Blog 8

Christina Mendez 10/27/08

Blog 8

This week’s discussion on first graders took place from October 20, 2008 until October 26, 2008. One woman was looking for help with ways for students to understand how to sound out words.

A. These include descriptions of classroom activities, resources, and issues that were discussed.

This woman had a 1st grader who absolutely cannot sound anything out. If she tested him on letters and letter sounds, he got 95% and higher. However, when it comes to putting these sounds together into words, he just cannot do it. For instance, the word path he sounded /p/ /a/ and had trouble remembering the sound and tried to say /t/ /h/, but then he'd look at her and say "little" and we'd try it again and he'd look at her and say "stop" and absolutely cannot put sounds together. She wanted help from people as to what she can do.

B. Explain areas of agreement, disagreement, concerns, advice.

One woman responded by saying that she plays a game way ahead of time before she even attempts sound out with the children. She shows the children the 3 sounds, however, she doesn’t so the th, ch, sh, or wh until the students can do three letter words. She shows the child the 3 sounds and says duh awh guh. Then she says it several times and then a little faster and see if they can beat her by saying what word it is. She does this with many different three letter words before they even begin to read. She also makes sure the child knows word families before they ever go to text. In other words, after they have played the sound game she does word families such as dog, hog,
log, bog, etc. Then they do cat, hat, rat, bat, etc. They do the 3 sounds together
with her only saying the sounds, then later they will be able to say and blend them
fine unless there is something else going on. One woman told her to go to Google and search Elkonin Boxes. She said that it was a great technique to implement. One woman replied by saying her son was the same way plus there was not a single word that he said that had the sounds in the correct order. All of his speech was like the sounds popping out in a totally bizarre, illogical pattern. After she took him to a number of educators and specialists, she learned that her don has dyslexia manifesting in an auditorial field. She found a speech therapist through the school district and within one year, the people who reviewed his records and then met him could not believe the records were her son’s. After 2 years with a speech therapist, her son exited the resource program and nobody could ever believe what her son was like before. Today, he will speak a bit slower than the average person but every sound is properly produced in the appropriate order. Another person said they would go back to the beginning to make sure he has phonemic awareness. She recommended doing things that you would do in Kindergarten. How many words do you hear in this sentence? What rhymes with dog? What's this word=dog. Take away the /d/, how would you say it? Take away the /g/, how would you say it? She agreed that the Elkonan boxes fit right in with this since it helps students segment the sounds they hear in words. She said it doesn't sound like he has phonemic awareness and this has been missed because he has memorized sight words. She told her if she was not sure, Google phonemic awareness or ask a veteran K teacher. Another woman agreed with her. She has seen a number of kids do that. She doesn't know if it is that they don't want to try or not. But whatever the reason, if you push them a little, and coach them to slow down and really think about it...ask them to ask themselves if their answer makes sense. If they are pushed a little they will usually meet you there. Make them slow down and really think about what sounds they are making. Another woman agreed, but said she would assess them with DIEBELS or some other assessment to determine if they do have phonemic awareness or not. It won't hurt anything. One woman said to call the child’s parents and get a check up done. Another person agreed that the child should be tested for auditory as well as visual processing difficulties. Her daughter had the same types of problems, but could perform well in school, therefore she could not convince school officials that something was amiss. School finally became extremely difficult in high school and she was diagnosed as having severe auditory processing and integration problems as well as dyslexia and is categorized as learning disabled. She is finally receiving services. She suggested she recommends testing for this child as soon as possible to rule out any processing difficulties. The woman told us that this little one is in speech! He hardly moves his mouth at all when he talks. She said it’s like he’s swallowing the words, because his jaw does not move. If they remind him to open his mouth when he talks, he does. One woman replied by saying it sounds like Araxia. Her daughter has the same problem and struggles when she talks. She does work hard to keep it going, but it does take lots of reminders. She said that there will be gains. Keep reminding them to open their mouths and to use all of their sounds work. She tried to do the first 100 sight words nightly with her, and she had to sound out the word and try to get as many of the sounds as possible. One woman responded by saying when she was a teacher's aide about 8 yrs ago they used pvc pipe fitted together to make "telephones".
One curved piece at the bottom to talk into, a straight piece and another curved piece that went to the ear. The whole class (22) would practice specific sounds and then sounding out words by talking into the "telephone". It cuts down on outside noise and allows them to hear themselves without the use of tape recorders and such. They were only press fitted together so the "telephone could be reconfigured with other types of connectors to allow the teacher and student to take turns speaking and both of you could hear the difference. She warned that kids cannot work on this together as they find it funny to yell into the telephone and blow out the other kid's ear! On the other hand...it was quite inexpensive, easy to clean and the kids had a blast "building" their telephones. It could also be used in front of a mirror so that mouth movements can be compared. One woman agreed that the telephones worked and were a great idea.







Last Posting

A. What would you tell others when joining a teacher listserv, blog, or discussion board?

The only one that really worked for me was the listserv. The teacher listserv was good because it gave a lot of helpful information and scenarios about a vast amount of topics in education. People responded to my questions helping me gain more insight into the field. It was constantly moving from topic to topic so you got used to the same people and felt comfortable responding to people. It was definitely a worthwhile experience.

B. How did the experience compare to your expectations.

The experience was more than what I expected. I really did not think that I was going to learn and interact with people that much. I would definitely recommend someone to join one in their field and get as much experience as they can.