Although many people may think keeping students at one level will help prevent them from getting frustrated and discouraged by difficult texts, research shows that students actually learn more when they are challenged by reading materials.īlevins said reliance on “leveled books” can contribute to “a bad habit in readers.” Because students can’t sound out many of the words, they rely on memorizing repeated words and sentence patterns, or on using picture clues to guess words. Related: Teacher Voice: We need phonics, along with other supports, for readingīlevins and Shanahan caution against organizing books by different reading levels and keeping students at one level until they read with enough fluency to move up to the next level. “When they get to ninth grade and they have to read “Of Mice and Men,” there are no picture cues,” Rasmussen said. As children encounter more challenging texts in later grades, avoiding reliance on visual cues also supports fluent reading. “You really want … your own kid sounding out words and blending words from the earliest level on.” That means children are not told to guess an unfamiliar word by looking at a picture in the book, for example. “We really want to make sure that no kid is guessing,” Rasmussen said. What should schools avoid when teaching reading?Įducators and experts say kids should be encouraged to sound out words, instead of guessing. Research shows this type of “ systematic and intensive” approach in several aspects of literacy can turn children who struggle to read into average or above-average readers. Rasmussen’s school uses a structured approach: Children receive lessons in phonemic awareness, phonics, pre-writing and writing, vocabulary and repeated readings. We undervalue its impact on reading growth and must change that.” “Too often, when time is limited, the daily read-alouds are the first thing left out of the reading time. “These read-alouds must involve interactive conversations to engage students in thinking about the content and using the vocabulary,” he said. Along with time dedicated to teaching phonics, Blevins said children should participate in read-alouds with their teacher to build vocabulary and content knowledge. “They should be able to tell you something more than ‘by reading lots of books’ and ‘developing a love of reading.’ ” Blevins said. Wiley Blevins, an author and expert on phonics, said a good test parents can use to determine whether a child is receiving research-based reading instruction is to ask their child’s teacher how reading is taught. The wars over how to teach reading are back. They should also be exposed to oral reading, reading comprehension and writing. But teaching kids how to read should include more than phonics, said Shanahan. This view has been underscored by experts in recent years as the debate over reading instruction has intensified. ![]() Timothy Shanahan, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an expert on reading instruction, said phonics are important in kindergarten through second grade and phonemic awareness should be explicitly taught in kindergarten and first grade. How should your child’s school teach reading? “But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it.” Some kids may not need much help with phonics, especially as they get older, but experts say phonics instruction can be essential for young children and struggling readers “We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs,” said Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York, who recently led the transformation of his schools’ reading program to a research-based, structured approach. ![]() ![]() Kids who learn how to decode words can then apply that skill to more challenging words and ultimately read with fluency. That’s why researchers say explicit, systematic instruction in phonics is important: Teachers must lead students step by step through a specific sequence of letters and sounds. If children can’t master phonics, they are more likely to struggle to read. Check in with us for the latest in reading research. The Hechinger Report has been covering reading for over a decade, as debates about how to teach it have intensified.
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