There are many students struggling in schools. According to the NAEP only about 40% of students are reading on grade level in 4th or 8th grade. That means that students are overwhelmingly working below where they should be. This impacts their success both in school and after.

     It is important that we drill down to the most basic skill deficits and start there for remediation. 

Click the photo to learn about how to effectively close achievement gaps.

Why do we need to focus on basics?

My kids got all of these Lego sets for Christmas. My 7 year old is great at building these sets. Most of the time he dives right in and follows the directions straight through and is able to build these truly impressive things. Because he loves building so much, he also got another building set. 

For some reason, when my son opened this set up, he started trying to build from the middle of the directions. He skipped over all the basic steps, then got really REALLY frustrated when the pieces he was putting together didn’t go together right or broke apart.

When I asked him why he started in the middle he said that he thought all of those steps were too easy. He already knew how to put all of it together.

It was shocking to him that he couldn’t skip over those basic skills to get to the fun stuff, the stuff he thought was going to be the best part. He was super frustrated with me when I made him take all of the pieces apart and start over at the beginning. 

But you know what? 

Because he had the foundations of the project he was working on, the whole thing came together so much easier and in a lot less time than I had hoped. Because I was really hoping it would take longer so I could finish my coffee in peace….HA! Not Today Mommy!

That whole pre-coffee frustrating experience came to mind when I sat down to do this blog post.

It is just like us when we start working on skill deficits with our students.

We look at our students who are struggling  and try to just make it work right now. This may work in the short term, but the minute we add another more advanced level to their learning, it all falls apart again. That is because we put a band aid on the problem instead of fixing the root of the problem which is the foundational skill deficit. 

Just like when my son couldn’t put together this complicated car because he didn’t have the basic pieces put together, our students can’t build good solid understanding if they don’t have basic skills. When we keep trying to fix the grade level struggles, we prevent students from making real progress. We are taking time that could be used fixing the basic skill deficits and using it instead to try to help kids who are already behind to keep up. 

That process of focusing on the grade level, rather than the student’s skill level, is why interventions are like pulling teeth for our students and the teachers. Those groups, especially in the older grades, are almost torture. The kids know that what progress they are making is at a snail’s pace, and the teachers are fighting a losing battle with time. 

If we want to see exponential progress for our students, progress that impacts the entire subject area, we have to get down to the most basic skill deficit.

For example, in math, students who struggle with basic fact fluency struggle with almost everything else…word problems, equations, money calculations, application problems, all the way up to algebra and geometry. When we improve a student’s basic math fact fluency, their grades in their grade level math class almost immediately improve. That change doesn’t happen when we focus on the grade level information when there are basic skill deficits. The same is true for reading.

When students are taught about prefix and suffixes, their vocabulary improves, as does their comprehension and their writing almost immediately. That time is well spent working on those basic skill deficits, when we look at the student as a whole. 

I’ve had many teachers and parents tell me that there is no way that their student will get that basic skill, so we have to move on.

I respectfully disagree.

I’ve taught hundreds of students how to read and do basic math.

I have yet to find a student with average IQ that couldn’t learn the skill….just students who we hadn’t presented the skill in a way that they understood yet. By changing up how I presented or had them practice the skill, all of my students have eventually gotten it.

Sometimes you hit on that one thing that makes it click for a student.  Most of the time it takes trying one way, then revamping it and trying something else. But, as long as we keep trying, the students will make progress. That is something that I believe and have believed since I began teaching decades ago. 

I truly believe that the only difference between a student who can and a student who can’t is their exposure to the skill in a way that the student can understand and internalize.

The further from our learning mode that the student is, the more difficult it is to teach the skill deficits.

I always encourage teachers who are very different in their styles to team up and share students. My style works for some students, but my friend teaches it a different way that makes it click for others.

We all have those poor teachers in our buildings who are just really good with behaviors. Admin PILE the behaviors in their rooms. I don’t think this is the answer, but the concept isn’t completely off.

I am really good with behaviors in my classroom, up to a certain point. Balance the behaviors so I can help several students while still getting to teach IS a good idea. Maybe allow me to teach some of my colleagues how to work with behaviors more effectively. That way we can share the wealth.

We need to do the same thing with academics. We could think outside the box and have students who aren’t making progress with one teaching style get some exposure with a different styles. See if that helps.

