How to teach phonics effectively so that your children pass the Phonic Test and still love reading!
My advice: teach your class so well that no one can fault your teaching, even if you haven't got the right percentage over the recommended score. Ideally you will do if you teach well - without resorting to 'teaching to the test'. It is more than possible - in fact most of your children will be well beyond that test. Aim for your children to love reading - as that is the main aim of teaching by phonics: to set children free to be able to learn from their reading - not to pass the Phonic Test!
Read on to find out HOW!
Take your eyes off of the test - do not teach towards it
Now I know that teachers are anxious about the Phonic Test and getting a good score...My answer is, that I WILL NOT risk my children's education in order to satisfy some inspector who does not have the needs of my set of children at heart and does not understand them. My children have the rest of their lives ahead of them and their success depends on my teaching THIS YEAR. I can not justify spending time worrying about an external test - let alone spending precious weeks practising nonsense words! If I am a good teacher then it will be evident in my childrens' ability. If it isn't, then teacher - you need to take stock and review your teaching methods. I do not give room for anyone to say 'Phonics does not work', or 'Some children in my class cannot learn with phonics'. The bottom line is that phonics does work, but in cases like these, the teacher does not understand the subject sufficiently well to make it work for every child. There are a few - a very few children who cannot hear the sounds - but even these children respond well to being taught reading and spelling in a structured manner, even if it does mean they learn the words by heart.
For your class to become excellent readers - you must not rely on a programme. You must understand the process each child must go through to become an excellent reader. You must study phonics for yourself.
Of course - theory is one thing and putting it into practice another.
Ideally, headteachers should keep teachers teaching Year one long enough for them to become experts in Year 1.
If this is not the case in your school you will have to do your best - but don't despair - with these guidelines you can do better than you would do otherwise.
Ideally, headteachers should keep teachers teaching Year one long enough for them to become experts in Year 1.
If this is not the case in your school you will have to do your best - but don't despair - with these guidelines you can do better than you would do otherwise.
Aim to understand what is needed - then study your children as they learn.
Ask questions:
Ask questions:
How can I get him /her to understand this? What practice can I give? What examples will help him/her to grasp this concept?
You must also decide for your self about common objections to phonics to quell the negativity in your mind as it will stop you from throwing yourself behind teaching in this way and leave your teaching ineffective as you try and merge several methods.
Here I will just say that those who say that phonics only promotes decoding at the expense of meaning cannot be further from the truth. In all my years teaching phonics, meaning has been central. Meaning is at the bottom of communication and we all strive to understand what we hear and read. Of course you will have a literacy based environment: you will read excellent examples of good language to your children in the form of good story books and poems; you will see the whole day as literacy lesson - in every subject where you read/write with the children you can be alert for opportunities to apply those skills you have been teaching or that certain children need developing.
You must also decide for your self about common objections to phonics to quell the negativity in your mind as it will stop you from throwing yourself behind teaching in this way and leave your teaching ineffective as you try and merge several methods.
Here I will just say that those who say that phonics only promotes decoding at the expense of meaning cannot be further from the truth. In all my years teaching phonics, meaning has been central. Meaning is at the bottom of communication and we all strive to understand what we hear and read. Of course you will have a literacy based environment: you will read excellent examples of good language to your children in the form of good story books and poems; you will see the whole day as literacy lesson - in every subject where you read/write with the children you can be alert for opportunities to apply those skills you have been teaching or that certain children need developing.
You SHOULD NOT need an external test to tell you what each of your children is capable of ...
- You should know each child inside out: what they know and what they are weak on, so that future teaching can address those gaps.
- Biggest tip: you have got to see your class as 30+ individuals and teach that way rather than groups of abilities. Young children are best taught individually - and if that is not possible, as it really isn't in a classroom, then you have to have that mindset. The lower third particularly will need YOUR assistance daily to move them on.
- Undertake your own regular individual tests. This is essential. The children in my classes were used to testing. In fact - they enjoyed the challenge, as tests correctly used can motivate children.
'Let's see how many of these sounds you know.' Well done - look , last time you only knew these - see what you know now! Well done!
Testing allows you to really know where the gaps are in a child's knowledge/ability and to tailor make individual programmes of study. Of course - if you find several children with the same weakness, you can work with them together, but still knowing exactly which question to frame to each individual child to bring them on. During whole class time - maybe in another subject - if you come across an opportunity to reinforce a point you know a child is weak on, then without naming the child, simply draw the classes' attention to that point and ask the child with the weakness to help you read/spell the word.
My bestselling resource for the Phonic Test provides plenty of worksheets that can be used for practice/revision and assessment all through the year, but especially at revision time - helping you to hone each child's skills before the big day - but not just for the big day but beyond into adult life.
What do I test:
Initial sounds - regularly until I am absolutely sure that each child knows the letter name, corresponding sound and can both give the sound on seeing the letter and write the letter given the sound. Make a game of it - the alphabet games on this site make great testing tools.
The 2/3 letter combinations as taught - I sit with a child at a time with a pile of flashcards and go through the ones taught to see which ones are known, marking them off on a checklist. This cannot be done in groups - I must get each child on his/her own.
