Natural Repetition

Last week for ELED 422 we read an article on academic language, and in it Stephen Krashen and Clara Lee Brown talked about the idea of learning information and words through narrow reading and natural repetition. Narrow reading is a kind of reading strategy in which you read many texts on a single topic or written by a single author. The idea is that by reading similar things you will come across many of the same words over and over again (natural repetition) and it will help you learn those words. Seeing the words repeatedly through reading is much more meaningful than reviewing flashcards. I really liked the Ten Important Words Plus Strategy because it incorporates learning words through meaningful mediums and in a natural way. I liked how the kids had to deal with the words in a variety of approaches. How many of us remember things we had to memorize for a test a month later? I certainly don’t, but I can still remember some of the more engaging activities I participated in in elementary school. The more children can see words in different contexts and in interesting ways the more likely those words are to stick with them. 

Phonemic Awareness

To start, I was glad that the Yopp and Yopp article made the distinction between auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness. As they pointed out, many people do not know the difference, and I was one of those people. I can see now that they are not the same thing, but that they are definitely related. Being able to hear the likenesses and differences in phonemes and words certainly helps one to develop an awareness that spoken language consists of a sequence of phonemes, which is so integral to reading and writing. Because the two, phonemic awareness and auditory discrimination, are so related, I wonder how that affects individuals with hearing impairments. If anyone has any thoughts, please comment!

I thought the article really gave some good ideas on how to approach instruction on phonemic awareness. It did a nice job of breaking down the sequencing for teaching it and gave good examples. I could definitely see myself using the different rhyming and clapping activities. I always think its good if you can teach kids things without them knowing they are being taught. The video below is a song about a big pig, and it is made up of words that rhyme with pig. Check it out!

Modeling Fluency

Like with any learned skill, becoming a fluent reader is achievable with proper instruction and practice. There are certainly many things that can help a student become a more fluent reader, and it is probably worth looking into all of them, but one of my favorites is just through simple modeling. I used to take trombone lessons in high school, and sometimes the best thing my instructor could do to help me with a difficult passage was to just play it so I could get a better feel for how it went. I remember reading being similar. While it is good to just spend some time struggling, it can also be nice to just hear how it is supposed to be, especially when it comes to texts you are not used to. For example, I’ve always liked listening to Shakespeare, but if I have to read it on my own I am lost. So, while there are many ways to help a student develop good reading fluency I think it is important to not overlook the benefits of simple modeling. I think modeling, when used in conjunction with some of the other practices that help to ensure the student actually understands what s/he is reading, can be very effective.

Question: What has helped you the most with fluency? 

Prior Knowledge Important in Moving Forward

The idea that children even as young as four or five already know how to read is a noteworthy one. Sometimes you read or hear things about how teachers need to prepare children to learn, but I think children, especially the very young ones, need no preparation. They are naturally curious, and it’s important to take advantage of that curiosity. It is through that curiosity that prior knowledge is built, and we all know how vital prior knowledge is to future learning. One of my favorite things from the article Letting Go of the “Letter of the Week” was the effort made to show the kids that they were capable of reading and writing. I really loved the idea of bringing in items they are very familiar with (like a McDonald’s bag) to teach them some concepts they may not be so comfortable with. I think by showing them something they are accustomed to, you can help build their confidence in terms of how they feel about what it is they are about to learn. Relating what they are learning to things they already know makes learning fun and gives them an example of how they can use what they are learning in school in their everyday lives. 

picture from: http://www.erc.udel.edu/