Teachie x – Teachie Tings

When students can’t decode but can encode and vice versa.

It’s a common complaint among teachers: “My students can read but their writing is terrible!” or “My students can’t decode but they can encode! I’m so frustrated!” If only we had a dollar for every time we heard this! The truth is, there’s a crucial balance missing in many classrooms – the balance between decoding and encoding.

Encoding and decoding are like two sides of the same coin when it comes to literacy instruction. They should be taught together, hand in hand, to ensure comprehensive literacy development in students.

Quite often, teachers who are following a phonics program, omit an activity due to time constraints or feeling that students have already ‘got it’. However, the encoding side of phonics is often the activity that is omitted, leading to an imbalance in the way students receive their phonics instruction. It’s important that teachers deliver a program with fidelity – including print to speech and speech to print practise.

Not only will combining encoding and decoding within our lessons help our students, but it will increase our efficacy as a teacher, making our job easier – win-win!

So, if we are seeing an imbalance in our students’ skills, what can we do to help our students improve both their encoding and decoding skills?

When students can’t encode or decode, assess Phonemic Awareness and Phonics:

Before diving into decoding and encoding instruction, it’s essential to assess students’ phonemic awareness and phonics skills. Tools like the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Assessment can provide valuable insights into students’ abilities in this area. Finding the gaps in student phonological awareness and phonics skills is crucial to addressing their needs.

When students can’t encode, try these encoding strategies:

Oral Segmenting and Blending: Encourage students to break words down into individual sounds orally before writing them. Similarly, practice blending sounds together orally to form words.
Use of Elkonin Boxes: Elkonin boxes provide a visual scaffold for segmenting words into phonemes. Students can move manipulatives or write letters in each box to represent the sounds they hear. My preference is for students to write with a pencil or on a whiteboard, especially when encoding is a weakness.
Dictation of Decodable Texts: Choose decodable texts that align with the phonics skills students are learning and dictate sentences or passages for them to write. This allows for immediate application of encoding skills within the context of reading. You can dictate phoneme/grapheme correspondences, words and sentences.
Formation of Letters/Handwriting: Don’t overlook the importance of handwriting practice! Encourage students to focus on proper letter formation and legibility, which supports encoding skills.

When students can’t decode, try these decoding strategies:

Assess Phonological Awareness: Many decoding struggles stem from weaknesses in phonological awareness. Assess students’ abilities to manipulate sounds within words to identify areas of need.
Teach Continuous Blending: Instead of relying solely on sounding out each individual letter, teach students to blend sounds together smoothly to read words fluently.
Phoneme Substituting: Use word chains, preferably printed, to practice substituting one phoneme for another within a word. This reinforces decoding skills and encourages students to think flexibly about sounds.

Linking Encoding and Decoding:
To reinforce the connection between encoding and decoding, integrate activities that bridge the gap between the two skills. For example, after decoding a word, have students encode it by writing it down. This solidifies their understanding of the relationship between spoken and written language. It’s important that encoding and decoding are linked together in your planning and are not taught in isolation (although they must both be explicitly taught!).

Achieving a balance between decoding and encoding is key to unlocking literacy success in students. By assessing phonemic awareness, explicitly teaching both encoding and decoding strategies, and linking the two skills together, educators can help their students become proficient readers and writers.

Are you looking for resources to help your students with encoding and decoding? Try these:

How to Teach Encoding and Decoding

Today, we’re diving into the fascinating world of encoding and decoding —two skills that hold the key to unlocking the magic of language. I recently heard encoding and decoding compared to breathing. Encoding is the in breath and decoding is the out breath. Undoubtedly, encoding skills are as important to reading as decoding skills.

“Encoding is not simply a first step to writing; it is a vital but under-appreciated route to reading.”
Herron and Gillis, 2020.

So, how does encoding help students to read (decode?)

Phonemic Awareness: Encoding helps students develop phonemic awareness, which is the ability to recognise and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. When students encode words, they learn to segment spoken words into their constituent phonemes, helping them understand the sound-letter correspondence.
Letter-Sound Correspondence: Through encoding, students learn the relationship between letters (graphemes) and the sounds they represent (phonemes). This understanding of letter-sound correspondence is essential for decoding, as it allows students to recognise written words by sounding them out.
Segmenting and Blending: Encoding requires students to segment words into individual phonemes and then blend those phonemes together to form words. This process of segmenting and blending helps students develop phonemic blending skills, which are vital for reading fluency.
Spelling Skills: Encoding involves spelling words phonetically, which helps students develop spelling proficiency. By encoding words, students learn to apply spelling rules and conventions, such as vowel patterns and syllable structures, which contribute to their overall literacy skills.
Vocabulary Development: Through encoding, students expand their vocabulary as they encounter new words and learn to spell them phonetically. This active engagement with language helps students internalise new vocabulary words, improving their reading comprehension and overall language proficiency.
Metacognitive Awareness: Encoding requires students to think critically about the sounds and structures of words, fostering metacognitive awareness of language. By reflecting on their encoding processes, students develop a deeper understanding of word formation and language patterns, which enhances their reading and writing abilities.
Reading Fluency: As students become proficient at encoding, they transfer their skills to decoding, which contributes to improved reading fluency. By recognising letter-sound relationships and quickly decoding words, students can read more smoothly and efficiently, leading to enhanced comprehension and enjoyment of reading.

