Literacy Now

In the spring of 2012, a group of English Language Arts educators from Franklin, MA, launched a highly successful middle school reading program around The Hunger Games.  In this five-part special series, the teachers who orchestrated the whole-school read will detail, step-by-step, this year’s initiative. Parts I and 2 focused on how the team made this year’s book selection, The Hobbit, and encouraged student participation. In part 3, Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary discuss some of the challenges they’ve faced—and how they’re working as a team to overcome.

We know where we’re headed on this journey—we really do—and we know it’s going to be worth our while. How to get there? That’s another story. 

Our merry band of literature lovers are much like Bilbo and the dwarves—prepared and peppy at the outset, tromping gamely through the Misty Mountains, blissfully unaware of the evils that are lurking around the bend.

If you are planning a school-wide reading program, please take a few moments to benefit from our experience as we highlight the pitfalls—both real and imagined—that line our path.

Challenge #1: Time

Although a read-a-thon may not seem like something that will dominate your life for several months, let us be the first to tell you: it can and it will.

We first hinted at our reading initiative in mid-October. We teased the reveal for about a week and made the surprise part of our journey. While we adults tend to get irritated when people (read: celebrities’ publicists) announce that they are going to make an upcoming announcement about an important announcement, our middle schoolers lapped it up.

After the reveal comes the reading. Not a big deal, right? Maybe not with a modern, popular young adult book with a glossy cover featuring knock-out models. But we’re not talking about heartbreakers; we’re talking about a furry-footed Hobbit. We needed to keep our initiative in the forefront of kids’ minds and capitalize on the tween desire to belong. Don’t get left behind! We peppered the school with propaganda, aired weekly videos encouraging reading, and ran daily “caught reading” contests. All of this takes time.

Here’s how we created our schedule: We knew we wanted the kids to see the movie as close to the release as possible, which gave us the target date of Dec. 14 (before Christmas break—thank you, Peter Jackson!). Now, back up one week for those permission slips. If you want your students to have some level of accountability—a riddling or reaping or what have you—subtract at least one more week for that. That put us at a “due date” of December 3.

Which means our students had seven weeks to read The Hobbit. Literally, seven weeks.

Of course, our read-a-thon will not end when we walk out of the theater. The field trip is what requires the most planning and generates the most excitement among the kids, but we also rock some post-viewing school-wide events. In fact, we decided to save most of the activities for after the movie. It gives us some time to regroup, and also gives our little hobbits the chance to reconsider and join the throng. Last year we picked up an additional thirty-something tributes after the movie. Apparently, they didn’t know how cool we were.

Challenge #2: Faculty Support

Like any initiative, if your school is like ours, you’ll have reactions ranging from immediate “This is awesome! What can I do to help?” buy-in to “You’ve got to be kidding me, I can’t handle one more thing before Christmas” resistance.

If your budget allows, order copies of the book for your teachers. Make them signs for their classrooms, offer lessons, news stories, and articles, and provide logistical updates for your faculty as you are able. It’s not always easy, but don’t stress too much. Most are only concerned if an event interferes with their teaching day. If you can provide advance warning, most will happily accommodate.

However, there are some teachers who’ll be armed with a laundry list of questions, and you won’t always have answers. (See “Doubts” below.) Learning styles are evident even among adults. Some need to see the “big picture,” while others crave minutia, playing the “what if?” game. If you’re concerned with collegial dynamics, have the important stuff come from above. That’s what Gandalf is for. Remain as positive and kind as humanly possible; if your faculty isn’t excited about your initiative, the kids will suffer.

Overall, we’ve been blessed with incredible support that far outweighs any stray negativity that comes our way. We have more offers for support (and requests to chaperone) than we can possibly accept. We’ve found teachers are more than willing to tolerate disruptions to their schedule in exchange for the unifying effects of a school-wide adventure.

