Hi Leonie! Tell us about your PL course.
Margery Hertzberg and I developed this course based on our chapter for the PETAA book The Alphabetic Principle and Beyond: Surveying the landscape. Our course focuses on the use of authentic texts (such as children’s literature) to teach phonics in the early years of school. It provides criteria for selecting appropriate texts as well as a list of recommended books with a suggested phonics focus for each. There are many practical strategies for whole class and small group interactive experiences that strengthen understandings of letter-sound relationships in a meaningful context.
Who is this course for — who should sign on and complete it?
The course is aimed at teachers working with students in the early years of school and those working with students who have English as an Additional Language. It is also useful for teachers of students with additional needs, teachers working in prior-to-school settings, and librarians.
Why is this text-based approach so critical for learners?
Research indicates that the most effective literacy teaching integrates the teaching of decoding skills with the meaningful use of literacy for a range of purposes. Using meaningful texts to teach phonics supports all students’ learning and has been found to be particularly effective in supporting students from low socio-economic communities and EAL/D students. Small-group hands-on experiences related to the text support students’ understandings of letter-sound relationships and vocabulary development, which are critical to reading and writing success.
Can you tell us about a time the strategies in your course helped to achieve improved outcomes?
Teachers who have completed the course and implemented literacy learning experiences using authentic texts that build on students’ experiences and interests and their funds of knowledge, found that this approach provides many opportunities for the development of phonics knowledge as well as vocabulary. One teacher reported that “it is not only more interesting for students but an extremely effective use of limited teacher time.”
One executive teacher commented that “the use of the same piece of quality literature across the week with whole class and small group experiences each day made it easy for teachers to differentiate the curriculum and for students to learn at their own pace”.
A teacher noted that “the daily reading of the text enables students to focus on the letters ... and make connections with the pictures and their own experiences. It was easy to differentiate activities to suit a variety of abilities.”
A teacher working with students with additional needs told us that she “will continue to use quality literature to teach reading, writing and oral language” rather than teaching phonics in isolation because it supports students to “make connections to the sounds and then the letters that make the sounds that are the words we read in books”. She noted that her students are more responsive to this approach than the use of levelled guided readers which “are not books” according to one of her students.
When teachers implemented a text-based approach to teaching phonics, they found that this:
- “allowed students to feel confident when engaging in the activities and the repetition allowed struggling students to achieve success”
- “helped students see the purpose of these (phonics) skills”
- “allowed for deeper connections to be made between the students and the content”
- “helped in students grasping the letters”
- “deepened understandings which “meant the students completed the activities at a higher level.”
What's one thing teachers can do right now to support student understanding of letter-sound relationships?
The key is the use of authentic literature combined with small group hands-on experiences to teach phonics. If teachers are using a reading program they can combine this with the use of a text-based approach.