reflection - steve

Reading.
I observed a student reading by sounding out each letter of each word. I was a bit confused as I had heard her reading before. I decided to investigate.
I paid direct attention and her reading was stilted, letter sounds, no recognition of sight words.
I was then distracted by another student, and from the corner of my eye and ear I heard her reading less stilted again. After discussion with the teacher aide working with her, i decided to try an experiment.
I sat her down and before reading asked her to explain what she does when she reads. After the usual "I just read" she advised that when she gets to a word she isn't sure of she sounds out, and then continues for each word after that.
We talked about blends not individual letter sounds, and endings. She agreed to try it.
With direction and coaching we started reading. When a word confused we worked it out and when we got to the end of the sentence we went back and reread the whole sentence.
Action Step: confer with the teacher aide and support this process on each occasion. The teacher aide is going to talk to the parent to explain our process so it can be used at home.