Whether you are a first-year teacher or a veteran teacher, chances are you have made a few mistakes when it comes to planning reading. Strategies and best practices constantly change, making it very hard for teachers to teach. Mistakes happen, teachers are also human, but hopefully, with a little bit of awareness and me sharing my own mistakes, we will be less likely to make these mistakes in the future.
#1- Neglecting Phonemic Awareness
A strong foundation in phonemic awareness is essential. I’ll be the first to admit that when you don’t have struggling students or you think they have mastered this, you keep trucking along. But, it’s not the right approach. We must build a strong foundation with phonological awareness first, and then we must build a strong foundation for phonemic awareness. This means daily practice, and I quickly learned my lesson and began implementing practice every day with this resource.
#2- Neglecting Phonics
I have learned so much about phonics and how important systematic and explicit instruction truly is. I dove deep into the Science of Reading and have learned so much. I was approaching phonics wrong, and the thing about mistakes is that you learn from them, move on and do better. And, again have included daily instruction. But I also learned that getting students involved in hands-on learning made daily instruction easier, and it stuck with students too much more. Check out this post all about getting students excited about phonics.
#3 Teaching Students to Guess
Do you ever admit a mistake and just cringe each and every time you share it? That’s me when it comes to acknowledging that I had students guess. We have taught students to guess as a strategy, look at the pictures or context clues and guess what they think it says? Here’s the thing: students tend to assume the word, and maybe they never truly figure it out and then struggle. I also begin to consistently use decodable readers with my students, and I’ve seen such an improvement.
#4 Waiting Until Mid-Year to Teach Comprehension
Teaching reading comprehension became a norm to focus on in the middle of the school year because I focused on phonics, decodable readers, and genuinely getting students to read. I put comprehension on the back burner. We want our students to read, but we want them to understand what they are reading. I have an entire post dedicated to strategies in teaching comprehension. Check it out here.
#5 Focusing on Skills and Not the Joy of Reading
I think all teachers fall into this trap one way or another. We have so many pressures on teaching the skills and having students continuously move forward that we sometimes take the fun out of things like reading. I am still working on this area of improvement, allowing my students to choose a book for joy with no strings attached. Just select a book and sit back to relax with it.
#6 Forgetting to Model
How do we get our students to remember a strategy? In order for students to remember it and put it into practice…we have to model it. We have to show them how and give concrete examples. Our brains are more likely to remember strategies and lessons that are memorable. And, we have to consider that not all of our students learn the same. As an educator, I have to be mindful of this and ensure that I am modeling strategies.
#7 Falling Behind on Daily Assessment
We have a lot on our plates, and I’m not talking about extensive assessments, but doing daily assessments or checks after I have taught a new strategy is one of the most impactful ways to plan lessons and move forward. I like to think of it as more of a check on understanding, and it’s a great way to make sure I’m not leaving behind any struggling students. In this decodable reader bundle, I have reading records that help me stay on top of my students’ assessments.
Most importantly, remember the goal we are all working towards. We want our students to be successful and strong readers, which means we make mistakes, learn, and move forward. If I have learned anything throughout my teaching career, things change, curriculums change, and we evolve, so don’t get too hung up on doing it perfectly. Just be aware and learn from your mistakes!
