The Building Blocks of Literacy
10/26/2019
It’s no secret that reading and literacy is a passion of mine, but what you might not know is why I am so passionate about it. On Friday, teachers spent the day experiencing what students with dyslexia might experience. Dyslexia is one of many possible causes of difficulty with reading acquisition. I wanted to take a moment to share my story and literacy journey. I do not have dyslexia, but like many students, reading did not come easily for me, and I did not always enjoy it. In fact, I struggled with reading in first grade. That year, I received reading intervention and my life was changed. I am now an avid and passionate reader. I have made it my mission to share that passion with others and make sure that all children can enjoy the enriching gift of reading.
At PNA, I am not alone in this mission. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by fellow educators who are also dedicated to ensuring that literacy is a gift that all of our students can enjoy. If reading is not coming easily for your child, I hope you are inspired by and find hope in my story and in the fact that there is a talented and dedicated team of teachers partnering with you to help your child become a competent and passionate reader. A foundational component of becoming a competent reader (and writer) is phonics. It, along with phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle, is what unlocks written language for young readers and writers. Heidi Anne Mesmer, author of “Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations that Work” captures this perfectly when she writes, “Phonics should be the building of a curiosity--developed by a passionate, informed teacher--about how words work, an inquiry about how the sounds of our language are mapped onto visual symbols. It is discovering the purpose of letters, how letters can work alone or be combined to symbolize sounds, and later in the journey, how the spelling of words quite often intersects with their meaning.” Let’s unpack that a bit. Essentially phonemic awareness is recognizing that our language is made up of individual sounds (phonemes) and that we use sequences of sounds to form spoken words. The alphabetic principle is "the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds." Phonics involves connecting the sounds with their written symbols and using this knowledge to read and write words. When we put words together, we can share our ideas or understand the ideas of others through reading and writing. In the classroom, this involves explicit instruction followed by time for exploration and practice, both in and out of context. The teacher guides the students to explore sounds and letters, their relationship, and how they are used in print. Students study letters and letter patterns and how we use them to represent the sounds that make up words. They listen to and look for patterns; compare sounds, letters and patterns; play games; build letters with straight and curved pieces; build words with tiles, magnetic letters, or labeled unifex cubes; and practice using letters and words in reading and writing (i.e. “in context”), among other things. Explicit instruction means to provide clear, detailed instruction. For example, if I was teaching a lesson about the letter m, I would show students the letter, and say, “This is the lowercase letter m. The uppercase letter looks like this: M. It is a consonant and it represents the sound /m/. /m/ is the first sound we hear in words like monkey and man. It is the last sound we hear in words like ham and zoom.” After the topic is explicitly introduced, it is explored in different ways. We might listen to different words to determine whether or not they begin with or contain /m/ to strengthen their phonemic awareness. Next, students might be invited to build the letter using straight and curved pieces, study it, and note how it is similar and different to other letters, like n or h. They might trace it in various sensory materials or label pictures of items that begin with /m/, like a monkey or a mop. Finally, they might read words that start with /m/ in a predictable text (e.g. I see a mouse. I see a mop.) In this way, we maintain the important focus for all of our work with sounds and letters, which is that they make up words and words carry meaning. Always, students are encouraged to think about letters and sounds and how they are used, to explore their relationships and use them to unlock the world of language and print so that they can communicate with others. Family Engagement
10/19/2019
At PNA, we strive to educate students to be exceptional learners and independent thinkers of vision, courage, and integrity. This mission guides our educational policies, teaching philosophies, curriculum and academic framework choices, and approaches to building communities of learners. It helps us ensure that we are providing an exceptional educational experience for our students and families. However, we cannot achieve this mission without you. Your engagement and partnership is a key factor in our ability to provide an exceptional educational experience for our students and families. In fact, research indicates that “the best predictor of student success is the extent to which families encourage learning at home and involve themselves in their child’s education.” [1] Your support and encouragement inside -and outside of- the classroom further fuels curiosity in our learners, fosters a love of learning, and helps your children become lifelong learners. It shows them that learning is important and valuable, that you care deeply about their education and their futures and that they should too. According to the National Education Association (NEA), partnerships between families and schools not only increase student success, but also strengthen families, build community support, and improve schools. In a policy brief, the NEA states, “While education is clearly an asset to the individual, it also benefits families and serves the common good. Education is a core value of our democratic society, and it is in everyone’s self-interest to insure that all children receive a quality education. Our democracy, as well as our economy, depends on an educated citizenry and skilled workforce. [...] Too many policymakers, community leaders, and even parents still view schools and student learning as the sole responsibility of educators. While educators take their professional responsibilities seriously, they also recognize that they cannot do it alone. They need and depend on the support from parents and community members.” [2] PNA's mission is to help its students become exceptional learners and independent thinkers equipped to creatively solve problems. We recognize that you play an integral role in this and thank you for partnering with us to help all of our students become confident, lifelong learners ready to make a difference in our world. We could not do it without you. [1] Waterford. "How Parent Involvement Leads to Student Success." waterford.org. 01 Nov. 2018. n. pag. Web. 19 Oct. 2019.