Challenge #3: (Self) Doubts

An adventurer’s greatest enemy is not a goblin or a giant spider or a dragon, but oneself. We intrepid few who willingly embark on such grand missions must be prepared to come face to face with our own doubts and fears. And, as was so beautifully illustrated to the Horace Mann Middle School contingent recently, we must be willing to stay the course.

The Hobbit is not The Hunger Games. Last year we had students falling over themselves to participate. This year, the readers are much more reluctant. The book is long. It has old-fashioned language. There are no mutts or fireballs or love interests. It wasn’t long before we faced what Mary at least considered to be a disastrous realization: we were highly unlikely to fill six buses.

“But we have to fill six buses,” the doubting voice in Mary’s head cried. “We have a mandate! We have a precedent! If we don’t meet these new, higher expectations, what will happen next year? We’ll lose our budget! We’ll have to fight tooth and nail for support just like we did last year. Not filling six buses is not an option! We need to change the program!”

So we did…almost.

First, we did some research to figure out where the first movie ends (The Hobbit film adaptation will be a trilogy) and figured that students would have to read roughly five chapters to understand the first movie. We talked about eliminating the requirement to read the book, opening up the field trip to those students who had read at least the first five chapters. This would encourage those students who were stymied by difficult language, bolster our numbers, and ensure our literacy initiative would be funded in years to come.

Oh, and the message the kids would receive about not having to read the whole book? The lowering of our standards? We’ll just ignore those issues for now. We’ve got six buses to fill, people!

Thank goodness, once again, for coolheaded administration. When we approached our Gandalf with our worries and suggested plan of action, we were quickly set straight. It mattered not if we had 50 or 500 students participating; our program (and budget!) was safe. We were reminded to keep our eye on the real prize. We are in this not for movie premieres, not for newspaper coverage, but for the kids. We are encouraging a love of reading and literature, and to do that we absolutely must require the students to read the whole novel.

And as for Mary’s worries that we’d only have a handful of kids participate? That was proven wrong on the day before Thanksgiving break, when we held a surprise early-riddling. Twenty-five students qualified in an hour. Not too shabby!

Mary Cotillo and Erin O’Leary both teach English Language Arts at Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, MA.

Read the rest of the series here:

Six Buses: The Quest for School-Wide Reading Begins!

The Quest, Part 2: Monday Morning Hobbit-Backing

The Quest, Part 4: Some Shall Not Pass

The Quest, Part 5: The Journey Pays Off in Unexpected Ways

This post originally appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog in November 2011.

The holidays present a host of challenges for teachers. Whether you are trying to preserve instructional time or simply break free of traditional holiday activities, here are ten titles that can help you reinvent your classroom’s holiday traditions. For each non-traditional holiday title below you will find a brief synopsis and an idea for connecting the book to the work of your classroom. What holiday season do you want in your classroom this year?

’Tis the Season to Notice

WE ARE AMERICA
Written by Walter Dean Myers
Illustrated by Christopher Myers

In their latest father-son collaboration, New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers and Caldecott Honor artist Christopher Myers create a stunning journey through American History. The free-verse, non-fiction poetry and the epic illustrations offer homage to the diversity of people who have shaped America across its vast and complicated history. Offering resounding respect both for America and for those who have shaped it, Myers and Myers have found a way to say “Thank you” to all those we owe a debt of gratitude, from brick makers to presidents.

The cross-curricular connections for using this book are extensive. Our favorite, however, offers a variation on the traditional writing prompt: “I’m thankful for...” Instead, let children think about whom in history impacted the way they live their lives today. If they could say “thank you” in person, how would they say it and what would they say?

’Tis the Season to Break Stereotypes

NAVAJO YEAR: WALK THROUGH MANY SEASONS
Written by Nancy Bo Flood
Illustrated by Billy Whitehorne

The Navajo year begins in October, when summer and winter meet each other. In NAVAJO YEAR: WALK THROUGH MANY SEASONS, Coyote walks the reader through the thirteen months of the Navajo calendar. Illustrated by Billy Whitehorne, who lives in the Shonto-Black Mesa area of the Navajo Nation, this book captures the Navajo seasons with images and words. Presented in poetic form, with graceful and precise language, Flood manages an economy of words that makes the innate challenges of poetry appear easy. The book closes with a Navajo pronunciation guide produced by Berlyn Yazzie, Sr. The guide offers narrative descriptions as well as phonetic pronunciations of each of the months of the Navajo calendar. This book was carefully vetted, and offers a present-day counterpoint to stereotypes of Native Americans that abound around Thanksgiving.