The one thing that we need to stop doing is wasting student time just working on grade level material. Students need to conquer basic skill deficits if they are going to actually close achievement gaps.

So, let’s get down to basics!

Click here to learn more about how we can close achievement gaps quickly by getting down to basics!

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Focus on Basic Skill Deficits appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

This time of year it seems like everyone is making resolutions about…well…just about everything. 

We make these big plans about how much weight we are going to lose or gain. How much healthier we are going to be. Basically we plan to be better people?

As teachers, we make these same type of resolutions for our classrooms and our students. We talk about how we are going to get the students able to write a complete paragraph, or read a chapter book. We come up with these big projects that we know are going to be a massive time suck and frustration-maker.

Very few of the goals we plan make it easier to work with students.

We do this every year because the new year is so full of possibilities.

Honestly, we teachers are actually pretty lucky if you think about it. Most of the world gets one chance a year to restart, but we get 2. At least those of us in the United States do.

We start fresh in August, and then again in January. Our students have the same opportunity, if we give it to them.

I want to encourage you this January to go back to your classroom with all the hype of making new resolutions. Use that to get your students on board to meet some really important goals or milestones. Make some goals that help you work with students rather than them working against you.

How? Actually, it’s pretty easy.

Have a real conversation with a small group of students, or maybe even pairs or one-on-one if you can swing it. Talk about some wins that they and you had last semester, and what are some next steps or milestones that would REALLY make a difference in helping that student or group of students be more successful.

Plan ways to work with students to help them feel more successful in the classroom.

Kids are very aware of areas they are weak in. There is no point in trying to hide their weaknesses from them.

Having an honest and open conversation about where students are struggling and what steps they could take to reach a milestone does a world of good in building strong relationships with students. It also gets students on board to work with instead of against you. 

Help students to create their own goals that they can have control over. This would be things that THEY can measure and are meaningful to them. Give students steps THEY can take to meet those goals.

In a world that feels so out of control, give our students something that they can control and we will help them control. This helps their confidence, and our ability to make real change in their learning outcomes. All of a sudden we are working with students rather than against them.

For more information about ways to make goals, check out this FREEBIE that helps you make goals with students. Or check out the blog post for ideas: Making Goals from Screener Data.

Yes, I’m talking about SMART goals for students.

Here is how I’ve gotten kids on board with goals we were working on in the classroom so I was able to work with students on a new level.

First, have that real conversation with your students about what they see as their biggest weaknesses. Help the students to determine which weakness is most in the way of their ability to learn. 

The weakness has to be something they have direct control over.

If students are struggling to understand the vocabulary in their textbooks, they could be taught prefixes, suffixes, or root words. That’s a measurable thing, knowing the meanings of root words or prefixes or suffixes.

Next, help them come up with a goal with an end date. For example, they will know the meaning of 20 root words by the end of the quarter. You can help them make a list or just provide them with a list of root words that would most help them  in the subject area they are struggling. 

After a goal with an end date is set up, talk about and plan how the student can move toward that goal. This plan has to make sense for the student, and be doable.

An example of something that would be realistic is the student reviewing 4 or 5 vocab words every day before reading groups. Or for older students, have the student spend the time the teacher is taking attendance to study some vocab words every day. That helps the student to have a natural reminder to do that vocab practice during the school day, and let’s face it, it’s an added incentive for us to actually take attendance at the beginning of the class period every day. That is really working with students on multiple levels.

Finally, help the student think of a way to track progress toward their goal. Decide if the student will track their progress weekly, bi-weekly, or maybe monthly depending on the goal. Tracking their own progress can be very motivating for students, especially if the goal is a realistic one and they can start to see progress quickly. Seeing progress helps all of us to want to stay on track to win. When teachers work with students to make attainable goals, staying on track gets easy.

For a step-by-step guide in setting goals with students, click here.

And winning, making those gains, meeting our goals or surpassing them….that’s what we are all about isn’t it? Every day being a little bit bigger than the day before. 

Just imagine the change we could make for so many students if we were able to work with students rather than at odds with them. 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post How to Work With Students in 2022 appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     So, when we last talked about universal screeners, we talked about how the information that we get from the beginning of the year data should be taken with some reservation. After all summer slide is a thing, and the kids are more capable than what that test shows. 

