Finding and Addressing Gaps in PA

Earlier this month, we had the privilege of connecting with educators in person at the Memphis Literacy Conference. One of our sessions, Finding and Addressing Gaps in Phonemic Awareness, focused on the essential role phonemic awareness plays in early literacy development. Participants came with great questions!

Here’s a closer look into what we covered:

Why Explicit Phonemic Awareness Instruction Matters

Phonemic awareness is a critical foundational skill for reading and spelling. Unlike phonological awareness, which often develops somewhat naturally, phonemic awareness – the ability to hear, identify, and play with individual sounds – must be explicitly taught. During the session, we discussed how children learn to speak by mimicking whole words, which helps them communicate. This explains why the awareness of larger units of language develops somewhat naturally. What doesn’t develop naturally is the awareness of artificial, discrete phonemes within words, which children will need to decode or encode written language. This is why blending and segmenting are such strong predictors of future literacy success.

Understanding Students’ Phoneme-Level Skills

We explored ways to better understand where students are on a continuum of phonemic awareness. Many universal screening tools only assess phoneme segmentation. However, segmenting is far from the only (or easiest) phonemic awareness skill. Through diagnostic tools like The Literacy Architects Phonemic Awareness Survey, educators can identify specific gaps in students’ phonemic awareness, whether they’re struggling with isolating sounds, blending phonemes, or segmenting words. Armed with this detailed data, teachers can plan instruction targeted to their students’ needs.

Best Practices for Effective Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Our session highlighted several engaging and research-backed strategies for delivering effective phonemic awareness instruction. Here are a few that resonated with participants:

Intensify the impact of small group instruction by:

• Reducing group sizes and increasing frequency and/or duration.
• Providing additional scaffolds or modifying instructional pacing to ensure mastery.

Focus on just 1-2 phonemic awareness skills at a time. Here’s a quick reminder of the why behind each skill:

• Isolation: Highlights that words are made up of sounds and can scaffold blending/segmenting difficulties.
• Blending: Helps students decode words.
• Segmenting: Supports writing (spelling) and improves word reading accuracy.

Make lessons more engaging and provide scaffolds for students to make the concept of phonemes more tangible. Here are a few ways to accomplish both:

• Use kinesthetic moves like blending arms or finger tapping.
• Incorporate manipulatives such as a blending bead bracelet — check out the simple bracelets participants made at the end of the session!
• Games can also extend practice while keeping students engaged. The Florida Center for Reading Research offers free games for a wide range of skills, but playful blending games can be as simple as??“Guess my mystery word: /m/ /a/ /t/.”

We also discussed the why of explicit instruction, but we, of course, addressed the how, as well:

• Model all tasks and follow a gradual release to guide students.
• Connect phonemic awareness skills to reading and writing tasks.
• Provide multiple practice opportunities and feedback to reinforce learning.
• Research confirms that linking phoneme awareness with letter-sound knowledge enhances reading and spelling.

The buzz in the room and the insightful questions from participants as we wrapped up the session were a great reminder of the importance of community on the journey to improved literacy practices.

P.S. Do you have phonemic awareness on your brain after reading this newsletter? If you want to learn more, check out some of our mini-courses here.

What We're Working On

?? Announcing October's LLN Topic: Innovative Literacy PD for Teachers

Here's what's on the Literacy Leadership Network Calendar:

?? October 7: Live webinar to help you translate reading research into concrete plans for instructional change.

?? October 8: Webinar recording + members-only resources and downloads so you can take your learning with you.

?? October 14: 2–4 short videos aligned to this month's topic so you can further your learning.

?? October 21: Live consultancy meeting to give you the time and space to receive feedback from and exchange ideas with peers.

? Week of October 28: Office hours to ask our literacy specialists questions about your specific school or district situation.

Join this collaborative community here!

?? Attention university professors!

We have an exclusive opportunity that's perfect if you want more ideas for your course syllabus to align it with the science of reading.?

Join us in two weeks for a six-week community of practice with other reading professors to learn more about teaching educator prep candidates about evidence-based literacy instruction.

Here’s what past participants had to say about this unique opportunity:

“I liked hearing from the other instructors what content they were adding to their courses and their justification for doing so. It is giving me a lot of great ideas for my own course.”

“There are so many valuable things that I will use. My class will be much more hands-on with students practicing the instructional techniques instead of me always doing the modeling.”

“This course helped me to wrap my head around strategies to help undergraduate students understand the big picture.”

Fall Community of Practice Details:

Mondays, 2 pm–3 pm EST

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