phonemic awareness is defined according to text. For instance the current phonics instruction will center on vowel consonant –e pattern. Words related to this pattern will be used as spelling words and are prominently displayed in the classroom in a designated area. Phonics instruction is then related to this rule for the next 1-2 weeks. Students are allowed to practice this skill as part of the daily lesson and as part of their home learning activities.
Students are also taught to emphasize segmenting words into individual phonemes while reading. This skill was highlighted at the beginning of the school year to teach students what good readers do when they encounter words that may be unfamiliar. This technique has given students the confidence to be risk takers when reading or when selecting books to read independently. As part of the fluency/comprehension part of my reading lesson, students are also given the opportunity to practice the skill orally under my directions and observations. Students get to listen to each other and have become active in correcting each other.
Each activity does have a clear focus on a linguistic unit that is appropriate by level. To complete this task spelling is used to teach phonemes. The student may be asked to spell words by listening for individual phonemes and identifying letters that represent phonemes. Differentiated Instruction (DI) activities are chosen according to student need. Activities are pulled from Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) website and used to teach during small group instruction. Some activities utilized are Phoneme Matching, Blending, Isolating, Segmenting and Manipulating. All activities are grade specific, objectives are clearly stated and instructions for each task easy to follow.
I believe that the difference is clear between oral language manipulation and written symbol manipulation. The most recent activity completed during the reading lesson involved blending syllables to say words. This activity was taught as a whole group where students were given the opportunity to say words and identify their syllables. While teaching, oral language manipulation became fun and made it easier for others to understand and become more involve in participation. This same activity was then given as a written activity later in the week to manipulate words into syllables.
Students practice daily. They are also able to complete home learning activities to complement what was taught in class.
Progress is measured by the student the growth made during DI, and the ability to manipulate sounds orally to correctly identify words. As part of a cumulative activity at the end of each story, students also complete a spelling test base on the phonics instruction related to the story.
Juliette Hinds
In my classes I never teach phonemic awareness as such. Because we are always concentrated on developing reading comprehension skills, I sometimes point out the pronunciation of certain words, such as:talk, palm or debt and have my students practice these words and others. After reading this article, I relaize that I could implement some of the strategies suggested, for example, use spelling to teach certain phonemes and making students aware of hw the mouth changes when producing certain sounds. Taking into account that teaching advanced phonics is essential for struggling readers, I would incorporate these strategies to my classes in a systematic way.
ReplyDeleteI have in my class every level of students from beginners to advanced Spanish. I apply the same strategies as reading in English. Each level has been assigned a textbook in which curricula is carefully developed to integrate the four skils of language : listening, speaking, reading and writing.
ReplyDeletePhonemic awareness is part of every lesson, specially at the beginning of each unit and students know the procedure for every unit.
Students practice in small dialogs in which the listen first and then they repeat, first words and then phrases with the appropriate intonation.
Students practice memorizing small dialogs and then they have some dictation in which they can practice their writing skills as well.
The more you expose a student to phonemic awareness the better his/her reading and speaking skills will be.
I teach Midlle School ESE self-contained Language Arts, grades 6,7, and 8 all in one class. I have from non-readers all the way to about grade 3.0 reading level. Because we had been dealing with phonemic awareness, I decided to try different phonics lessons with the whole class and not just my small non-readers group. I was shocked to find that the entire class knew very little about phonics. I gave them onset and rimes with the word families, and a little lesson called ten dollar words, which I plan to share with the class. I gave them some time to work in small groups, then we all gave our answers orally. I think about 3 students could do onset and rimes, the rest needed a lot of help. Now, I am doing one or two phonics lessons within each period they have me. I plan to go back to the sounds of all the letters because I believe that most ESE students stay on the partial alphabetic phase that the article mentions in which they have low phonemic awareness. They're not able to go to full alphabetic phase where the child connects full sequence of letters and the word's meaning and pronunciation. Also their brains do not seem to store the words. I think the article is very interesting and completely true as it states that phonemic awarenesss is very important but cannot teach reading by itself.
ReplyDeleteI teach 8th grade language arts with a focus on writing so, I interviewed the Reading Plus teacher at my school.
ReplyDelete1. What does phonological awareness look like in your classroom?
