Let’s break it down and look just at the phonics portion of this monster. Steven Stahl has an article in The Reading Teacher called “Saying the ‘p’ Word: Nine guidelines for exemplary phonics instruction.” In it he says,
Your phonics program:
- Should be built on what readers already know about the functions of print i.e. teachers must use the words and knowledge of print and stories that children possess to teach phonics – NOT begin by teaching letters and sounds and blending those into words.
- Should be based on strong phonemic awareness – Phonemic awareness is essential and is easy to teach.
- Should be clear and direct e.g., show a word like dog in context or by itself and say that it begins with the letter d and that the letter d makes the /d/ sound. This is a clear and direct approach. It should be followed by children reading words that begin with d.
- Should be integrated into the total reading program – Phonics cannot be the reading program. 25% or less of the time in a reading program should be spent on phonics instruction and phonics practice. Use quality children’s stories that match the high utility element that you are teaching. For example, when teaching the short /a/ sound, you might use The Cat in the Hat (Seuss, 1957).
- Should focus on reading words, not learning rules. Effective decoders see patterns that they recognize from words they know and apply that knowledge to the new situation. Less than ½ of the rules we usually teach work even as much as 75% of the time. Pointing out rules to aid in spelling doesn’t hurt but we should NOT have children memorize rules.
- May include onsets and rimes. Letter-sound correspondences are more reliable when readers look at rimes than looking at letters in isolation. In addition, 500 words can be learned from 37 rimes.
- May include the opportunities for readers to experiment letter-sound correspondence through invented spelling.
- Should develop independent word solving and word recognition strategies by focusing on the structures of words. For example, a teacher might explicitly teach readers to look for rimes they know in the unknown word that will help decode it.
- Should develop automatic word recognition skills so that readers can apply their energy to meaning rather than words. “The purpose of phonics instruction is not that children learn to sound out words. The purpose is that they learn to recognize words, quickly and automatically…”
- Should be over quickly. Studies show that phonics instruction should be finished by the end of second grade. Once readers can use spelling patterns to recognize words fluently, it is time to move away from phonics instruction so that they have more time to read and write. (Stahl, S., 1992, V. 45)
It's been interesting, to say the least, to start a phonics program in the upper grades of middle school. I've been trying to maximize effect without watering down what I believe is true about whole language learning. So, 2 days a week, I meet with a group of about 10-12 seventh graders and we've started by focusing on one or more long vowel sounds. We do a word sort or some other activity and discuss the letters that make up that sound. Then the kids read a book that works on that sound either with a partner or with me. They are starting to actually break down unfamiliar words and read with a bit of fluency. Most of them are still at Fountas and Pinnell level K but they are growing quickly. I'd love to hear any other strategies that may work to help these kids catch up and keep up with their on-grade-level peers.
ReplyDeleteBefore I add anything to your question, let me get a little information. How did you find out the students needed phonics work on long vowels? Which phonics assessment did you use?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious then, Jimi, how are we to blend number 4, number 10, and the fact that we're teaching struggling 11-13 year olds. I understand the benefit in doing a reading of Cat in the Hat for short /a/. However, the question: If phonics instruction is to be over by 2nd grade and our kids still need it, what's the best way for reading workshop teachers (general education, not small group) to incorporate phonics instruction with our reality of the comprehension skills that need to be taught during read-aloud/shared-reading?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Joey’s comment, I would like to touch on 4 different things:
ReplyDelete1. Differences and similarities between adolescent phonics instruction and emerging reader phonics instruction
2. Whole Class and Small Group phonics instruction
3. Helping students use the phonics skills you are teaching
4. Phonics Assessments
Phonics Instruction for Adolescents versus Youngsters
I believe that phonics instruction for youngsters and adolescents are alike when it comes to the amount of time spent on it. Stahl’s rule of thumb in number 4 (see above), 25% or less of the lesson should be spent on phonics instruction, is important for all teachers to heed. No matter what age we are teaching, phonics instruction is not the whole program. It is a small piece of the pie. I have seen many middle school “intervention” programs focus almost entirely on phonics. Students in these programs are often given very little time to read and when they are, the students do not read engaging continuous text, they read passages.
