Teacher Visit: The Science of Reading
Jamie Wallmark, a teacher at Jones Brummett Elementary, was awarded a grant through the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber of Commerce’s Business & Education Coalition. Chamber President & CEO Melanie Minter and Education Division Vice-Chair DeJeay Woods visited Wallmark to see the impact of her project on her students. With the funds received from her grant, Wallmark was able to purchase a set of decodable reader books for her students.
“Students come to school each year on varying reading and phonics levels. Our job as teachers is to teach students to read and read fluently. This must be done before we can teach reading comprehension. This is a huge task when every student is on a different level when it comes to their reading skills. Every student deserves to learn how to read and to read fluently,” Wallmark stated.
These decodable reader book sets consist of nine different stages of phonics instruction and sounds that include: short vowels, consonant blends, digraphs, long vowels, word-ending spellings, r-controlled vowels, vowel teams, diphthongs, and advanced spelling patterns. Each skill has multiple sets, and six books come with each skill. These books are based on the science of reading and seek to grow students’ reading skills by teaching the students how to decode words.
“The science of reading is quickly becoming the way we teach students how to read. It is a research-based, effective way to teach students how to read by using phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding skills, and sounding out words based on spelling patterns,” she said, “Gone are the days of teaching students how to guess the words by using picture clues, guessing based on the first sound, and just memorizing words. Instead, researchers have discovered the importance of a scientific approach to reading in which students learn to read by learning the ‘sounds first’.”
Mitchel Bone of Wilson County Chevrolet – Buick – GMC, a Taste of Wilson County Sponsor, is also pictured on the visit. Taste of Wilson County proceeds fund the annual Teacher Grant Extra Mile Educator program.
