Sounding out and reading coaching leads to success

While reading about how sounding out and reading coaching is an effective tool for early readers I got to thinking about how important these skills are for later on. Teaching young children to use pictures and letter sounds to decipher a word is the basis of using context clues to better comprehend literature later on.This skill can be developed in many different ways but one way that seems really effective is worksheets that have both pictures and words and the student has to decide what word goes where(context) and sound them out(phonetics). For example if a student can read the first sentence on the worksheet on right they can practice using pictures and sounding out to put in the correct word. These can be practiced using general cues like what do you know about trains? That way the student better figures out the answer without  too much prompting. I think on of the most important parts of what Cunningham reading said was basically just because you can sound out a word doesn't mean you know what it means. A worksheet like the one below could definitely help see if I child is just sounding out or if they understand what the word says. A student working on number one

may be able to read the word bag but only if they possess the correct vocabulary will know the word is supposed to be log.

Discussion Question: Do you think theses activities could help with coaching?
What other ways can we make sure students are receiving the right amount of assistance(and right type)?

Reading is possible for eveyone

One of the most important aspects of encouraging children to read is making reading enjoyable. This doesn't mean just giving the kids who read the most books prizes or putting them in a special group. Teachers really have to think about effective rewards that benefit all students and avoid making anyone feel inferior. It is also our job to assess students and help them in areas they are struggling. In class and the readings we have discussed that reading is multifaceted. From my perspective that means the activities to increase reading skills should be diverse and effective without being monotonous.  Children could have different activities during different weeks based on where they are struggling. You can alternate the activities so everyone does them so no student feels targeted.

 

 Rather than an extrinsic reward for simply reading you can reward children the effort and thoughtfulness they put into the activities. Really encourage the students in the areas where they are struggling. Rather than "you're the best reader in the class" you encourage critical thinking  through statements like "You did a really great job thinking about what those tough words might mean and defining them" In Bell's article they use the word "empowerment" which I believe is the best way to motivate children. It matters how you present information, children should not be limited on what they can and can't do currently but should be treated as they have endless potential for success and growth. 

Question of the day: What ways can you encourage better reading?

How can you empower children to use their strengths and improve on their weaknesses?

How can you avoid using assessment incorrectly?

Exposure is Everything

Ability to read is impacted from many things from past comprehension of vocabulary to phonemic awareness. One of the things that is most important to the beginning of reading is that children have a real word understanding of the usefulness of reading(Cunningham 30).  This reminded me of one of my favorite Dr. Seuss Quotes.

Children have an amazing capability to record and recall information. If they can be taught that the information in a way that makes it seem important and applicable to their lives they will be even more eager to pick it up(Cunningham 29).

The Jone's article further highlights the importance of literacy starting at home. Whenever we are in a actual classroom we will have students from a variety of different home lives which means they will probably have different literary backgrounds. For example, a student who has two parents who are college professors is probably going to hear different vocabulary at home and have different exposure to literature than a child whose parents do not read themselves or maybe have less education. As teachers part of our job will be to work with parents as well as students. If we can get parents to encourage reading at home then we will have better readers in our classrooms. We can provide tools like this:

Creating dialogue between parents and their children about reading can really help students excel, especially the ones who are struggling in a classroom environment. Phonemic awareness(Cunningham Pg. 32) can be increased by children hearing their parents say words like 'Cap' and 'Cat' when reading together at home. The student will learn that the two words start the same because they sound the same. Reading becomes more and more exciting as the children start making more connections and become more confident. Concrete words(pg 33) can be expanded on as children's interests are targeted. If a child loves cats they may already know the word 'Cat' because it is important to them. Give them the book "Cat in the Hat" and you expand there vocabulary and their interest.

Reading is complex and many aspects contribute to a child's success at reading. Thankfully these concepts can be taught by things as simple as conversations about stories or the words kids hear. Also, remember that sometimes socialization can be as strong of a motivator as parent teacher involvement. If you foster an environment where reading is cool and everyone is doing it then even the students who are initially uninterested are likely to get involved.

Question of the day: What ways could you promote parents practicing literacy at home?
What ways can you help bridge the gap between kids who have had less exposure to literacy and those who have had a lot?

Reading Instruction Done Right Can Make The Student Shine Bright!

Reading can be a very hard thing to learn how to do. Think about it, you learn some shapes are actually letters, letters represent sounds, sounds form words, and words represent objects or feelings or places. It can be very overwhelming if students are not taught to enjoy the process. The readings this week really emphasized the importance of three aspects of reading education: Integration into other subjects, A wide variety of types of reading and reading responses, and teachers monitoring their students progress. It was emphasized that teaching literacy is all about having a balanced class room.
On Pinterest I found activities that could be used in effective reading instruction:

On pages 3 and 9 Cunningham discusses integrating reading into other subjects. These 10 nonfiction activities could be used for subjects like history or science as well as reading. For example, if you have the students read an article about the metamorphosis of butterflies they could then do activity 2 and draw out words like cocoon. This not only reinforces the vocabulary from science, that can be difficult, but also causes the students to create a mental representation of the new word.

This type of activity could also be used to promote different kinds of reading and reading responses. If you are reading for history class(again integrating other subjects into literary education) about the Boston tea party you could have your students do activity 3 and act out the important parts. Activities like this can get pretty silly but they do an excellent job of promoting interest in the material and helping the students better remember what they learned.

Finally teacher assessment can be done several ways. Using activities 5 and 9 can accurately determine if the students are learning what the objectives require without the stigma and pressure of a traditional test. Getting the students involved in their self-assessments can help motivate them to do deeper thinking which is important to learning. You can encourage the students to think deeper so instead of a question like "Did Joe hit his sister?" instead ask "What caused Joe to get upset at his sister and then what happened?" Thinking about motivations in the story and more critical thinking is part of the Higher Level Comprehension discussed throughout the reading.

Keeping students excited about reading is much easier when the teacher works to think outside the box and be creative. The readings confirm that if you make reading a fun consistent part of your daily classroom activities students will read better and enjoy it more.

Question of the day: What other activities do you think could be incorporated into the classroom to encourage literacy?