Phonics #11

Summary: Syllables and accents go hand in hand. First, one must understand that a syllable is the unit of pronunciation and there exists one vowel phoneme per syllable. Accents appear on one syllable out of a two-or-more syllable word and receives more emphasis or stress than the other syllables. This accent, or stress point, affects the vowel sound. 

After reviewing all the rules on accents and syllables, it is obvious that one must first learn all the rules of phonics first because they play such a big influence in the patterns.  Rather than memorizing syllables based on hearing a word pronounced, it is key to understand what makes a syllable and why and also what makes part of a word accented and why.  In the long run, it is more about understanding the why of the rule rather than focusing on memorizing a list of rules because there are far too many just to memorize the rules. 

Here are the most important rules I picked out in regards to Accents:

1. The vowel phoneme is the most prominent part of the syllable
2. When a word contains an affix the accent usually falls on the root word
3. The accent usually falls on the first word of a compound word
4. In a two-syllable word that functions as both a noun and verb, the accent is different such that: the accent usually falls on the first syllable of a noun and the second syllable o a verb
5. When there exists a double consonant within a word, the accent usually falls on the syllable that ends with the first letter of the double consonant
6. If a word has the suffix: -tion, -sion, -ic the primary accent falls on the syllable preceding the suffix
7. When the vowel phoneme within the last syllable of a two-syllable word is composed of two vowel letters, the syllable is usually accented
8. When there is no other clue, the accent usually falls on the first syllable

Syllable Division:

1. In a compound word, the syllabic division usually comes between the two words
2. Affixes usually form separate syllables from the root word
3. If the last syllable of a word ends in le preceded by a consonant, that consonant usually begins the last syllable
4. If the first vowel in a two-syllable word is followed by a single consonant, that consonant often begins the second syllable
5. When two vowel letters are separated by two consonants, the syllabic division usually occurs between the consonants
6. In syllabication, digraphs are treated as representing single phonemes

While it may seem natural to someone fluent in English to understand syllables and how words are broken up, it is very difficult for a ESL student. However, I think these basic rules will really help them.  Once students understand generalizations of how words are broken up and how the accents fall, it is much easier for them to learn pronunciations. I will definitely be taking this book with me to Thailand!

Read like a writer...

she wrote a lot of onomatopoeias (sound words) and repetition

text showed how it should be read  (...   s l o w l y   used the shape of words   used color to represent expression   used all caps)

created sense of wonder/mystery

used sets of 3 (repeated it later) some of them..., at least one of them...,
i liked how she wrote at least one of them..., some of them..., ...
this reminded me of math

she was very descriptive - which caused me to use imagery, which made the reading more fun

this made me want to ride a roller coster- good effect on her readers, persuasive

she didn't say a lot, but what she said was to the point (sentence fluency)

she used parenthesis to describe inner thought

Phonics #12

Summary: Structural analysis is a word identification skill that involves studying all aspects of the words, such as affixes, root words, "words" within compound words, etc. Prefixes are placed before a root word and can change the meaning or make it more specific, but do not change the spelling. Suffixes are added to the end of a word and can: change the number, affect the verb tense, indicate comparisons, denote possession, affect meaning or change grammatical category (ex. from a noun to a verb). Below, I will discuss the various reasons or rules for a spelling change when adding a suffix:

1. The spelling of a root word does not change when adding a suffix that begins with a consonant to a root word that ends in a consonant. (gladly)
2. Add -es to words that end in a y preceded by a consonant and to words that end in s, sh, ch, x or z. If the word ends in f or fe, change it to a v and add s or es.
3. Usually, change the y to an i before adding a suffix to a word that ends in a y preceded by a consonant. Do not change y to an i when the word ends in a y preceded by a vowel. And if adding -ing to a word that ends in y preceded by consonant, do not change y to i.
4. When a root wrd ends in a final e, drop the e before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Keep the final e when a suffix begins with a consonant.
5. When a one-syllable word contains a short vowel phoneme and ends in a single consonant, double the final consonant before adding a suffix that begins with a vowel.
6. Double the final consonant before adding a suffix to a one-syllable word that ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant. Do not double when a one-syllable word ends in more than one consonant or has two vowels. Double final consonant when the last syllable of a two-or-more syllable word receives the greatest stress or accent. Do not double the final consonant when the last syllable of a two or more syllable word is not accented.

