Connecting Research-Based
Reading Practices to New York City's Reading Program
Arlyne LeSchack
The National Reading Report describes the teaching of reading as
a five part process. Those five parts are phonemic awareness, phonics
and the alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary development and
comprehension. Further, the report sees the first two components
as necessary prerequisites for the other three. What does that mean
exactly?
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken language is
made up of a series of small sounds or phonemes. The research indicates
that a child's level of phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors
of success in learning to read. In fact, the realization that there
is a connection between the sounds of spoken languages and letters
of written language is at the heart of understanding how written
language works.
Similarly, the National Reading Panel report contends that understanding
the alphabetic principle is a critical part of learning to read.
Children must understand the essential nature of alphabetic language
-- that the letters of the written words stand for the sounds of
the spoken words.
So how does this all fit with "Balanced Literacy" and
the Reading Workshop/Writing Workshop model adopted by New York
City? Well, of course, there is some controversy: proponents of
a more holistic approach would contend that the child can develop
phonemic awareness and knowledge of the alphabetic principle through
exposure to stories and just the right books while they are learning
to read.
The two philosophies meet in the middle, however, through the work
of Patricia Cunningham. She is the developer of the "Month-by-Month
Phonics" program also adopted by New York City as part of their
reading program. The program includes working with words at all
grade levels. The goals of the word work include learning to read
and spell high frequency words, learning patterns used to decode
and spell other words, transferring word knowledge to reading and
writing and developing automaticity with reading words.
All classrooms have "Word Walls" which are used for teaching.
The teacher introduces five new words each week. She selects high
frequency words that will be used in shared and guided reading as
well as writing. The steps for teaching are:
1) See the words.
2) Say the words.
3) Chant the words (that includes snapping, clapping wiggling, stomping
and cheering).
4) Write the words.
5) Trace around the words.
6) Do "On-The-Back" activities.
On-The-Back activities are designed to help students learn that
some of the words on the word wall can help them spell lots of other
words. Here's an example: Focus on word on the word wall like "it."
Tell students to pretend they are writing a story about how a dog
"bit" their brother. They can say "bit" slowly and listen
for the first sound; students identify the initial sound and write
the "b" followed by the "it."
Through these activities the students are developing both phonemic
awareness and increasing their knowledge of the alphabetic principle.
They nicely compliment your Reading and Writing Workshops and as
a teacher, you've managed to connect two very different philosophies
of how children learn to read.
Please e-mail
me if you have any questions.
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