Article Activity #3

Diana Smith 1

Three Things I Learned:

1. I did not consider how teaching words as logographs are not helpful for
students when learning alphabetic sounds. This follows that idea that
students can read stories but in actuality they may just be reciting. If we
have a student see a word as a logograph or a picture, this does not build
patterns or rules for students and especially confuses them with the
exceptions that fill the English language.
2. I learned that good phonics instruction is over relatively quickly. While
learning about phonics, I imagine it as this long drawn out process that spans
over years of worksheets and tests. But in actuality, it should be a much
shorter process because after that phonics instruction, teachers should be
able to scaffold their students into whole reading and practicing that
instruction.
3. Rules are not completely helpful for students. If we teach rules, then we have
to teach all the exceptions and that is just asking students to memorize
words and then get confused by them. Instead, we should be teaching
patterns. For me, I thought they were the same but actually, they are very
different. In teaching patterns, we focus on reading words instead of finding
rules. When we are learning about phonics in this class, it is easier for us to
see the rule and then the examples and non-examples because we are
familiar with words. But for students who are still learning, going straight to
the rules without context is just completely lost instruction.
Two Things I Found Helpful:
1. The analogy to baseball was very helpful. Before teaching letter-sound
instruction, we have to make sure the student understands what reading is
and how this new instruction is helpful towards that. Having it as a baseball
analogy of someone who may have never seen a game is beneficial because
it reminds me that we should be transparent with students and understand
that concepts need to be explicitly stated at times.
2. Students can see reading as filling out worksheets. Many students get caught
up and bogged down with reading especially in middle school. I think that this
overindulging in worksheets is causing students to consider learning and
reading as independent work when it should have scaffolding and cooperative
learning.
One Question/Comment I Have:
1. Does PARCC and other standardized tests test students at these early stages
like emergent and letter-alphabetic? If so, how can they when there is such a
range because of the fast-paced learning environment at these levels?