     Screener data does give us some good ideas on things that we can review at the beginning of the school year to help get the kids back up to pace quickly.

     The data also gives us a good starting point for making goals for our students this year.

What is the most basic skill your student is weak in? That is your starting point for making goals.

     After you’ve had a chance to really look at the data, and your students, you’ll want to really dig down into the skills that your struggling students have. Figure out what is the most basic skill set that they are weak in.  That skill is the one that you’ll want to work on and progress monitor. Making goals is pretty easy when you know where to start.

     Identifying the skill you are going to work on is half the battle. The next steps are figuring out where the student is right now in that skill set.

     For example, is your student able to read 40 words in a minute, and to be on grade level they need to read 95?

     You could look at that and make your goal: Given an instructional level text, the student will be able to read 60 words in one minute at the end of the first 9 weeks.

Making goals isn’t just about getting kids on grade level.

     Will the student be on grade level at the end of the first 9 weeks?

      Nope, probably not, but if you give a student texts that they can mostly read and start working on fluency, the student will boost their reading fluency a whole lot faster than if you give them texts that are too hard and frustrate them into fighting reading.

     Making goals isn’t just about getting the student on grade level as quickly as possible. It is about giving the student an opportunity to feel success by meeting a goal in an area they struggle in.

      Just like with adults, successfully completing a goal is almost addicting for students. Once the student has met one goal, they are willing to work even harder to meet the next one. We are in this for the long game. Which is getting the student the skills they need for long term success. Yes, we want the student on grade level as soon as possible, but making goals that are impossible isn’t going to make that happen. 

Click here for a guide to making goals quickly and easily.

     Making goals doesn’t have to be hard work.

     Choose a specific skill set the student needs to work on, based on the screener data. Then think carefully about what the student will be able to accomplish in a short time frame. 

     After you’ve made your goals, be sure to monitor your student’s progress so that you can celebrate success together!

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Making Goals from Screener Data appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     It seems like just yesterday that my school finally finished up state testing. These tests are seriously no joke. The only good thing about them for last year is that they aren’t going to count against the students if they didn’t do well on them. Of course, the same will not be true for teachers and how that will impact their evaluations. But we can use standardized test data to help improve education. 

     Shocker right?

When we think about standardized tests, we tend to think about the end of year assessments that states make kids go through.

     We also call them high stakes tests. But, those aren’t the only standardized tests we give kids throughout the year. Most schools also give a universal screener 4 times a year.

     Universal screeners are the assessments that schools and districts use to track student learning gains for the school year, or determine if students are learning compared to their peers. Some examples are Star Tests, iReady, or MAP testing.

     These assessments are usually pretty quick, and give the teacher an idea of the student’s grade level ability, as well as indicates areas of strength and weakness in reading and math. That standardized test data should be used to help figure out what a low-performing student may be weak in. Teachers then delve deeper into the cause so that the most basic skill deficit can be addressed. 

     Many teachers don’t really think of these as standardized tests because they aren’t nearly as stressful as the big state tests. But the fact is these assessments are standardized against same age and grade students to give an idea for how our students are stacking up against others.

Other assessments that are standardized are the evaluations that we use to determine eligibility for special education.

     For example, IQ and academic evaluations are all standardized. Really, all standardized tests are are assessments that have to be administered in the same way to all students. They provide comparisons to other students based on how they did answering the questions. We use a lot of them throughout the education world, even though we may not think about it. The standardized test data drives a lot of what we do in school. 

     So, after a standardized assessment has been given, we tend to get a print out with a scaled score and maybe a percentile rank. 

     Most of my friends look at the scaled score to figure out if the student “passed” the test. They then look to see if the score was higher than last time the student took the test. When the student made a better score than last time and “passed” the test, teachers celebrate a job well done.

But, that doesn’t really create a complete picture does it?

Let’s talk a little bit more about what all that standardized test data means for a student. 

     First of all, what is a scaled score anyway?

     A scaled score is really just the number of correct answers which is put into a formula to give you a standardized score. This score helps us to know how our student did compared to other students who had similar, but not the same test questions. 

     The percentile rank is based on the scaled scores of the students who took that assessment. While the scaled score shows what the student did as an individual, the percentile rank tells us how they did compared to others. This is when we start to see if students are performing with their peers or not.

