An Introduction to The Big Six

1. An Introduction to The Big Six

2. A Bit of History • In 1997, US Congress asked the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to convene a national panel to assess the effectiveness of different approaches used to teach children to read. • In April 2000, the National Reading Panel (NRP) released its research-based findings in two reports and a video entitled, "Teaching Children to Read." • Other publications for teachers and parents followed.

4. National Reading Panel The panel found that a combination of techniques is effective for teaching children to read: Phonemic awareness—the knowledge that spoken words can be broken apart into smaller segments of sound known as phonemes. Children who are read to at home—especially material that rhymes—often develop the basis of phonemic awareness. Children who are not read to will probably need to be taught that words can be broken apart into smaller sounds. Phonics—the knowledge that letters of the alphabet represent phonemes, and that these sounds are blended together to form written words. Readers who are skilled in phonics can sound out words they haven't seen before, without first having to memorize them. Fluency—the ability to recognise words easily, read with greater speed, accuracy, and expression, and to better understand what is read. Children gain fluency by practicing reading until the process becomes automatic; guided oral repeated reading is one approach to helping children become fluent readers.

5. National Reading Panel Guided oral reading—reading out loud while getting guidance and feedback from skilled readers. The combination of practice and feedback promotes reading fluency. Teaching vocabulary words—teaching new words, either as they appear in text, or by introducing new words separately. This type of instruction also aids reading ability. Reading comprehension strategies—techniques for helping individuals to understand what they read. Such techniques involve having students summarise what they've read, to gain a better understanding of the material.

7. NAR educators are expected to understand what the components of the Big Six skills are, how to assess them and how to design appropriate learning experiences to challenge and support all learners. This includes employing valid and reliable screening, diagnostic and progress assessments coherent instructional design which includes alignment with the Australian Curriculum and the TfEL framework (Teaching for Effective Learning) explicit, systematic and differentiated instruction which includes the use of an instructional model such as the Gradual Release of Responsibility (Pearson & Gallagher) or the Apprenticeship Model (Tactical Teaching: Reading)

9. Early Literacy

10. What are early literacy experiences?

12. http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/northernadelaide/files/links/Concepts_about_Print.pdfhttp://www.decd.sa.gov.au/northernadelaide/files/links/Concepts_about_Print.pdf

13. Deslea Konza – 1. Oral Language (5:21 min)

15. Phonological Awareness

17. Phonological Awareness & Phonics (1:06 min)

18. Deslea Konza – 2. Phonological Awareness (6:12 min)

19. Assessment • Phonological Awareness Skill Map - DECD Speech Pathology • Screen of Phonological Awareness (SPA)DECS Publication • Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test – Revised (SPAT-R) Gathering baseline data is important in identifying needs and measuring change. 19 Slide based on Talking Literacy Training Package: “Coding Breaking a Phonological Awareness Perspective” developed by DECS Speech Pathology, 2009

20. The SPA covers a broad range of early metalinguistic and phonological skills that have been correlated to literacy development. The items cover: • word awareness • rhyme awareness, • syllable awareness • sound awareness • auditory memory and sequencing • sentence repair • letter recognition.

21. Phonological Awareness Skill Map http://dlb.sa.edu.au/dlsmoodle/course/view.php?id=30 21

22. Phonics

23. Phonics • Also called “alphabetic principle” • “Letter-sound knowledge”

24. Phonics • Print • Letter-sound correspondences • Blending • Segmenting • Detecting sounds in words • All with the printed form of the word • Letter formation instruction • Talking about the shapes of letters • Writing letters and words in the context of learning letter-sound relationships

25. Deslea Konza – 3. Phonics (8:50 min)

27. Spelling

28. Stages of Spelling Development • Emerging print concepts • Semi-phonetic • Phonetic • Transitional • Proficient

29. TypesofSpellingKnowledge • Phonological • Visual • Morphemic • Etymological Visual

30. Spelling by Kinaesthetic memory is also involved in the storage and retrieval of spelling patterns, particularly those of high frequency words. Some researchers have observed a connection between fluent, neat handwriting and spelling ability.

34. Vocabulary

35. Vocabulary knowledge • Is complex • Is critical to reading success • Is developmental • Requires explicit teaching

36. Stage 4: knows the word in different contexts and knows different meanings. Stage 3: recognises the word in some contexts but not others Stage 2: has seen or heard the word but meanings are not known Stage 1: has never seen or heard the word before

37. Tiers of Vocabulary Tier 1 – everyday words Tier 2 – words used in text but not so frequently in everyday language Tier 3 – subject specific vocabulary

38. Deslea Konza – 5. Vocabulary (5:22 min)

39. Fluency

41. Deslea Konza – 4. Fluency (7:07 min)

42. Some definitions Automaticity is defined as fast, accurate and effortless word identification at the single word level. The speed and accuracy at which single words are identified is the best predictor of comprehension. Fluency, on the other hand, involves not only automatic word identification but also the application of appropriate prosodic features (rhythm, intonation, and phrasing) at the phrase, sentence, and text levels.

43. Fluency =automaticity + prosody

44. Levels of Fluency Texts Passages Paragraphs Phrases Words Letters Sounds Rapid Automatic Naming

45. Rate and Fluency Guidelines

47. Comprehension

48. Good readers: • understand the purpose of the text • monitor their comprehension • adjust their reading strategies

49. Students need to be explicitly taught strategies: • before reading • during reading • after reading

50. Deslea Konza – 6. Comprehension (7:10 min)