Cracking the code - phonemic awareness, phonics, encoding and spelling - what we are missing

 

This is the next instalment in blog posts around the 'pillars of literacy' and unpacking what this looks like in a real classroom.

If you have read any of my posts, you will know I am a massive advocate for whole class teaching.  When I say whole class teaching, what I mean is quality tier one teaching for the whole class, done together, without groups.

Obviously I still work with groups or individuals as needed, but this is much more fluid and dependent on the exact need at the time.

This blog post touches on the code, the teaching of phonics, encoding (taking the sound to print) and spelling, learning the rules and applying them.

In the past (before I developed an understanding of a scope and sequence) I did of course teach phonics, in fact we did a bit of everything, it was all very balanced.  While we did our best, I can see why this pick n mix approach, with little thought of the why and the what, did many of our children little favour.   I did a lot of 'stuff' because that was what you do, often there was very little understanding of the why.  

Don't get me wrong, many children did flourish, they became readers and writers (not necessarily spellers) and went on to do very, very well.  

However it is not them that I refined my practice for, it is the group of children that struggled to get going, the children that started and never stopped spelling saw as sor, or who never moved past the dreaded 'magenta', it is those children that I have worked so hard to reshape my practice for.

This is not about 'Structured Literacy' it is not about 'the Science of Reading' it really isn't even about the 'Science of Learning' this is about a teacher being able to use research informed practice and being given the time and space to do so.

Firstly I want to start with the end of this blog post title - what are we missing?

Well, I actually think we are missing a massive part of the puzzle, which makes this blog post even more relevant right now.  We are so desperate to turn around reading results, to leap on board with 'one stop programmes' that we are missing the role that spelling has to play in the improvement of reading. 

In turn, this means we are totally missing the boat on writing.  Encoding, the recording of the graphemes that represent the sounds that we hear, has a massive role to play in the improvement of reading. 

 There is a lot to read and listen to about this, I particularly like the work of Lyn Stone.

It really makes sense doesn't it?  If you can spell it, then you have mapped it, therefore this assists you to read it.   Along with this, if you are developing fluency in your spelling, ultimately this will have a massive impact on your writing as working memory will be freed up to concentrate on the other 'stuff.'  I have a blog post on writing, if it is of any interest.

Everything I see focuses on reading, will this ultimately mean that writing will become the new 'red flag.?'  Will it mean we madly dash about to find programmes to fix our dismal writing levels?

 Children who are good readers are not necessarily good spellers, I am sure as teachers, we see this first hand, every day.  I know my own children were great readers, natural readers, seemingly not needing to be taught, but boy oh boy I wish I had known about the importance of explicitly teaching encoding skills and spelling patterns back then, because spelling is not their strong point.   

This is not really just about turning out great readers, it is about ensuring children are capable in all areas of literacy.

So, back to the point...

What does it look like in my class?

Well, we follow the LLLL scope and sequence, I say we, because this is a school wide thing.  We flow from that into the code.  We teach the sounds explicitly as we go, largely using a sound to print methodology.  

As part of my whole class sessions, we do daily review, included in this review are the sounds we are working on committing to long term memory, the ones we largely have nailed, will disappear from the slideshow over time, the ones remaining are those that we need repeated practice of.  From time to time, the embedded sounds will return, just to make sure everyone is still on track with this.  I incorporate phonemic awareness into this, but largely not in the dark (without letters) it is done largely with print and I find this works really well.

Initially in my Year 1 and 2 class, our slideshow may focus on 2-3 new sounds.  This is largely because they usually have them already and it is really just a refresher.  Featuring strongly from week to week are the short vowel sounds, which I generally introduce all at once, but will focus on the ones that are easily confused, such as 'e' and 'i'.   Why all at once?  Well because in most cases, they have already been working with ones that feature in stage one and two and once we have all of our short vowels, we can spell and read so many more words.

We go through our review sounds at the beginning, then get to our new sound/s.  By the time we have worked our way through to stage 4+ it is time to start focusing on some 'spelling rules' as well.  Some weeks there are no new sounds, I may have noticed a common misunderstanding that I really want to hammer and the focuses is then on that.

If we are up to the flossy sounds in stage 4+ I will include all of them in the slide, in fact they often appear long before we start to learn the spelling rule, children read these sounds quite naturally, they make sense, there is not a need to spend time focusing on each one.  

When we get to our new sound pattern, we will focus on learning it, learning how to articulate that sound, how our mouth is shaped, words that start with that sound.  We will then focus on encoding that pattern, practicing it, by recording it.  If there is a rule attached, like the floss rule, we will then learn that rule and spend some time practicing spelling words that follow this pattern.

When we are spelling our sounds, we will also work on reviewing those we have recently learned and word chaining, along with a dictated sentence will feature strongly here.  Children benefit from lots of practice applying what they have learned.

Obviously we also work on word reading and use our connected text, but a lot of time is spent on the recording.

You will note that I have mentioned encoding and spelling in the blog post title, this is because I see encoding as learning to record the graphemes that represent the sounds, but spelling is about recording the spelling patterns and obviously spelling can represent sound, but it can also represent meaning.  Lyn Stone explains this all much better than I.

I do spend a bit of time learning the spelling rules with my class, for many, these are a real lifesaver.  Simply knowing that english words can not end in the letter v, is empowering for children as they venture into becoming writers.

This is where I divert a little from the sequence...

So, while I do follow a scope and sequence and explicitly teach in this way (I do love UFLI for the format) I also take detours from time to time.  The character texts that we use in our 'decodable' class stories contain parts of the code that have not yet come up in our whole class sequence of teaching.  For instance, we are up to 'ck' but have taught 'ee' 'sh' 'ch' and the vowel sounds of 'y'.  We have also touched on some of the other long vowel representations and the 'ng' sound at the end of words.  

I have read a range of views on this, but. have found from my experience that there is a lot of benefit from teaching outside of the sequence, when children are meeting these patterns in the context of what they are reading.  Last year I found children did a lot of 'self teaching' once they got through the initial code (stage 4) and there ended up (reading wise) being a lot they cottoned onto by themselves.  This does not mean that I don't again teach these explicitly when we get to them in our sequence, but I do not shy away from including a few of these patterns in the character stories I write.

I guess this is where not having a 'programme' but having a personal 'why' and a commitment to always increasing my understanding and knowledge comes in. 

 I can be guided by my children and there needs and act in an informed way.

Informed, purposeful practice.