Module Activities (EDUC 540)
Module Activities (EDUC 540)
Module 3- Phonics
Please complete the following activities in the order in that they appear. Use the resources posted on Brightspace (readings, instructor lectures, videos) to inform your responses
Reader Response:
Description: Reader Responses should be brief, but should be coherent, cogent, and compelling.
The purpose of these responses is to involve students in high-level thinking about course material.
You are expected to read the assigned materials and view course lectures to write a Reader
Responses. Each response should be between 250-300 words. Reader Responses must include
at least one in text citation and reference using APA format.
Application:
Description: Through application of learning you demonstrate and deepen your understanding
of newly acquired knowledge and skills from lectures, readings, and examples. The activities you
will complete for this assignment will be specific to what was presented in each module with
specific directions for each application activity.
Video Reflection:
Description: Writing reflectively involves critically analyzing an experience, recording how it has impacted you, and what you plan to do with your new knowledge. You will be presented with a video or videos based on course content and asked to reflect, respond, and possibly recommend on the content you have just viewed.
Sub Module 3.1 Emergent/Early Literacy
Application
Teaching students at a young age to write improves their reading skills by helping them recognize the connection between the letters they see and the sounds the letters make. As educators, we should show that building a strong relationship with the written word is important for a child’s future development. Writing gives them early and much needed confidence with literacy.
Writing first helps a child get the meaning connection because they are conveying their own thoughts. Often, the first words children write will use unconventional spelling and even unconventional drawing of some letters.
Examine the 5 samples of student writing for evidence of phonemic awareness development. Look at the students’ invented spellings and assess their ability to segment words and attach accurate spellings to each sound. What do the samples suggest about a student’s literacy development?
| Writing Sample | Comment |
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| |
Sub Module 3.2 Systematic and Explicit Instruction
Video Reflection
What is the importance of systematic and explicit instruction? Listen to Dr. Anita Archer prior to completing this activity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-qNpFtcynI
Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves children’s reading comprehension. Systematic phonics instruction results in better growth in children’s ability to comprehend what they read than non-systematic or no phonics instruction. Explicit, systematic instruction, sometimes simply referred to as explicit instruction, involves teaching a specific concept or procedure in a highly structured and carefully sequenced manner.
Review the program example(s) in each box by clicking on each link. Then list two strengths and two weaknesses of each program. Finally, in 200 words or less, tell us which program you would select explaining your reasons why you made that choice.
| Program | Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Open Court | 1.
2.
| 1.
2.
|
| Wilson Fundations | 1.
2.
| 1.
2.
|
| Saxon | 1.
2.
| 1.
2.
|
| Heggerty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kNMmgv0Tyw
| 1.
2.
| 1.
2.
|
The program I would select…
Sub Module 3.3 Strategies and Assessment
Application
Student Progress
You are a reading specialist and have been asked by your school administrator to assess a number of children in the elementary grades to determine whether they are working at grade level. Read the provided sketches (from both groups) and choose one group and two students to investigate. Using the lecture discussions, the Developmental Continuum for Phonics (below), our texts, articles, and other information presented decide whether the students are meeting grade-level standards and to review students’ developmental progress. Based on your research (findings); determine the grade level that the two students you selected illustrate their achievement. DO NOT LIST JUST A GRADE LEVEL. Please state your reasonings for determining meeting grade-level standards.
| GROUP 1 | GROUP 2 |
|
|
| I Selected Group________
| |
| Student #1 | Student #2 |
| DEVELOPMENTAL CONTINUUM-Phonics
| |
| PreK | Young children play with sounds and rhymes, recite the alphabet, and identify some letters, including those in their names.
|
| K | Kindergartners identify the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they represent, and they decode short-vowel words. |
| 1st | Students blend consonant and short vowel sounds to read CVC words and use phonics rules to decode long-vowel words.
|
| 2nd | Second graders use consonant blends and digraphs and vowel digraphs and diphthongs to decode more challenging one-syllable words.
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| 3rd | Third graders break unfamiliar two-and three-syllable words into syllables and apply phonics to decode these words.
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| 4th | Most fourth graders know how to use phonics to effectively decode and spell one-syllable and longer unfamiliar words. |