This section is really beneficial because it helps you see how each aspect of a word impacts the word as a whole. It really forces you to study each individual part of the word and recognize patterns that occur. Even though there are a lot of rules when it comes to phonics, I have really enjoyed studying this because I always have wondered questions such as, "how do you know when to add -s vs. -es" or "under what conditions do you double a consonant when adding -ing"? This book has helped me really see that yes, the English language may be extremely complicated, but there are typically rules and patterns to follow. And even when it doesn't seem like there are patterns, there usually are if you search hard enough.

Work, Space and Time by Ray

Summary: If children put on the shoes of an author an hour every day, they can’t help but grow into that role.  Writing workshop is all about demonstrating to students what writing is all about, giving them the tools and space a person needs to write stories, and providing a structured, routine, and consistent atmosphere to develop their writing skills.  When all of this takes place, children are excited about their writing and their ability to create a book.

Like all things in life, the mastery of writing and creating a book only comes with time, practice, experience and reflection.  Just as the wide reading is the best way to develop vocabulary, a wide variety of writing allows children at a young age to tap into their creative side.  When the teacher tells them they are going to get the opportunity to create books just like Eric Carle, or whoever their favorite author may be, this builds excitement for creating their own book, which leads to an excitement for writing. 

As I personally reflect on this article, it makes me want to be a kid again.  When teachers are intentional about making learning fun, students forget that they are in forced to be there are actually begin to learn.  While I have never loved writing myself, when I read this article, it makes me want to write.  While it is very structured, it doesn’t put kids in a box.  This approach allows them to work for as long as they want to on a certain book, how they want to, where they want to, and write on what is interesting to them. And that, is exactly how to draw students in.  If I have learned anything in my education classes over the years, it has been every student has a unique learning style and no student can be put in a box. 

It is really good for me to read articles like this because as a math person, I am so black and white.  In math, its either right or wrong.  This type of problems solving has created me to be this very strategic thinker and try to map out every situation.  I loved the freedom in this article.  While they may have been talking about giving students freedom in writing, this made me see the importance of giving students freedom in math. But how could this be done?  Rather than making math so routine, and task oriented, what if a math classroom was focused on the idea of problem solving?  What if, rather than giving students 25 math problems to do a night, I asked them to perform a variety of problem solving tasks? However, I have also begun to understand that standardized tests control today’s classroom. So, now this leaves me with one question, is it possible to meet those standards and still allow students freedom in their learning?  

Guided Reading

Summary: Guided reading may have several different approaches to it, but the overall success falls on the teacher. The teacher must design student interactions that guide children to the reading task, as well as use scaffolding to provide feedback to the students about their skills, strategies, and knowledge of the story. The overall goal must remain to help students become more competent readers. By using and modeling, coaching, and reflecting, to name a few, to help children experience the text in a meaningful way, teachers can make guided reading a great tool to accomplish this goal.

Even though this article gave a lot of detailed information, and I know I won't be able to remember all of it, I think the best thing to do is for me to summarize and be able to answer the question, "what is guided reading? And how is it demonstrated in a classroom?" 

In order to really answer this question, I am combining my new knowledge with my knowledge from the Gunning textbook about Guided Reading, as well as the information that was given today in class. From all of these sources, I have gathered that Guided Reading is a template a teacher uses to assist and guide students as they carefully read a selected text. Steps that must be included in this process are: setting a focus, introducing the book, the first reading of the text, and repeated reading while scaffolding and guiding. While all of the information is important, I personally felt that scaffolding was the deal breaker. If a teacher is well trained and knowledgeable of how to properly scaffold, guided reading can be a huge success. 

And after today's class discussion, I have a much clearer understanding of how it could look in a classroom. For example, the 2 Day Format used in the Ozarks, emphasizes reading one day and writing the next. It activates the brain by beginning with word work, then introduces the book for a couple minutes, then it actually has students read the text to themselves for up to 8 minutes, and then closes with assessing their comprehension. On Day 2, the majority of the time is spent on connecting the reading to the writing and helping students to use their reading to become more proficient writers. 

