Jordan England

READ 7131

Discussion 2.1 Reading Teacher fluency article reflection

I chose “Let’s Bring Back the Magic of Song for Teaching Reading” because of a

personal adoration for singing (that started at a very early age) and being a firm believer in the

powerful, positive, and all-inclusive elements that singing/ song brings to any early childhood

classroom. The incorporation of song and singing within early childhood classrooms and lessons,

allows young students to find greater motivation towards learning new content. “The joyfulness

embedded in singing may motivate student to want to sing (and read) even more” (Iwasaki,

Rasinski, Yildirim, & Zimmerman, 2013). Furthermore, the presence of singing/ song allows

students to become better engaged within the classroom because of its fun, interactive nature.

Within the article, I found so many redeeming qualities in the effective implementation of

singing and song lyrics within any primary classroom. Several profound researchers and scholars

suggest that singing has the potential for improving reading (Biggs, Homan, Dedrick, &

Rasinski, 2008; Fisher, 2001; Harp, 1988; Hines, 2010; Miller & Coen, 1994; Smith, 2000, as

cited in Iwasaki et al., 2013). Consistent, repeated reading and singing has shown substantial

progress in students’ reading achievements in just nine-weeks (Biggs et al., as cited in Iwasaki et

al., 2013). Young students need the presence of singing in the classroom, and what child do you

know that doesn’t love to sing? Becky, the teacher from the article, used singing and song lyrics

to teach a variety of essential standards present in early childhood curriculum. Each day, Becky

would have the same song playing as her students entered the classroom. Over a week’s time,

Becky and her students would continually sing the chosen song, track the song lyrics, dig deeper
into unfamiliar words within the lyrics, add vocab to their wall, and much more. Becky’s

consistent daily routine for her class, along with the repetitive nature of singing/ song, sets young

students up for great achievements and success. Each student was given a personal copy of the

weekly song’s lyrics, and Becky would instruct her students to track the words on their sheet as

they sang along together. “When students sing while tracking the lyrics to songs, they are in

essence reading. Singing increases time spent reading” (Iwasaki et al., 2013).

Songs and their lyrics are full of rhymes, alliteration, assonance, and many more features

that young students need to be exposed to as well as recognize. These features aid in the

developments of phonemic awareness, which we know is an essential component of children’s

reading fluency, growth, and success. Songs and lyrics also pose as wonderful opportunities to

grow and develop young students’ sight vocabulary (Iwasaki et al., 2013). Becky and her

students discussed and added new words to their wall each day, reflected on unfamiliar words,

identified word families, and even journaled about the song’s lyrics. Each day, Becky’s students

became more immersed in all aspects of the song and its lyrics, from singing and knowing every

word, to growing their sight vocabulary and knowledge of word families. The repeated readings,

singing, and tracking of song lyrics ultimately resulted in improvements among her students’

reading fluency, regardless of the differences in students reading level ranges. “Although her

students reflect a range of differences in reading achievement, the repeated readings allowed

even the less proficient readers to develop a mastery of the songs that was equal to the more

advanced students. Singing allowed all students to participate at a proficient level” (Iwasaki et

al., 2013). Singing and song lyrics can bring so many strengths to any early childhood classroom

academically as well as personally. Both singing, and song lyrics offer all-inclusive qualities like

prosody, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, melodic nature, word families, rhythm, expansive
vocabulary, phonemic awareness, repetition, and tracking that vastly benefit young students’

growth and developments in reading fluency. Furthermore, the effective incorporation of singing

and song lyrics into early childhood classrooms, creates a more responsive and collaborative

learning environment. Becky and her students serve as a great example of what a responsive and

collaborative classroom structure looks like, as they explored all aspects, elements, and ongoing

subtopics within “You Are My Sunshine” and its lyrics. Our text affirms characteristics of

responsive/collaborative classrooms, “Frequent instances of student topic expansion and

incorporation of these topics into discussion by both the teacher and students; shared negotiation

of ongoing subtopics” (Larson & Marsh, 2015).

It was very difficult for me to determine any weaknesses associated with the

implementation of singing, song, and lyrics into primary classrooms. There are overwhelming

benefits associated with singing and song being present in classrooms in regard to students’

academic and individual developments. However, I do acknowledge that some teachers may feel

differently about the vitality of singing/ song being present in their classrooms. I do believe that

some people are more musically inclined than others, finding greater value, strengths, and

motivation behind singing and song lyrics. I can possibly see a weakness in the incorporation of

singing, song, and lyrics if a teacher fails to recognize the all-inclusive elements he or she can

teach young students. It’s crucial that teachers fully recognize, take full advantage of, effectively

plan for, and efficiently incorporate all aspects of singing, song, and lyrics so students have

opportunities for growth, development, achievement, and ultimate understanding. Another

weakness I could possibly foresee is young students’ inability to maintain an “inside noise

level.” Teachers may face the challenge of having to consistently remind students to sing with an

“inside voice” noise level, so other classrooms are not distracted and disturbed from learning.
 References:

Iwasaki, B., Rasinski, T., Yildirim, K., & Zimmerman, B.S. (2013). Let’s Bring Back the Magic

of Song for Teaching Reading. The Reading Teacher, 67(2), pp. 137-141. Retrieved from

https://georgiasouthern.desire2learn.com/content/enforced/516337-80725.201908/Using

%20Songs%20to%20Teach%20Reading.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=BE

hZgRyGik4Urkx5zbcVmVAVT

Larson, J., & Marsh, J. (2015). Making Literacy Real: Theories and Practices for Learning and

Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.