replies

Jerem - The three key ideas I took away from the video were the importance of the visual drill, auditory drill, and blending drill. What stood out to me was how each piece of the three part drill has a unique purpose, but together they power up accuracy, automaticity, reading fluency, and spelling fluency.

First off, the visual drill jumped out at me as it enables students to rapidly connect a grapheme which is written letter or symbol to its matching sound. I really liked how the keyword stickers were used on the grapheme cards. For instance, pairing “watermelon” with the letter W provides students a visual cue to help them recall the w sound. This demonstrated to me how valuable visuals are for students who require additional help linking letters and sounds.

Second, I realized how crucial the auditory drill is for spelling. In this drill, the teacher produces a sound, and the students must identify and write the corresponding grapheme. I appreciated that she uses whiteboards, markers, and erasers instead of sand trays because it keeps the activity interactive and allows students to practice repeatedly. She also mentioned that this part can occasionally be skipped since it takes more time, but regularly practicing it can greatly benefit students who have difficulty with spelling.

Third, I really enjoyed the blending drill and the techniques she applied with the blending board. Students point to each card, pronounce each sound, and then blend the sounds to read the whole word. I found it particularly helpful that she includes nonsense words, as this allows us to see if students can truly apply their phonics skills instead of merely memorizing familiar words. I liked how she modifies the blending board to reflect students’ improvement by taking away skills they’ve mastered and adding new sounds along with more difficult skills. This is something I could incorporate into my own teaching because it allows students to practice at their individual skill level while still encouraging them to advance.

Two key takeaways from this module that I believe are worth sharing with everyone are: Number 1. Phonics instruction must be clear and methodical. One thing that caught my attention was that phonics should not be taught arbitrarily or only when a student has difficulty with a word. The module explains that instruction should adhere to a clear scope and sequence, progressing from simple skills to more complex ones. The approach also stresses “I Do, We Do, You Do,” offering students a sequence of modeling, guided practice, and then independent work.

Number 2. We should teach students to decode words rather than depend on pictures or guess from context. I found this particularly important because students might seem to be reading, but they are actually relying on pictures, sentence context, or other clues to guess the word. The module points out that educators ought to focus more on the connections between sounds and spellings, helping students to decode unfamiliar words themselves. Orthographic mapping helps students retain words permanently so that they can later identify them rapidly and automatically.

In conclusion, one thing I still wonder about is how long teachers should keep using explicit phonics and decoding instruction with older students who continue to struggle with reading. The module explains that phonics can still benefit upper grade students who have not yet mastered the code, including English Learners. However, I would like to learn more about how this instruction should be delivered at the middle or high school level without making students feel the work is too juvenile for them.

Makenn - One thing I found very useful was adding pictures to the letters. This is something I am trying to be better at. I have been adding more visuals in my classroom, and this is something that I would like to start implementing. Another thing I found useful having the student write the letter while saying the letter sound. This is another great way to connect the pieces together for some students. The last thing I found useful was having the students repeat the sounds of the words and blending if she heard it wrong. I believe this can be useful to do while teaching my students how to blend words. I can have the students repeat the sounds and blends 3 times before moving on to a different word.

One takeaway I thought was worth mentioning was the "I Do, We Do, You Do" model (Kemeny, 2023). I believe this can be an effective way for the students to learn knew information because this method can be repetitive. In this model, the teacher will demonstrate a skill to the students, then the students will perform this skill with the help of the teacher, then lastly the student will perform the skill by themselves. Another takeaway I had from this module is making it fun for the students. There are multiple different ways a student can respond and doing the same routines over and over can make it slightly boring. Engaging the students in fun ways to learn can help them want to learn more.

One thing I still have a question about it why take away guessing to decode words? I have observed multiple teachers use the phrase "just take a guess." Should it be phrased a different way or not used at all?

Rebecaa- The first idea that I took away from watching the video is how she the visual drill was used to help the students with understanding the grapheme to the phoneme with the keyword stickers. I like how the students were able to see and do the sound quickly with the letter cards because they had the picture support.

the second idea that I took away from watching the video is the use of the whiteboards and dry erase makers over the sand for letter writing. I have tried using sand for letter writing because I felt it would be sensory engagement when doing letter sounds and it was a mess and students got frustrated if it did not form right or the sand started to fall back so that idea to me is amazing and dual purpose.

The third take away from the video was when she did the sound-by-sound blending. I like that she took word and sounds out to be able to add newer words. She did very well in explaining how the lesson works and how she explained the nonsense words to the student when they said the word wasn't a word and how she said that nonsense words show that the students understand.

The first key takeaway that I learned is that students that struggle more in one area may need more practice before moving on to the next drill completely. Making sure to spend the little extra time while also focusing on the next lessons supports the student's engagement and allows them to catch up to their peers faster.

The second key takeaway that I learned is that in doing quick drills the student response times even when being corrected were able to show their understanding of the lesson being taught. It allows the teacher to be able to show the students understanding in what is being learned in how quickly they are able to process the information given and areas that they may need more support in without having to do a one-on-one assessment. If the class as a majority are able to do the drills quickly it is easier to find the students that may need more support.

The one thing that I still wonder about is how long it takes to figure out if someone is just memorizing versus knowing the letters, sounds, and blends? I know that she stated that