Phonics Routines to Love! What Literacy Coaches (and Educators Alike) Need to Know

Narrator:

Welcome to EDVIEW360.

Jessica Farmer:

We know that we have to teach the brain how to read, and it all starts by connecting sounds, the phonemes, to the spellings, the graphemes. And in order to build those connections, new readers need to be listening and watching the teacher model. Then, they need to be able to practice together as a group with the teacher and finally apply those skills on their own. And so most of us know this as I do, we do, you do, but we often need to move between the I do and the we do part many times before we can ask students to apply the knowledge in the you do part of the lesson.

Narrator:

You just heard from Jessica Farmer, educator and founder of Farmer Loves Phonics. Jessica is our guest today on EDVIEW360.

Pam Austin:

Hello, this is Pam Austin. Welcome back to the EDVIEW360 podcast series. We're so excited to have you with us today. I'm conducting today's podcast from my native New Orleans, LA. Today, we are excited to welcome a respected educator, speaker, and literacy advocate in the world of education with Farmer Loves Phonics. Jessica Farmer is a well-known social media influencer who is dedicated to advancing the field of reading instruction. She has a fascinating story to tell about her journey into the science of reading, which was spurred by the onset of the pandemic. Today, her TikTok and Instagram platforms, there are hundreds and thousands of followers who discover practices based on the science of reading and phonics instruction. There's so much more to learn about Jessica Farmer and her experience with phonics instruction and learning to read, so let's get started. Welcome, Jessica.

JF:

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

PA:

Oh, and we're excited to have you here. You know, tell us a little bit more about your background and exactly how the pandemic moved you to get further involved in how reading is taught.

JF:

Yeah, absolutely. So, I'm a former classroom teacher in the primary grades and I first learned about the science of reading from Facebook, of all places, at the end of 2019 and into 2020.

And I read an article by Emily Hanford. It was titled At a Loss for Words and it had been shared in a first grade teacher group that I was a part of, and in the comments of that post I saw another group being mentioned and it was called the Science of Reading–What I Should Have Learned in College, and so I started reading everything I could once I joined that group and I came to the realization that many of the strategies I was using in my classroom were actually harmful for early readers, because I'm a former balanced literacy teacher. So, in March of 2020, when all of us left school for spring break, the pandemic started and we didn't go back for the remainder of that school year. I took the extra time that I had between lessons, we were teaching online for little bits of time, and I started to create TikToks for parents that were supporting their children learning to read at home, and that's basically how it all started for me.

PA:

I love the journey the Hanford science of reading avenue is amazing and finding ways to support teachers during the pandemic. We've heard you say that it is possible to have young learners eagerly engage in activities like listening, repeating, decoding, encoding, and applying skills to text. Can you describe what an ideal classroom environment looks like during phonics instruction and why is it important for the classroom to be so noisy?

JF:

Yeah. So, we know that we have to teach the brain how to read, and it all starts by connecting sounds, the phonemes, to the spellings, the graphemes. And in order to build those connections, new readers need to be listening and watching the teacher model. Then, they need to be able to practice together as a group with the teacher and finally apply those skills on their own. And so most of us know this as I do, we do, you do but we often need to move between the I do and the we do part many times before we can ask students to apply the knowledge in the you do part of the lesson. And so, practice only works when it's done correctly. We want students practicing accurately, and so if everyone is segmenting and blending new words together, that means it's going to be rather noisy in the classroom.

But I want to make a note that this is productive noise. It's not chaos, and I love how Julia B. Lindsey discusses this in her book Reading Above the Fray. If you haven't read it, it's fabulous. She explains that when we're teaching sound-spelling relationships, children should be extremely vocal. So, for example, if I'm teaching a new grapheme to my students, like CK spells to the whole group, I want everyone to practice that sound with me. I'll say the sound, we'll say the sound together, we'll all say the sound again, and then I might ask groups of students to repeat the sound. And this continues as we go through every part of the lesson, including decoding words, encoding words, and then finally applying it to some text. So, if everyone's doing that out loud it gets pretty noisy in the classroom.

PA:

I just love it, that repetition, the practice, and you do have to hear it to make sure students are getting it. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Jessica. 