You can use this book in math to make comparisons between our traditional calendar and the Navajo calendar. Use it in social studies to challenge students’ assumptions about Native Americans. NAVAJO YEAR is most valuable, perhaps, for the opportunities it offers to explore community, traditions, and special days across a calendar year. This book also lends itself to classroom events marking New Year celebrations.

’Tis the Season to Rethink What We Thought We Knew

THE ARRIVAL
Written and illustrated by Shaun Tan

Ask most students to describe a “pilgrim” and you will likely hear descriptions of women in bonnets and men in pointy hats with buckles on their shoes. You can help your children see Thanksgiving Day afresh (not to mention giving them a break from the common school traditions they endure over and over again) by showing them that “pilgrims” still exist.

THE ARRIVAL, Shaun Tan’s beautiful, wordless masterpiece is an award-winning book about an immigrant’s experience that will broaden your students’ definition of the word pilgrim, and offer new depth to what it means to be thankful. A beautifully complex text, THE ARRIVAL offers something for students of all ages. The wordless images will engage younger students, while older students can work through Tan’s invented alphabet, which allows readers to experience the same confusion immigrants experience as they face a new language in a foreign land.

The potential student responses to this book are many, but this book should probably be left to work its magic without extensive teacher direction. If anything, a simple, post-discussion writing prompt like, “I used to think..., but now I think....” can lend some consistency to student responses that could form a class poem or book.

’Tis the Season of Observing

NABEEL'S NEW PANTS: AN EID TALE
Written by by Fawzia Gilani-Williams
Illustrated by Prioiti Roy

While teaching your students about Eid, the celebration that takes place after the fast of Ramadan, NABEEL’S NEW PANTS will also show your students the ways that family holiday preparations are universal. From buying special gifts for family to preparing holiday food, this sweet tale carries a traditional note that any child can recognize, regardless of family traditions.

Roy’s gouache, watercolor, and ink illustrations help create a cheerful story of a mishap that leaves Nabeel with a most unusual pair of pants for Eid morning. This is a lovely and truly multicultural book: the author and illustrator are from India, the story is Turkish, and the glossary in the front of the book explains the Arabic terms used throughout.

Let your students use this book to observe the commonalities in holiday traditions. Students may discover that, even if cultural traditions vary, most holidays share the same, core elements, such as family reunions, giving, and anticipation.

’Tis the Season of Peace (In and Out)

THE PEACE BOOK
Written and illustrated by Todd Parr

Author/illustrator Todd Parr’s books present straightforward, accessible illustrations to teach sophisticated ideas, such as tolerance and love. While people celebrate certain seasons of peace in particular, we can think about the importance of peace throughout the year.

Parr lends concrete examples to this complex word, defining peace as multi-faceted. His illustrations show a range of peaceful moments, from caring for the earth to learning a new language. Use THE PEACE BOOK in your classroom to broaden classroom conversations beyond holiday calendar limitations.

For a deep discussion that can verbally prime comparably deep written responses, ask your students to think about whether peace is on the inside of them or on the outside. For further analysis, as what they think about this distinction, how inner and outer peace are connected, and whether it matters. You can even go page-by-page through THE PEACE BOOK and think about whether each illustration shows peace within or peace without.

’Tis the Season for Enough to be Plenty

THE SPIDER'S GIFT: A UKRAINIAN CHRISTMAS STORY
Written by Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrated by Katya Krenina

Spiders at Christmas? Children may wonder if you are talking about Christmas or Halloween. This story introduces a culturally significant holiday tradition that may be unknown to many of your students. In the Ukraine, spiders and their webs represent good luck. Many Ukrainians decorate their Christmas trees with spiders and webs.