The higher percentage the “better” the student did on the assessment, but when we look at growth over time, if students performed at the same percentage level as the previous assessment, they are making the same amount of growth as the peers they scored with before. But when students increase percentage scores, they made more growth than the normed peers. That is what we want for students who are struggling. These students need to make more growth in the same amount of time to catch up with the grade level expectations. Dropping percentage points means that the student made fewer gains than their peers.

One misconception going is that the percentile rank is based on the current class of students, which is very inaccurate.

     Standardized test data is normed or compared to a previous year’s data. For example, for the 2021 school year, Star assessments were normed against 2017 data. This means that the students in school being assessed after a pandemic were really being compared to students performance data from 2017.

     The reason for this is that first of all, it takes a lot of time to norm the data and we would not get percentile scores for a very long time after an assessment. Also when a crazy year like last year happens, schools can rate their progress compared to more stable years to see what is actually going on. 

   Some schools are starting to put more weight in percentile growth rather than scaled scores, which tends to make teachers uncomfortable. I understand both sides to this.

     Scaled score growth shows that the student made gains during the school year, indicating the steady march onward for student learning.

I personally prefer the percentile to measure growth for struggling students because we don’t want these students to stay at the same level of struggle throughout their careers. We want these students to make big strides forward so that their level of struggle is reduced as the school year goes on.

     They need to be closing the gap between themselves and their peers, rather than just maintaining the same gap year after year. 

     Standardized assessments only give a snapshot of the student’s abilities on a given day or week. Standardized test data shouldn’t be given as much weight as we tend to put on it as a society today, but it can be used to help teachers get an idea for what they need to focus on for different students to help them progress. 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Using Standardized Test Data appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     What are achievement gaps?

     By definition, achievement gap is a term used to describe the difference in learning gains between two groups of students. The groups could be based on gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or learning opportunities such as students included in special education or honors courses.

    We tend to talk about achievement gaps when we are discussing the outcomes of standardized tests or graduation rates.

When we talk about achievement gaps, we are usually talking about standardized tests.

     Some assessments give individual classroom teachers information about how they perform when their class of students is broken up into the different groups. What those standardized tests don’t account for is the individuality of each student.  They also don’t account for their experience at school and at home.

     When we look at individual students, it can be helpful to compare their individual growth compared to that of their average peer. This lets us know if their learning gains are at the same pace as their peers, faster, or slower. In many states, this comparison is how students can be identified as having a learning disability.

     I won’t go into the specifics about that right now.  It is helpful to use the comparison of where students are to their peers to help get an idea of how much progress they need to make to get on grade level. Students who are below grade level have to learn more at a faster rate to get on grade level and stay there. It is possible when we fix those weak skills they have. 

    What are some things we know about achievement gaps?

     Achievement gaps occur across grade levels in all states. The reasons for these gaps are varied. Many of them boil down to opportunities presented before students ever get to school. 

So, what causes achievement gaps?

    We know that students who have the opportunity to be read to consistently before kindergarten perform better once they reach school. Children who participate in preschool tend to have better learning outcomes. Students who have good nutrition and safe home environments perform better than those who do not. These, and so many other factors can and do play a part in achievement gaps.

     Even students who have the cards stacked against them can be successful. Teachers work hard every day to support all students. Through everything that schools do, from meal programs to community outreaches, students have greater opportunities to succeed than ever before. 

     The number of intervention programs out there which focus on specific skill sets blows my mind honestly. But I do think that we are making the progress monitoring intervention process much more complicated than it needs to be. I have seen students in all the different groups make great gains academically when the root cause of the struggle is identified. Also, supports are provided that focus on this one skill set. 

While teachers cannot fix all of the issues that contribute to achievement gaps, we can do so much in our classrooms to mitigate many of them.

   We can  use progress monitoring, at its simplest level to make sure that students who start at a disadvantage receive the support that they need to be able to be academically successful. To do that, we need a jumping off point and a way to compare where our students are versus where they need to be. For that, we can use universal screeners to help us figure out our starting points. 

