Who knew early literacy was this detailed.....?
Elementary
Understanding print awareness, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge is critical in understanding the development of early literacy skills. We have learned so much in this course. The instructional strategies discussed in these tutorials address younger students, K-2. What was your biggest takeaway?
Middle School( and anyone else that felt these concepts were not applicable)
Please read this 11-minute article addressing the concerns of literacy gaps in older students. What are your biggest takeaways?
We look forward to reading your thoughts!
Next up..... Systematic and Expicit Phonics:)
Rebecca Minerd and Monelle Dalman
I agree that early literacy is very detailed! Each segment has a different component of learning how to interpret words, read words, and comprehend words. I learned something from all three areas: print awareness, phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge. My biggest takeaway was a statement made that 60% of students need explicit and systematic phonics instruction. I also was intrigued by the fact that the video stated that all kids come with vocabulary, we just have to train the brain of how to read it. I liked the Gradual Release Model, where the motto was: I do, We do, and You do! This gives the students a sense of accomplishment when they see it being modeled. The teacher provides scaffolding and effective feedback to check for understanding.
ReplyDeleteI also like the Gradual Release Model and think it is quite effective. By the time the students reach the "You do " step I think they feel comfortable particitpating because they have seen it modeled by the teacher.
DeleteI love the I Do, We Do, You Do gradual release model. It is something I do in my classroom as well. You are right the students feel accomplished and proud when they are able to show what they have learned.
DeleteI agree! The I do, we do, you do is great for all students but is such a helpful model for my students who are not confident or not grasping the material the first time they are exposed to something! When we use the I do, you do, we do model the students have enough time to get familiar and comfortable enough with the material to do the assignments.
DeleteMy biggest takeaway was not only a deeper understanding of print awareness, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and alphabet knowledge as individual skills, but also a better understanding of how each of these skills play a role in and work together in the development of early literacy skills. These tutorials broke down each skill and gave examples of activities that can be used to help students in their early literacy development. Now that I know a bit more about these skills, I look forward to implementing different early literacy activities when working with students in the classroom and in reading clubs. I think that students in 3rd grade and up can also benefit from continued instruction with some of these skills, including multisyllabic words, compound words, and phonemic deletion, addition, and substitution.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I agree with you that upper grades will benefit with multisyllabic word instruction. I preview text for content but also to find those words that are going to be a challenge to read so I can point them out before we read. Many of my students come to a multisyllabic word and start to sound it out but then say "I can't say that word" and move right on to the next word.
DeleteAnna you are in such an important position with Empower! You get to support all of our students. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and assisting our students!
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ReplyDeleteI am so glad that we are recognizing that all five pillars of early literacy are important for all learners, not just students in lower elementary grades. As I read "How Schools Can Support Older Students Who Lag in Reading" the following statement really resonated with me, "But reviews of research on upper-grades interventions also find that explicit-vocabulary and comprehension-strategy instruction can improve students’ reading ability." I actually smiled as I read that sentence because I have googled a number of words this year to make sure I was pronouncing them correctly before sharing a text with my students!
DeleteAgree! More research is showing that if students do not have these skills we should go back and teach them. I just don't know how to manage that within our required content..... It is a challenge.
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DeleteSeeing, reading, and understanding a word definitely does not mean you know how to pronounce it! When reading a text or reviewing vocabulary words, I also make sure that I know how to pronounce the words correctly and understand the definition completely, so that I am able to give a student friendly definition. I also like to give students synonyms so that they can hopefully understand the word better and connect the new word with words already in their vocabulary. Pictures can also help with understanding. When reading a text, I will pause so that we can discuss an unfamiliar word and its meaning, so that students will better comprehend the text.
The big takeaway from this article is that the COVID-19 pandemic increased reading difficulties among older students. The upper elementary/lower middle students are lacking foundational reading skills which has impacted their ability to do grade-level work. The article emphasizes the importance of addressing these gaps through explicit instruction. It can be done by combining foundational skills with grade-level content. One teacher mentioned that the students are actually liking the time they spend reading aloud and practicing phonics.
ReplyDeleteThe concern is how many upper grade teachers have the knowledge to teach these skills..... especially in middle school?
DeleteAnd the time in the required curriculum of their subject area to teach them directly... I do feel that the gaps we have in our students mastery are going to exist until we figure out how to do this. Sprinkling it in every subject area has been a thing for a while now, but have we been able to close gaps? Just wondering what the actual key is to making it happen because being armed with the knowledge of and how to teach literacy skills has not been enough to make substantial gains for our students who consistently fall below.
DeleteI agree with Rebecca's question. It is hard to teach older students to read in order to fill these gaps when content specific teachers don't have the training or experience in doing so!