I really enjoyed talking about guided reading and being able to use two different text books as well as class notes and discussion. The variety of sources used really allowed me to get a good grasp on what it is and how it can be used in a classroom .

Dorn, L. J. (1998). Apprenticeship in literacy. (pp. 41-55). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers

Phonics #10

Summary: In order to understand onsets and rimes, you have to understand that they go hand in hand and really cannot be taught without the other. The onset is the consonant letters preceeding the vowel(s) in a syllable.  The rime is the vowel phoneme and consonants following.  So, for one syllable words, the word is composed of the consonant(s) at the beginning (the onset) and then and then is the vowel phoneme and rest of the consonants (rime).

While rime is related to rhyme, rhyme has more to do with the sound of the word and rime has to do with the spelling of the word. That is to say, words rhyme if their phoneme sounds the same and have the same rime in relation to the ending graphemes.  Specific examples comparing the two are:
-weight, bait, mate, and wait all have the same rhyme
-hop, drop, stop, and mop all have the same rime

Using activities associated with rhyme can be beneficial when teaching English. This allows students to compare and contrast words, graphemes and phonemes. If students are able to distinguish which words sound alike, this can help build spelling, and sometimes meaning. Doing word sorts based on spelling, onsets, and rimes is a great way for them to distinguish the similarities and differences.

Words do not always have to have onsets: ask, ouch, am, old, of
Using the following one-syllable words, the onset is underlined, and the rime is bolded:
could, hop, high, say, fun

Examples of Onset 

pig

smile

chip

wish

splash

thirteen

pumpkin

garden

Rime

-ant            -ug            -op

plant           bug           hop

slant            rug           drop

grant           chug         mop

Rhyme

weight

bait

mate

wait

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Phonics #10

Summary: The onset is the consonant letters the preceed the vowel in a syllable. The rime consists of a vowel phoneme and final consonant(s) in the syllable. Rime is different from rhyme which is the correspondence of sound between words at the end of the word.

Before doing the activities to decipher between rime and rhyme, I had difficulty distinguishing a difference. However, I am much more confident now understanding the difference. A rhyme has to do with sound, where the rime has to do with the spelling at the end of a word.

Examples of Onset 
pig
smile
chip
wish
splash

thirteen
pumpkin
garden

Rime
-ant            -ug            -op
plant           bug           hop
slant            rug           drop
grant           chug         mop


Rhyme
weight
bait
mate
wait

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Comprehension Strategies Practiced 3/26

Strategies Used:
-visualizing - this came naturally because the author did such a good job using descriptive language
-through visualizing you could also use sensory details
-personal experiences with the ocean, waves, sand on my favorite vacations and my experience in Thailand
-determining importance (the author used bolded words)
-using the illustrations to pick up on the author's purpose and lead to considering their point of view

However, I must note that I would not have used all these strategies normally.  I think because we were told to write down what strategies we used, I was more aware and more likely to use strategies.

phonics #9

This was section was a giant review of everything we've learned about Phonemes. It was really beneficial for me to go to the back of the book, which practically stated the same thing, but in a more systematic format. Even though it was a lot of information, it was much easier to study and remember due to the way it was organized. While Phonics has rules, there are always exceptions, and this was a great time to review those. One thing I could definitely work on is being able to label each phoneme; it does not come easily for me to know which vowel phoneme I am using since each vowel grapheme has many different pronunciations.  Below is one way to organize the phoneme rules - which has been easy for me to navigate. 