ENCODING AND DECODING IN THE CLASSROOM

How do we help students to decode?

Tell students to ‘sound out’ in their heads and then say the whole word out loud.
Remind students to keep their eyes on the print as they decode and as they blend the word.
Teach continuous blending (NOT segmenting or tapping before blending – read the research here)
Practice fluency reading daily.

How do we help students to encode?

A good basis in phonemic awareness such Heggerty’s
Use Elokin boxes to tap/segment the sounds
Begin with VC words. Once students are fluent in VC words, then begin CVC words, swapping initial sounds where possible
‘Singing’ the sounds can help!
Teach using a synthetic phonics sound sequence, where sounds build on previously taught sounds.

Bringing it all together:

Pair decoding and encoding activities together, such as in these Encoding and Decoding Color By Code Activities.
Boggle type games where students blend sounds to make words
Blending consonants and vowels to create words using letter cards or magnetic letters. You can set up two baskets of consonants and one basket of vowels. Students draw one letter from each basket and create a word. They then write if the word is a real word or a nonsense word.
Using familiar decodable readers for dictation. Students write the story as they hear it.
Word ladders – exchanging one letter at a time to create new words – decoding the words that are made.

One of my favourite tools to aid in encoding are my Word Mats! I’ve got different mats for different seasons and they are all FREE (create a free Teachie Tings account to download)! Check them out here below!

Reading Comprehension Today – What’s Changed?

In recent years, the science of reading has significantly transformed teaching practices, bringing about a more evidence-based and nuanced approach to literacy instruction. This knowledge has influenced teaching methodologies, emphasising the importance of systematic and explicit phonics instruction, decoding skills, and phonemic awareness. We’ve got a great decoding freebie here!

Yet, while the primary focus of the science of reading is on foundational skills such as phonics, decoding, and fluency, it also encompasses comprehension. The science of reading recognises that successful reading involves a combination of skills, including the ability to understand and make meaning from the text.

Moving away from teaching skills in isolation

Today, the move is away from teaching skills in isolation (eg: ‘this week we’re focusing on inferring’) but rather developing the cognitive strategies students need to comprehend texts (summarising regularly, asking questions, metacognition), as well as understanding of the written language and embedding comprehension within content instruction, integrating reading comprehension into all curriculum areas.

Reading Comprehension is an OUTCOME

“You can’t teach reading comprehension – it’s an OUTCOME” – Dr Sharon Vaughn .

If you haven’t listened to the Science of Reading Podcast featuring Dr Sharon Vaughn, listen HERE. This episode is fantastic for helping you to make the shift from what reading comprehension is, and what it isn’t.

Furthermore, here are two schools of thought around how readers comprehend texts:

Cognitive strategies that help students to comprehend texts: summarising regularly, asking questions about what is read, and paying attention to if the reader is understanding.
Written language – word and sentence level understanding, text structure, morphology, cohesion of texts and authors organisational strategies.

Both work in conjunction with the other and can be synthesised into the following reading comprehension lesson ideas:

word level study
sentence level study
text structure study
vocabulary
morphology
Tier 2 words that help students to access a range of texts
cohesion of texts
summarising frequently
self questioning – what am I reading and do I understand what I am reading?

In addition, teaching students these strategies, as well as giving students the opportunity to practise these within their own writing is more efficient and effective (Prof Timothy Shanahan). There’s a great clip on this, hosted on the Reading Science in Schools YouTube channel, as well as some general tips to improve student learning, HERE.

Finally, we LOVE this fabulous paper by Debbie Draper, ‘Five Ways to Improve Instruction – Comprehension’, which you can read HERE. It gives you the ‘how-to’ and highlights which practises to focus on within your reading comprehension instruction.

If you’re looking for some starting points for resources to support your reading comprehension lessons, we’ve curated a ‘playlist’ of sorts for you, from the Teachie Tings catalogue.

Reading Comprehension ‘playlist’

Teaching Fairy Tales in your Classroom

Are you venturing into the magical world of teaching fairy tales in your classroom?

Teaching students the art of crafting magical narratives filled with whimsy and wonder? You’re in for a treat!

