“Reading” by Picking Out a Few Letters

This page may help you understand why some students struggle at reading. I have hadmore than one student look at the word give, randomly select the letters v and e from the word, and guess that the word was the more familiar word very! I also have had students who, when reading the word maybe, cherry picked the letters m and e and guessed that the word was me. Guessers pick out letters and hope for the best. Keep guess-prone students away from picture books while they are learning to read, or else they may be tempted to “read” by interpreting what they see in the pictures. One of my students glanced at a picture, realized the context of the story, and said “father” for the printed word daddy.

Overcoming a Left-to-Right Orientation Deficit

Your using a sharpened pencil to point to the first letter of each word helps students who have difficulty remembering to read from left to right. It helps them stay focused and lessens the inclination to skip letters. Some students will have to work harder than others to overcome old habits. Until the left-to-right reading habit is well ingrained, try to limit your student’s outside reading as much as possible. (We know you probably can’t avoid outside reading all together.) Outside reading likely will have spelling and pronunciation patterns unfamiliar to your student. We’d rather he wait and learn the patterns and not be put in the position of having to guess at words.

Helping Students Stay Focused

Some students have difficulty staying focused. An instructor can help by pointing a pencil to the letter or word that the instructor wants the student to see. As students gain confidence in their ability to handle the lessons, they will have less difficulty staying on task.

Exactness in Spelling and Pronunciation

Be insistent about having your student spell and pronounce each word properly before moving on to the next word. Allow your student to make his own corrections. Your pausing, being silent, and not moving the pencil to the next word in line will signal to the student that there is an issue. Again, as much as possible, let your student figure out what needs to be fixed. Take time to read or spell the words as many times as is necessary for your student to reach proficiency. Some pupils will benefit at the beginning of each lesson from a quick review of words from one or two previous lessons. If your student hesitates with a specific letter or pattern, review this pattern until he has mastered it.

Notice that the syllable break for the challenge word robin is between the b and the i. The break occurs here in order to preserve the short-vowel sound in the first syllable, rob. The syllable break for bobbin is between the double consonants, b and b.