    So, what are achievement gaps? Achievement gaps are what we see when we compare student groups. While they are a problem, we can work together to overcome them. 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post What Are Achievement Gaps? appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     When students read in class, do they struggle with pronouncing words correctly? I don’t mean articulation errors. I mean when they read words, do you know what word they mean, but they are putting too much or too little emphasis on certain pieces of the words? This can really mess with the fluidity of reading, and make a good story or piece of text terrible to listen to. 

   The first few months of hearing my older son read were such a mixture of pride and wanting to stick earplugs in while he read. Yes, seriously. There is a fluidity with the way that we pronounce words and sentences. Without the fluidity, listening to someone reading is so ugh! 

Good syllabication skills enhance the listening experience for everyone….including the person reading…which directly impacts their comprehension.

     Continuing on with our journey through phonological awareness…this week we are talking about how being able to identify or count syllables can impact future learning.

     Just like with all of the other skills that we’ve talk about with phonological awareness or phonemic awareness for that matter, without these foundational skills, all other learning is shaky at best. 

     When it comes to counting syllables in words, my younger grades teachers know that we do have this in our standards, so it is hit. Though maybe not as much as it should. There are just so many more advanced skills that teachers feel pressured to get to. Counting syllables can be an easy one to gloss over.

Glossing over counting syllables is a mistake. It makes future reading skills more shaky than they need to be.

     Being able to hear the natural breaks in words, and where to place the emphasis in spoken words helps to build fluidity in our speaking and eventually in our reading. Most kids naturally learn to speak fluidly, which means keeping an appropriate rhythm and rate when speaking. Teaching them to break down the syllables in words helps to improve this skill, even in students who are pretty good at it already.

     When students get to the reading phase, having strong phonological syllabication skills helps students to read more fluently, emphasize words correctly, and improves their comprehension of texts they read.

    More importantly, being able to read with a good rate and hear the flow of the words helps to make reading more enjoyable. The more kids enjoy reading, the more they will read and improve their reading skills. It is a beautiful cycle when it works that way. Counting syllables enhances the reading experience and increases reading rates. 

Even if students know their phonics rules, if they struggle to read with a nice comfortable flow, it can impact their enjoyment of the text as well as their comprehension.

    So, what’s a teacher to do about teaching counting syllables to students? What about grades where syllabication isn’t emphasized?

     Much like when teaching counting words in sentences, getting kids moving really helps them to hear the breaks (or syllables) in the words. I think most of us learned to count syllables by clapping. Another option is jumping, hopping, stepping, or moving physical items like counters. The more we can get kids moving or using items to help them, the more easily they will internalize the skill we are teaching. 

     Personally, I like to use those red and yellow circle counters for teaching kids to count syllables. Yes, I know that I’ve mentioned using the little mini cars and things like that in the past.

     Here’s my secret with all of this. I try to use different manipulatives for the different skills I want the students to practice. Maybe it is just the way that my brain works. I do think that it is easier for students to more quickly jump into the skill when they know that they use cars to blend or segment phonemes, but they use the red and yellow counters to count syllables. Seeing something different helps the student to grasp the different skill sets they are mastering. Plus, changing up the manipulatives helps to make the activities a little more interesting. This is true especially when they never know what Mrs. Curtis will be pulling out for them to use! 

All the practice in the world for a skill doesn’t mean that we know that a student is mastering the concept….for that…we need to progress monitor the skill set.

     Progress monitoring really is the key to supporting true academic gains for students. By tracking how the students are doing on an area of deficit, we know without any doubt whether we need to reteach or move on. Or maybe you can really really move on because the student is ready for the next skill set. Plus, it just is such a feel good moment when you get to show a student a graph of how much they have improved over time in a particular area.

     Kids, especially those who are struggling, work so hard and see so little gain from it in grades. But when we can show them how their hard word is paying off, it really boosts their confidence. It helps them to keep working toward their goals. 

To get started progress monitoring, click here to grab the free 5 Steps to Getting Started with Progress Monitoring Guide

     If you are wanting to progress monitor counting syllables, make sure that you group your words by number of syllables. For example, you might work on words with 1 to 3 syllables to progress monitor.

    Once students start getting more confident in their skills, open it up to 1 to 5 syllables. I’ve never really bothered having students count syllables above 5. This is because those are some big, complicated words. But also because once they can get 5 syllables, students seem to be able to generalize to bigger words pretty easily. That is a call that you’ll need to make to determine if the skill is mastered.

