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.