DeleteAlso, to Annie's comment, the time that it takes to re-lay these foundational skills is very difficult to find! Another factor to consider is that sometimes, these students have attendance and motivation challenges which further compounds the difficulty of teaching them the foundational skills that they are lacking.
I think the best thing we have going for us, in all subject areas AND grade levels, are the Vocab Journals, because they need to know how to use dictionary resources...AND we need to be sure to incorporate the phonological and morphological aspects of the words, as well.
DeleteMy biggest take away was realizing that although students begin their educational journey in school with varying degrees of development of literacy skills, they must all go through the same sequence of steps in order to attain their optimal comprehension level. I enjoyed hearing about the multisensory approach to teaching letter writing. As we know, some students are more visual learners, while others are more tactile. I think it is important to deliver instruction in a variety of ways to successfully reach as many students as possible. I also now realize that phonological instruction should not stop after 2nd grade, but it will take on different forms.
ReplyDeleteFor so long we educators thought that we could just move on if these skills were missing.... I remember thinking myself that some kids just don't get or need those...... I have rethought a lot of my early teacher days.....
DeleteI agree that phonological instruction shouldn't stop at 2nd grade. There are many students in 4th grade that still have varying degrees of difficulty with multisyllabic words, as well as non multisyllabic words and need support. The multisensory approach definitely works for students who need a visual or more tactile learning. This will scaffold and support examples that the teacher is facilitating in the classroom.
DeleteI think maybe some teachers in middle and high school view word work at a whole seperate task instead of an integrateed skill which makes it seem overly time consuming. However, I think it could be merged into regular instruction.
Delete"Many older students in grades 4 and up have gaps in their foundational reading skills, too—and that limits their ability to access grade-level work." This. I struggle with this more now in our virtual environment. It seems to me that basic literacy skills are even more necessary to successfully navigate going to school online as compared to sitting in a classroom. Even if we use images, graphics, colors, voice clips, etc. student still need to be able to navigate their screen, gain entry to class meets, click on assigned work, (just to name a few) by READING prompts in the browser tabs, links in Google Classroom, titles in Book Creator, and more.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting point that makes you stop and think! Our students come into contact with print and have to read things not only when doing their school work, but when they are out in the world as well, whether it is instructions to a game, making food, and even reading signs around town. The effects of not reading on grade-level and having gaps in their early literacy development reach further than just our school environment.
DeleteI have often thought about this, specifically when working with younger children. It must be so hard for some of the kindergarteners and first graders to navigate learning virtually (especially when first beginning). But you are so right! It isn't just the littles that have difficulty with this, it is our older students too if they have reading challenges. I often reiterate to student to read and follow directions, but if they have reading gaps, this could be something holding them back!
DeleteReading is essential in our everyday world, but as you say, technology literacy now comes into play when learning in the virtual world. Yikes~ Virtual learning for students that are behind is more than just "I struggle with reading".
DeleteBeth I think that is a very important point. How is this impacted, both positively and negatively, by the virtual learning environment. It is not just traditional instruction, and that will impact how this moves forward in our learning environments.
DeleteI really enjoyed learning that there are 4 levels of phonological awareness. The word awareness, syllable awareness, onset-rime awareness, and phonmic awareness. Within each of those bands are different strands that can be addressed. Blending, segmenting, manipulation, and deletion of syllables, words, and sounds are different ways that teachers can practice skills within each level. The act of blending is less complicated than segmenting. Then manipulation is more complex than blending and segmenting. Understanding this helps teachers to be able to quickly differentiate when asking questions during a word lesson.
ReplyDeleteI agree that knowing that the level of difficulty of the phonemic awareness skills are truly important in understanding how to teach and assist students having gaps in learning.
DeleteI liked this section because it reinforces what I have been teaching in the lower grades. I have always known the importance of "I Do", We Do', and "You Do". This is a process that in kindergarten we do all the time. I always kept the mindset in the back of my brain that the students did not know to do something. I never assumed students knew a skill until i had taught it with modeling and direct instruction. I wanted to ensure each student was taught things correctly. I love using multisensory learning with things such as shaving cream, sand, and paint. I would like to bring so of these multi-sensory lessons back to my current second-graders. My biggest takeaway is that phonics and early phonemic awareness is so important. It lends itself to all students and will aid them in future to becoming fluent readers.
ReplyDeleteI have incorporated a "we do" active game in PE that practices the letter sounds. Your students have enjoyed it!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFa0b_IIRac
My big takeaway from this article was emphasizing the real work needed to close the gaps that were exacerbated and highlighted by the pandemic. We know those gaps were there pre-pandemic, but challenges we faced post-2020 really intensified the gaps. Especially in older grades, the inability to read fluently really impacts the success in all classes. I try my best to present material in different ways to help accommodate this (visual, verbal, written), but this becomes especially difficult when students miss class and rely on written instructions to make up their work.