JF:

You're welcome. 

PA: 

You know, how can educators ensure that their phonics instruction is highly interactive and engaging for all students? What specific strategies or techniques do you recommend?

JF:

I think the very first step to ensure that is in place are your routines and procedures from day one, because we really want students to know what is expected. It builds their confidence and that in turn will keep them more engaged and more likely to participate in the lesson when they know what comes next. And so also the teacher needs to be prepared. Phonics lessons are not spur-of-the-moment-type lessons. They need to follow a progression or a Scope and Sequence, and these skills build upon each other, so each lesson utilizes the previously taught concepts and applies that to what is new. So, teachers have to be prepared. That's a big part of it. And finally, I want to quote Dr. Anita Archer keep a perky pace. If we want students engaged and active, we don't want that lesson to drag on and on and on, and so this is where that routine comes into play. You'll get really good at teaching these lessons, because all that really changes is just your skill. The routine stays the same.

PA:

So, it's what to do, the routine. And how to do is the procedure. Just love the idea of having that framework and, as you say, that's what changes. The new skill, the new strategy that you're teaching makes so much common sense. Teachers, I know you're listening. Hopefully you're taking some notes, too. What are some common misconceptions about the rigor of phonics lessons and how can educators address these misconceptions?

JF:

Yeah. So, there's a couple of misconceptions that I hear about phonics often, whether it's in the comments on social media or even in person. But the first one is that phonics is just too easy for some students and therefore we just shouldn't teach it to everyone. And when I'm told this, I often tend to ask about spelling, because phonics is not just about teaching students how to read words. Spelling is a huge part of it as well. And you will hear people say, “Oh, this student's a great reader, but they're terrible at spelling.” Well, phonics will help them with that. So, we often leave it out of the equation, but it definitely needs to be a part of it. And that's one reason why everyone should have phonics, because it's not just about reading, it's about spelling too. And another misconception is that phonics is boring and it doesn't instill a love of reading. But if you, as the teacher, are excited about it, your students will be excited about it too. They can kind of feed off your energy. And I also want to say is every math lesson you teach riveting? Probably not, but I don't hear anyone say we shouldn't teach math because it's boring. Reading is a necessary life skill and it dramatically improves lives, so we've got to teach it the way the brain learns best, and that starts with phonics.

PA:

Right. The way the brain learns best. I just love hearing that, Jessica. You know you talked about readers are spellers and spellers are readers that goes hand in hand. Doesn’t it? That's a reciprocal skill there. I also like to say decoders are encoders and encoders are decoders. Anyway we say it has an impact on our spelling skills here. 

The idea of it being boring…You know when students begin to read on their own and independently and they become successful. What you're doing is there's excitement right there. I can read this on my own. I absolutely love it. All right. So you mentioned choral response, You've talked about that before and echoing the teacher and having that noisy classroom as key techniques. Can you explain how these work in practice and why are they effective?

JF:

Yeah. So, the reason we want students rehearsing out loud, through that choral response, through that echoing, is because of something called the production effect. There is an actual memory advantage for items that we rehearse aloud versus if we just practice them silently, and so research has proven that vocalizing supports learning new concepts, and beginning readers are learning new concepts every single day. So, my advice is to keep it noisy, keep kids talking and let's get loud.

PA:

All right. Rehearse aloud. I love that, and it's not just one and done, is it, Jjessica?

JF:

Oh no, of course not. I mean, think about any new skill that you learn. You've got to practice multiple times. When you learn to ride a bike for the first time, you probably fell off of it many times before you finally got back on and were able to ride that bike. Reading is the same. It's teaching your brain a brand new skill. So, practice and repetition are required. Practice, practice, practice.

PA:

I agree with you 100 percent on that.

Voyager Sopris Learning:

Decodable readers play a vital role in early reading instruction. That's why Voyager Sopris Learning's Power Readers and Supercharged Readers follow the latest research through explicit instruction, including pre- and post-reading activities. These 100 percent decodable readers help your students feel successful, confident, and powerful. Supercharge your readers. Visit voyagersopris.com/decodablereaders to learn more.

