My Philosophy Of Reading Instruction

My philosophy on reading instruction is not one size fits all as all students learn differently. My philosophy is a mix of part to whole and whole to part instruction, a more comprehensive approach. Reading instruction must include certain elements so the student can be the most successful. Reading instruction must include the building of phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, sight word exposure, fluency, comprehension strategies, read aloud by a proficient reader, and text that is interesting to the student within in their ZPD. Instructors should also assess students to understand gains, holes in skills and find an appropriate starting place.
When beginning reading instruction to a student just learning to read an emphasis on should be placed on reading aloud, phonemic awareness, phonics and sight words. Reading aloud brings the joy of reading to a child, on a superficial level they get to learn what a book is and how enjoyable it is. Children can see how to hold a book and gain print awareness. As children get older they can gain valuable vocabulary and understand how a fluent reader sounds. Reading aloud should not stop in the early elementary years.
These building blocks are essential for building important phonics skills.
As phonemic awareness is built students should be learning phonics skills. The goal of phonics skills is to help children sound out words and become independent readers. If they learn to recognize pattern and rules they can independently tackle appropriate text. There is a time in instruction for decodable books for students to practice these newly learned phonics skills. In conjuction with phonics instruction should be sight words. Sight words often do not follow phonics rules and are seen frequently in text. Knowing sight words instantly will help a student read a text more