This is a presentation I made through CETL at Elgin Community College in the spring of 2011. It deals with teaching alphabetics and fluency to intermediate reading students.

1. Teaching Alphabetics & Fluency in Reading CETL Presentation April 22, 2011

2. Four Components of Reading Alphabetics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Kruidenier (2002); NRP (2000)

3. Promising Practices Diagnostic assessment Use assessment to shape instruction Direct and explicit instruction Learner engagement Relevance of instruction Continuous monitoring

4. Diagnostic Assessment Alphabetics Word lists – Sylvia Greene Fluency Readings – Bader Fluency Scale (2 – rate & prosody; 1- accuracy)

5. Promising Practices Diagnostic assessment Use assessment to shape instruction Direct and explicit instruction Learner engagement Relevance of instruction Continuous monitoring

6. Explicit Instruction Explanation – why, process Modeling – how the skill is used; how the procedure works Guided Practice – supported, scaffolded instruction Application – students use skill on own; independent with little support

7. Promising Practices Diagnostic assessment Use assessment to shape instruction Direct and explicit instruction Learner engagement Relevance of instruction Continuous monitoring

8. Effective Instruction Active student engagement Numerous practice opportunities Student reflection on what they are learning.

9. Promising Practices Diagnostic assessment Use assessment to shape instruction Direct and explicit instruction Learner engagement Relevance of instruction Continuous monitoring (of students and instruction)

10. Four Components of Reading

11. Alphabetics Basic Phonemic awareness Sight word recognition Phonics/ word analysis Intermediate Using syllables to pronounce multisyllabic words Roots and Affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

12. Alphabetics Phonological Awareness (phonemes #1-2) Knowing that spoken language is composed of sounds The ability to manipulate and integrate language sounds

13. Phoneme Basic building block of speech Single speech sound Distinguishes one word from another Peach or pitch? Pin or pen?

14. Difficulties in Phonological Processing Difficulty sequencing sounds in words. Omission of some sounds. Inclusion of some unnecessary sounds. Difficulty hearing word boundaries. Confusion of similar sounds (e.g., b/p, f/v)

15. Phonemic Awareness Tasks Phonemic awareness is assessed orallythrough tasks that ask learners to demonstrate their ability to manipulate the sounds in spoken words.. Phoneme isolation: recognizing individual sounds in words, for example, "Tell me the first sound in paste." (/p/) Phoneme identity:recognizing the common sound in different words, for example, "Tell me the sound that is the same in bike, boy, and bell." (/b/) Phoneme categorization:recognizing the odd sounding word in a sequence of three or four words, for example, "Which word does not belong? bus, bun, rug." (rug)

16. Phonemic Awareness Tasks Phoneme blending:listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. For example, "What word is /s/ /k/ /u/ /l/?" (school) Phoneme segmentation:breaking a word into its sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds, or by pronouncing and positioning a marker for each sound, for example, "How many sounds are there in ship?" (three: /sh/ /i/ /p/) Phoneme deletion:recognizing what word remains when a specified phoneme is removed, for example, "What is smile without the /s/?" (mile)

17. Phonemic Awareness Tasks How many phonemes do you hear in? Pig Rabbit Rooster Sheep Box

18. Phoneme Manipulation Deletion: say cart without /t/ Addition: say at with /c/ at the front Substitution: Initial: Change the /s/ in sun to /f/ Final: Change the /t/ in cat to /b/ Medial: Change the /i/ in hit to /a/ Reversal: say the sounds in “enough” backward

19. Segmentation 1. Sentences into words. Bill ran across the street to get the ball. 2. Words into syllables. (e.g., seg-men-ta-tion) 3. Syllables into phonemes (e.g., s-e-g-m-e-n-t)

20. Adapted Elkonin Procedure 1. Select a simple line drawing. 2. Place a rectangle for a word under the drawing divided into squares equal to the number of phonemes. 3. Say the word slowly and push a marker forward for each sound. Color-code markers for vowels and consonants. 4. Progress to letter tiles for markers.