However, unlike early phonics instruction, I do not believe adolescents should be given decodable texts. They are not engaging or real. In addition, adolescents usually have a big enough sight word vocabulary that there is no need for them. (Look back at tenet number 2.) The program “should be built on what readers already know…”
Whole Class and Small Group Instruction
I believe that there is a place in 5th and 6th grade reading classes for whole class phonics instruction. I would probably call it Word Study because it implies more than just phonics which addresses the need for differentiation. (It also doesn’t sound like first grade.) I think small group phonics instruction can be appropriate as well. However, I would save it for guided reading groups. In my classroom, I would probably use three strategies explicitly (but based on the needs of my students). I would use Making Big Words (Cunningham, P.), Word Walls (Cunningham, P.), and word sorts. Making Words is an excellent strategy because it is multi-level i.e. you can meet the needs of a wide range of students through it. I would use Word Walls because it also assists with spelling, word patterns, and high frequency words. Finally, I would use word sorts because I believe that focusing on word patterns instead of “sounding out” is more effective.
Note: We have to acknowledge that middle school students have had phonics instruction in the past. In some cases, the students have gone through many phases of phonics instruction. It is important to discover the kind(s) of instruction they have experienced in their past. “More of the same” is not what our students need. We need to give them a new word solving strategy.
Finally, I would use my small groups for differentiated and targeted phonics instruction. Perhaps, I find that one of my low groups still struggles with long vowel patterns. In that case, it would be important to teach those specific patterns.
Transferring the Skills
Do you have students who are not transferring what you teach in your phonics instruction time to real reading? Many teachers have asked me about this. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. For instance, many times the phonics instruction is so disconnected from reading that they do not see that what they are learning is a way to solve a word problem. (Be careful, they might not be self-monitoring. Often times, that is the reason students do not use phonics strategies they have been taught.) One way to make more of a connection to reading is having students do Word Hunts. Have your students re-read something they have already read and list words with the same patterns they are studying. I would also reinforce the learning during shared writing times. In addition to these opportunities, we must look at how we support students when they miscue.
Let’s say that your class has already studied the /oo/ sound in moon. While reading, a student pronounces the word lagoon incorrectly. He says lagone. There are a couple of important methods a teacher must employ when assisting the student.
Wait until the student comes to the end of the sentence before helping him correct his mistake.
Reinforce that we use multiple cueing system when reading by asking, “Have you ever heard of the word lagone? Does that sentence make sense to you?”
Once the student identifies that the word/sentence that does not make sense, help him by directing him to the Word Wall. The conversation might go something like this:
“Which word on the Word Wall has the same vowel pattern as the second part of the word you are having trouble with and why?”
“Moon because it has two ‘o’s.”
“So if m-o-o-n, says moooooon, what do you think g-o-o-n says?”
“Goon?”
“Alright now say the whole word.”
“Lagoon?”
“Great! Now remember to use the words and patterns we are using each time you notice a word that doesn’t make sense.”
Phonics Assessments
It is important that a teacher know the specific phonics strengths and weaknesses of their readers. It would be a waste of time to plan and deliver lessons to teach initial consonants if our students correctly use initial consonants when reading. Here are a couple of assessments that can be used to assess phonics needs.
•Developmental spelling inventory (See Words Their Way, Bear et al, 4th Ed., 2007., for a discussion on the correlation between developmental spelling and phonics.)
o This assessment can be given whole class. However, you do not have an opportunity to hear how students decode with this assessment. You discover their needs from how they spell.
• Names Test (Duffelmeyer et al., 1995)
o This assessment must be given individually. Unfortunately, it is a bit more time consuming.
I hope this begins to answer some of Joey’s concerns. Please let me know how else I can support you in this important matter.