THE SPIDER’S GIFT is a retelling of this tradition and its spider legend. This book is perfect considering the economic difficulties many will face this holiday season. The opening line will pull your students in as they learn that Katrusya’s family must figure out ways to turn little into plenty.

Let this story launch a campaign of holiday decorations or projects that appreciate nature and illustrate that something doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful. Paired with conversations about the dimensions of holiday traditions that aren’t sold in stores, students might find that getting down to earth, literally and figuratively, may introduce a new simplicity to a typically frenzied season.

‘Tis the Season of Our Own Celebrations

SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD: A KWANZAA STORY
Written by Angela Shelf Medearis
Illustrated by Daniel Minter

SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD explains, in classic folktale form, the origin of Kente cloth as well as the seven Kwanzaa principles. Use this title to give your students an overview of this holiday, established in 1966. Minter’s bold, brilliant linocuts convey the strong family ties in a Ghanaian village that serves as the setting for this tale of seven constantly quarreling brothers. With a glossary, pronunciation guide, and craft activity section, this book supports numerous opportunities for exploring and understanding Kwanzaa.

The SEVEN SPOOLS OF THREAD also invites an exploration of all kinds of holiday traditions. You can support discussion and writing by asking a few of the following questions: What did the creators of Kwanzaa have to consider as they developed this holiday? What does Kwanzaa include that was missing from other holidays? What is the same about Kwanzaa and other holidays? What makes the particular holidays that students observe meaningful for them? What makes a holiday your own?

‘Tis the Season to Start Something New

I LIVE IN TOKYO
Written and illustrated by Mari Takabayashi

Brilliant illustrations accompany the authentic text that sometimes reads like a journal and other times like a caption. For each month, Takabayashi offers a two-page spread that chronicles one year in the life of Mimiko, a seven-year-old school girl who lives in Japan.

With special emphasis on Mimoko’s holiday observances and other family traditions, I LIVE IN TOKYO offers students a new perspective on family celebrations. Takabayashi’s illustrations are intricate, while the ideas are simple but rich. The book ends with a glossary of Japanese terms. I LOVE TOKYO is the perfect book for welcoming in the New Year. Each page offers its own writing prompt, such as favorite foods or hometown landscape. Combined, these prompts offer an authentic mentor text for an illustrated journal across a year.

In January, share this book with students and let them begin their own monthly journals. Each month they can add a two-page spread. When school ends for the summer, they will have enough of an investment in their journals to continue writing during the break. Perhaps you will be greeted next fall with last-year’s student’s returning to share their summer writing with you.

Jan Miller Burkins is the founder of Jan Miller Burkins Consulting and Literacyhead.com, and is an author of PREVENTING MISGUIDED READING: NEW STRATEGIES FOR GUIDED READING TEACHERS (IRA, 2010).

Rachel Watkins is the Assistant Editor of Literacyhead.com and the Children’s Book Specialist at Avid Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Athens, Georgia.



Holiday Book Reviews

Putting Books to Work: Judy Cox's ONE IS A FEAST FOR A MOUSE: A THANKSGIVING TALE

This month, Reading Today features Stephanie Grote-Garcia, an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at The University of the Incarnate Word and founding member of the new Texas Association for Literacy Education (TALE). Stephanie shares her thoughts on literacy education, her experiences working with IRA Past President and What's Hot? expert Jack Cassidy, and why she's excited that the IRA Annual Convention is in San Antonio. 

When did you decide that you wanted to work in the education field?

Many factors led me to work in the education field. However, I did not make the conscious decision until I was a sophomore in college. Looking back on the decision, I believe the two most significant factors were the speech difficulties that I experienced as a child and the wonderful teachers that guided me through grade school.

