Module 4: Activity 2

After reading Allington's response to the "missing pillars", I agree that allowing children to have access to multiple texts and contexts is the best practice we can give our students. I find it more beneficial to surround them with a print rich environment rather than drilling phonics instruction. Often times, teachers drill using phonics, and the children can decode when prompted, but it is difficult for them to use the rules in real application. I have seen this struggle repeatedly within my own classroom while assessing emerging readers. If I prompted them saying, "This is a non-sense word, what is the word?" They could easily decode. While in reading circles, it was difficult for them to carry over the specific rules we had been practicing in order to make sense or real words. I then decided students needed to be actively involved by reading everyday. By allowing them the opportunities to read on their own, with a peer, or to me, they saw many contexts, genres and were introduced to new vocabulary, as well as experiences. They began seeing words repeated, and they were often engaged in many discussions. The discussions alone also proved to be effective, and often transferred over while reading and writing.