June 14th Reading

The reading for this week was related to phonemic awareness.  Last semester in my Child and Family Studies 353 class, we spent a large portion of the semester learning about phonemic awareness.  As a result I thought I would be able to breeze through these readings, however I was wrong.  I gained new knowledge and a better understanding for how important phonemic awareness is.  Phonemic awareness is a complex term that refers to how we can understand how child can become readers.  The Yopp and Yopp article began by informing the reader how, at times, phonemic awareness can cause confusion when trying to decide how exactly it should be addressed in a classroom.  Teachers can understand the process by first gaining knowledge of its two superordinate constructs, which are phonological awareness and metalinguistics.  The article provides three steps that a teacher should follow in order to have successful phonemic instruction: call for phonemic awareness activities that are child appropriate, phonemic awareness instruction should be deliberate and purposeful, and it must also be viewed by educators as only one part of a much broader literacy program. 

I also thought the article made an important point when it stated that there should not be a specific amount of time for phonemic awareness intsruction; I believe it should be the quality of the instruction presented by the teacher instead of how much time the teacher spends educating the children.  The Yopp and Yopp article provides a great explanation of how to ensure the teacher is presenting an effective quality of insturction, for example teachers should provide students with a linguistically rich environment.  I also really enjoyed reading about the various activities that the article mentioned.  My favorite was the twenty kids have hats activity because I feel this is a great way to get the children involved while still educating them.  This specific article stated, "phonemic awarenss supports reading development only if it is part of a broader program" (Yopp and Yopp, 2000, p. 142).  The next article by Kathleen Clark supported this statement by discussing the concept of coaching.

"Coaching is a highly effective instructional technique in which teachers craft instructional cues the enable students to apply their developing reading skills and knowledge of strategies as they attempt to complete a task" (Clark, 2004, p. 440).  I feel this statement sums up the article, however the article also mentions teachers' cues.  There are two broad types of these cues: general cues to prompt thought and more focused cues to prompt specific action.  I feel that both of these types are important depending on the circumstance.  I was confused by these terms at first, however I was able to completely understand each cue after reading the examples that the author provided.  The article is also helpful because it provides a clear understanding of how teachers can prepare to coach children; the information that I have learned from this article will be extremely useful as I begin to teach.

The chapter in the book also provides a clear understanding of how to teach children about phonics and spelling patterns.  I enjoyed reading about the activities the book suggests to use in order to help children decode certain words.  I feel that guess the covered word activity is a simple activity teachers can do that will have a large impact.  I also felt that the making words lesson is an activity that I will use in my classroom; not only will it help the children to learn, but I also feel that they will find it enjoyable to try and guess the secret word.  My favorite activity that the book mentioned was the activity that is based off of Wheel of Fortune.  I used to watch this TV show all the time and think it would be a great way to get children involved and to have fun while learning.  Even though I had previously learned about phonemic awareness, I have now learned even more from the readings that we were presented with.  I have also learned several new activities that I plan to implement in my future classroom.