Hooked on Phonics-

After reading Chapter four I feel like I have had a whole new window of teaching opportunities open up for me. It is as if I had been blinded by phonics. Before I read the chapter, if someone had asked me what to do when working with a child and he or she gets stuck on a word, my first go-to would be "sound it out." I never realized how limiting and unfair that answer was until I read this chapter. The authors mention words like know and night, there are so many words in the English language that do not look like they sound, so sounding it out is really not an option. One of the main points I have taken away from this reading is that there are three reading strategies that should be integrated and used collaboratively while a student reads: Structure, Meaning, and Visual cues (Does it sound right? Does it make sense? and Does it look right?). These questions and prompts will allow the teacher to guide the student on a path towards understanding for not only the one book they are reading at that time, but for all text they will encounter in the future.

At first I will have to be more straightforward, and point to the word the child gets wrong, and ask questions like: "I see you used a word that sounded right in the sentence, but let's look at the first letter," or "Think about the story and try again," etc. Another point I thought was interesting was how the authors used other words the children knew already to prompt understanding of similar sounding words such as: day and stay. By recognizing parts of words, either in the beginning or at the end of the word, students can make associations and solve problems easier.

 It will then be my goal to have the student self-monitor on their own with little help from me. By modeling these strategies in class and making it clear that everyone is capable of reading if they use meaning, structure, and visual cues, I will have a more confident classroom. I thought it was important that the authors pointed out that phonics was not something to be ignored, but to be used when the time is right and throughout each lesson. This is more of an additional strategy than a separate entity.