My speech did not develop the same as my peers. When I was three years old, my speech equaled that of a 15 month old child. I continued to experience speech difficulties throughout Junior High, particularly with pronunciation. Since oral language impacts one’s development in reading and writing, you can imagine how this impacted my academics in grade school.

With this experience, I could have easily reacted as a “carrot,” but instead chose to react like “coffee.” You must think this sounds silly, but it actually makes perfect sense. When faced with adversity (i.e., the boiling water) the carrot falls apart ― I could have easily given up. However, the coffee reacts in a way that changes the very circumstance that was meant to break it apart. That is, the coffee changes the water into a treat that is recognized by stunning aroma.

In relation to this story, I have turned something that was very difficult for me into a true love. I have accomplished this by becoming an advocate for oral and written language.

My grade school teachers also influenced me. To this day, the teacher I most often think about is my pre-kinder teacher. I must admit, after all these years she still checks on me.

How did you begin, and how did your career progress?

My career started in a small rural, elementary school in Texas. I was a reading teacher for grades K-2nd. After my third year in the classroom, I became a certified Reading Specialist and Master Reading Teacher. I then worked in a lab school on the campus of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christ (TAMU-CC) and later as a Reading Specialist for an urban school district. Most of my elementary teaching involved working with struggling readers and writers.

Over time, I earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Reading from TAMU-CC. I also completed additional graduate coursework in Special Education. After completing this degree, I stayed at TAMU-CC for one year as a visiting assistant professor. I then moved to The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. There I am an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education.

What drew you to researching and writing about reading diagnosis, patterned books, and teaching students with special needs?

After reading about my speech difficulties as a child, you can guess why I enjoy researching and writing about reading diagnosis and teaching students with special needs. However, I imagine you are wondering about my work with patterned books.

As a child who struggled in reading, I depended on several clues from the author. One of the most useful clues was predictable text patterns. The patterns assisted me with identifying difficult words and guided my comprehension. Pattern books also increased my engagement and in response motivated me to read and write. I found these patterns to be highly clever and entertaining. I loved text patterns so much that I even structured my own writing into predictable patterns.

I started researching and writing about patterned books when I met Dr. Mary Ann Zipprich who also recognized patterned books as powerful literature. Since meeting, we have collaborated on a number of projects.

This summer, you worked with IRA Past President Jack Cassidy on the What’s Hot, What’s Not Literacy Survey. What was that experience like?

The experience can be summarized as ― wonderful. Jack Cassidy is a fabulous mentor and friend. I was thrilled when he asked me to collaborate with him on the 2013 What’s Hot, What’s Not Literacy Survey. In addition, interviewing the literacy experts was truly enjoyable because I take pleasure in speaking with others and hearing multiple perspectives.

This year six literacy topics were identified to be the center of attention ― adolescent literacy, common core standards, college and career readiness, comprehension, high-stakes assessment, and informational/non-fiction text. Jack and I will elaborate on these findings at the IRA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

You’ve been involved in the recent creation of the Texas Association for Literacy Education (TALE). What encouraged you to get involved, and how has it been going?

by S. Michael Putman

As you read the title of this post, I am sure many of you immediately noted the implicit reference to Pinterest, a website that has quickly gained a tremendous following, especially among teachers. However, my goal is to actually introduce you to a new website, called Learnist, which has been referred to as the “Pinterest for education.” In what follows, I’ll provide a brief overview of the tool as well as describe a few potential benefits and uses of this social learning platform.

Identified as a multimedia learning platform, Learnist represents a tool that allows users to gather or examine multiple digital resources about a topic (tag) in what’s referred to as a learning board. The advantage of Learnist over other similar tools is that content resources presented on the board can consist of more than just a series of pictures or links. In fact, Learnist is capable of displaying imbedded resources in diverse formats, such as text, audio, video (including YouTube and Vimeo), and Google maps and books. Extending this flexibility, the resources can also be ordered, thus creators can provide a presentation-like environment, progressing users through a specific set of materials in sequence. Taking advantage of the communicative function of the platform, users can follow specific people, comment on and “like” boards as well as share boards through other outlets, including Facebook and Pinterest. The interface is very much like other social networks, but rather than trying to explain how it looks, I would suggest going directly to the site and examining the learning board that offers a quick tour. Not only will you see what a board looks like, but you’ll also be able to examine a number of videos and text-based sources that introduce the website in more detail and explain how to complete some of the common actions necessary for active and productive use of the site.