     My students, by that time, were able to generalize the skill to really really big words. Your student may need more explicit practice beyond 5. 

     So, once your students master counting syllables. What else is there in phonological awareness? Well, next week we are going to talk about rhyming and alliteration…and how we can help even more students lay a strong phonological foundation for those reading skills.

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Counting Syllables in Words appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     How many times have you read a student’s writing and wondered where all the other words were? As in, connecting words were missing, or things like that. What about when looking at their writing and all the words are smooshed together with no spaces between words. Yes, part of these things could be due to other issues, such as a language impairment or poor handwriting. But another issue could be that the student is struggling with phonological skills. 

It sounds so simple, but this really basic phonological skill can make a big difference in later learning.

     Just like when we discussed phonemic awareness, the skills under the phonological awareness umbrella seem like skills for really young students. Yes, these skills, just like the others are taught in preK or kindergarten. But don’t underestimate the importance of successfully mastering these skills. In last week’s podcast, I introduced this concept, and if you haven’t listened to that episode, I want to encourage you to check it out.

     So, this week, we are focusing on students being able to listen to sentences and discriminate between individual words. Yup, sounds super simple, but it does get slightly more complicated. Students should be able to hear a sentence and count the words in the sentence.

     This phonological skill helps them tremendously when they get into writing sentences (and not just writing all the words smooshed together into one very long word). It also helps them to improve listening comprehension. Which how many of us have students who struggle with that? By being able to hear each individual word in a sentence, students can increase their vocabulary and word recognition. When they get to the reading phase, this helps with sight word recognition and retention.

So, have I convinced you that phonological skills are important yet?

     There are many ways to practice this phonological skill. One of my favorites for younger students is getting them to step out the individual words in sentences. For example, if I say the sentence: “I have an orange cat at home.” The students would take a step forward for each word which I say. They can either step for each word, or count the words then step. 

     Older students who aren’t going to be as into the stepping game could count the words and hold up a card with the number, or fill in a bingo card. I’ve used this as a Monday morning warm up with older students. It helps them get their minds back into school after the weekend. I also introduce them to new vocabulary terms in the sentences as an added bonus. 

     Progress monitoring this skill, if you need to do that is pretty easy in my opinion. Of course, you’ll want your notepad or chart, as always. Then, you just say a few sentences and have students count the number of words in the sentence.

     Take note of students who struggle more with words with more than 3 syllables which could be impacting their counting of individual words. Another option is to read poetry to the students (because it can be hard to fit more poetry into the curriculum so you gotta do what you can) and have the students count the words they heard. 

Also, if you are interested in getting started with Progress Monitoring in your classroom, check out my free ebook called: 5 Steps to Getting Started with Progress Monitoring.

     I have added in simple steps to take to get started, as well as sheets to help you take your first steps into the world of progress monitoring with confidence. Progress monitoring doesn’t have to be hard, let me show you how!

     Click the picture to download the free ebook today!

Check out the podcast below for more information on phonological skills!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Phonological Skill: Words in Sentences appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     I had a student who absolutely HATED writing. Getting him to write was such a pain! He would get a few sounds that matched the words, but then it was just random. He might write a few words that linked together, but the overall message was nonexistent. The student had great ideas, he knew his letters and sounds, and could write individual words. But when it came to sentence….Oh no! 

    Phonics wasn’t the issue, I’d made sure of that. The issue turned out to be phonological awareness.

So…what is phonological awareness anyway?

     Phonological awareness is a big concept that includes many skills that kids need before they get into phonics and reading. It includes identifying how many words are in a sentence, or words that rhyme. Some other skills include counting syllables and alliteration. My high school teacher friends ears just perked up I know. Those students that just seem to struggle with alliteration…using it or identifying it…weak phonological skills are probably the root of that issue!

     Oh, and all of the phonemic awareness skills fall under phonological awareness too. If you haven’t listened, be sure to tune in to the phonemic awareness series which we just finished up last week. There is good information there, and some ideas to help support teaching those skills in the classroom.

What is the point in phonological awareness?

     Yes, I know, phonological awareness really sounds like baby skills. Being able to identify rhyming words, or counting syllables….yes these are skills which are really focused on in lower grades, especially kinder and first. That does not mean that they aren’t important.