CONSONANTS

Silent

b (comb, doubt)

c (scene, knock)

g (gnat) 

h (khaki, ghost, rhino; oh; hour)

k (knock)

l (calm, chalk, should)

Letters that Represent more than one Phoneme

c: /k/, /s/

d: /d/, /t/

g: /g/, /j/

n: /n/, /ng/

s: /s/, /sh/, /z/, /zh/

z: /z/, /s/, /zh/

Phoneme represented by more than one Letter

/f/: f, gh, ph

/j/: j, g, dg, d

/k/: k, ch, q

/s/: s, z

/w/: w, u

/z/: z, s

c or g - followed by e, i, y reps soft sound (city, gem)

c or g - followed by another letter, or it appears at end of letter - reps hard sound (cup, go)

-ed 

/t/ sound; ed sound - separate syllable or /d/ sound

q always reps /k/

c, q, x - no one distinctive sound

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Phonics #8

The main focus of this section was the difference between vowel phonemes. There are three main variations: dipthongs, vowel digraphs, and vowel pairs. Even though, like the majority of the English Language, there are exceptions to the rule, typically a vowel phoneme will follow one of these three patterns.

Dipthongs are single vowel phonemes represented by a combination of two sounds that glide together.
While there are only two symbols (oi and ou), the four different combinations are:
-oi/oy such as oil, moist, oyster
-ou/ow such as owl, cow, house


The difference between a dipthong and a vowel digraph is a digraph is a two letter grapheme that only makes makes one sound or  phoneme.
-oo such as food, goose, soon
-oo such as hook, foot, took, wood

Some tips: oo such as stool has a flat line above it and a stool is flat, and oo as in hook has a curve above it just like the shape of a hook.

Also, I noticed as I was saying the words aloud, the oo digraph such as food and goose causes your lips to purse and the sound is in the front of your mouth. On the other hand, the oo digraph as in hook is more in the back of your throat.

The only other vowel combinations are called vowel pairs, these vowel pairs are:
ai (rain), ay (play) ea (each), ee (keep), oa (boat)

Typically the rule to follow is that the first vowel is a long vowel and the second vowel is silent.
Exception - ie: makes the long e sound - believe, field, niece


Remembering these rules will help us decipher how and when to pronounce the different vowel sounds.

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Word Sorts

Summary: Reading through this article, it became very apparent to me how much learning can be done just through organizing and categorizing information. Specifically, children can learn to become better readers, writers and spellers just by sorting words by sounds, phonograms, vowel sounds, syllable structures, roots and stems, etc.  While there may be different variations of sorts, and different purposes, it all comes down to accessing information children already know and

As I was reading this, I began to jot down rules, suggestions and questions about word sorts and math. Then it dawned on me, what would be the benefit of using this in math to learn? Sometimes in education we just do and don't know why, and after learning about backwards planning I learned the importance of always determining a why or purpose for activities.

I personally know I learn best when I begin to decipher the differences between items, sort them into categories, and then compare and contrast the differences. Not only does this help me to see the differences that exist, but it also allows me to sort through all the information more efficiently. Some of the areas I came up with that would beneifit from doing a 'sort' in math would be: different formulas, geometric characteristics, and rules in math.

"One of the best ways to build accuracy and automaticity in word recognition is to build fast, accurate recognition of these units" (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston, 2008).  While accessing information quickly is not my strong suit, it is one area I really wished I was good at. When I am put on the spot or need to think quickly, I freeze - and it is something that I pray God will help me through as a teacher. However, since this is something I know I am not good at, I have realized the importance of this in math. If students are able to recall information quickly and automatically - such as terms, rules, concepts, or pictures in their heads - learning math is so so much easier. Because math is all about building on what you already know, this would be a great thing to focus on when doing word sorts or using as an essential question.

Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words their way. (Fourth ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Phonemic Awareness

Summary: While some may disagree, most statistics show the key to becoming a successful reader is based on one's phonemic awareness. The building block for for learning to read, spell, connect speech sounds to letters (phonics), and potentially writing all goes back to phonemic awareness.  This article demonstrates and provides several options for activities for phonemic awareness. It also compares and contrasts phonological awareness (rhyming, alliteration, syllable segmenting and blending, and sentence segmenting) with phonemic awareness (sound matching, counting phonemes, blending phonemes, isolating beginning or ending phonemes, substituting phonemes, etc.).

This article did a great job comparing and contrasting phonological awareness with phonemic awareness. Before, I was slightly confused with all the variations of ways to teach something, they all started running together. This article not only explained what the differences were, but gave reasons as to why they were important, and then demonstrated how a teacher could use them in her own classroom.