PA:

So, from an observer's perspective, phonics lessons might look very basic. What should coaches and administrators look for, doing these observations, to ensure a high-quality instruction is taking place?

JF:

Yeah, I've thought about five look-fors that I would consider part of high-quality instruction. First thing to look for is the teacher prepared? Like I said before, phonics lessons are not done on a whim. They have to be prepared. So, the teacher might have a slideshow up on the board with each activity or they might even be holding the actual teacher guide following the lesson outline, but they are prepared and you can tell that this is a routine that students are used to.

The second thing is are the students engaged and participating? Are they looking, listening, repeating, and then applying that new skill?
The third thing is the teacher following the same routine as other teachers on the grade level? So, there should be some unity between the classrooms. What you see in one room, you see in another room. It may not be exactly the same, but there is some consistency amongst all the classrooms on that grade level. And then the fourth thing to look for is are the students reading words and also spelling words?

Just like we said before, we want to see students moving between decoding and encoding and ensure that those skills match. So, if students have learned to read words with SH, then they're also spelling words with SH. What's some review concepts in there? And finally, the last thing to look for is the teacher differentiating. So, whole-group instruction can be differentiated. The teacher can be providing scaffolds for students that need support while also providing challenges for students that have mastered the skill already. So, this could look like providing an alphabet arc at a student's desk or using different word lists for blending practice.

PA:

All right, lots of good information with great examples. I'll do a quick recap, Jessica, if you don't mind. Number one teacher preparedness. Number two engagement. Lots of practice between teacher and students. Number three routines, particularly at that grade level, the same across those grade levels. Number four we're looking at reading and spelling. We say encoders or decoders. And number five differentiation, to support those students who maybe aren't quite there yet, but we want to make sure we give them the opportunity to rise and learn those skills that are being taught.

JF:

Yeah, that was a great recap.

PA:

Thank you. So, you know what. I've got a whole lot more to ask you and I know that we're just riveted and sitting on our seat. Love the engaging way that you are giving us this information, Jessica. Can you now discuss the importance of that explicit, systematic instruction? We hear these words all the time, explicit and systematic instruction in relation to phonics and how it contrasts with discovery learning.

JF:

Yeah. So, when I think of discovery learning, I really think of crafting your own understanding, and so that is the exact opposite of explicit, systematic instruction. When you're providing explicit, systematic instruction, you're telling students exactly what they need to know and you're following a set progression of skills. So, it leaves no room for guessing, which is good, because we don't want our readers guessing at what a word might be. This leaves way too much room for error, and then that impacts comprehension. So, there may be times when we want our students to discover, but that can't be the first step in their learning. We really have to provide that knowledge first before students can do any type of discovery with it.

PA:

So, they have to be solid in their knowledge before we move to discovery learning. All right, you have to have something to work with. 

You know, I've got a student right now I'm working with and he often guesses and I say, “Stop.” and I'll say, “Oh, I think you might have guessed that one, can you use your skill?” And he goes I'm using my skills and we practice once again. 

So, you emphasize the importance of solid routines in phonics instruction. I've heard you say that a couple of times. It's a very good thing. So, teachers, I hope you're making note of that. Can you give us a detailed example of a daily routine and explain its components?

JF:

Yeah. So, again, routines are that foundation for your phonics instruction. So, anytime you're introducing a new concept you really want to follow the same routine each time. Every program has a slightly different routine and that's OK. As long as you're consistent you will see great results, whether you're following a program or you're doing it on your own. So, I use dictation as an example. So, you'll wanna have a list of words prepared ahead of time that matches your concept and you might wanna review some previous concepts as well. So, again, this can't be done on a whim or on the fly. You can do dictation at the sound level, the word level, even the sentence level, but I'll do word level just for this example. So, my routine might be these steps. I would start with step one: Say the word. Step two: Students repeat the word. 

So, that's that production effect. We want them repeating the word. 

Step three: Say the word in a sentence to connect to meaning. Because, again, if we want students orthographically mapping these words in their brains, we want the brain to store these words. They've got to connect to meaning as well.
Segment the word into sounds together. You can have students tapping the sounds with their fingers, finger stretching, using little tokens or chips to count the sounds. And you can also model this first and have students copy you. You can differentiate these steps. Then, students can draw lines in their journal, in their notebook. 

