Students Need Hands-On Time to Manipulate Word Concepts

Tompkins states that “the ability to blend sounds into words is part of phonemic awareness, and student who haven’t had practice blending speech sounds into words are likely to have trouble blending sounds into words in order to decode unfamiliar words (p. 158).  This statement really stands out to me as I begin the process of becoming an elementary school teacher.  It is not a level playing field for every student who enters kindergarten classes in MCPS due to various socioeconomic factors.  Therefore, I as a prospective teacher must really try to understand how to create a language-rich environment to help children succeed at the “big 5” components of effective reading instruction (i.e. phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension). 

In Words Their Way by Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston (4^th edition 2008) the authors highlighted past research by Charles Read (1971, 1975) and Edmund Henderson (1972, 1977)on invented spellings and how it offered a window into developing word knowledge.   The authors said that Henderson and his students “determined that an informed analysis of students’ spelling attempts can cue timely instruction in phonics, spelling and vocabulary that is essential to move students forward in reading and writing (p. 3).  In addition, Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton and Johnston state that “by using student’s invented spellings as a guide, teachers can differentiate efficient, effective instruction in phonics, spelling and vocabulary” and this instruction is called “word study” (p. 3).   This word study concept is interesting to me because it highlights the importance of explicit skill instruction, systematic  sequencing of useful phonics skills and repeated practice that is not just rote drill.  Bear and his colleagues say the repeated practice must be hands-on opportunities to manipulate word concepts and/or apply critical thinking skills (p.3).  

 I’m glad I read the first chapter of Words Their Way to learn about the premise of their book on word study.   I am curious if the students in our class who are current teachers use a combination of rote drill and multiple opportunities for hands-on practice in their teaching of phonics, spelling and vocabulary. Also, do other school districts in various parts of the U.S. include the ideas associated with word study  in their curriculums and is it a part of No Child Left Behind, as well?

Authors Transport Readers to New, Exciting Places

On Friday, September 17, I was a substitute teacher for a Gr. 2 class of 14 students.  The reading session involved a read-aloud exercise.  I read “The Caterpillar and the Polliwog”. The children had been studying the life cycle of a butterfly, however, they had not discussed the life cycle of a polliwog, yet.  I provided some background information on polliwogs, read the title and author’s name and talked about the outdoor setting during the pre-reading stage of the reading process.  I also asked everyone to predict what would happen at the end of the story.  Although I am not able to track these students’ development in phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension on a day by day basis I could see these four components of literacy development at work (Tompkins, p. 103).  The instructions from the teacher were to read the story, highlight high frequency words, do a follow-up activity by writing specific words that describe the four stages of the butterfly’s life cycle and the polliwog’s life cycle and draw a picture to match the words.  The students continued to look at various pages of the book I had just read and asked various questions about it as I worked with each small group.

In Reading First and Beyond (Block, C. C., & Israel, S. 2005, Corwin Press),  the authors state that “Reading trade books aloud to students is one of the best methods of advancing comprehension, higher-level thinking abilities, vocabularies and an appreciation for literature” (p. 118).   Block and Israel also mentioned that during read-alouds, teachers become “face-less” for one part of the day because students figuratively befriend an author who writes stories they enjoy.   Block and Israel state that authorial friends have a closeness to students that teachers do not because the authors don’t correct students’ errors, or ask them to take risks.  Authors transport students to exciting/new places and keep students’ interest day to day when a book series or longer chapter books are introduced (p. 118).

I thought this additional insight by Block and Israel into the benefits of read –aloud stories was interesting.   This additional component adds to my understanding of how teachers help young children become excited about reading and writing, and gives recognition to authors for their contribution to the development of children’s literacy as students go through the emergent, beginning and fluent stages of literacy development.

Sophia's Reading Blog: Motivated Students are more Successful

Sophia's Reading Blog: Motivated Students are more Successful: " Motivation not only plays a key role in everyday life but also in education. Whether we are motivated to eat because ..."

Sophia - your blog post on engagement theory was interesting to me because you clearly enjoy getting to know your students and their interests. By offering several varied and interesting reading choices your students have ownership over their reading progress and are intrinsicallly motivated to succeed. I agree with what John Dewey, (american constructivist) believed - that students are innately curious and actively create their own knowledge. Dewey also mentioned that collaboration is a key to learning. Do you ever have instances in your classroom where kids are competing with each other instead of collaborating on a reading or writing exercise? What basic strategies do you utilize to encourage collaboration and minimize competitition?

Using Literacy for Social Change

Hi Lise,


This is Kristen Anderson from class responding to your post. I am very interested in the subject you raise -- the idea that students’ literacy development can help them become more aware of societal problems. Although I have a B.A. in Social Justice, I had never heard the term “sociolinguistics” until reading about the student-centered learning theories outlined in our textbook.


The idea that children would be interested in reading about real human experiences makes a lot of sense, and it sounds like your daughter was receptive toward your book-sharing experience. Implementing literacy activities that encourage students to examine issues such oppression can lead to discussions of topics such as school bullying. These student discussions can help develop social and relational skills, (Tompkins, p.10) while also improving problem-solving skills and empathy. Tompkins describes the development of “critical literacy” as part of a model of reading and writing that is not only a system for teaching, but also has the added bonus of helping students become more thoughtful and empowered! This teaching philosophy is inspiring to me.

Thank you for your post on this interesting topic.

Hi, Kristin, thank you for sending me your post.  I will figure out why it did not post directly to the blog.

My Grade 7 daughter was receptive to shared reading initially on The Watson's Go to Birmingham,  but after the first chapter with me, she read the rest of the book by herself, as did I.  C.P. Curtis weaved a compelling story about life in Detroit to the road trip to Birmingham to visit family members. I found myself visualizing how cold it was to live in Detroit and how hot it was in Birmingham.  Tompkins (pages 40-41) highlights a teacher who prepared a series of minilessons to help students visualize excerpts from The Giver.  This visualization strategy brings the stories to life by talking about geographical settings, sights, sounds, smells, feelings.   The teacher also presented a minilesson on literary opposites. This type of lesson clearly helps students see differences in communities, families, rules and race.  As a substitute teacher in Grades K and 1, I have not had a chance to do a series of minilessons yet on an age-appropriate book that would use literacy to challenge injustices.  I was thinking maybe I should bring a copy of The Bracelet or The Other Side (recommended for primary grades K-2, Tompkins, p. 10) the next time I am a substitute teacher and see if there is some free time where I can read the story and do a minilesson on visualizing and literary opposites. 

Getting back to creating moments through reading/writing where teachers can talk about injustice, oppression, and diversity - I strongly agree this should happen on a regular basis.  The characteristics of the sociolinguistics theory (Tompkins, p. 6)  include the importance of social interaction between students and using authentic activities to instill learning.  In my opinion, when children have an opportunity to talk about their culture and the community where they live with other students in a classroom setting, the playing field becomes equal and the opportunities to create success at reading and writing are manifold.  Children learn to appreciate different cultures and develop greater empathy toward others. I also believe young children are learning how to become better citizens. Tompkins (Ch. 1) really provides a great framework for becoming an effective teacher of reading and is very inspirational too.

Children can be agents of social change

I started reading Chapter 1 of Gail Tompkins' book "Literary for the 21st century.  One of the pages lists books that foster critical literary.  Over the summer my middle school-aged daughter and I read one of the books - The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963.  Reading this book made me realize that it is extremely important for children to examine social justice issues and encourage them to become agents of social change.