Another concept that I grasped was the importance of allow students the opportunity to explore all areas of phonological awareness. By blending, integrating, and connecting all the concepts into reading, writing, spelling, etc. students are going to learn quicker through reinforcement. "Providing children with rich language experiences that encourage active exploration..." (91) will allow them to learn the bigger picture faster, which in turn will lead to better, faster, and more efficient readers early on.

While I might have been skeptical about how much teaching phonemic awareness can make or break what kind of a reader a child will be, I no longer am. This article did a fantastic job of providing evidence to back up its points.

Diller, D. (2007). Making the most of small groups, differentiation for all. Stenhouse Pub.

Phonics #7

This section of phonics was dealing with vowels affected by consonants that follow. For example, 'r-controlled' vowels and vowels followed by l or w. This section was fairly easy and common sense. The only difficult part to remember is when the grapheme /a/ appears, to know which phoneme it sounds like. Or, also when a schwa appears - because it can appear in the grapheme /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, or /u/. 

A vowel in an unaccented syllable that represents a soft 'uh' sound is considered a schwa

family, comma, chicken, melon, circus, lion, pencil

However, it may also represent a soft i sound as well

manage, village

/a/ can sound like father, ball, care (all different phonemes represented by same grapheme)

r controlled vowels: appear right before r and cannot be separated from r sound

care, first, arm, more

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Ozark West Guest Speaker

Here are the notes I took from the Guest Speaker:

Ozark West – 520 students K-4 (Brand new school 5 years ago)

Demographics – 28% Free and Reduced to start with, now up to 45% Free and Reduced

Philosophy of Leadership and Vision: student centered and family friendly environment; for students to feel valued! Learning is still #1 priority, but that does not

·      looks for faith – he prays over students and school; leads weekly Bible study

Student centered environment –

·      1. call them by name, have several teachers talk to them with a smile (they are an individual not a number)

·      2. Safe environment in academics – feel free to share and willing to take a risk; you need to get out of the comfort zone in order to learn (teach other students to respect and allow others to share without making them feel stupid)

Teacher Collaboration

·      *assessment driven

·      *problem solving

·      sharing from each other and learning from each other

·      extremely important part of success – they meet weekly

·      meet as a whole and with grade/subject area

·      talking about specifics (students, needs)

·      talking about data

·      fill out a weekly report – anything that they need from the principle

Interventionist – work 1 on 1 and have great insight that classroom teachers don’t have

·      speech

·      reading recovery teachers

STAT Team (Student teacher assistant)

·      if a student is struggling, the teacher brings name to

o   literacy coach (academics)

o   counselor (behavior)

§  from there look at data with principle, literacy coach, interventionists, teacher

RTI Approach

·      Benchmark assessment

·      Reading records

·      Note Taking about specifics

·      Track Process on a huge board (each student has a card and moves along between areas of below, average, above, etc.) (strenght and weakness)

o   Free and Reduced

o   Reading recovery

o   different types of interventions

Focus on inquiry

·      students asking questions

·      Teachers (instead of just post objectives) post essential questions every day on the board

·      *essential questions – think about these before literacy night

NCLB

·      positives – accountability makes us better

o   raised accountability

§  students

§  parents

§  teachers

§  principals/schools

Putting guard down – everyone will fail – both students and teachers

·      Looking at teacher stats

o   we are not judging at one snapshot of data –

§  the idea is to improve!

·      Collaborative approach

Literacy Night

·      Show Christ’s love that night – we are there to support the students

o   collaborative with the family and students

o   it is a partnership

ADVICE

·      be a child advocate – are you willing to go that extra mile for all kids

·      be a learner – continuous learning to be better teacher

My thoughts:

It would be awesome to work for such a godly leader. However, in Nebraska - which is completely different from Ozark - I will most likely not be working under these conditions. So, I need to apply what he said about making students the first priority, making each student feel like they are they only one that matters, showing and demonstrating the love of Christ, because we might be the only time they see this. Really establishing relationship with each student and getting to know them on a personal level will make the world of difference. I appreciated that even though he may not have agreed with NCLB or parts of it, he made an effort to see the good in it, deal with the fact that it is in place and use it to benefit students in whatever way possible.

