Module+5

1. What does the research say about the topic? JM: Everyone agrees that phonics needs to be taught. Children need cognitive clarity about what they are learning, and they must be engaged. Phonics instruction must be well organized and effcient. The instruction needs to be as multifaceted and multileveled as possible to help all types of learners. Phonics instruction should not take up more that 1/4 of your reading/language arts time. Lynn: It is also important to relate learning to what they already know. That is why I like the Words You Know program that is discussed in the chapter. Using words that a child already knows as a means for teaching more words is a method that is more likely to "stick" than teaching abstract spelling rules.

LH: JM, you wrote such clean, consice summary of the chapter, I stuggle to add anything. I firmly believe what the chapter says about using decodable text. It is useful to a degree, but should not comprise all or even most of a student's reading material. Students need to be explicitly taught how to decode, and be given opportunities to decode, but should not be limite to strictly decodable text. . .how boring! I also like the point made that most fluent first grade readers are decoding by analogy and using patterns. Teachers should teach and model this skill.

RV: I also agree that Jenny did a great job with her assessment of the chapter. The majority of all research on phonics that I have read for my capstone shows that the most effective phonics curriculum are systematic and explicit to allow the students to take in the information and apply it to make meaning.

ML: Research says that phonics should be "part" of a balanced reading program and should be taught systematically and explicitly. I agree that it should be taught as patterns (onset and rime) rather than spelling rules. 2. That National Reading Panel differs in the way to teach phonics from the textbook and other sources. Which way do you support and why?

JM: I believe that students must be engaged in what they are learning, and must be able to apply the skills they learn. I teach 5th grade so obviously my phonics instruction is different than what you would see in 1st grade classroom. The biggest thing we do each week in our class is very similiar with the the Making Words activity. We use our smartboard and students use their white boards and the words we work with are our spelling words. Identifying patterns in the words allow students to feel more successful about their weekly spelling words.

Lynn: I also like the "Nifty Thrifty Fifty" that is discussed in our __Improving Reading__ text. This strategy says that by teaching these fifty words, you can teach all of the most useful prefixes, suffixes, and spelling changes and help students to decode longer words.

MS I TOO LIKE THE NIFTY THRIFTY FIFTY WORDS. I ALSO LIKE THE MORPHOLOGY ASPECT OF PHONICS. ABOUT 15 AFFIXES, WHEN KNOWN, CAN DIRECTLY HELP WITH THE PRONUNCIATION AND MEANING OF OVER THOUSANDS OF WORDS. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE STUDENTS TO HAVE A FIRM FOUNDATION OF WORD PARTS AS WELL AS BEING ABOUT TO RECOGNIZE THE OPEN/CLOSED SYLLABLE CONCEPTS SO THEY CAN FIGURE OUT THE LONG AND SHORT VOWELS.

Lisa: According to the text, The National Reading Panel (2000) "determined that explicit and systematic phonics is superior to nonsystematic or no phonics. . ." (p. 91). They also found no significant differences in using small-group, whole-group, or tutoring instuctional formats. I think some, but not all texts, support the implicit teaching of phonics. This 'whole-language' approach was at the forefront for a time but seems to be fading. Most of the textbooks I have encountered support a systematic and explicit approach to teaching phonics along with using authentic texts and real-world writing. This is the way I teach. I do support smaller groups and classes. I do think it makes a difference. I had a class of 25-27 kindergarten students last year and I will freely admit that it was my worst year as a teacher. I did not teach that group as much as the year I had 16 in my kindergarten class. Smaller groups and classes make a better learning enironment for all.

RV: I think that phonicsinstruction needs to have specific skill instruction unlike the whole word approach, but I also think that the skills need to be applied and practiced in real authentic text in order to make meaning and for the student to fully understand. This is a more balanced approach to phonics where the students have both a skills lesson and application to later practice. ML: I don't use the spelling that comes with our curriculum because I believe in developmental spelling. I think students need instruction that fits their needs. I use Words Their Way assessments at the beginning of the year and place students in small word study groups. I am moving from 3rd grade to 4th-5th Language Arts and plan to still do it this way. It is more work for the teacher, but the students get way more from it. 3. Evaluate your phonics programs at your school. What can you do to get it more in line with research?

