Phonological Awareness

 

Thank you Helen for posting these questions to think about! Here's what I think!

HA: Will be interested to see how today's Phonological Awareness training sits with prior knowledge...
Did it:
- Confirm what you already knew?
- Build on some of your base understanding?
- Get you to think in a new way about language development?

Confirm what I already knew?

With a background in linguistics and a general interest in language (particularly phonology and oral language), it was great to have some self-confirmation that I was doing ok - even now that I'm working with an entirely different age level and even a stage level I have not yet experienced.

Build on understanding?

Yes, it was good to be reminded of a few things that are crucial to language development at certain stages. I had completely forgotten about syllables! They are now in my plan. It was also good to be reminded of the importance of scaffolding - no wonder the children struggled at literacy time to generate rhyming words straight off the top of their heads!

Thinking about language development?

It's probably not new thinking for me - it has concerned me for some time that an increasing number of children seem to be starting school without good oral language and phonological awareness. ECE is going to become a integral part of this language development, and it wasn't until today that I found out that most ECE teachers are not trained in phonological awareness. 

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day regarding the 'state' of children's language. As an ex-linguist my argument was that language is constantly evolving. I'm sure those who spoke Old English were just as aghast as we are about what was happening to language. I have to admit though - the 'development' (or is it regression?) does worry me - I do have that natural tendency to want to protect the perfectly good version of English we've got!

Noise

When I tell people I work in an open learning space, usually their first reaction is something about "the noise".

I have always had a noisy classroom. Part of my philosophy is that learning is social and that children love to talk about about their learning (and everything else too....). However, I do believe it has to be a good working noise for the task given. 

I thought going into a Modern Learning Environment, that noise would not be a bother for me. Generally it is not...

There are those times though when you have your group doing a nice, reasonably quiet activity and there's another group who are creating dramatic plays, or practising their music, even watching a short film can distract other groups. (Have you noticed children have amazing ability to pick up computer/TV noise, no matter how quiet, and immediately be distracted from whatever they are doing!)

How do I cope? The best I can - sometimes it's me that's being the noisy one, or has a noisy group. It comes back to the learning mentors making sure we are setting those expectations, having those conversations, developing a plan to ensure our learners can stay focussed. Some of it will come down to timetabling or making sure a quiet space is available. And I'm sure once our school facilities expand, some of those noisier lessons can be taken elsewhere!

What will reading look like?

Previously I have taught Years 4-6 and this year with Year 1-4s has been quite a learning curve. I was ready for the move and have found the first few weeks insightful and I am beginning to understand now the development of the full child - mainly the social and the fundamental skills. Now it is time for us all to dive fully into the reading programme. I have taught some very low readers before and have been fortunate enough to have worked with and guided by some great RTLBs and literacy experts. My background in linguistics and affiliation with the Canterbury Literacy association has led me to put my hand up to work with the very emergent readers in our habitat. It's a challenge I'm really looking forward to.

I had heard a lot about Daily 5, but had not read the book or followed the programme. I knew a colleague had tried it before, so I asked to borrow her book. She was more than happy to oblige, however gave it to me with a warning. She said something along the lines of, "I'm sure much of it you're doing already without even noticing. This is very prescriptive - it's worth a read, but I don't think it's necessary to follow it completely." 

She was absolutely right - especially for the environment we are working in where flexibility plays a big part in our day. 

The Daily 5 principles are: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work.

How might this work for me? I envisage some stations set up each week, based on the 5 principles. Each day children have to complete at least three. They have to complete each one at least once over the week. Self-direction is key to engagement, so I believe the children should be given some choice. They could be given a sheet at the beginning of each week with the names on it. Each activity has some smiley faces beside it. Every time a child completes that activity, they colour in a smily face. As long as they are spending some time on each of the key literacy principles through quality activities, I'm a happy teacher.

Ideas for stations

Read to Self
big books
poetry
picture books
browsing box

Read to Someone
stuffed toys
buddy
iPads
poem on stage

Listen to reading
sunshine online
other online stories (two for week)
buddy
music with words

Work on Writing
letter formation hair gel bags
handwriting iPads
creating words from letters
self-planning (prior to workshop)
choice writing

Word work
sight words games
letter/sound of the week activities
word finds
spelling challenges


Will this be a reality? I will only know after spending some time with the learners.