Stuck on Words

 Stuck on words.... it happens, to all readers, at some point. Readers get "stuck" on words, especially when they are learning to read. Part of what I love most about teaching reading is working with students on achieving these decoding skills. In my opinion, structured literacy has to precede comprehension and higher order thinking questions. 

I'm often asked what are some strategies to teach decoding? What I can say it's not is always using picture clues. While they often offer assistance, pictures cannot be a continued strategy. For example, if a student does not recognize the word "horse" and they use a picture clue and say "pony," these are not the same word, nor the same concept. What teachers of reading need to do is provide word attack strategies for students to apply. 

I've compiled a list of some successful steps to assist students with decoding:

- Practice letters and sounds 

- Use letter-sound correspondence to write words

- Apply letter-sound correspondence to an unknown word by sounding it out, then read the whole word, then reread the sentence with the word stated correctly. If the work still poses difficulty after two or three reads, add that word to your phonics lesson to practice

-Tap out the sounds: Pinky finger of the "off-hand" is for the first sound, then the ring, then middle finger. Then. make a fist and lightly pound the table to say the whole word. 

If you're looking for more, please know that these steps come with background knowledge of letter sounds. It's important for teachers to strategically and explicitly teach letter-sound correspondences. Time must be dedicated to practicing strategies to decode, and include multi-sensory components! It's not just for students who have dyslexia or another learning diversity... all students benefit. For example, the finger tapping method is when you use your pinkie, ring, and middle finger to tap each sound you hear (not always each single letter) to blend words fluently. I personally enjoy this strategy and it has helped so many of my struggling readers. 

Once students begin to strengthen their decoding (and all phonics/phonemic awareness skills) fluency will increase, and more time can be dedicated to comprehension. 

I'm excited to share this knowledge out with everyone, and I want to hear more of what you need to help increase your confidence as teachers of reading. I will be posting more on this (and other) topics in the future. 

Final thoughts: keep learning different strategies to show your students, keep committing time to structured literacy, keep students needs in mind when planning your literacy lessons- it's all about your readers!