Incidental phonics and planned, systematic phonics teaching
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:27 pm
Incidental phonics and planned, systematic phonics teaching:
Alongside your planned, systematic phonics teaching, you should also find yourself continuously pointing out parts of The Alphabetic Code ahead of time and in addition to the main teaching programme.
You should be demonstrating the three skills of blending for reading, segmenting for spelling and handwriting whenever appropriate during the day.
I suggest that what you need to avoid, however, is ruining the sharing of a Big Book by stopping your story-reading to model the blending and pointing to various bits of Alphabetic Code.
In other words, there is a fine line between making the most of every opportunity to raise the learners' awareness of The Alphabetic Code and how it works - and detracting from the content of other lessons and looking at literature in the wider curriculum.
One very appropriate opportunity for extending Alphabetic Code awareness and knowledge is when the learners are writing independently. If the teachers and teaching assistants can sit amongst groups of learners and support them along the way - or if they are asked specific questions by the learners - it is great to keep dropping-in extra bits of Code information and explanations.
Another appropriate use of incidental phonics is during the reading of books. Once learners can blend, the lack of some Code knowledge is the only thing preventing greater fluency and wider reading. It is perfectly valid for the teacher (or parent hearing the child at home) to simply say,
"In this word, that is the code for /sh/ [or whatever]" and then the learner is able to blend the word independently.
Some learners are able to pick up a significant amount of extra Alphabetic Code knowledge ahead of the planned progression of main teaching.
The teacher, however, is confident that, in any event, the phonics teaching ahead is systematic and comprehensive and nothing will get left out of the bigger teaching picture.
By the time that learners have been lucky enough to have both incidental phonics (as needed and as appropriate - and for 'differentiation') and planned, systematic phonics, they should be well ahead in reading and spelling standards compared to results from less organised teaching that left too much to chance.
Alongside your planned, systematic phonics teaching, you should also find yourself continuously pointing out parts of The Alphabetic Code ahead of time and in addition to the main teaching programme.
You should be demonstrating the three skills of blending for reading, segmenting for spelling and handwriting whenever appropriate during the day.
I suggest that what you need to avoid, however, is ruining the sharing of a Big Book by stopping your story-reading to model the blending and pointing to various bits of Alphabetic Code.
In other words, there is a fine line between making the most of every opportunity to raise the learners' awareness of The Alphabetic Code and how it works - and detracting from the content of other lessons and looking at literature in the wider curriculum.
One very appropriate opportunity for extending Alphabetic Code awareness and knowledge is when the learners are writing independently. If the teachers and teaching assistants can sit amongst groups of learners and support them along the way - or if they are asked specific questions by the learners - it is great to keep dropping-in extra bits of Code information and explanations.
Another appropriate use of incidental phonics is during the reading of books. Once learners can blend, the lack of some Code knowledge is the only thing preventing greater fluency and wider reading. It is perfectly valid for the teacher (or parent hearing the child at home) to simply say,
"In this word, that is the code for /sh/ [or whatever]" and then the learner is able to blend the word independently.
Some learners are able to pick up a significant amount of extra Alphabetic Code knowledge ahead of the planned progression of main teaching.
The teacher, however, is confident that, in any event, the phonics teaching ahead is systematic and comprehensive and nothing will get left out of the bigger teaching picture.
By the time that learners have been lucky enough to have both incidental phonics (as needed and as appropriate - and for 'differentiation') and planned, systematic phonics, they should be well ahead in reading and spelling standards compared to results from less organised teaching that left too much to chance.