I recently submitted an online reading class to Outschool. Of course, the description was phonogram heavy. I did not enroll a single student, but I did get an email from a mother whose older children had learned the phonograms in school.
Her youngest child, Mary, who had just completed 2nd grade, was not learning the phonograms in school and Mom was disappointed. Mary was not learning to read as well as her sisters had. She was excited to see what I was offering and after some discussion, we agreed that I would tutor Mary using my program.
I cannot tell you how excited I was to tutor a child of a phonogram-aware parent. I did not need to convince her of the power of phonograms because she had lived it. Most parents have never heard of phonograms, and I do not think most get it. I mean, how could they, having never been introduced to the phonograms?
After completing five lessons and while listening to Mary read, I was surprised at how little ability she had to decode words. After experiencing this, I presented a list of 2nd-grade Dolch sight words. My plan was to sound them out using the phonograms and spelling rules we had covered to that point. But we never got the chance because she knew all the words.
While I was initially impressed that Mary knew all the words, I soon realized that sight-word study is why she could read them all. And not just read them but read them with confidence. Despite working together online, Mary’s sense of confidence at being presented with a list of sight words was palpable even across the web.
I hate most sight words and here is why. Mary was confident and at ease when presented with a list of sight words in isolation. But when we were reading actual books, she lacked that confidence. Mary struggled with words that she had not yet memorized. Many times, she would guess words she did not know, showing no ability to decode. That is what focusing on sight words gets us and what engenders such hate from me. I know hate is not healthy, but man…
We fixed that, though, and everyone began to enjoy the process, Mom, child, and me. It was great to watch Mary’s confidence grow as she armed herself with the tools to read unknown words.
Mom provided the following feedback:
My daughter just finished her 6th class and two nights ago she started to read. I was in tears. It was like magic. Just like that! From one day to the next! It’s impossible to explain!!! You just have to trust the process as well as Mr. B!
It never fails!
Another consistent result of children learning how words work is their new-found enjoyment of reading. Instead of reading being painful, it becomes easier. Reading is a beautiful thing when you can do it successfully. And if there is one thing I have learned over the years, success breeds more success!