Phonics #6

As I study phonics more and more, it is hard to remember specific rules. There are so many that it is very difficult to keep straight the actual rule and be able to state it without looking at my notes. However, the easiest way to do this is to do the reviews and try to fill them out without looking back on my notes. The basic concepts in this chapter were as follows:

-The 'y' can represent a long i if in the CV pattern, a long e if at the end of a two syllable word such as candy
-w always follows other vowels (few, low, thaw)
-Short vowel sound patters: CVC (jump, hot, pin, back) or VC or VCCe (apple, ox, edge, end)
-Closed Syllables (CVC and VC pattern) ends with consonant phoneme
Exception (these rep long vowels): words in which i is followed by gh (sight, high); o or i is followed by ld (sold, child)

-if e, i, y follows consonant, usually soft consonant

-The long vowel is represented by the symbol with a macron above it
-Long vowel patter: VCe syllable (dine, huge, time, face)
-Open syllable ends with vowel phoneme; CV pattern: fever, solo, me, paper


Sometimes, I feel like learning phonics is a lot of work and I will never use it...just to be honest. BUT, I will try really hard to want to learn it and see how it can be beneficial because as I have learned, it is much easier to remember sometime if you can see the importance behind it. This has been really good for me to see because many times students do not think they will ever use math, therefore it is really hard to want to learn it, making it really hard to remember it. So - even if I never use phonics again, it has been good for me to do this so I can relate to my future students.

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

NCLB

Summary: NCLB is all about accountability to increase math and reading proficiency scores.  Both the goals as well as outcomes of NCLB were clearly stated in this article. The results in math were much higher than the almost nonexistent consequences in reading.  Math scores jumped in 4th graders, as well as improved in 8th graders; the results were even greater for Hispanic students, students qualifying for substidized lunch, and black students going to with a large amount of other black students.  However, as previously stated, the results for reading proficiency improvements were slim to none.

Before reading this article I assumed I knew was NCLB was about. But if you were to ask me what the main goal was, I would have to admit I was fairly ignorant about the actual issues.  I knew that NCLB had a lot of impact on teachers and school accountability because my mom was a teacher and complained about it a lot, but I really had no idea what outcomes they were hoping for.  I was impressed by the extensive research done and all the possibilities explored that might have had an effect on the research.  Since I am a math teacher, I am thrilled to hear that almost with-out-fail, math scores were raised. However, if reading saw no significant impact at all, NCLB failed. One of my personal convictions that I will continuoulsy argue is that who is the legistlation to say what teachers need to do to increase scores. Why not bring in the professionals who have given part of their life to see student improvement. Aren't they the ones who should be deciding? Not government officials who have spent little to no time studying pedagogy in terms of reading and math.

As I was reading through the article I found myself thinking about how I get annoyed with statistics. Strange as that may sound, I have a hard time relying on information that could be biased, skewed, inaccurate, misinterpreted, etc. When the article states, "...it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about the policy's impact from simple comparisons of achievement trends before and after...For example, the nation was suffering from a recession around the time NCLB was implimented" (57).  When factors like this are not accounted for in stats, but could have hugely impacted the data, how do we ever know if what we are measuring is really accurate? I am not suggesting we ignore research or that all research is not valid by any means. However, I am suggesting that we assess in a variety of ways, and not make standardized tests and numbers our focus. Or instead of a one time assessment, like the RTI Model - have the assessments be tracked over a period of time so you can see the growth as well of a more realistic idea of what's going on.

Dee, T., & Jacob, B. (2010). Evaluating nclb. Education Next, (Summer 2010), 54-61.

Phonics #5

Summary: All of the information we are learning is building upon previous content. The author does a great job incorporating the old information in with the new, allowing the student to internalize the content through repetition.  We were introduced to concept of consonant digraphs towards the beginning of the book, but it wasn't until Assignment #5 that we got into a lot of detail.  Before doing that, the author first let us build on the basics and become familiar with the terms. While the concept of consonant digraphs is not extremely difficult, there are random exceptions to the rule that might be hard to remember off the top of my head (for example when an s sounds like /zh/ in treasure). 


