3 Mistakes You're Making In Your Phonics Lessons
While the debate over whole-word reading and phonics never seems to end, I think most teachers know that explicit phonics instruction is truly key to most students learning how to read. Thankfully, it seems like the pendulum has currently swung in favor of phonics and the science of reading, but unfortunately there are still a few common mistakes teachers can make during phonics instruction!
Moving on before students have mastered the current concept. If you’re using a set curriculum, it can be tempting to just keep to the pacing guide and speed through all the basic phonics concepts. Unfortunately, this defeats the purpose of explicit phonics instruction. Make sure your students can read and spell words with each taught element before moving on to the next. If you just have a handful of students who haven’t mastered the current topic, you can address it in a small differentiated group.
Including words with untaught concepts. This is a personal pet peeve of mine when it comes to phonics resources! If your students have only learned CVC words, you can’t start teaching them digraphs with words like shoe, shark, and cheese! Your students are sure to get frustrated if you expect them to be able to decode words with untaught concepts just because they also happen to have the current concept within them. For example, if you’re teaching the digraph “sh,” that doesn’t mean your students can read the word “shark,” since you probably haven’t taught the r-controlled vowel “ar” yet.
Inconsistent lesson structure and practice activities. As teachers, I know we like to keep lessons fun and engaging, but too much change makes it difficult for students to focus on what you’re actually teaching. Phonics is so critical that I recommend sticking to the same lesson structure and types of practice activities. The content will change, so there’s no reason for the structure to change as well.
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I hope this post helps you avoid these common mistakes! I’d be honored if you choose to use any of my phonics resources in your classroom, but most of all, I hope you and your students embrace phonics so they can experience the joy of reading!
No time to read now?