Hilary, much more clear this time. :) Your examples and reasoning for your choices are concise and clearly state what you believe. However, could the knowledge of grammatical rules and structure help with the ability to figure out unknown words? Just a thought.
I agree with you on the grammatical rules and structure - that's part of the reason why I was on the fence whether it was essential for reading or not. I suppose I felt that it depended on the grade level - younger children are trying to grasp the basics of reading and sounding out words, and grammar is less important. However, with the upper elementary and beyond, grammar rules could be a useful tool for deciphering words the student doesn't know. Anyway, I understand your point :)
Phonetics are very important to children in kindergarten and first grade. I agree with you about passing tests being too much pressure on younger children while they are first learning to read. Nice job, Hilary!
Hi Everyone. You are hitting lots of different issues here. What is standing out to me is your sorting through the issues of where grammar, spelling, and phonetics come into play in the early reading process. It seems like you all might be saying that an emphasis on spelling and phonetics is necessarily at the early grades. I would like you to continue to explore that idea. This is a big one when teaching children to learn. If you go to the "Reading is" google doc activity, you will be reminded of all the processes involved in reading. Phonics and spelling are small parts. For example, children can read without being able to attach a sound to each individual symbol. I'm not saying phonics isn't an essential element--it's just that it has become such a strong focus because of the emphasis on testing. Food for thought...
Great food for thought! These thoughts about phonics is interesting. Last week in the activity, I initially commented that hearing and speaking were not essential to the reading process. My response was based on the fact that students are are at different stages of developing their language skills in the early grades. Some students have speech or hearing impediments, and some are learning english as a second language, presenting challenges to being able to say sounds correctly. Yet, these students progress along and can learn to read and enjoy reading as well as other students. I hate to put emphasis on a just one component of reading and cause a child to think they can't do it right, and maybe get hung up on this part of reading instead of feeling satisfied with their reading, and enjoying it, which is the bigger goal!
Mishelle, I really appreciate your expanding on why you put down that hearing and speaking are not essential to the reading process. Since I disagreed with you, I was interested as to your thought process. I love how different people can have such differing views on things! I still hold to what I said, but that is not to say one of us is right and one wrong. We are both talking about individuals here and I think we're both on the right track. Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals CAN and do learn to read and turn out to be hard-working adults in this world.
Hilary, much more clear this time. :) Your examples and reasoning for your choices are concise and clearly state what you believe. However, could the knowledge of grammatical rules and structure help with the ability to figure out unknown words? Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the grammatical rules and structure - that's part of the reason why I was on the fence whether it was essential for reading or not. I suppose I felt that it depended on the grade level - younger children are trying to grasp the basics of reading and sounding out words, and grammar is less important. However, with the upper elementary and beyond, grammar rules could be a useful tool for deciphering words the student doesn't know. Anyway, I understand your point :)
DeletePhonetics are very important to children in kindergarten and first grade. I agree with you about passing tests being too much pressure on younger children while they are first learning to read. Nice job, Hilary!
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone.
ReplyDeleteYou are hitting lots of different issues here. What is standing out to me is your sorting through the issues of where grammar, spelling, and phonetics come into play in the early reading process. It seems like you all might be saying that an emphasis on spelling and phonetics is necessarily at the early grades. I would like you to continue to explore that idea. This is a big one when teaching children to learn. If you go to the "Reading is" google doc activity, you will be reminded of all the processes involved in reading. Phonics and spelling are small parts. For example, children can read without being able to attach a sound to each individual symbol. I'm not saying phonics isn't an essential element--it's just that it has become such a strong focus because of the emphasis on testing. Food for thought...
Great food for thought! These thoughts about phonics is interesting. Last week in the activity, I initially commented that hearing and speaking were not essential to the reading process. My response was based on the fact that students are are at different stages of developing their language skills in the early grades. Some students have speech or hearing impediments, and some are learning english as a second language, presenting challenges to being able to say sounds correctly. Yet, these students progress along and can learn to read and enjoy reading as well as other students. I hate to put emphasis on a just one component of reading and cause a child to think they can't do it right, and maybe get hung up on this part of reading instead of feeling satisfied with their reading, and enjoying it, which is the bigger goal!
ReplyDeleteMishelle, I really appreciate your expanding on why you put down that hearing and speaking are not essential to the reading process. Since I disagreed with you, I was interested as to your thought process. I love how different people can have such differing views on things! I still hold to what I said, but that is not to say one of us is right and one wrong. We are both talking about individuals here and I think we're both on the right track. Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals CAN and do learn to read and turn out to be hard-working adults in this world.
Deleteoops...these thoughts *are interesting
ReplyDelete