LEARNING TO READ...reading to learn

November 1997

DESIGNING SYSTEMATIC PHONIC INSTRUCTION

FRAMEWORK

Connect to prior skills: give objective
Teach, demonstrate:visually, orally
Structure practice: teacher presents again, students work along
Guided practice:work on more examples
Independent practice:integrate skills and move towards fluency
Feedback:encouragement specific to skill.

CONCEPTS

The major purpose in learning phonics is to know how to translate a word's written form and vice versa, as an aid in reading and writing. To acquire enough of the skills and understanding needed to use phonics well, students need to learn which of the letters and letter combinations link to which sounds. They also need to gain an understanding of the following concepts:

The same letters can represent different sounds.
Different letters can represent the same sound.
There are alternative ways to pronounce an unknown word.
Rules (generalizations) may help determine the correct pronunciation, but they do not always predict the correct pronunciation for every word.

SEQUENCE (General)

Consonants
Short vowels
Long vowels with final silent [e]
Vowel combinations
Syllabication

TEACHING STRATEGIES (General)

Specific instruction that encourages listening, writing, seeing, and saying.
Instruction in new phonic elements and generalizations should be presented orally, with oral responses by students.
Independent activities including writing, reading, and activities such as those found in workbooks, or created by the teacher, are to be done only after the oral phonics work.
The pace for phonic instruction should be brisk and energetic. The teacher should be a participant-observer, modeling student responses and taking turns with them to speed up the task.
Time spent actively teaching phonics to students gives teachers a sense of students' progress. It also contributes greatly to the students' learning and understanding of phonics. If done well and enthusiastically, it will impart to them the importance of learning phonics for achieving competence and independence in reading.
Teaching strategies will be most effective if an attitude of inquiry, interest, and importance is maintained. Phonic lessons should usually be followed by reading sentences, stories, or books containing some of the elements learned.
Review is essential, and varied strategies for review are encouraged to maintain interest.The suggestions that follow are for a lesson or for several lessons. Use your own creativity and imagination to extend them.
Adapted from: Teaching and Assessing Phonics: WHY, WHAT, WHEN, HOW, J. Chall & H. Popp, 1996.

Classroom Connections

The October newsletter included an example of a lesson plan for phonic instruction on consonant digraphs. As a follow-up to that lesson, suggested extended activities are detailed below. These activities are appropriate for a range of skill levels, individual, small or whole group, and can be integrated into other content areas.

PLANNING FOR INSTRUCTION(Concept Mapping)

ELA STANDARDS

Listening	Speaking	Reading	Writing
recall	retell	wh consonant digraph	writing questions
identify relevant information	ask and respond to wh questions	sight words:who, what, where, when, why	story structured by whwords

INSTRUCTION: Developing sentence writing skills.

Write and read a sentence on the board.

Ask wh questions. Use wh word cards to visually identify parts of the sentence. (Magnetic tape on the back of the card adheres it to the board.)

Create additional sentences with the students by filling in one category at a time. List the students' suggestions on the board. Students then create many oral sentences using the words and phrases. (Use picture cards or drawings for non-readers.)

Students write their own sentences following the same procedure. (Adapt to skill level by using picture cards or drawings, and/or a graphic organizer set up with the wh words similar to the board diagram to use as a writer's prompt.)

Extend activities to increase vocabulary and develop new concepts.

describing words	who or what?	did what?	where?	when?
The frisky	puppy	jumped	on my lap	at dinner time.

Adapted from Write A SUPER Sentence, Evan-moor, 1988.

INSTRUCTION: Organizing ideas for listening, reading, speaking and writing

Review the five wh words (who, what, where, when, why) and the organization they represent. You may want to add a sixth, how, after all, it has the same letters as who in different sequence and, like the others, acts as an organizer. Give each student six felt-tip pens in six different colors. Label one of the concept words on each pen in the following order: who=green, what=red, when=purple, where=blue, why=black, how=orange.
Tell a short story to the students. They then write the name of the main character in green, write a phrase about what happened in red, and so on following the color pattern. Having completed this successfully,students will be ready to read a selection and underline the six elements in their representative colors.
Then have the students arrange their six colored pens in whatever order appeals to them (point out that it is usually easier to start with who) and recite a story. As each student uses an element in his narrative, he moves the corresponding pen to the other side of the desk. When all of the pens have "traveled" from left to right, the student is ready to try it on paper.
Let the students write their first draft on index cards. This will allow extra space for elaboration, and the students will be able to physically rearrange the elements until they make a pleasing story both to ear and eye.

Adapted from Clear & Lively Writing, P. Vail, 1981.