Readings for 9/13/10 Sound Systems/Every Mark on the Page

Readings for 09/13/10


Sound Systems

Chapters one and two of Sound Systems contained a lot of useful developmental information. There was plenty of terminology defined. So much so that it did get a little confusing at times. I found myself referring to the tables for clarification as I read along. While these concepts are not new to me, the actual terms for the stages and the exact qualifications of each were. I definitely see the importance of assessment of students to make sure we are teaching the right things at the right time. This is the point of having a systematic approach, which is, “knowing what to teach, knowing whom to teach, and having a plan to methodically teach concepts, keeping records of learning and teaching”. As a preschool teacher for many years, I was excited to see that “phonics can be taught in a variety of ways and in the content of many activities, in the literacy and content areas”. Teaching phonics concepts in both reading and writing contexts seems like second nature to me. I loved watching my preschoolers see the connection between reading and writing!

Chapter Four, Phonics Assessments in Writing, included several clear examples of writing assessments. I appreciated the step by step formula of analysis at the beginning of the chapter. I attempted the analysis of student 2’s paragraph and managed to get it right as far as the formula. Understanding the stages of the student and the possible instructional moves made a lot of sense upon reading them but weren’t as easy to come up with on my own. This appears to be a useful to for evaluating students’ spelling skills.

Chapter 6, Instructional Methods, had a recurring point about the importance of letting children know the purpose of the knowledge. This reminds me of the age old question of “Why do I need to know this? How will it help me in the real world?” If we can help our students make connections about why they are learning things and how they will use them, then they will be more enthusiastic about the learning that is occurring. I have implemented elements of shared reading, and shared writing in my preschool classroom. There wasn’t the time or manpower to have guided workshops. I enjoyed learning more about the fundamentals of the literacy block in this chapter. The purpose and steps of these methods were clearly stated. I am an avid believer in a Print-Rich classroom and each of these sections reinforced the idea that “phonemic awareness and phonics concepts are valuable only as they are used to support reading and writing authentic texts”.

Chapter 9, Instruction at an Early Stage, was a great peek into Ms. Lacy’s classroom. I filed away many ideas from the concrete examples that were illustrated. A main idea that seemed to permeate the exercises was to make text meaningful to the children. The students need to have ownership of their writing and feel connected to the text. Something that surprised me was that children were allowed to speak out and have conversations during read aloud time. I’m not sure how this would work in practice but I liked the idea of it and understand how it makes the text more meaningful to the students. I also learned that making text familiar for read aloud time made it possible for the children to make new phonics connections not simply reinforce already learned skills. I was impressed with the ability of Ms. Lacy to keep track of each individual’s place and progress. I would have liked more detail on how all this was accomplished. I know she noticed it and recorded it but the how and when was a bit ambiguous.

Every mark on the Page, by Cusumano

This article struck a familiar cord with me. As a preschool teacher, I’ve had many parents ask me, “Will my child be reading at the end of preschool?” I spent a lot of time educating parents as to the expectations and goals of preschool. I finally put a packet together that included some child development and reading readiness information. This seemed to ease a lot of worries and unrealistic expectations. Once parents know what is expected of their children in regards to writing and how the process works, everyone can relax and let the learning happen. It is important as an educator to communicate with parents and give them the information they need to help their children in the best ways possible. I intend to use some of my tried and true methods of communication about what is appropriate and expected in certain areas, as well as some of those listed in this article as well.