Phonics vs. Whole Language
What is the best method for teaching children to read? This is probably not something that a lot of people think about on a regular basis. However, I think it is very important to discuss the ways in which children learn to read. Reading has become a very important element in our society. With the rapid advancement of America, having good reading skills is essential to getting ahead in jobs and even in making dinner. Children are the future doctors, lawyers, and presidents of our country and I, as a future teacher, wouldn’t want to send children out into the world with poor reading skills. I also think it is important to discuss reading methods because I see, after doing an interview with a veteran teacher, that a lot of new and future teachers aren’t as knowledgeable about different methods of teaching reading as we probably should be.
I think that before beginning to discuss reading methods, we should first discuss what reading is. According to the International Reading Association, “Reading is complex system of deriving meaning from print that requires all of the following:
• The development and maintenance of a motivation to read.
The development of appropriate active strategies to construct meaning from print.
• Sufficient background information and vocabulary to foster reading comprehension.
• The ability to read fluently.
• The ability to decode unfamiliar words.
• The skills and knowledge to understand how phonemes or speech sounds are connected to print.”
The article also states that a skilled beginning reading teacher is a professional who knows what this definition means, can assess c...
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...Karin L. and Patricia L. Scharer. “Phonics Teaching and Learning in Whole Language Classrooms: New Evidence From Research.” Reading Teacher 53. 7 (April 2000). Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Camden Carroll Library. Morehead State University. 28 Oct 2003.
Hammons, Karen. Personal Interview. 2 Dec 2003.
Lawrence, Brenda. Personal Interview. 7 Nov 2003.
Manzo, Kathleen Kennedy. “Whole Language Lives.” Teacher Magazine 10. 8(May June 1999): 11 – 13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Camden Carroll Library. Morehead State University. 28 Oct 2003.
Pressley, Michael, et al. Learning to Read: Lessons From Exemplary First – Grade Classrooms. New York: Guilford Press, 2001.
“Using Multiple Methods of Beginning Reading Instruction a Position Statement of the International Reading Association.” International Reading Association. Jan 1999. <www.ira.org>
With such high numbers of adolescents falling below basic in reading, illiteracy is a battle that must be fought head on. The largest dilemma with the struggle is the number of variations that cause adolescents to become reluctant, unmotivated or struggling readers. Fortunately, a large number of strategies exist to encourage and strengthen readers of all ages, proving that adolescence is not a time to give up on faltering students. Rather, it is a time to evaluate and intervene in an effort to turn a reluctant reader into an avid one (or near enough). Ultimately, educators must learn to properly assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses (Curtis, 2009) and pair them with the proper intervention techniques. If one method does not work, countless others exist to take its place.
Federalist and anti-federalist were two strong forces to help shape the new United Sates Constitution. The federalist key figures included Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The anti-federalist key figures included Patrick Henry, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee. In 1787 both parties went to Philadelphia with an agenda and that agenda was to reshape the constitution. Federalist argued that they did not want to lead to an abuse of power, therefore they wanted to construct a government that safeguarded the liberty and independence that the American Revolution had created. Antifederalist opposed ratification of the constitution because they too believed it would lead to an abuse of power. They wanted the states to have more
Alexander is the son of King Philip of Macedonia and Queen Olympias. We see Alexander's daily life and the strained relationship between his parents. Alexander grows up with his mother Olympias and his tutor Aristotle, where he finds interest in love, honor, music, exploration, poetry, and military combat. Young Alexander impresses his father by taming an intractable horse, but both mother and son are banished from the kingdom, Olympias advising her son to seize the throne before Philip has him murdered. As things work out, Philip is murdered, and Alexander rules Macedonia. (BBC)
Between 1787 and 1788, dozens of papers known as the Federalists and Anti-Federalists papers were published in the form of newspapers and journals which detailed the political views of both opposing groups. Federalists supported a strong federal government which controlled the smaller state governments. This type of government was seen as the most capable of creating a checks and balance system that would consistently apply laws to all of the states and ensure that no single branch of government could have too much power. The Federalists were mostly rich property owners who felt that the people of America had to be governed by a larger body of government (O’Connor, Sabato, & Yanus, 2015).