The hardest concept for me to distinguish in this section is the difference between voiced and voiceless phonemes.  I understand that a voiced phoneme, like the or that, causes your vocal chords to vibrate. However, it throws me off that the voiced phoneme /th/ is the represented by a th. And sometimes, when really focusing on if the th sounds like the (voiced) or thumb (voiceless), it is hard to distinguish.  For example, to me - the words feather and author sound like they would both have the same phoneme. But if you listen closely to the way they are pronounced, the word author has a softer /th/. So, my question to you is, do you have any clues/suggestions/tips on how to really tell them apart? Usually I can notice the difference by comparing it to thumb and this.

Other than struggling through my Math proofs courses, it is rare that I cannot just study something more to get it.  Usually, I just study more and it comes to me. However, some of the phonics concepts are just really hard for me to grasp since they are so inconsistent.  I suppose it is good for me to be put in this spot every once in awhile to be able to relate to my students. There are going to be times when students that try really hard, just don't get it. And that is when I, the supposed expert mathematician, will have to break it down for them in a new light until they understand it. 

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Phonics #4

Summary: While the last phonics assignment was based on consonants that were fairly consistent, this section had to do with inconsistent consonants - c, g, w, and y.  It is in assignments like this that you wonder how anyone might ever have the perseverance to learn English as a second language. After completing this assignment I realized I need a lot of practice with learning and memorizing the rules. It is easy to understand as you're going along with the guide, especially when example words are provided. But at the end, like the reviews provided, it is much more difficult to generalize when w sounds like /w/ and why.

To summarize this, I again made a chart because I am a structural learning and it helps me to organize when each letter is silent or represents another letter, or sounds like ___. But for the sake of retyping some of it and internalizing it more, here are some general statement:
-The hard sound of g (goat) and c (cat) are made when followed by vowel a, o, u, OR when followed by any other letters, or when at the end of a word
-Y and W both represent consonants and vowels; they sound like consonants w (wagon) and y (yo-yo) when they are before a vowel in the syllable
-X could be removed from alphabet and in words replaced by: /ks/ box, /gz/ exact, /z/ xylophone
-While there is no rule to when an s makes a certain sound, it is likely that if it is at the end of a word (and not plural) it will either make an /s/ (miss) or /z/ (whose) sound 
-Sometimes an s represents the /zh/ or /sh/ sound
-When the letter t falls in the middle of a word it can represent: /ch/ (righteous), /t/ mountain, /sh/ action
-The t can be silent at the end of French words or when it follows f and s or when it is a tch combo.

One of the things that has been the most frustrating for me is that I do not agree with some of the points made in this book. Possibly it is because I say or pronounce things differently but it is hard for me to internalize the concept when I completely disagree with the point the author is making.
For example:
-The word hose: I pronounce the s as a /z/ sound like zipper and the book states it should sound like the /s/ in sun
-They use the word often as an example for when a t is silent after f, and I pronounce the t in often
-To demonstrate that t can sound like /ch/, they used natural, and I definitely pronounce it with a /t/

I guess one of my questions is - what happens if one of these questions comes up on the test and I miss it because I pronounce something differently? The English language is difficult to study and frustrating at times because of all the exceptions, but it is good for me to do activities like this to better empathize with my Thai students. It is always very beneficial as a teacher of anything to come across with an understanding spirit, rather than the kind of teacher who makes students feel dumb for asking questions, not getting it, or being annoyed when the information is just not sticking with the student.

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mokhtari Assessment Article

Summary: Has the purpose of testing and assessment in the classroom become solely to give students a letter grade? One of the key intentions of an assessment, on the teacher's end, is it allows them to make more accurate and effective curriculum and instructional decisions. However, for many teachers this not only takes up a great deal of time but it is also overwhelming when they have no training on how to use the data for instructional planning. This article models a step-by-step process on how to organize and use data consistently and efficiently.

