Reference no: EM133321609
1. Identify someone to identify all the phonemes in words you provide. You should ask an adult friend, spouse/significant other, grandma, etc. For example, a 14-year old son would be appropriate for this activity. However, do not select an elementary-age child under the age of 10. The purpose of this activity is to for you to understand what it's like to teach phonemes, which a reason an adult or teenager will more readily understand than a young child.
2. Next, come up with three to five multisyllable (2-3), age-appropriate words. For example, a 14-year old boy should have words like "iPod", "Divergent" (movie), and "skateboard." We wouldn't give him "cat", "dogs", or "bunny" because those aren't socially/emotionally appropriate for a 14-year old boy. Notice, though, that socially/emotionally appropriate doesn't necessarily mean harder. The word "iPod" has the same number of phonemes (4) as "dogs." The words you select need to be appropriate for the social & emotional development of the individual you have selected for this exercise.
3. As you implement this exercise, be sure you are familiar with the evidence-based strategy of Elkonin boxes in the following website- https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes
4. When you begin the exercise with your friend/family member, follow this example:
- First define the skill. Tell your friend/family member you are going to work on identifying each sound in a word.
- Second, model what you want your friend/family member to do by demonstrating an example the skill. For example, "This is what I want you to do. In the word "Honda" the sounds I hear are /h/-/o/-/n/-/d/-/u/." [Model using Elkonin boxes and move an object into each box to represent each sound]
- Third, give your friend/family member a few words to practice by saying, "Now, I want you to try a few words using Elkonin boxes." Provide the boxes with small objects (e.g., buttons, Cheerios, pennies, paperclips, etc.) to place in the boxes to represent each sound in the words. Give one word at a time, so your friend/family member should only try one word at a time.
- Finally, praise your friend/family member's attempts to identify the phonemes in words. And, yes, if you try this on your grandma who is probably 50 years or older, her efforts need to be validated and praised in a socially/emotionally appropriate way!
5. Explain what was easy about trying to teach someone how to identify phonemes in words by using the define, model, and practice framework?
6. Explain what was difficult about the experiment?
7. Explain what you learned about yourself as a teacher when doing this experiment with a friend or family member?
8. Describe how well the Elkonin boxes worked for teaching and practicing phonemes?