[2] NEA Education Policy and Practice Department. "Parent, Family, Community Involvement in Education." nea.org. page 2. Web. 19 Oct. 2019. Confidence - the word that was most consistently articulated by both parents and teachers in response to the most important trait of a PNA graduate. But how do you build confidence in young learners? I think the best way to do this is through developing independence, maintaining high expectations, and giving students the space to fail. "My teacher thought I was smarter than I was - so I was."This is one of my favorite educational quotes, one that so beautifully and simply captures the importance of adult expectations. Young children are often capable of more than we (and they themselves) give them credit for. An important way that our kindergartners develop confidence is through developing independence in academic tasks. One way that I help my students become more independent is through high, but attainable, expectations and the space to make mistakes. I expect students to read and write even before they can conventionally read and write. I expect students to observe the world and carry out experiments like scientists do or to follow the engineering design process to plan, create, test, and redesign solutions for problems. I expect students to solve problems and make a difference in our world. I expect students to try anyways, make mistakes, and learn from them. I expect students to do these things with my direct supervision, but also on their own when they are working independently. How do high expectations and making mistakes translate to independence in a kindergarten classroom full of very young learners who are not yet competent in their academic tasks? The answer is explicit expectations, routine, and structure paired with modeling and practice. Students know exactly what is expected of them during Math Workshop, Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Inquiry Workshop. Even though the focus changes, the routine and structure remains the same and students know what to do within that structure. To learn the expectations and routines, I explicitly teach and model them and then students practice, at first with guidance and then independently. In education, this is known as the Gradual Release of Responsibility. We practice growing stamina (getting started right away, working the whole time, working quietly), using the scientific method and the engineering design process, planning for and carrying out imaginative play, and solving problems independently using learned strategies and skills. (Each academic skill or strategy is also explicitly taught, practiced with support, and then practiced independently.) . We discuss the importance of trying anyways. With my guidance, students reflect on their choices and think about what they can do differently next time to do even better (to read even longer, focus, write a word, solve a problem, etc.). Reflecting on mistakes or something new that was tried helps students see the value in trying something regardless of the outcome. If failing can lead to learning and growth, it is less scary to fail. And always, I let our little ones know that they can accomplish whatever I am asking them to accomplish, that they are competent and capable, that even if they can’t yet, they will if they keep practicing. I give the appropriate instruction and scaffolding for students to be successful, but I also give them the space to try, struggle, and make mistakes, even if it makes them a bit uncomfortable. After teaching a skill, I force students to attempt to solve their own problems before swooping in. Even when students persistently assure me that they cannot do something, I insist that they in fact can. I sometimes offer advice, further instruction, or guiding questions but I also let students try on their own, fail, and try again. More often than not, when I tell a student that they need to try on their own first, they have already solved their problem when I check in with them. If I would instead help them solve their problem immediately, they would not gain the independence and confidence in their own abilities that they do by trying first on their own. Their early attempts, of course, are approximations, but they become more capable and confident as the year progresses. Because the structure and routine remains the same, they feel comfortable working within it and taking risks, trying and failing, learning, and attempting on their own. They know what to do, so they do it. There is something inexplicably satisfying about walking into a classroom and seeing young learners reading, writing, doing, exploring, creating, and learning with independence and confidence. Seeing our youngest learners truly believe that they can read, write, act like mathematicians, scientists and explorers, tell their stories, create new things, and make a difference in our world is magical.
A Closer Look: Imaginative Play
10/5/2019
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. |
Saania AliMs. Ali graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. She specializes in Early Childhood Education, ESL, and Special Education. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, and painting! Archives
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