Learning to read requires many steps. Word recognition and phonemic awareness are both big parts of the reading process. There are many different types of instruction that aid to both of these areas in learning to read. It is important for teachers to recognize the most practical techniques that benefit their student’s reading.
In her article, “What can I say besides “sound it out”? Coaching word recognition in beginning reading,” Kathleen Clark identifies the importance of word recognition and provides many helpful ways to implement “coaching” in the classroom. She provides many examples that pinpoint helpful coaching strategies to help students with word recognition. One of the teachers described in the article talked about student coaching. I really like this idea. I think that having all of the students involved in helping out with cues that a student is struggling with will eventually teach each student to coach themselves when they are having a hard time recognizing a word. I do not recall my teachers “coaching” me as a reader, but this is something I will definitely implement in my classroom.
In the “Supporting Phonemic Awareness Development in the Classroom” article Hallie Kay and Ruth Helen Yopp defines phonemic awareness as the awareness that the speech stream includes a series of sounds. They also provide many activities that help students build their phonemic awareness. There are activities that focus on rhyme, that you see a lot of in classrooms. I specifically remember doing activities with syllable manipulation, especially the one where you clap how many syllables are in your name. One of the activities I really liked and hope to use someday was the scavenger hunt to help with phoneme manipulation. I think the scavenger hunt is a fun way for students to learn their letters and sounds.
In chapter 5 the book introducing many additional strategies that help with word recognition and phonemic awareness. I loved the idea of the “Nifty-Thrifty-Fifty” words to help students decode, spell, and build meaning for many other words. This idea reminded me of a word wall in a way, but adds more meaning to the words.
Courtney, this is a great blog post! I really found it interesting where you talked about teachers coaching word recognition. After reading your post I thought about it and I do not remember my teachers "coaching" me as a reader either. I feel like this is very unfortunate for both of us because I feel like this is a very effective strategy to use. Also, I loved the idea of Nifty Thrifty-Fifty! I thought this was a great way for students to learn while having fun. I can see where this reminds you of a word wall because it does me too! I really enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to reading your next one!
ReplyDeleteStudent coaching is a great idea, and I'm glad to hear you are going to implement it in your classroom. Nice insights on the readings!
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