Phonics Instruction: Transforming Theory into Classroom Practices

1. Maine Reading First Course Session #10 Phonics Instruction Maine Department of Education, 2006

2. Key Learning GoalsSession 10Phonics Instruction • To enable class participants to transform their theoretical understandings into classroom practices that support student development of phonics knowledge, including instructional strategies for teaching: • letter and letter-sound identification, including letter clusters • the use of letter-sound information (consonants, vowels) to decode and write words • the use of word structures and patterns (onsets and rimes, syllables, affixes, letter clusters, spelling patterns) to decode and write words high-frequency words and irregular word patterns Maine Department of Education, 2006

3. What is Phonics? Phonics is knowing the relationship between printed letters (graphemes) and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language. (Put Reading First, 2001) Maine Department of Education, 2006

4. Changing Emphasis of Five Essential Elements Maine Department of Education, 2006

5. Phonics Instruction is Important Because….. • It helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. • It leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle—the systematic and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken words. (Put Reading First, 2001) Maine Department of Education, 2006

6. Effective phonics instruction is…. • Systematic—the plan of instruction includes a carefully selected set of letter-sound relationships that are organized into a logical sequence from easier sounds to more difficult sounds. High utility sounds and letters are taught first, letters with similar shapes and sounds are separated. • Explicit—the plan of instruction provides teachers with precise directions for teaching letter-sound relationships, including: • Explaining and modeling • Giving guided practice • Watching student responses and giving corrective feedback • Planning extended practice (Put Reading First, 2001) Maine Department of Education, 2006

7. Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction…… • significantly improves children’s word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension. • is most effective when it begins in kindergarten or first grade. (Put Reading First, 2001) Maine Department of Education, 2006

8. Effective Phonics Instruction Provides….. • ample opportunities for children to apply what they are learning about letters and sounds to the reading of words, sentences, and stories. (Put Reading First, 2001) Maine Department of Education, 2006

9. Systematic Phonics Instruction Provides a sequence or order of letter-sound relationship instruction that proceeds from easier letter-sounds to more difficult letter-sound combinations. Maine Department of Education, 2006

10. Recommended Guidelines for Systematic Phonics Instruction(Blevins, 1998) • Sequence • Teach short-vowel sounds before long-vowel sounds • Teach consonants and short vowels in combination so that words can be generated as early as possible • Be sure the majority of consonants taught early are continuous consonants (i.e. f, l, m, n, r, s) • Use a sequence in which many words can be generated • Progress from simple to more complex sound-spellings: • consonants and short vowels • digraphs • consonant blends • final e • long vowels • silent letters • syllables • roots and affixes • Scope • Decide which sound-spelling relationships are important enough to warrant instruction, and which can be taught as needed. Use list of 44 more frequent letter-sound spellings. Maine Department of Education, 2006

11. Progression of Phonics Knowledge & Skills Across Grades K-3(Chall, 1996; Blevins, 1998; Lyons & Moore, 2003) Maine Department of Education, 2006

12. Curriculum Maps for Alphabetic PrincipalKindergarten Maine Department of Education, 2006

13. First Grade Maine Department of Education, 2006

14. Second Grade Maine Department of Education, 2006

15. Third Grade Maine Department of Education, 2006

16. What are the Different Approaches to Phonics Instruction? • Synthetic Phonics • Analytic Phonics • Analogy-Based Phonics • Phonics through Spelling • Embedded Phonics • Onset-Rime Phonics Which approach(es) are systematic? Maine Department of Education, 2006

17. Elements of Explicit Phonics Lessons • Teach—How to • Sound (phonemic awareness) • Letter-sound association • Draw on prior knowledge • Practice—Let’s do • Word building • Spelling • Apply—You do • Sentence dictation • Reading decodable text • Application in other contexts (reading and writing) Maine Department of Education, 2006

18. Explicit vs. Implicit Phonics Instruction—Which is Which? • After reading a story about animals, the teacher asks students “What sound does horse start with? Do you see any other animals whose names begin with that sound? What letter says /h/? Can you write the letter “h”? • After a lesson in which students isolate words that begin with the /h/ sound, the teacher links the sound to the letter by showing students the letter “h”, telling them it stands for the /h/ sound, and using “h” to practice making words that begin with the /h/ sound. Later, the teacher reads a book about animals and shows students how the word horse starts with “h”. The teacher encourages students to look for other animals or words that begin with “h”. Maine Department of Education, 2006

19. Phonics Lesson Dos(Blevins, 1998) • Use logical sequence and be explicit • Build on what children know and adjust instruction to student needs • Provide frequent, daily lessons • Keep lessons brief, fast paced, & focused • Provide built-in review and explicit transfer to reading and spelling activities • Make learning public (i.e. word walls and letter charts) and reflective (i.e. Talk-to-Yourself Chart) Maine Department of Education, 2006

20. Phonics “Talk-to-Yourself Chart”(Gaskins, et al, 1997) Completed chart for the word high. • The word is high. • Stretch the word. I hear 2 sounds. • I see 4 letters because -igh stands for one sound. • The spelling pattern is igh. • This is what I know about the vowel: It is the long-i sound. • Another word on the Word Wall with the same vowel sound is light. Maine Department of Education, 2006

21. Phonics Lessons Don’ts(Blevins, 1998) • Avoid having children continually wait for turns—use small group instruction. • Avoid instruction that is not explicit • Avoid using incorrect language or terminology. For example: • Instead of saying, “You can hear the f sound, “ say, “You can hear the /f/ sound.” • Instead of saying, “What sounds do you see at that the end of mint?” say, “What sounds do you hear at the end of mint?” Maine Department of Education, 2006

22. Phonics Lesson Components(Blevins, 1998) • Repeated readings • Phonemic awareness exercises • Explicit letter-sound relationship instruction • Blending practice • Word-building practice • Controlled reading practice • Dictation Maine Department of Education, 2006

23. Types of Texts for Beginning Reading Instruction(Just Read Florida) • Predictable and Patterned Books • Decodable or Phonetically Regular Books • Pictures for Words (Rebus) Books Maine Department of Education, 2006

24. Your Turn Sketch out a plan for how you might explicitly teach the: • /m/ sound and letter “m”, • /ch/ sound and digraph “ch”, or • Prefix “un” Maine Department of Education, 2006

25. Considerations for Phonics Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities and/or Limited English Proficiency • Provide direct, explicit, systematic instruction in letter/sound relationships, including preteaching and reteaching and review • Provide instruction in English language structure • Be aware of the differences between English and a child’s primary language. • Teacher children how to transfer what they know in their primary language to English. • Teach letter sounds and combinations that do not occur in the child’s native language. • Involve students in daily events with a variety of books and printed materials • Engage students in read aloud and shared reading opportunities with more proficient readers Maine Department of Education, 2006

26. Instructional Activities for Phonics • Letter Identification/Letter-Sound Correspondence • Decoding • Blending • Word Building • Word Sorts/Word Hunts/Word Walls • Syllabication • Encoding • Segmenting • Dictation • Sight Vocabulary/Irregular Words Maine Department of Education, 2006

27. How Does the Phonics Instruction in My Reading Program Align with Research? Think-Ink-Pair-Share • Systematic • Explicit • Letter-Sound Information • Integration Maine Department of Education, 2006

28. 3—2—1 • 3—things worth remembering • 2—things to learn more about • 1—burning question Maine Department of Education, 2006