COMPETENCY 5 AND 6

EDUG 547

Cassie Mayer

Cassie Mayer
EDUG 547
Competency 5 and 6
Phonics and Sight Words: Terminology and Concepts
Phonics and Sight Words: Instruction and Assessment
In a classroom there are children who read and decode words at all levels.
While working in my third grade Master Teachers classroom I was working with a
student on reading fluency. He was able to read the entire story given to him and a
very fast pace. When he got to the end of the story I asked him what he read, and
he looked at me with a blank stare and stated that he had no idea. This child has
mastered word identification, but he has not mastered understanding. When
children acquire word identification skills, they are able to read with automaticity
and do not struggle with decoding words. The RICA text asserts word identification
should not be confused with word understanding, for they are different. Phonics,
sight words, morphology, and context clues are all used to identify words. These
strategies can be used in instruction and can be assessed for lesson developing
purposes.
Phonics is study of how letters are related to sounds (Kerry Mamrot, Juda
Carter, & Barbara Glaeser, 2010). Phonics lessons can be taught whole to part or
part to whole. In whole to part students are given a sentence or word that they
break down into individual sounds. In part to whole student are given an initial
sound that can be developed into a word or sentence. Beyond Phonics lesson it is
also important to teach sight words. Sight words are our mental storehouse of
words that we recognize automatically (Gunning, 2013, p. 188). High frequency
words are sight words that are common enough that students should be able to
decode them by sight rather than by sounding them out. Reading high frequency

words and other forms of sight words promotes fluency in reading. Jacquelyn is
another one of my tutees. During our word study we practice preprimary and
primary high frequency words. Jaquelyn has almost mastered this list. In the next
list I will be giving her I will be moving away from high frequency words to words
that are phonetically irregular in English. Connecting to TPE 7.11 Candidates use
systematic instructional strategies, including contextualizing key concepts, to make
grade-appropriate or advanced curriculum content comprehensible to English
learners. Since Jaquelyn in also and English Language Learner this will also benefit
her English Fluency.
Phonics and sight word instruction should be systematic, direct, and explicit.
It should be systematic in that there should be a clear sound-symbol relationship
students should know at their grade level. Instruction should be direct and explicit
with clear sound-symbol objectives, and should be taught in small groups (RICA, pg.
47). In my first grade Master Teachers classroom they use the SIPPS program
(Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Site Words). During
these lessons teacher partner together to work with small groups of students at
different levels. This connects to TPE 9.10 Candidates develop relevant,
differentiated instructional plans by connecting the content to be learned with
students' linguistic and cultural backgrounds, experiences, interests, and
developmental learning needs. During these small group times teachers use clear
and explicit instruction to emphasis and dive home their objectives until the
students have mastered what they are trying to learn. One of the students even
said she felt like a robot during this time, but they have been seeing improvement
in student fluency none the less.

In order to best assess phonics and sight words, teachers should administer
tests that ask students to decode words in isolation and in context. All data should
be analyzed and compared to the state adopted standards and analysis and
interpretation should reveal why students may be preforming below grade level and
where then to intervene (RICA, pg. 54-55). This connects to TPE 3.10 Candidates
know how to accurately to interpret assessment results of individuals and groups in
order to develop and modify instruction. Jennifer is a third grade tutee of mine who
reads at a preprimary level according to the San Diego Quick assessment. While
working with Jennifer I have noticed that one of her main struggles is mastering
phonics. As a means of differentiating instruction for her, before we start our word
study we go over the alphabet and the sounds each letter represents, hoping to
foster better understanding of digraphs and clusters.