Free-writing tests can be given to the whole class - these are exciting. Give the children a piece of paper each, a simple, accessible topic to write about (what you did at the weekend) and give them ten minutes to write freely. From age five upwards these will give a real insight as to how each child has internalised your phonic teaching. Remember - just because you have taught a child something, doesn't mean it will necessarily use that knowledge immediately - it has to be 'taken in'. In then takes a bit of trial of using the skill to eventually use it correctly. Take powerful 'e' for example. We all know that children will often start sticking 'e's' on the end of every word as they learn to use the knew knowledge. It will take several weeks reinforcing the correct usage before the skill is internalised and used correctly.
Reading: using the Schonnell reading test. I use this once in the Autumn term and again in the summer term to give an indication of a child's progress throughout the year. Crude, yes, but it gives you a bench mark as it were, if you follow the testing procedure carefully, which is easy.
I never use Literacy time to test - that precious time in the morning when the children are at their most alert for learning knew things is for normal teaching. I test in the afternoons. I set up the afternoon activities, and my classroom assistant helps, while I quickly spend time, either testing, but mostly taking the those children that needed hearing reading daily. I'll write another post on what we read from! Those that are romping away I hear less regularly, or entrust to classroom assistants who I have carefully trained to my ways of working.
You have to be organised - to know which children you will target in which way each day. Time is a precious commodity in an KS1 classroom, bu the need is urgent - see it that way and you will succeed.
Above all you will create an environment...
...in which your children know they will learn to read and write, expect and feel themselves making progress, trust you to know exactly what they need to help them to that end. Success will be celebrated - genuinely. Better still, the children will feel their success and it will motivate them to move forward enthusiastically in their learning.
FAQ
Is it too late???
I realize that if you are reading this part way through the academic year, you might be tempted to think it is too late. Well, yes, in a way, it is better to start right at the start of the school year - but it is never too late for your children as everything you do for them matters. Remember - the test is not what matters - it is your children. Start to change the way you teach now and you still have half the academic year to make a difference. Enjoy seeing your children respond to your teaching. Enjoy reading together! Do a Schonell test now on each child and again in July just before term ends. Then evaluate your teaching in time for next year.
Should I practice nonsense words with my children?
To be honest - I think that is just falling into 'teaching to the test' trap'. Forget the test. Nonsense words just prove that those setting them do not understand phonics or young children, feeding the opinion that phonics only focuses on decoding and not meaning - in my opinion. The Schonell test would be my indicator of my children's reading ability and the progress they have made from the start of the year to its close - along with samples of their written work. In year one I have easily had somesof my more able childrenome reading to a reading age of 10 or 11. The whole class had a RA at or above their CA.
Initial sounds - regularly until I am absolutely sure that each child knows the letter name, corresponding sound and can both give the sound on seeing the letter and write the letter given the sound. Make a game of it - the alphabet games on this site make great testing tools.
The 2/3 letter combinations as taught - I sit with a child at a time with a pile of flashcards and go through the ones taught to see which ones are known, marking them off on a checklist. This cannot be done in groups - I must get each child on his/her own.
Free-writing tests can be given to the whole class - these are exciting. Give the children a piece of paper each, a simple, accessible topic to write about (what you did at the weekend) and give them ten minutes to write freely. From age five upwards these will give a real insight as to how each child has internalised your phonic teaching. Remember - just because you have taught a child something, doesn't mean it will necessarily use that knowledge immediately - it has to be 'taken in'. In then takes a bit of trial of using the skill to eventually use it correctly. Take powerful 'e' for example. We all know that children will often start sticking 'e's' on the end of every word as they learn to use the knew knowledge. It will take several weeks reinforcing the correct usage before the skill is internalised and used correctly.
Reading: using the Schonnell reading test. I use this once in the Autumn term and again in the summer term to give an indication of a child's progress throughout the year. Crude, yes, but it gives you a bench mark as it were, if you follow the testing procedure carefully, which is easy.
I never use Literacy time to test - that precious time in the morning when the children are at their most alert for learning knew things is for normal teaching. I test in the afternoons. I set up the afternoon activities, and my classroom assistant helps, while I quickly spend time, either testing, but mostly taking the those children that needed hearing reading daily. I'll write another post on what we read from! Those that are romping away I hear less regularly, or entrust to classroom assistants who I have carefully trained to my ways of working.
I never use Literacy time to test - that precious time in the morning when the children are at their most alert for learning knew things is for normal teaching. I test in the afternoons. I set up the afternoon activities, and my classroom assistant helps, while I quickly spend time, either testing, but mostly taking the those children that needed hearing reading daily. I'll write another post on what we read from! Those that are romping away I hear less regularly, or entrust to classroom assistants who I have carefully trained to my ways of working.
You have to be organised - to know which children you will target in which way each day. Time is a precious commodity in an KS1 classroom, bu the need is urgent - see it that way and you will succeed.
Above all you will create an environment...
...in which your children know they will learn to read and write, expect and feel themselves making progress, trust you to know exactly what they need to help them to that end. Success will be celebrated - genuinely. Better still, the children will feel their success and it will motivate them to move forward enthusiastically in their learning.
FAQ
Is it too late???I realize that if you are reading this part way through the academic year, you might be tempted to think it is too late. Well, yes, in a way, it is better to start right at the start of the school year - but it is never too late for your children as everything you do for them matters. Remember - the test is not what matters - it is your children. Start to change the way you teach now and you still have half the academic year to make a difference. Enjoy seeing your children respond to your teaching. Enjoy reading together! Do a Schonell test now on each child and again in July just before term ends. Then evaluate your teaching in time for next year.