Learnist has great potential for use by educators, both as an instructional tool and as an informational resource. In regard to the former, teachers can “send” their students to a learning board on a particular topic that offers a finite set of resources organized around a particular topic. In essence, the website offers the opportunity to minimize the need for students to search the Internet for resources or information, potentially saving instructional time. Utilizing the flexibility of formats for content resources, teachers can also potentially meet multiple learners’ needs as concepts and materials are introduced and reinforced in several ways within a board. As a professional development tool, Learnist provides access to a wealth of information on a variety of educational subjects. For example, there are multiple learning boards with content addressing instructional methods to meet the Common Core State Standards. Other boards function primarily as resource centers about particular topics, e.g. how to use iPads within instruction or 21st Century Learning.

I feel Learnist offers some new and exciting possibilities for educators, beyond simply getting ideas from pictures pinned on walls. Hopefully you’ll take a look and find multiple ways to use it as an instructional resource as well as one for professional growth.

S. Michael Putman is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

This article is part of a series from the International Reading Association Technology in Literacy Education Special Interest Group (TILE-SIG).

It is disheartening to read the headlines that permeate the media enlightening us that reading scores in America remain flat—or worse, that no significant improvement has been noted since the ’70s. And yet, those of us in this field know full well that READING is the magical key that opens the door into the mind of any human being; it establishes the fundamentals and foundation for whatever he wants to be—or will be. It is the basis for all learning.

However, English, to kindergartners and first- and second-graders, is a foreign language—as German, Italian or French might be to an adult. Speaking a language is not the key for learning how to read it. During a recent lecture I gave to several dozen graduate speech/audiology students, I asked how many had studied foreign languages. Each had studied one or more but not one stated that he learned it the way he learned English: by first memorizing high-frequency words from lists that also went home for further practice. Some admitted to having had difficulty with learning to read, and some stated that it still was not their favorite thing to do.

Having taught college linguistics some years ago as an offering for teacher recertification, it was exciting to see the sparks when teachers learned intriguing nuggets about this powerful and international language called English. They wanted to know the answers to questions that plague both students and teachers (why is CAT spelled with a C and KITTEN with a K?). They were eager to learn how two vowels could be long in TRAIL, make a wiggly diphthong sound in TAUT, and yet split into two different sounds AND syllables as in TRI-AL and LI-ON.

Teachers love to learn new things, but not all of us learn the same way any more than children do—yet, what is really different about what we are doing in the classroom today that we were not doing in the ’70s? Not much, sadly. Special education has been added, but all too often this is a slowing down and trimming of what goes on in our regular classes.

Remedial teaching, however, means the need to take a different tack.

Most any language entails five linguistic facets in order for one to learn it: phonology, morphology, etymology, orthography, and philology. But in English, the largest language in the world (more than a million words), changes occur daily, and it is mind-boggling to consider the many variances that are updated approximately every six years in our dictionaries. To buy a new dictionary and compare it with “old faithful” sitting on a shelf somewhere in our home or classroom will elicit shock. (Go on. Do it.)

photo: alexbrn via photopin cc

For example, as a child, I rode to school on a “buss” (“bus” was chipped off the Latin word “omnibus” and my “buss” now simply means a kiss). When I got stung, I got a big “whelp,” but today, that would be a young animal/child or the pre-teen version of the interjection “well.”

Once our class got underway, it was stimulating to hear the questions: Why do we hear a “d” in WATER, METAL, and SWEETISH/SWEDISH? Why does TU work just fine in TUNE and TUG, but “sneezes” in CENTURY, TARANTULA, NATURE? Why does METER sound sensible, but when put into the word SPEEDOMETER, it sounds so different? How can I tell when to “sound” the G as a /guh/ sound versus a /jjj/ or a C as an S or a K?

