Practice What You Preach

An article I met in My Reading Place. com reminded me of an idea that my mentor and I have been purporting for years about encouraging children to read by example. This article was also supported by a famous children's author, Eve Bunting, featured in a podcast entitled “Meet the Author” on Reading Rockets. Ms. Bunting reminisced on her parents active involvement in the act of reading and how it impacted on her as an author.

The tips in the article encouraged parents to become actively involved to encourage children to become ardent readers. It reported five basic strategies to assist parents. The first was for the parent to be a model reader for children to follow. Secondly, parents were encouraged to read to children regularly. Children should also have access to a wide selection of well written books of interest at their disposal. However, praising children for their efforts and talking and singing with children help to build and cement the much needed vocabulary and self esteem necessary for reading.

The International Reading Association celebrates reading annually in September with the Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) project. Circulars are sent to the nation’s schools to be participants of this project. Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) is also another initiative that teachers can use to promote reading. Five to Ten minutes can be utilized for SSR daily in the classroom. However, the teacher must also remember to model the same.

Students can bring appropriate text of interest. The SSR period should be announced and everyone in the room should be actively engaged in the act. At the end of the period allot two minutes for reflective sharing. This will help students to stay on task. Model how a summary is done. Eventually, students can be directed to critically review reading material.

Meet The Author

Tips to Build Strong Readers

Preparing a Child to Read

I have always been curious about reading and what triggers that growth to literacy in children. I have met students who are well versed in reading and comprehension exercises on entry into primary school at age five and others who can barely identify letters by name or sound. These latter students are the ones today who are struggling because early intervention was not applied. When should educators and parents start to be concerned about a child’s inability to read?


Some educators report to parents that the student cannot identify phonics or the phonemic awareness is lacking. These terms even for us are times used inappropriately thereby resulting in incorrect remediation. Levin (2010) an educator and contributor to Pre K Pages, has done a comprehensive listing to assist teachers and parents to better understand the differences between phonics and phonemic awareness.


It is important to note the phonemic awareness is developed through oral exercises. That is to say, that listening and speaking are integral to developing this skill. Children need to be afforded the opportunity to hear language in all its splendor as well as experiment with new and interesting words encountered.

Teachers can therefore reemphasize to parents the importance of having meaningful conversations with children as well as immersing them in Nursery Rhymes and Poems. A child who can contribute to discussions sensibly as well as hear and reproduce simple rhymes and poems is well on his or her way of becoming a reader of print. Children have demonstrated their fantastic capacity to retain the World Cup Songs over the last few weeks because they were played frequently. Let us do the same for our children to learn phonics and phonemic awareness so that they will be well on their way to becoming proficient readers.

Preparing a child to Read


Phonological Awareness

Digital Story Boards and Literacy

Present day students are submerged in technology and they are very comfortable and excited about new applications. Teachers on the other hand, are being exposed to new and novel ways of integrating technology into the teaching learning process in our local classrooms. Some years ago, the principal of a private secondary school in Port of Spain had the foresight to insist that his students be equipped with a laptop for classes. Now with the advent of every first form student having access to a laptop for the 2010- 2011 academic year, teachers can be assured that their training will not go in vain.


Recently I was alerted to the digital story board that can assist students in develop critical reading and writing skills. This tool gives students the opportunity to write detailed scripts that can later be produced as a movie. The greatest challenge for students creating story boards will be ensuring that enough information is supplied to the producer so that the movie is a reflection of the ideas which are documented on paper.


Story boards closely resembles comic strips, however detailed notes about the scenes, characters and camera manipulation are included so that the producer embraces the authors thoughts. The script is written then the student selects key points to highlight the essence of the story. These key points are drawn as panels and additional information about sounds, emotions, props and the story elements supplied so that the appropriate animations can be applied. These panels can then be made into a movie by using real characters or animations. Story Planner and Story Planner Pro are just two applications that can be sourced to assist students in achieving their goal.


Story boards challenge students to develop meaningful stories and also promote critical thinking. This tool will promote critical thinkers