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Decoding Strategies
TO INCREASE READING FLUENCY
Reflection
WHAT I LEARNED
Throughout this experience, I learned how important explicit decoding instruction, Elkonin boxes, and repeated reads are to creating fluent and confident readers. Students enjoyed completing the repeated reads and would often seek out my CADRE associate or me asking to complete them. They became especially excited when they made it to the end of the passage within the one-minute time. Their excitement for reading has carried over into math, science, and social studies.
When first implementing the repeated reads, my students were very concerned about beating their previous score. This caused them to make additional errors as they were not being as careful with their reading. During the second week, I made sure to point out the errors that students were making and emphasize to them that it was important to read all of their words. We reviewed how to use our reading finger to read so that we did not skip words and how to take a deep breath before we started reading to slow down enough for them to be accurate. The third week was when I saw students shift from wanting to know how many words they read to how many errors they got. They were motivated more by their ability to get them all correct rather than their ability to read more words.
Prior to this experience I felt like I needed additional information about how to teach children how to decode words. I realized that telling children to sound out a word meant nothing when they did not understand that words were individual sounds put together. The Elkonin boxes created a concrete way for students to see the sounds a word makes and they were able to manipulate those words with colored chips. My students enjoyed using these boxes as they were in charge of writing the sounds and placing the chips. They were especially excited when they got to use the four boxes.
Explicit decoding instruction has made the frustration level during guided reading groups decrease especially for students who were struggling to decode words. Many of them relied on guessing a word with a similar beginning sound to read an unknown word. When redirected, there were times when I could visibly see the disappointment on their faces. Being able to give them strategies to use when prompting them offered a solution for them to try when rereading the word. I have seen less frustration with my students who struggled with decoding words.
I have learned the importance of using research based strategies to drive instruction. Upon implementing the strategies I found it was essential to consistently collect data. Analyzing data was crucial to determine if the strategies were effective for the individual and if it should be continued or if alternate strategies should be used. I will continue to use research, collect data, and analyze it to provide effective instruction to my students.
IMPACT
This experience has impacted the way I will teach phonics and decoding strategies to my students. It has allowed me to see how important it is to teach students strategies that they can use during their independent reading time and oral reading in the future. The first graders demonstrated an increased level of confidence in reading as a result of this Capstone project. They were able to see their growth as they graphed the number of words read daily.
I will continue to use repeated reads with my students and will teach my students how to complete the warm reads with each other. This will allow for more time during guided reading instruction to teach phonics skills or decoding strategies. As a result of repeated reads, comprehension scores had increased from an average of 68% on unit tests to an 82%. Students began understanding what they were reading with on-level passages.
I will also continue to use Elkonin boxes to introduce phonics skills to my students as well as review phonics skills that have not yet been mastered. The use of Elkonin boxes have helped my students see the parts of words and how they can use the parts to sound out words.
Explicit decoding instruction has helped my students' confidence when they came to a word they did not know. They began naming the strategy they were going to use near the end of the eight weeks. This instruction as well as the use of Elkonin boxes have given strategies to my students that they can use during independent reading.
I have learned how impactful anecdotal notes can be to my instruction. I will continue using anecdotal notes during guided reading as they allow me to see what strategies students use most and what strategies they may need more experience with. Additional notes about what words or specific sounds students are struggling with helped me see what had not been mastered yet. Continuing to use these notes in the future will allow me to see the progress my students are making throughout the year.
CHALLENGES
Throughout this experience, time management was a challenge for me. I especially found managing repeated reads and instruction using Elkonin boxes, in addition to the district's reading curriculum, was difficult. The first few weeks did take longer as there was a lot of pre-teaching to help students understand how these strategies worked. During the first few weeks, I had each student complete their repeated reads before starting their reading group each day. I realized quickly that this required additional time for each group and I needed to create another option for completing the repeated reads. Teaching students the expectations for the Elkonin boxes did take many opportunities for students to practice, especially in knowing when they needed to use the four boxes.
If this research was repeated, I would start at the beginning of the year so that the expectations could be taught early on. This would allow more time for students to experience these strategies and could create more growth over time. For the repeated reads, I would have the students pair up to complete the warm reads during the week. I would continue to do the cold reads and hot reads to monitor phonics skills that should be reviewed during guided reading groups.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Students who have not met the end of the year benchmark score will continue to receive explicit decoding instruction, use Elkonin boxes, and complete repeated reads. They will continue to receive services through special education and the reading specialist to continue to close the gap.
Students who have met the end of the year benchmark score will complete repeated reads at a higher level to ensure they continue to be challenged. They will complete more difficult words using the Elkonin boxes and explicit decoding instruction will continue as needed. These students will also start working on comprehension strategies that they can use when reading and responding to text. Their instruction will focus on close reading strategies that they will continue to see throughout their schooling.
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