     If you remember all the way back to the second podcast episode I did…which feels like way more than a year ago by the way… I talked about how learning and education is like building a house. Without a strong foundation, the rest of the house really won’t ever come together the way it is supposed to. 

Phonological awareness is one of those foundational skills. If we don’t get it right, the rest of the house just won’t be sturdy.

     Weak phonological skills will translate to weak phonics skills. When phonics skills are lacking, fluency and comprehension suffer. It is incredibly difficult to gain a strong vocabulary when a student is struggling to read the word itself, let alone understand its meaning. 

     Making the connection between phonological awareness and reading is really pretty easy. Thinking about it in other subject areas can get a little bit more confusing. 

     That whole example was for reading, but I imagine you can guestimate how much this impacts writing. Weak phonological skills make writing words and sentences very difficult. As students progress in their writing, we expect them to make their paragraphs flow. Weak syllabication skills makes that very difficult. Not to mention, difficulty with alliteration makes this strategy difficult to incorporate in later writing. You can see, there is direct correlation between weak phonological skills and weak reading and writing skills.

How do I get started with phonological awareness?

• Just like with phonemic awareness, there are a lot of diagnostic assessments available for free.
• Don’t try to reinvent the wheel!
• Do a quick screener to check out exactly what areas need support.
• When you check phonological awareness, a lot of the screeners include phonemic awareness.
• Don’t stress, just complete the screener, and if the student needs the most work in phonemic awareness, check out the episode relating to it and get working….then come back here for more help! 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post What is Phonological Awareness? appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

     The fact is, being able to identify the beginning, middle, and ending sound in words is super important when building phonemic awareness and eventually phonics skills….even if we sometimes don’t want to admit it.

   I’m going to be honest, this post has made me nervous. I feel very confident in my abilities to teach blending and segmenting sounds.  Yeah, the concept just makes me a little uncomfortable.

I think my struggles teaching beginning, middle, and ending sounds has something to do with my dyslexic brain.

     I, as an adult, have a hard time discriminating between the sounds in words and picking one that is the same. Teaching beginning sounds, for phonemic awareness is something I’ve done for years. I still don’t feel completely confident though. 

     I’m getting ahead of myself, I should explain what this skill is. Bear with me, like I said, I’m not as comfortable with this skill so I’m probably going to stumble through this more than usual.

What do you mean beginning, middle, and ending sounds?

• This is the next step up from segmenting phonemes. 
• Students should be able to hear 2 words and know if they share the same beginning, middle, or end sound.
• For example, cat and map have the same middle sound. Another example of this skill would be if you gave a student the word hat, could they give you a word with the same beginning sound.
• This skill set has more facets than blending or segmenting. 
• It also requires the student to understand the concepts of first, middle, and end. This can be confusing without a visual.

     Students missing this skill may have several different skill deficits. 

     Some students may have a hard time rhyming, or with alliteration for example. Other students may struggle with spelling. They may not differentiate between words in the same word family or with different medial vowel sounds. 

How do I work on beginning, middle, and ending sounds?

     Because this is a more complicated skill, using visuals is really helpful. Have students start with segmenting a word, then identifying what the beginning, middle, or ending sound is in the word (just picking out one). 

     When students are comfortable, move on to giving students 2 words and telling you which one has the beginning, middle, or ending sound you call out.

     Eventually, you’ll be able to build up to giving students 3 or 4 words and asking them to tell you which word doesn’t have the same beginning, middle, or ending sound. Another option is giving them a word and asking the student to give you a word with the same beginning, middle, or ending sound. 

Suggestions on how to progress monitor this?

     You know I have suggestions for progress monitoring!

     Just as you would with any other skill, make sure you have charts and have made a goal to track. Choose either the beginning, middle, or ending sound to track. Doing all three is just too much!

     There are a lot of ways to track, but some easy ways are to say a sound and then 3 or 4 words. As the student to tell you which word has the same sound in the position you are tracking. If you can use pictures to help the students remember the words, that will help you to get a better grasp of their skill ability instead of their ability to hold things in short term memory.

     I’ve been working really hard to compile the different assessments that I’ve made over the years into one item to share. Progress monitoring beginning, middle, and ending sounds could take so many different forms, so this has been a real labor of love. You can check out my Beginning, Middle, and Ending Sound Progress Monitoring product on TPT. 

