In this chapter, I have described three basic techniques for phonics work. These basic techniques underlie much of the phonics work in the community programs which I learned about during the Sounding Out Words Project.
As the case studies how, these techniques can be combined. In the case study from the Interesting Group, the facilitator used both rhyming word families and a key word “Maggie”, to introduce phonics information. In the case study from the Pharmacy Adult Basic Learning Centre drop-in, the facilitators worked both with contrastive pairs of words and with a rhyming word family.
The case studies also show that these techniques are adaptable to a wide range of learning situations. In the Interesting Group case study, we see students who are just starting out with their reading and writing learning some very basic phonics information: how to write the letters M, A and I, and how to recognize speech sounds for M, A, and I in the flow of speech. In the Pharmacy case study, most of the students are further along in their reading and writing. They spell words, help create word families, identify root words. In both of the case studies, the facilitators adapt the techniques to different sensory/motor modalities.
The basic unit in all three techniques is the word. The actual words used in these techniques can be chosen spontaneously, with an eye to what is appropriate at any particular situation. In the Interesting Group case study, Nancy chooses a student’s name to start working on. This will be a familiar starting point. In the Pharmacy case study, Sam chooses a word from the poem that the students are reading to create a rhyming word family. This word is important to the meaning of the poem, so it will be memorable.
But at the same time, underlying all of the creative combinations, adaptations, and spontaneous choice, the case studies show experienced facilitators working with plans. Nancy introduces the students to an initial consonant, then a vowel, then a second vowel, in a step-by-step progression. Sam systematically focuses on word endings, -NESS and -ED, during the drop-in, mainly for the benefit of several students who are further along than the others. For these students, the work on the rhyming word family is review, while for most of the students, it is new information. Sam plans the drop-ins so that everyone can benefit, everyone can move a little bit further, and so that no one will feel bored and left out.
During the Sounding Out Words Project, one staff person described the role of planning in phonics work as follows.
When you are tutoring or working with a group, you fill boxes. Because you
have a box, a skeleton
in a way, because you know what a person needs to communicate, or read well,
or write well. But
that is only the skeleton. And after that, you fill some of the boxes with
plans for tutoring, you see?
You fill in the skeleton. You can’t be inflexible, but you need the skeleton
to start with.
- Lira, staff person, Alexandra Park Neighbourhood Learning Centre
How do experienced tutors and facilitators develop plans for phonics work? Part of what they do, and what every new tutor and facilitator has to do, is to experiment. Introduce new information in new ways, see how the student responds, ask the student to help with modifications, modify, adjust, try again. As the process of experimentation and adjustment proceeds, a workable plan that is right for a particular student or a particular group begins to take shape. As one experienced tutor said, literacy tutoring is not like arriving in a new city with a map and a guidebook. It is like walking out into the city and following the streets until you know here you are going.
But, at the same time, over time, experienced tutors and facilitators notice some patterns, and can incorporate these patterns into their planning, always recognizing that learning does not always follow general patterns. Here are two patterns that are widely recognized in community literacy work.