In my last practicum at Parkview HS, I was able to observe this process amongst the all the Math teachers.  I decided to still go on a day when the students did not have class and sit in and the teacher-planning day.  Mid-morning, all the teachers of each content got together and assessed the progress they were making, how each teacher’s students were doing, how all of the Geometry students were doing, what progress they were making toward MAP Test questions, etc. They all used the same tests and were therefore able to compare data.  For example, Mr. Cherry’s students were all doing really well on a question that Mrs. Smith’s were not; so Mr. Cherry demonstrated his teaching method on that particular topic, so Mrs. Smith retaught it this way the next time and her students understood it much better. Reading this article just reconfirmed everything that I had observed.  It was really helpful for me to see that demonstrated first – while reading the article, I was able to picture what this would look like in a real life setting. 

This article reminded me though, of how easy it would be just to test students and not do anything with the data. Teachers already spend enough time working on things after hours as it is, I can't imagine wanting to take the test scores, try to analyze them on my own, and then what do I do with that information? The Data Analysis Framework for Instructional Decision Making was very easy to understand! My favorite part about it was that it forced teachers to get together and analyze their data together. This aspect is a very hot topic right now (from what I have observed and heard from current teachers) and I think it is such a great idea. Connecting how your students are doing on a test with instructional decisions can only benefit the students, teachers, and school system as a whole.

Mokhtari, K., Rosemary, C., & Edwards, P. (2008). Making instructional decisions based on data: What, how, and why. The Reading Teacher, 61(4), 354-359.

Phonics #3

Summary: Assignment 2 of the phonics book was loaded with information that the average person knows, but would not be able to explain why. First it reviewed terms such as grapheme, phoneme, and digraph to ensure the reader had a good understanding of the concepts before diving into the lesson. There exits a word associated with each consonant phoneme that they use as a base to refer since there can be more than one phoneme associated with each consonant. Then for certain consonants phonemes that are typically reliable in sound, they listed when they fail the rule of thumb and stated the pattern if one existed. By the end of this section, it was obvious there are a lot of rules that I need to become familiar with the WHY and WHEN.

In order to help myself remember all these, I have created a chart:

Consonant	Key Word	[Sometimes] Silent When It…	Other
Bb	boat	follows m (bomb) or precedes t (doubt) in same syllable
Hh	hat	follows g (ghost), k (kahki), r (rhino); at the beginning of the word (hour); follows a vowel in word or syllable (hurrah)	digraphs: ch, sh, ph, wh, th, gh
Kk	kite	beginning of word or syllable when followed by n (knee)
Ll	lion	is followed, in same syllable, by m (calm), k (chalk), or d (should)
Mm	moon		dependable
Pp	pig	followed by s (psychology), t (pterodactyl), n (pneumonia) at beginning of word	ph sounds like f
Qu		u may be silent	qu may sound like kw (quick)
Rr	ring		dependable
Vv	van		dependable; sometimes f sounds like v (of)
Dd	dog	dd appear together (ladder)	may sound like j (soldier)
Ff	fish		sounds like v (of); gh and ph sound like f
Jj	jelly		sound like y (hallelujah); dj sound like j (judge)
Nn	nut	preceded by m (autumn)	n may sound like ng (thank)
Zz	zipper		/z/ sounds like /s/ (waltz); /zh/ in azure
dg	/j/ jeep		budget
gh		followed by t in syllable (night); at ending (through); h is silent when gh is at the  beginning of a word (ghost)	sounds like /f/ (cough) when follows vowel in syllable;
ph			ph digraph sounds like /f/ (photo) or (laugh)
-ed (suffix)			sounds like: /d/ played 1 syll /t/ missed 1 syll /ed/ seated 2 syll

 
While I continue to wonder why the heck I have to learn this to be a secondary Math teacher, I know that I hate it when students ask "why do we need to know this?" or "when will we ever use this?".  Therefore, I am continuing to study phonics diligently, because someday - whether it be as a mother, missionary, or teacher - I will need this and it will come in handy. I am enjoying learning about the patterns of this language, but more so the than not, the times when the pattern or rule is broken.

Fox, B. (2010). Phonics and structural analysis for the teacher of reading. (10 ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.