21. Making Words Give each student 8 letters with one or two vowels. Have each student make 2 then 3 letter words using the letters. Continue a pattern, increasing word length one letter during each step. Example: it, sit, slit, split, splint. Practice with morphemes: ed, ing, er

22. Principles of Effective Phonics Instruction Emphasis on phonological awareness activities. Instruction in decoding (grapheme to phoneme) Instruction in encoding (phoneme to grapheme) Application of strategies to decodable text.

23. Alphabetics Basic Phonemic awareness Sight word recognition Phonics/ word analysis Intermediate Using syllables to pronounce multisyllabic words Roots and Affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

24. Sight Word Recognition Choose high frequency words that have phonic irregularities: e.g., are, does, have Dolch or Fry lists Word walls Flash cards Words on one side of card; picture on the other. Color coding Green: phonically regular words (e.g., cat, swim) Yellow: Irregular but frequent patterns (e.g., night) Red: Irregular (e.g., once)

25. Alphabetics Basic Phonemic awareness Sight word recognition Phonics/ word analysis (#3-10) Intermediate Using syllables to pronounce multisyllabic words Roots and Affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

26. Phonics – Word Analysis Putting letters together with sounds “Spelling rules” Short vowels vs. long vowels Digraphs; trigraphs Silent letters Different sounds for same letter (call, lace) Different spellings for same sound (f, ph, gh) R-controlled vowel sounds

27. Phonics – Word Analysis What are the sounds?

28. Alphabetics Basic Phonemic awareness Sight word recognition Phonics/ word analysis (#3-10) Intermediate Using syllables to pronounce multisyllabic words Roots and Affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

29. Basic Syllable Types Closed syllablesend with a consonant, making the vowel sound short (e.g., ten, win, mit, mag). Consonant-le syllables arefound at the end of words. The e is silent (e.g., set-tle, strug-gle). Open syllables end with a vowel, making the vowel sound long (e.g., he, ti, pho, si).

30. Basic Syllable Types Double vowel syllables contain two vowels that make one sound (e.g., trea, au). Silent e syllables end with a vowel- consonant-e, making the vowel sound long (e.g., cate, vive). R-controlled syllables contain a vowel followed by an r, causing the r to take over the sound of the vowel (e.g., vert, tor).

31. Basic Syllable Rules When two consonants come together, divide between them (e.g., ten-don, win-dow, per-mit, mag-net). Exception: when two consonants join to form a single sound (py-thon, bish-op) A prefix or suffix usually makes a separate syllable or two: (dis-arm, an-ti-dote. Ship-ment, hope-ful-ly, mend-a-ble) When a vowel is followed by a single consonant, try dividing after the vowel (e.g., o-ver, pre-vent). If that does not make sense, divide after the consonant (e.g., riv-er, lem-on). When a word ends in a consonant plus le, divide it before the consonant (e.g., sam-ple, sin-gle).

32. What are the syllables? Place your hand on your chin, say the word. How many chin drops do you have? = syllables In English, each syllable has one vowel sound.

33. Recognizing Syllables Look for the vowel and consonant patterns in these words. Mark the patterns and divide the syllables. Write each syllable in the boxes next to the word. Cubic Factor Digit Congruent Equation Numerator Triangle cu bic fac tor dig it

34. Alphabetics Basic Phonemic awareness Sight word recognition Phonics/ word analysis (#3-10) Intermediate Using syllables to pronounce multisyllabic words Roots and Affixes (prefixes and suffixes)

35. Common Greek and Latin Roots

36. Root Diagrams import transport Port = carry porter portable

37. Word Matrix and Word Sums con struct re de s ed ing ive ly de in ob sub super infra or s ion s ism ist ure s ed ing al ly

38. Prefix Base Suffix 1 Suffix 2 1. __sub_+_struct__+_ure_____+__s_______ con struct re de s ed ing ive ly de in ob sub super infra or s ion s ism ist ure s ed ing al ly

