Hmmm. What I do after I listen to a child read, and notice the child had difficulty with final e words, I just give the child a simple reminder about how the final e can change many vowels to long. I give the child a few examples and then we go back to that part in the text where the child struggled, to try it again. In later reads with other texts it usually only takes a reminder of how we discussed that final e thing in a previous conference. Or the child can be on the look out for final e words to see if they follow the rule. It really helps in explaining the difference between breathe and breath. But I often tell the children that if one vowel sound doesn't work, try the others until they get one that makes sense in the context of the text. That "a" vowel can be treacherous. (Jessica, Assata, Amanda, Ahhhh, what, and, want.)
I teach my children to do what Ken Goodman said at NCTE Atlanta-- "Children must learn to expect ambiguity." Without the ability to expect and deal with ambiguity, children are stuck using only the phonics skills they know, even if what they know is wrong. Ruby ----- Original Message ---- From: gina nunley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 8:56:29 PM Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] phonics and meaning >> > Nancy said- > Could you tell me more about the sixth graders with the "phonics gaps?" > > What kinds of phonics instruction have they had in the past? What kinds of > > different phonics instruction strategies would you incorporate?> Why do you > consider reading for meaning "the other side of the continuum?"> You state "I > have a dyslexia teacher friend who would seriously disagree > with us if we > ONLY hit reading for meaning with the strugglers." What other > kinds of > reading are there?> > Nancy C.> Hi Nancy..... I give my students a Quick Phonics Screener, if they are two years below grade level on the QRI. (decoding and comprehension assessment) I also do a miscue analysis. There have been times when it is clear to me that a student repeatedly misses words containing dipthongs....for example they don't know what to do with ea, or they still don't understand that an e on the end of a word affects the first vowel. fin....fine, tin....tine etc. Reading for meaning strategies of course help them work around that, but some quick phonics work with me will increase automaticity, fluency, and improve comprehension. Sometimes the screener will show that they are several grade levels below where they should be at this age with letter/sounds or multisyllabic words. My dyslexia teacher tells me their word work needs to be more closely looked at, rather than to keep the focus on making meaning no matter what your decoding ability. There was a time in my career when I felt focus on meaning would ultimately cure all reading problems. So yes I do feel that there is a spot on the cotinuum, far to one side, that wants to ignore the word work in favor of strictly focusing on meaning. I was there once in my career. I now see that some of my kids need me to be willing to look more at their phonics skills. Very few of them, but they are there and I don't want to let them slip between the cracks. Hope that makes sense. Gina > _________________________________________________________________ Introducing Live Search cashback . It's search that pays you back! http://search.live.com/cashback/?&pkw=form=MIJAAF/publ=HMTGL/crea=introsrchcashback _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
