Love Cunningham' book! I agree that the needs of students is what drives instruction! I also loved and used Fountas. And Pinnell's word study program. Some students need explicit phonics instruction. I was not held to a scripted program. The program allowed me to be flexible and incorporate it into my reading and writing workshop
I love to learn what is happening across the country! Lynette Sent from my iPhone On Feb 18, 2012, at 9:11 AM, Linda Rightmire <linda_rightm...@yahoo.ca> wrote: > > > > Greetings, > > I have been following this list for a couple weeks now and feel emboldened to > jump in. I am a 'veteran' (gosh it's hard to get away from the military > metaphors!?) -- and worked three decades as a primary teacher, district > reading specialist, and learning assistance teacher (in BC, Canada -- I > forget what your term is in the US). Now substitute teaching and see loads of > different classrooms K to 12; more primary these past few months, just the > way it's worked out. > > My best work and advice on phonics comes from the really great and still > utterly relevant book, Phonics They Use, by Pat Cunningham. This has really > solid phonics games and a chapter at the end about the hard questions etc. > (Sorry, not going to seek the exact details in the interest of not making > this an essay that takes an hour or two. ;-) ) Looks like the newer version > is "Systematic Sequential Phonics They Use". Super practical material! > > Cunningham urges us to make our phonics teaching "sequential" -- and I > observed in my coordinator days that many people were helping kids with lots > of phonics but in a non-systematic way. A student would get 'sh' he needed in > his journal work one day, and not again for a week or two -- not nearly > enough repetition for the weaker students. This author also notes **a little > goes a long way!** -- the kids love her 'making words' game (and if you do it > right the individual accountability to actually build each word is powerful) > but that doesn't mean you carry it on for forty minutes. You can build this > in daily (or whatever) by having the strips ready to go and the students > begin making their letters the minute they arrive back from recess; then cut > it off at fifteen or twenty minutes. (Re 'strips' -- can't at this moment > remember if that was my extension or in her original -- key, though.) > Basically she says and I agree, with these phonics games, you can > achieve much of what kids need, in fifteen to thirty minutes a day. (Phonics > is *part* of what happens the rest of the day; this is just the structured > bit.) > > In her 'hard questions' chapter she talks about what we must "drop" to gain > time -- drop the worksheets and add more real reading and real writing. > Worksheets essentially are okay for the kids who already know the answers, > and the weaker students don't get instant feedback as to where they've made > errors. > > A scripted program I observed a number of times was Companion Reading (not > sure if they still are out there?). While I have seen teachers use elements > of it in a beneficial manner, the time I saw the 'full program' in use, > piloted essentially, it took a couple hours a day and left barely any time > for all the really great stuff we need to do, aside from a bit of reading > aloud to children. (Our district used to have time allotments; the guideline > was two and a half hours for Language Arts -- and the joke was, 'yah, the > good grade one teachers do Language Arts most of the day and call it Social > Studies at 1 o'clock, Science at two and so on.) > > Besides the inordinate amount of time it consumed, it fostered a very > teacher-dependent class vibe in general. These students would be awaiting the > next period or activity, and I'd ask them "now what?" -- they would most > often reply, "We wait for the teacher to tell us." (Uh-oh; not a good sign. > Due to our then very progressive Primary Program, kids often had so much > ownership of classroom procedures and their own responsiveness, in a really > great way.) > > I do see how beginning teachers seek direction and a scripted program can be > appealing. As I understand it, Open Court is quite scripted -- and Renate > Caine (http://www.cainelearning.com/ looks great) of brain based learning, at > a fabulous conference in Vancouver a few years ago, basically trash talked > Open Court for its (similar imo) deadening effect. > > And re "mosaic" -- I appreciate 'off topic' items like this and in particular > I want to learn "what's out there" as to what people are using and what are > their concerns. Like your moderator (thank you btw), I am (guessing) thinking > there are many different situations -- many! I do observe that Americans in > general have less classroom autonomy. (Oops, really sweeping generalization! > ;-) ) > > Thanks, all. > > Linda Rightmire > South central BC > > ps Any chance people would snip/trim their replies? It's a bit hard to wade > through for those of us on digest. Thanks again. > > pps Nearly all my classroom years have been in low SES neighbourhoods with > the very weakest students and as you know that includes much with behaviour > problems too. ;-) Great stuff. > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > 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 Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org 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