Maybe you're using whiteboards and they draw a line to represent each sound. Then go sound by sound, have students write down the spelling that they've learned until the word is complete and finally write the word on the board. Have students check their spelling with your spelling. And, of course, you can just adjust this routine to fit the needs of your students. In the beginning, it's going to be maybe quite slow as you go through each word. By the end of the school year, you might not be counting the sounds anymore. Students might just be writing the word because they already can do that phonemic awareness task in their head. So, these routines will kind of adjust as you go through the school year as they continue to learn more skills.

PA:

Great, great, lots of steps to remember, but I could only imagine that teachers as they go through these on an ongoing basis, they become very proficient at them and the student has the expectation for what's coming next. And with anything new like when you first learn to drive a car or tie your shoe, we have to know all the steps before we get really good at presenting a routine.

JF:

Absolutely.

PA:

I want to ask you about literacy coaches and administrators. How can they support teachers in implementing effective phonics routines, like the example you gave me and think about that implementation happening across the entire school?

JF:

So, the first thing I think coaches and administrators can do is provide time for teachers to practice these routines with each other first. When a teacher's new to this type of instruction, it requires practice and rehearsal. Just like our students need it, the teacher needs it too. You don't want your first time implementing a new routine to be with the students. So, by practicing with a colleague you can then work out the pacing. You can think ahead about any places you might be able to provide a scaffold. It just gives you time to work through that routine.
The other support that administrators and coaches can provide is by allowing teachers to observe these routines in action. Coaches can go in and model it in each classroom. The teachers can rotate and observe each other doing these routines and administrators can help by covering classrooms during these times of observation. Then, give teachers some time to debrief and reflect. They can talk about what was working, what isn't working, what do we need to tweak and update and how can we get students even more engaged and more involved. So, just really being there to give them that time and support to get a handle on these routines, because it is challenging when you're first learning to do something new. You might skip a step and that may impact learning.

PA:

Yes, excellent examples for supporting teachers. I can tell you I have practiced quite often. I would say if you’ve got a kid, you can grab a kid, but a colleague works as well. And even practicing to the four walls. I've got many rooms that have probably can read quite well if they were animate. 

JF:

Yes, absolutely 

PA:

All right. So, what advice would you give to a new teacher who is just starting to incorporate phonics routines into their classroom?

JF:

I love this question. I would, if I could, go back and even tell myself as a new teacher, it would be to go step by step, practice, and work on one aspect of your routine at a time and then build upon each one as you implement more and more with your students. And, if you don't have a program to follow, definitely connect with the other teachers on your grade level that have more experience to learn what they are doing and what works in their classrooms. And again that consistency is so important across the grade level. And also, if you don't have a program to follow and your team is coming up with this together, make sure that you are prepared ahead of time and don't try to just teach it on the fly. A veteran teacher might be able to just wing it, but I wouldn't advise that for new teachers. That's when you start to maybe lose control of the class. You really need to focus on your management, those routines and procedures, early on from the beginning of the school year.

PA:

Yes, honing your craft is what I call it. That's how you become that expert teacher, and it does take practice. It doesn't happen overnight, absolutely. This has been so helpful and so interesting, Jessica. I know that our listeners will appreciate your insight when it comes to helping young learners learn to read. It's been a pleasure speaking with you, Jessica. Be sure to check out Farmer Loves Phonics on TikTok and Instagram. This is Pam Austin, bringing the best thought leaders in education directly to you. Please join us next month for another great EDVIEW360 podcast.

Narrator:

This has been an EDVIEW360 podcast. For additional thought-provoking discussions, sign up for our blog, webinar, and podcast series at voyagersopris.com/edview360. If you enjoyed the show, we'd love a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts and to help other people like you find our show. Thank you.

Voyager Sopris Learning:

Voyager Sopris Learning is the reading, writing, and math intervention specialist with four decades of results. We provide evidence-based interventions and assessments that help educators ensure academic success for all students. Learn more at voyagersopris.com.