JM: Our school uses the Saxon Phonics program. Some teachers like the review that comes with each lesson and the repitition. Other teachers do not care for the program at all. I believe that whatever program is being used, teachers must incoprorate activities that let students work and play with words. There must also be a balance in the reading/language/phonics instuction given to students. Lynn: Jenny. I agree. People either love Saxon or hate it. I do think that many of the teachers do not use it as it was developed, simply because the lessons are so long. To get the Saxon program more in line with research, it would have to be shortened so that it would only take up a small portion of the reading lesson. Lisa: I taught Saxon **years** ago and it was fantastic for the middle and higher level readers, and I loved it for those students. The struggling readers seemed to be lost from lesson number one because they couldn't grasp the coding system. I also agree it sholuln't take up so much time, kids need to be reading authentic texts. Our school just adopted McMillan last year. I am only familiar with the kindergarten portion. I did not like the organization, a letter was introduced each week and it took an entire school year to finish the alphabet! I do not like that format I think the kids need to knw the letters/sounds sooner so they can start manipulating and using them. I once saw a book called something like 'No more letter of the week' that was about teaching phonics. I wanted to buy it, but of course I was a broke teacher at the time. I would like to see what it had t say. RV: I used saxon my first year of teaching and the coding was too cumbersome and seemed like it wasnt beneficial to my students. My lower readers struggled with the coding as Lisa had said and my higher readers could read the words without the coding system ever being used. I did not like that it was only one-level and the lessons were too long. I am now using Scott Foresman reading which has the phonics imbedded in the lessons. This allows us to intriduce the skill and them allow the student to have authentic practice with it. The phonics skill is also used in the leveled readers which allows all students to have practice with it. ML: I may be repeating some things from question 1, but for several years I have used Words Their Way to teach phonics in small groups. Now 1st through 3rd grade is using Words Their Way instead of the Scott Foresman adopted program. A few teachers are not sold on it because it takes more to manage. Now since I am moving to 4th and 5th grade, the entire elementary will be using it. I also like the Nifty Fifty! 4. Your questions from your group.

**Lynn:****1.** **Is there a program that is the “best” at teaching phonics? Lisa: I don't think one is best, I think what is best changs from year to year and class to class, maybe even from one studetnt to the next. ** ML: I believe developmental is best, but that is my opinion. Most textbook curriculums are not. Lisa. I think that whatever works best for your students at that time is the best thing for you.  3. Is there any situation where phonics should not be taught? ** Lisa: I can't think of any situations I have encounered in which phonic should not be taught. That would have to be a very rare situation with a severe or exteme learning issue. THERE IS A POINT IN TIME WHEN IF THE CHILD HAS NOT LEARNED THE PHONICS, THEN ANOTHER APPROACH SHOULD BE USED. I LEARNED TO READ BY THE WHOLE WORD APPROACH (DICK AND JANE BOOKS). THIS IS THE ROTE METHOD AND IT HAS SERVED MANY PEOPLE WELL FOR YEARS. REPETITION OF WORDS AND LISTENING TO WORDS BY TAPE WOULD BE THE MEANS FOR LEARNING TO READ.
 * 2.** **Does a program have to be developed by a publisher to be considered “research-based”? Lisa: No, I don't think so. I think if we wanted to put the effort into it, we could design a perfectly appropriate, research-based program to use in our classes. I think we are too reliant on others to tell us how and what to teach! **
 * RV: I think my teaching style is reserach based because I have read what the reserach says about best practices and I try to follow them as closely as possible. I think that if you are using reading strategies that have been proven to work, then they are reserach based enough for me.

OH, BY THE WAY, PHONICS CANNOT BE USED WITH SIGHT WORDS. ALL 400 SIGHT WORDS AND SIGHT WORD PHRASES MUST BE LEARNED AND BE ABLE TO GIVE BACK IN A NANOSECOND.
 * JM: What other activities, besides the three provided, help students gain strong phonic skills? I think the Words their Way spelling program helps with phonics skills. **

Lisa: > MS: THE APPROPRIATE APPROACH IS THE PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS APPROACH WITH LOTS OF READING TO, AND WITH. THE STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW THE "SOUNDS" STRONGLY AND BE ABLE TO PLAY WITH WORDS BEFORE THEY ARE EXPECTED TO READ ABOUT THE WORDS. I LOVE LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE AT THIS LEVEL, READING CIRCLES, WRITING CENTERS, AND MORE. IMMERSE THE CHILD IN PRINT AND THEN ASK THE CHILD TO START READING. IN NEW ZEALAND, THE FORMAL READING ACT IS NOT STARTED UNTIL ABOUT SECOND GRADE BECAUSE THEY FEEL THE FOUNDATION SHOULD BE BUILT FOR LITERACY. I AGREE.
 * *How early can one begin phonics (not PA) instruction? Is it appropriate for preschool?*

FOR MY OWN GRANDCHILDREN, I KNOW WHEN THEY WANT TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP TO READING WHEN THEY YELL OUT THE WORD WHEN THEY RECOGNIZE IT. THEN WE CAN WORK ON CONSONANTS.
 * Must kids have a mastery of PA before you begin phonics instruction, or can they learn both at once? I WOULD PREFER TO HAVE THE FOUNDATION FIRST. VOWELS ARE SO CONFUSING AND HARD TO MASTER.
 * Should all teachers at a school be using the same model/method/program to teach phonics, or can different teachers use different plans without 'messing' things up for the next grade?

​RV Questions: At what age should formal phonics lessons end? My guess is when they have mastered all the basic phonics skills. I would use assessment of course to inform this. I think it then moves into word meanings (affixes and derivations). The article, "//The P Word//", said it should end at the end of 2nd grade. In a classroom, how do you know when students are ready to make the transition from PA to phonics? At what age, should most children move from PA activites to phonics? ML: What are some tips for teaching phonics to 4th and 5th graders? I have been in 3rd grade self-contained for 11 years. What is the best way to do a word wall for a 4th and 5th grade class?* How can I get colleagues to see that following the same spelling list in the spelling book for all children isn't beneficial for all of them?