Today, January the 27th is Family Literacy Day in Canada, a day we have been celebrating for 16 years. Our young readers have made some significant gains with the aid of our passionate and dedicated teachers - both in the public system in Nova Scotia and privately at our Halifax Learning Centres in Halifax and around the province. The question still remains though -
Are we prepared to teach our young people how to read? It's hard to say ....
A simple Google search of "Are teachers in Nova Scotia prepared to teach reading?" does not generate a yes or no hit and that's because teaching someone to read is not that simple. Parents, experts, teachers, tutors and policy makers all have the same goal in mind when it comes to ensuring student success, but regardless of our intent, many students continue to struggle in developing strong literacy skills. So often we hear how important reading is, to develop the love of reading, but maybe more attention needs to be paid on how to be an effective teacher of reading? Well, there are experts out there ready to tell us how, but are we listening?
What are some of the best practices in teaching reading?
* Understanding the difference between letters vs. phonemes.
*Teaching phonemic awareness. This is an early stage of learning to read that relies on a child's ability to manipulate sounds through auditory processing, for example, rhyiming.
*Teaching phonics. This is the symbolic stage of learning to read that connects sounds to their letter combinations. Understanding letters vs. phonemes is critical at this stage in teaching a child to read. The English alphabet contains 26 letters, but 44 sounds, therefore understanding letter combinations is critical.
*Decoding by using nonsense words shows understanding of phonemic and phonological awareness.
*Spelling is a diagnostic tool that shows a child's mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding.
*Summarizing can be done when a child is reading fluently and effortlessly.
*Predicting and making connections to their own prior knowledge can be done when a child is fully engaged in a text.
SpellRead is rooted in scientific research and these very principles and therefore our instructors are diligently trained specifically to teach reading. Families in Nova Scotia are at an advantage that other Canadians simply do not have access to and that is the SpellRead program.
Reading Rockets features several podcasts from experts in the field of reading who discuss the importance of knowing how to teach it. After viewing several of these podcasts, one will take away that it is easy for many of us to take for granted the importance of phonemic awareness and phonics, but (so artistically captured by the National Reading Campaign) Readers Save the World and I am assuming we are talking about those who are reading well and reading effortlessly.
In addition to best practices, teaching reading must be done through a systematic, organized and outcomes based model that exposes the learner to multiple opportunities for repetition and success. Our goal Halifax Learning is to help every student that we can. One of our colleagues at Ooka Island, (an online reading skills adventure program) often states that their (Ooka Island) goal is to help eradicate illiteracy. We don't want to take someone else's mission – but that is our goal too and should be the goal of every Canadian as we celebrated Family Literacy Day, 2014.
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