     Another option, if you want all the progress monitoring is my Phonemic Awareness Progress Monitoring Bundle. This is where I am compiling all of my phonemic awareness progress monitoring probes, so if you don’t want to make your own, check it out! 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Beginning, Middle, and Ending Sounds appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.

    Segmenting phonemes in words is another one of those phonemic awareness skills that sounds so easy any student should be able to do it. Students who are missing this skill show weaknesses in areas long after they should have mastered it. Those segmenting skills can make or break student progress.

     Students weak in segmenting phonemes may struggle with spelling, or understanding word families, manipulating phonemes, and eventually with writing in general.

So your students struggle with spelling? Poor segmenting phonemes skills could be the issue…

     How many times have teachers complained about the poor spelling skills of students? It can be so hard to read student’s writing….yes handwriting is an issue, but also trying to decipher words with missing letters. 

     First and second grade teachers are amazing at deciphering their student’s writing. But as students get older, teachers have a harder time figuring out what students meant.

     A few weeks ago, I was talking with an interventionist who has been working on phonics skills with a particular student who can read the words, but has an incredibly hard time spelling the words correctly when writing. The student knows the phonics rules, but doesn’t apply them was the concern. When we checked for phonemic awareness skills…guess what we found? 

     Yup, segmenting phonemes was the missing skill.

     While the student had no trouble blending sounds together, segmenting the words to spell them out was a nightmare.

Segmenting phonemes sounds like such a baby skill!

      Yes, in some ways segmenting phonemes, like blending phonemes, is a skill that is usually worked on in preschool or kindergarten. Unfortunately, a lot of students still struggle with these skills beyond kindergarten and early elementary. 

     Because all words are made up of various phonemes in different order, the ability to blend and segment phonemes helps students comprehend verbal communication. When students start moving into written communication, this basic skill is key. Breaking down words into the various phonemes is the basis of spelling. Therefore being able to segment phonemes is a critical skill for writing. 

    Many students pick up on this skill quickly and easily, but many do not. Students who struggle with segmenting phonemes may need to be explicitly taught this skill. 

     Additionally, segmenting phonemes is directly connected with manipulating phonemes, which is a more advanced skill. Manipulating phonemes is included in the standards for kindergarten and first grade for many states. 

Is teaching this skill really going to help my kids?

     YUP! Absolutely, supporting students in this area will help!

     Segmenting phonemes links directly with being able to write words phonetically. It also links with manipulating phonemes, which is also an important skill. 

     Some students struggle to take a word and break it down into its parts. This means that when they phonetically spell words, they may miss letters/sounds in words, making it difficult for them to communicate through writing.  Students weak in this area may also struggle to manipulate sounds in words. 

     This skill also builds into later skills such as adding prefixes and suffixes to words. 

Ok, I get it, I need to teach segmenting phonemes….what do I do?

• Use the joints in your arm-say the word you want to segment and model saying the word then breaking the word into the individual phonemes.(bounce hand versus smooth swipe)
• Use the different body parts (head-shoulders-knees-toes) to segment sounds in words.
• Have the students say the word more quickly or slowly to teach them to break apart the sounds in a word.
• Practice it daily for 3-4 minutes.
• Make skill practice fun, make a game out of it whenever possible.
• Use down time and transitions to practice this skill throughout the day. The more students practice it, the quicker they will master it

I have to progress monitor….but how do I progress monitor this???

• Make charts to track how many words students can segment.
• Focus on a certain number of sounds in words to track, build as students get better.
• Check out my progress monitoring segmenting phonemes product for this to make it easier for you. Cards and tracking all ready for you to make it easier  
• If you’re interested in all the phonemic awareness progress monitoring, I’ve also added a growing bundle.  which I will be adding to over the next several weeks. It will include progress monitoring for all 4 phonemic awareness areas and all the pieces needed to track that data. 

     Phonemic awareness is an important set of skills for students to acquire to be successful in school. Make sure you check out Manipulating Phonemes to learn about another set of skills within this domain! 

Check out the podcast below for more information!

For weekly updates on podcasts or blogposts, sign up below!

The post Segmenting Phonemes appeared first on Teaching Struggling Learners.