Teaching fairy tales is hands down one of my favourite units! I’m thrilled to share the joy and creativity that come with unraveling the secrets of this ]genre. If you’re ready to embark on a storytelling adventure and guide your students through the realm of fairy tales, you’re in the right place! Let the magic of storytelling unfold in your classroom!

There is a wealth of great fairy tales to engage students and immerse them in the genre. Some of my favourites include:

Puss in Boots
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Cinderella

You will need a good selection of texts to teach with, and to include in your classroom library for the duration of your unit.

Engage Students in How to Write a Fairy Tale with Rich Texts

It’s important to begin teaching fairy tales with a complete immersion into the genre through reading, deconstructing, and retelling. This will help your students to identify the fairy tale elements:

Characters – who is good and who is bad? Who is a helpful friend?
Setting – describing the settings with their senses
The main events of the story in the correct order
The main problem and how it is solved
The resolution – in fairy tales, this normally positive! So this means the love story is complete or the prize is won, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Fairy tale displays and posters are necessary! Boost student success with a learning wall, where the deconstruction of a known fairy tale is co-constructed and displayed.

Display Worked Examples of How to Write a Fairy Tale

Worked examples are proven to increase student achievement (see my post on Bump It Up Wall Research here). For this reason, it’s important to show students what a good fairy tale looks like! You can write ta worked example yourself, with your class or if you’re short on time use some of our samples. Our samples are ready to print and annotate with your class (use highlighters and identify the parts of the text that align with the success criteria).

Teaching Fairy Tales

Here’s our step-by-step guide to teaching fairy tales in your classroom!

Introducing Characters

When introducing characters to students, it’s crucial to make the experience whimsical and engaging.

Start by bringing beloved fairy tale characters to life through vivid storytelling or animated visuals. Begin with iconic characters they might already know, like Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood.

Use descriptive language to highlight the traits of characters, emphasising their appearances, personalities, and roles in the story. Encourage students to participate actively by asking questions about the characters and prompting them to share their thoughts.

Consider interactive activities such as drawing or crafting character cutouts to enhance the sensory experience. By making the introduction of characters a lively and participatory process, you’ll ignite the young learners’ imagination and enthusiasm for the enchanting world of fairy tales.

Introducing Fairy Tale Settings

Begin by choosing rich and descriptive fairy tale texts that vividly paint the settings.

As you read, encourage the students to close their eyes and imagine the magical places described in the story. Engage their senses by asking questions like, “Can you picture the enchanted forest? How do you think it smells there?”

Encourage them to share their imaginative responses, fostering a sense of creativity.

Extend the experience by incorporating hands-on activities, such as creating sensory boards with materials like textured fabrics, scented markers, or nature items that represent different settings.

By appealing to their senses, you not only make the introduction of fairy tale settings memorable but also ignite their curiosity to explore the magical realms within the stories.

Fairy Tale Plots

Start by introducing the concept of a story arc, explaining the key components such as the introduction of characters and settings, the development of the main events, the climax or turning point, and the resolution.

Use engaging and age-appropriate fairy tales as examples to illustrate these elements.

To enhance understanding, guide students in sequencing the events in the correct order, fostering their comprehension of narrative structure. Encourage them to identify the beginning, middle, and end of the stories, ensuring they grasp the magical journey each fairy tale undertakes. Sequencing activities can help students to solidify this concept.

Through this exploration of story arcs and sequencing, young learners can unravel the enchanting mysteries that make fairy tales timeless treasures.

Adding excitement with complications

Teaching students to explore complications adds a layer of excitement to their storytelling journey. This involves introducing them to the challenges or obstacles that characters encounter on their magical adventures.

Encourage students to think about what could go wrong in the story, prompting them to brainstorm various complications that the characters might face.

Emphasise the importance of these challenges in driving the plot forward and creating suspense. Problems also make characters smarter and stronger. Explore this theme with students by looking at characters at the beginning of the story and at the end of the story. You can use interactive activities, such as group discussions or drawing sessions, to spark their creativity and help them envision different complications.

By fostering their imaginative thinking, young storytellers will learn to infuse their fairy tales with captivating twists and turns, making the narrative all the more enchanting for both the storyteller and the audience.

Happy Endings in Fairy Tales

As budding storytellers immerse themselves in the enchanting world of fairy tales, guiding them through crafting a satisfying resolution becomes a pivotal aspect of the journey. For students, emphasising the concept of a “happy ending” is key.

Encourage students to envision the resolution where the characters overcome challenges, and the story concludes on a positive note. Discuss the idea that in fairy tales, resolutions often involve the characters achieving their goals, winning a prize, or, in the classic tradition, living “happily ever after.”

Foster students creativity by prompting them to think about the ultimate joyous outcome for the characters they’ve introduced in their tales. This exploration not only instills a sense of fulfillment in storytelling but also sparks the imaginative sparks that make fairy tales timeless and cherished narratives for young minds.