In the classroom, phonological awareness centers on the first sounds of a word. Students are given variable tasks to complete in segmenting, blending, rhyming, and manipulating. These particular students function better in groups and are grouped using DI (FCAT Reading scores). A plethora of manipulatives are used to allow for hands on learning and instruction. Phonological awareness also takes place during our reading lessons (i.e., read and think alouds).
2. Are activities sequenced and aligned to a developmental continuum? Does everyone (students, teachers, and parents) understand the continuum?
All activities are sequenced and aligned to a developmental continuum but I students and parents do not fully understand or comprehend the continuum.
3. Is phonemic awareness a part of your daily language arts lesson?
Yes. During the language arts lessons, students are instructed on what good readers do and how to incorporate those skills into small mini reading assignments and assessments.
4. Does each activity have a clear focus on a linguistic unit that is appropriate by level (phoneme, on-set, syllable, word)?
Yes. Vocabulary is taught and used explicitly to accomplish this goal.
5. Is the difference clear between oral language manipulation and written symbol manipulation?
The difference between the two is not that clear.
6. Are students allowed to practice enough?
Students have plenty of opportunity to practice these skills at home and in the classroom.
7. How will you measure progress?
Progress is measured through phonological awareness tests, mini reading assessments, oral reading assessments, and through an abundance of other activities.
Israel Dominguez
ReplyDeleteReading instruction would be improved if all teachers had instruction on the research base about learning to read, instruction on applications of that research in the classroom, and experience with such methods during their preserves education and early years of teaching.
Preserve education typically gives teachers too little instruction in reading methods and is often discrepant with research on effective methods. Also, prospective teachers rarely get opportunities to practice reading methods before their student teaching experience. Schools of education need to improve their programs for elementary teachers substantially and to give prospective teachers experiences, such as tutoring in local schools or working in summer school or afterschool programs, that will give them better preparation in this most critical of skills.
School districts should also invest in high-quality induction programs to make certain that new teachers are well prepared in effective approaches to reading, classroom management, assessment, and are well supported in implementing these strategies.
Israel Dominguez
ReplyDeleteReading instruction would be improved if all teachers had instruction on the research base about learning to read, instruction on applications of that research in the classroom, and experience with such methods during their preserves education and early years of teaching.
Preserve education typically gives teachers too little instruction in reading methods and is often discrepant with research on effective methods. Also, prospective teachers rarely get opportunities to practice reading methods before their student teaching experience. Schools of education need to improve their programs for elementary teachers substantially and to give prospective teachers experiences, such as tutoring in local schools or working in summer school or afterschool programs, that will give them better preparation in this most critical of skills.
School districts should also invest in high-quality induction programs to make certain that new teachers are well prepared in effective approaches to reading, classroom management, assessment, and are well supported in implementing these strategies.
Phonological Awareness: I think a successful Pre-K setting will make the K student be ready to start reading as early as the first quarter of the school year. Ideally this can happen if they also have the support at home. But a strong instruction and excellent reading programs can balance anything that they could lack if they do not have a great suppport at home.
ReplyDeleteI can compare my two daughters with the students in my school. My daughters went to a headstart program since they were three years old. After they finished the Pre-K they knew the sounds, the letters, the beginning sound, and the ending sound and their ABC's. They were aware of the print concepts, they also play with sounds with one another. They were inventing stories when they were "reading" a book by themselves. I never did anything except read to them when they were babies till 3 years old. They started reading like naturally the Summer before they started Kinder.
In the other hand, in my schools student at first and second grade don't know the letters, it corresponding sound, can not recognize the begining sound and so on. Those students have been in my school from Pre-K through now but they are struggling and the gap is getting bigger every week. Conclusion, a strong primary reading program, add it to an effective instruction can compensate some how the student needs to get them ready to become succesful readers. Even watching some great TV-programs on PBS can compensate the help that they do not receive at home, but the lack of the effective instruction plus the lack of parent involvement is the recipe to have a student falling behind.
The great thing about phonological awareness is that it can be taught just playing simple games that make it the work. Sometimes just only speaking to the children correctly is more than enough.
For schools like mine our job is very difficult but with a strong reading program, providing a consistently intervention program during the early years to catch up with the students that are behind for any reason. Providing data driven instruction strongly supervised by the administration and a lot, a lot of support to the teachers can build the bridge to close the academic gap.