As a child, I learned to read typically, meaning that I do not remember struggling with reading or having any negative memories associated with learning to read. I also do not remember the method or methods that I was taught to read, phonics maybe, but I cannot be sure. After reading “Word Identification Strategies,” by Barbra Fox, I was surprised by the amount of phonemic strategies used to help all types of learners at any level to read.
What I have learned is that to teach someone to read requires very specific intentions, what I mean by this is that the strategies teachers use to facilitate a reader will be specific to their reading needs; there are a lot of ways to read and there are a lot of ways to teach kids to read. According to Fox, it is important to use phonics and teach phonic awareness to young readers. Phonics is helpful to young readers because it connects what the students already know, spoken language, and connects it to identifying written words that they do not recognize.
As a teacher, it is so important to understand the stages associated with learning to read, with this knowledge comes the ability to apply different strategies to best help the stage the specific learner is at. The quicker a reader can learn word identification strategies, the quicker they can develop their comprehension skills.
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI find this post so interesting. When I was growing up, I was not a very good reader. I was often in low reading levels and all throughout elementary school I saw a reading specialist a couple times a week. What I find so interesting about your experience and about Fox's book is that I was completely exposed to nearly every single one of those strategies and methods, and was very aware of it, unlike your experience. I cannot remember if I was taught the phonemic strategies in my mainstream classes or if I was more exposed to this type of reading in my specialty classes. I do however remember being taught so many different little tricks for sounding out words and making words form sentences as I read. I really like what you said about having to gear reading strategies to individual students. I think that this is true from all subjects and areas of learning. Learning and teaching is not a one size fits all practice. In my experience, had I not received such personal, instruction that was developed particularly for me I may have never developed appropriate reading skills and this could have negatively impacted the rest of my learning. As a teacher, I too find it important to understand each reading stage and apply those stages to the students levels. I think that Fox does a great job laying out and defining the stages. I will definitely continue to use her book, “Word Identification Strategies,” as a resource for reading. In the larger scheme of things, reading is so vital to learning as a whole and it starts with the stages and the learners uniting.
-Taryn