ReplyDeleteWith older students, we aim to transition education around reading from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" but if they haven't successfully learned to read, that transition cannot happen as easily. The difficulty here lies with the amount of time in a day and the volume of content that students are expected to learn. It is hard enough to get through the grade level content in one school year, much less adding in the extra time needed to teach foundational skills (in both reading and math).
I realize there are gaps for many students in the upper grades in reading fluently. It must be difficult to find the time to strengthen the foundational reading skills when you have so much content to cover in a limited amount of time. I am not sure of a solution, but I think that teachers that are aware and are concerned about the deficits their students have more likely to help their students become more successful.
DeleteMy biggest take away was how detailed the components of early literacy are and how each of the components is critical for students to become successful readers. I loved how it broke down each of the components and provided real world examples with the videos of the students and teachers. When I was in college and through the majority of my years of teaching primary grades, early literacy focused mostly on letter ID, letter sounds and sight words. There wasn’t really a systematic and explicit approach to teaching these skills. It wasn’t until the past couple of years that I began to hear about the Science of Reading and I began to dive into learning better ways to teach my students. Through this course I was able to see that the changes I am making in instructing my students is exactly what I need to be doing to help them become successful readers.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest take away from these courses were the 4 levels of phonological Awareness. from less complex to more complex they are word awareness, syllable awareness, onset-rime awareness, and phonemic- awareness. Each of these sections have skills that range from easier to more difficult. Thinking back to my individual students and their needs, these levels of awareness are going to help when planning my instructions and where to go next with some of my students.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest take away was in the Word Awareness lessons. I was overwhelmed by the various levels that students need to progress though. My mind kept flipping back to our students who struggle with different areas of processing - there are so many skills to master to have true word awareness. I might have been spiraling - haha - but then I started thinking about all of things that build in math. I can really see the importance of explicit instruction, repetition, and reviewing. I also appreciated all the examples that were shared. I thought the hand movements for blending and deleting would be really helpful for students that are more kinesthetic learners.
ReplyDeleteI am SO glad this training is being done! I don't know that early literacy instruction has ever been taught so explicitly across the board. This completely explains why there are so many students in upper elementary and even middle school who still struggle with phonemic awareness concepts as well as even print awareness.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the strategies list that was included in the resources for this course. There was a strategy for finding an object that matches with a particular phoneme called by the teacher. This could be a tangible activity to do with upper elementary and middle with vocabulary since most aren't working on phoneme segmentation. They could find an object that could be related to a vocabulary word and use the name of that object and the vocabulary word in a sentence. Maybe it's a stretch but I think the concept of making literacy tangible could be beneficial at all levels.
Mind the gap, doesn't just mean watch your step in the education system. We all see the deficits our students come face to face with, but it is difficult sometimes to figure out how to help students overcome these gaps. Reading is complex. We want it to be simple letters turning into sounds, but it is so much more than that. In my classroom, there is a lot of modeling. Middle school students still like to be read to. Often I will find myself with a passage that I am not merely reading, but I add details and explanations to. These seem to help my students have schema to attach meaning to for the unfamiliar words and concepts. Taking time to explain affixes so students realize that the affix meaning doesn't change- the whole word meaning changes opens many doors of understanding. Any chance to give comprehension feedback should be explored. Use written comprehension checks or verbal agreement checks to help keep students engaged and on track with their understanding.
ReplyDeleteOne of the article's most striking points is the 73% figure cited for 8th graders achieving "basic" reading proficiency in 2019. Upon further investigation, however, the actual figure from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that only 34% of 8th graders reached this benchmark. This discrepancy raises questions about the interpretation and utilization of data in education.
ReplyDeleteThe article also addresses the issue of adequate classroom supplies, noting that 6-14% of students are in classrooms where teachers report "serious" problems. The subjective nature of terms like "basic" reading level and "serious" problems underscores the need for standardized definitions and consistent interpretations across educational stakeholders.
The article underscores the value of specialized support for students with reading difficulties. Enlisting the expertise of reading specialists through digital supplemental programs can provide targeted interventions and achieve more substantial gains.
The collaborative development of reading intervention programs by language arts coordinators and reading specialists further highlights the importance of ongoing support and collaboration among educators.
The article acknowledges the increased workload for middle grades teachers in implementing such programs. I feel until proper supplemental programs are integrated, professional support is supplied, and realistic expectations are made, teachers will continue to feel pressured to achieve "Herculean tasks" that are only setting them and their students up for failure.
In my face to face lesson plans for K-2 band I alway incorporate relay races and scavenger hunts that practice alphabet recognition and phonological awareness. However I have had a harder time translating those activates to an online version. This year I have incorporated some excellent rhyming games as well a read aloud that will help practice print awareness, and phonological awareness.
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