Great questions! All answerable!

One of the most “fun” pronunciation and spelling oddities I have ever encountered is WHEN to spell with a C versus a K, or how to know the hard sound of G in GAS versus the soft sound in GERMS. (C and G were both called “gamma” by the Greeks and, thus, follow the same rule.) That is great for those of us who teach.

Write down the six (yes, six) vowels in lower-case form: a e i o u y.

Note that the a, o, and u are nice and chubby in appearance while the e, i, and y are formed by first making a straight (stick) stroke. When trying to remember whether or not to spell a word with a C or a K, use C when followed by a “chubby” (or round) vowel or a consonant as in CAT, COAT, CUT, CRIB, CATTLE, SCOTCH. But, if one wants to retain the hard sound of C (K) when using a stick vowel (e, i, or y), the “stick-consonant” K must be used as in KITTEN, KISS, KEEN, KETTLE, SKETCH; otherwise, the “stick” vowels turn C into an S sound as in ICE, CITY, FANCY.

This wonderful rule will let one down so few times that it is not worth trying to memorize the multitude of C/K words. It is interesting to note that C is the only letter in the alphabet that has no sound of its own; it borrows from S or K.

G, on the other hand, has a hard sound that it makes in MOST words that have a ROUND vowel or consonant following, such as GAS, GOAT, GUM, GRASS, while the “stick” vowels allow the G to become the soft J sound as in GERMS, GIANT, and GYM.

Learning why the ARR makes an air sound in SPARROW but an R sound in SPARRING is helpful for spelling rules; learning why we cannot hear SCIENCE in conscience or SIGN in signal is also helpful for unlocking unknown words. We also have to know why there is a T or a sound before CH in BATCH, ITCH, BENCH, and INCH, but none in BEACH, TEACH, and LEECH.

How I wish I had known so many of these language goodies when I was in elementary school and not had to wait until graduate school to learn the majority of them! Including speech science and audiology in my training certainly made the English language the most exciting one on the planet for me.

A fun exercise for teachers and young students alike is the task of spelling the alphabet. Unlike America, where it seems to be a pre-requisite to reading success to know the alphabet in order, in foreign countries where a command of English is often the indicator of an educated individual, frequently the naming of the alphabet is the last thing learned. However, it is necessary in order to spell anything aloud or to be able to alphabetize. Think about it. Spell H, Y, C, G, J—aich, wie (why), see, jee, jay.

Students, too, love learning oddities about their language. The more engaged they become in its forms and complexities, the more likely they are to increase and develop yet more skills.

Teaching reading to students beginning at age four all the way into adulthood is my life’s work, and I consider it the most exciting of all vocations. How could I not? Is there anything more exciting or self-fulfilling than looking for a previously struggling student who is now hiding in a closet reading a book instead of doing his homework?

Sadly, like fog (to borrow an image from the Carl Sandburg poem of the same name), illiteracy “sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches…” and keeps moving “in” instead of moving “on.”

Teaching, by definition, means imparting knowledge. Anything memorized can be forgotten; anything that is learned and internalized sticks with us more readily. As our educational standing on the global scene steadily slips, it is still true that we, as teachers, hold the key to bringing us back to NUMBER ONE; we just need more reinforcements.

Betty G. Price is a reading remediation therapist with Professional Reading Services in Roanoke, Virginia. She has also taught in the classroom, conducted seminars and workshops, worked for the Virginia Department of Education on special projects, and provided linguistics for teacher training at college level for those seeking recertification credits. She is the co-author (with Dr. Claude Cauolle, professor emeritus, Hollins University) of SEE ME READ, a large, comic-cartoon laps book for preschoolers (ages 3- to 5).

[The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the International Reading Association or its Board of Directors.]

Teaching Graphemes: Your Mileage May Vary as Much as the Pronunciation

Engage: In Other Words