Federalists Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote a collection of over 80 influential articles and essays regarding the ratification of the United States Constitution which formed into “The Federalist Papers.” It became an American contribution to the literature on federalism, constitutional democracy, and Western Political thought. The authors wrote the federalist papers to persuade americans into ratifying the constitution in order to not repeat the mistakes with the Articles of Confederation. In the papers, the federalists discuss the defects of the present government, the Articles of Confederation and the new constitutions’ different components of the legislature, executives, and judicial branches.
Since the amendment of the Articles of Confederation after the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, a collection of eighty-five essays was made by a group of Federalist. Known as The Federalist Paper, its purpose was to convince the delegates form New Your State to set certain changes to the newly made U.S. Constitution. This was a document that meant to expand the powers of the federal government. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote these convincing documents in order to stabilize the government’s power out of fairness for the people. As well as, their own vision of the correct role of a government.
...ding Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction(NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
As a teacher, you need to encourage all attempts at reading, writing, speaking, and allowing children to experience the different functions and use of literacy activity (The Access Center, n.d.). Moreover, it is crucial for educators to understand phonological awareness and phonics; know what constitutes good children’s literature and how to use it; know children who need additional assistance with beginning reading and writing (Cunningham et al, 2004 as cited in McLachlan et al, 2013, p. 112). Educators also need to plan effective activities to assist children experience reading aloud, listening to other children read aloud, listening to tape recordings, and videotapes so children have opportunities to integrate and extend their literacy knowledge (The Access Center, n.d.). Morrow (1990 as cited in The Access Center, n.d.) notes that classroom with greater teacher facilitation promote literacy behaviours, so it is educators’ role to provide literacy rich
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
Literacy is an on-going skill that teachers and students alike should commonly study and practice in all grades. Problems faced by teachers, especially teachers in higher grades, are not having the skills to be effective teachers of literacy. To effectively teach literacy across content areas, a teacher would need skills such as knowledge of the reading process and the ability to cultivate the knowledge gained in order to make informed decisions within their classrooms (Clary, Oglan, Styslinger,
According to Bursuck & Damer (2011) phonemes are “the smallest individual sounds in words spoken.” Phonemic awareness is the “ability to hear the phonemes and manipulate the sounds” (p. 41). Phonemic awareness is essential because without the ability students are not able to manipulate the sounds. According to the National Institute for Literacy (2007), “students with poor phonics skills prevent themselves from reading grade-level text and are unable to build their vocabulary” (p.5) Agreeing with the importance of phonemic awareness, Shapiro and Solity attempted to use whole class instruction to improve students’ phonological awareness. The intervention showed that whole class instruction assisted not only the students with poor phonemic awareness, but also on-level developing readers.
According to Temple et. Al, there are components for reading. “Reading is the act of getting meaning from a written text.” (Temple & Ogle & Crawford & Freppon, 2005, p.7) There are steps to learn to read; first step is “word recognition.” This activity is that readers recognize letters and words. Next step is “phonemes” which is the smallest sounds in language. Readers who in “phonemic awareness” are able to know how to make sounds with letters. In “comprehension” step, readers are able to understand what they are reading. They can improve reading ability by expanding knowledge of vocabulary. If they can understand words faster than previous time and accurately, they are on “reading fluency” step. The last step, which is “interpretation” or also known as “critical reading”, is a time when they are able to understand author’s thought and mind by reading their words and arguments. National Reading Panel categorized literacy by areas of alphabetic, fluency, comprehension, teacher education and reading instruction, computer technology, and reading instruction. Alphabetic includes
Long, M, H. & Doughty, C, J. ( Eds.).(2009). The Handbook of Language Teaching. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
The authenticity of Interactive Reading is clear and therefore leads us to explore HOW we, as teachers, incorporate this strategy in our teaching most effectively. Fisher, Flood, Lapp, and Frey's study on "read-aloud practices" provides an excellent, research based framework for the implementation of Interactive Reading based on their observations of teachers in classrooms. Their 7 "essential components of an interactive read-aloud" is a practical guide of using this strategy and can be implimented with all children. These components provide a structure that allows us to teach ALL children (inherently allowing differentiation) while attending to common core state standards. Use of this strategy attends to the understanding of language and literacy development while providing for specific skill instruction in reading and writing.
Reading comprehension refers to the ability to decipher the meaning of written text. There are three required elements needed for adequate understand of written material: a knowledge of word...