Phonics Philosophy Survey

How do you teach phonics in your elementary classroom? Which methods and approaches do your practices align with?

FIND OUT by taking this quick survey, What is Your Phonics Philosophy?

After you take the survey, reflect on your results. Were you surprised by how your beliefs were classified? How might these results affect your classroom practices?

As I created the quiz, I discovered that my teaching style is a combination of synthetic and analytical practices. In addition, I value systematic phonetic instruction while also believing in meaning-driven approaches. I definitely think that these results are positive. Our discussion in class last Thursday about top-down, bottom-up and constructivist perspectives on teaching taught me that teaching is never a one-size-fits-all experience. How we teach is almost always a mash-up of different theories and perspectives that we mold to align with the students we are teaching.

This is also a situation where I can see the value in research-based approaches. Strickland's discussion about Finnish schools really showed me that we simply cannot rely on one method of instruction, particularly with phonics. Even though first grade students in Finland mastered letter-sound correspondence, they were severely lacking in comprehension skills and abilities. As pedagogues, we must use studies like this to reinforce the notion that most instructional ideals have their benefits, and it is our job to extract those to create a system that works for our students.

References: Strickland, D. (2011). Teaching phonics today. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.