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Michelle said,
"We had a basal and we kept saying they
aren’t learning how to read from this. Then
we learned about Guided Reading and that
was so exciting because we could teach them
on their level and give them books. It still
wasn’t enough."
Jennifer expanded the idea,
"Guided Reading was more using the books
to determine what you are going to teach
rather than thinking about what the child
needed. You would pull a book on their level
and find out what they were going to have
trouble with, so you’d teach that instead of
always thinking about what the students
know."
Now the teachers said their training had provided them with conceptual understanding of the alphabetic principle and they could offer sequential, differentiated instruction based on their students’ needs. Following is one lesson sample of Gina’s instruction.
Gina: We’re going to start our segment/
write. We’re going to segment first. You can
leave your marker at the top of the board
[Students individually had a white board
with magnet letters at the top]. Does anyone
remember the tricky sound at the back of the
tongue /ng/ we practiced last time?
[Students responded making sound].
Student A the word is “lung.” How many
sounds are in “lung?”
Student A: Three sounds.
Gina: Student A what is the first sound?
Student A: /l/?
Gina: Okay, pull the alphabet tile down to
the spot on the board where we spell.
What’s the second sound Student A?
Student A: /u/? [Students pulled tile].
Gina: The next sound is our special sound.
[Students pointed to picture showing nasal
sounds]. Our nose stops that sound, right?
Use your tiles to spell the sound. Let’s point
at our letters and say the sounds. [Pointed
individually and said aloud]. Student B,
you’re noticing something is tricky there isn’t
it? [Student B had spelled L-u-og]. You are
saying the right sound, but I don’t think you
have the right letters making the sound. Do
you remember the letters? [Student B didn’t
remember]. Let’s look at the picture chart.
What two letters make the sound?
Student B: NG [Student B pulled down the
tile letters].
Gina: Why do we need two fingers to point
to that one sound? [Student didn’t know].
Are there two sounds or two letters?
Student B: Two letters.
Gina: Two letters that make one sound. I’m
going to make a note that you are getting so
much better with that tricky sound.
[Now they transitioned to use the markers to
write the sounds in the word lung]. Student
B I like how you fixed that. [Student B wrote
lung.] You are getting so much better at
fixing your mistakes. [Student B smiled].
Point to the letters and say the sounds.
Remember Mrs. East is watching your fingers.
Let’s see what it looks like. Okay erase that
word. The next word is lick. I think of licking
a lollipop. [Student D said he likes to lick ice
cream]. That’s a good example. Student C is
our sound leader for this word. What is the
first sound?
Student C: /l/
Gina: I noticed something about this word
and the last word.
Multiple students: They both start with /l/.
Gina: Why do we have –ck at the end?
Student C: To protect the vowel.
Gina: He used the word protector.
Sometimes we use the word defender. I had
a note that last time people put the c
backwards and this time no one put it
backwards. Good job.