This strategy bookmark might be a little contrived with the animal thing, but I liked it. I felt like it reflected what we've been reading this week--basically that there are more strategies out there for understanding words than just going letter-by-letter. We use a lot of these almost without thinking, when we encounter unfamiliar words, and we might forget that these are skills that can really be taught.

I'm taking a Farsi class right now, so it's a foreign language and a foreign alphabet for me. I am still not a fluent reader, and already I find myself using these strategies. Sometimes it feels like that means I'm kind of "faking it"--but if it helps me decode, then hey. I find myself recognizing high-frequency words without really "seeing" the individual letters. Things like that.

Here is a wonderful video I found about prefixes. It is a rap. It's completely ridiculous but maybe you'll like it, too.

For me, it's kind of hard to remember how exactly I learned literacy skills in English, but I find a lot of this stuff makes sense when I think about struggles I've had with other languages. Do any of your foreign language learning experiences come to mind when reading about these strategies?  

One of the suggestions we saw this week was using real everyday objects as tools for learning phonemes. Phonemic awareness has been stressed as being one of the most important keys to functional literacy. Something kind of bothered me about it though...do we really want M for Marcus to be inextricably linked to McDonald's?
This is something I've been thinking about a lot. I loved the idea of using authentic materials and showing how print-rich the world around them really is, but for some reason, the idea of teaching kindergartners letters through commercial packaging rubbed me the wrong way. Advertising is already such a huge part of kids' lives, do I really want to promote that? Then again, will I have a choice? A lot of schools are already sponsored by soda companies and the like.
I want to get off my high horse and do what is most effective and most relevant for students, but I think I would feel better if we talked about this.

Something to consider: kids' reactions to branding can be pretty adorable...

phonics hockey
The family culture of literacy in the Jones family emphasized how important literacy was in everyday life and in fostering close relationships. Since not every child is lucky enough to live in a home where reading is important, how can we create a culture of literacy in the classroom?

The article and the textbook both talked about how children with a lot of prior literacy exposure come to school excited to learn how to read: they know why it's important, all the things in the "real world" it will help them to understand. I love the idea of bringing in menus, shopping lists and magazines. One of the most exciting things about learning to read, for me, was the idea that I could finally start to decode all the grown-up stuff I was surrounded by. What kind of real world materials would you like in your classroom?





The link above is a cool idea for a kinesthetic game to get kids more familiar with phonemes; check it out!

We can see specific techniques that make teachers more effective, yet these are not supported by administrators or by public policy. What children need to perform better and to become better learners is excellent teachers, but what does that really mean?
The question raised is, what is expected from an individual teacher? How much of one's own money should be spent? How hard is one expected to fight for the desired changes in curriculum?

We want excellent educators. We want teachers to be deserving of and demanding respect. But with this emphasis on individuals overcoming institutional obstacles, are we just continuing the narrative of "exceptional individuals" that the American school system has perpetuated? Much as we need to help students that struggle with material, we need to help teachers who, according to the text, "don't know what to do." Professional development should be a priority.