39. Word Matrix and Word Sums Prefix Base Suffix 1 Suffix 2 _____+_______+_________+__________ _____+_______+_________+__________ _____+_______+_________+__________ Prefix 1 Prefix 2 Base Suffix 1 Suffix 2 de______+con____+ struct + ion___+ ism

40. Word Sortsstruct = build

41. Skill & Drill (Recognizing Roots and Affixes)

42. Recap With alphabetics, short, frequent lessons best. Determine a few activities or techniques and stay with them. Systematic. Explicit, direct instruction is most effective. Emphasize connection between word structure and meaning. Provide frequent opportunities to apply alphabetics in context. Progress should be monitored. Remember: Explain the pattern Model the pattern Guide application of the pattern Practice application of the pattern through oral reading

43. Fluency Accuracy (add/subtract/ substitute words) Rate (conversational rate – keep information in working memory) Prosody (expression and phrasing) Fluency is best assessed and practiced through oral reading.

44. Fluency Assessment Have students read leveled texts aloud using the following scale: Fluency Scale

45. Fluency Assessment The mastery level for fluencyis the highest grade level of passage difficulty on which a student is rated a “3”. The instructional level for rate and prosodyis the highest grade level rated a “2”. The instructional level for accuracy(alphabetics in context) is the highest grade level rated a “1”.

46. Fluency Goals (Feedback)

47. Collaborative Oral Reading (COR) Students are grouped according to reading level; smaller groups are better. Text is chosen based on group reading level. Text should be longer so that all students have the opportunity to read a couple of times. Students sit in a circle; teacher is a part of group (if possible).

48. Collaborative Oral Reading (COR) Each student reads 2-4 sentences (student determines length) and then “passes” to the next student (call name or throw a ball). Everyone must take a turn. From time to time students may stop to discuss reading (brief). This brief check of comprehension is the application piece of fluency. Teacher is part of reading group and takes turns reading and modeling.

50. Performs an unpracticed reading with a short text at the target level.

51. Hears a fluent reading of the text.

53. Have students read several passages at level before moving up

55. Echo Reading Sentence by sentence reading/ reading in chunks. Should be done with smaller groups so that individuals can be heard. Highly supported fluency instruction Only a practice activity (not an assessment) Very intensive – only do for 10-15 minutes. Short, frequent practices are better.

56. Marked Phrase Boundaries The teacher marks meaningfully phrases in the text. The teacher models good prosody by reading the marked text. The learner practices reading the marked text aloud and gets feedback. The learner marks a copy of the same text. Eventually, students learn to read the text with no markings. Four score and seven years ago/ our fathers brought forth/ upon this continent/ a new nation/ conceived in liberty/

57. Marked Phrase Boundaries Variations Teacher reads a text and the students mark the text as the teacher reads aloud. Student listens to recorded books and practices marking phrase boundaries. Can use slashes or scoops. Can mark for intonation or bold stressed words. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth

58. Pair Repeated Reading Explain (or review) the importance of reading speed and be sure everyone understands the need for repeated reading to build speed. Pair each learner with another who has similar oral reading ability. Ask the learners to read their assigned passages silently first, and be sure all the words are familiar. Circulate to help with decoding and definitions as necessary. Then have each pair take turns reading to each other. Have the pairs time each other's reading and keep a record of the times. Each learner should read the passage at least three times.

59. Pair Repeated Reading Circulate and listen to the reading to see if some learners need to continue to work with the same passages during the next fluency practice, or if they should work on a different passage next time. Collect the records of timed readings (it helps if they also write the text sources and dates on their record sheets) for monitoring individuals' growth in reading rate.

60. Using Recorded Readings Have students listen to recording while following along in the book. Student should subvocalize along with the recording. The student should read the text multiple times for effective practice. Have students record themselves reading the text. Have the students do multiple recordings so that they can improve their skills.

61. Review What is alphabetics? What alphabetics skills should be taught to beginning students? What are some methods to teach these skills? What alphabetics skills should be taught to intermediate students? What are some methods to teach these skills?

62. Review What is fluency? What are some methods that teach fluency? What has research shown to be promising practices in teaching alphabetics and fluency?

63. Any Questions?