I hu-a-tu-ee ru-e-a-du-i-nu-gu!

 These were not the actual sounds printed on the page. But that was certainly running through my mind! At this point, my ability to SEE the words was impaired by tears. Seriously, WHAT could I do to "fix" this?
I'm a teacher, a fixer, that what I do!

But, "Universal" screening, that RTI nightmare, was sitting at a table with me, in the guise of a 6 year old boy.
He was working so hard, doing exactly what his teacher had been telling him to do...."Sound it out!"
So, this sweet baby, believing he was "reading", was saying EVERY SINGLE sound on the page. EVERY SINGLE SOUND!!
There wasn't a thing I could do at this point...to stop and instruct would have compromised the testing situation. So I sat, and listened, and stewed, and clinched my fists, and prayed he would be kicked out of the program for taking too long.
 (That DID happen...18 LONG minutes later.)

Be prepared for a rant. And if you believe this is reading, or the way to teach reading, stop reading now. 

So now, halfway through first grade, a habit has been formed. A habit that may not be broken if someone doesn't step in. This is me....stepping in.

Reading is NOT sounding out words. It's not!

Reading is putting a bunch of words together (thoughts), and knowing they mean something. That something can be new learning, it can be familiar emotions, it can be loud guffaws.
Yes, at times, you may need to break a word into parts to figure out what the WORD is, then put it back into the story for meaning. But not EVERY SINGLE WORD,  EVERY SINGLE SOUND, EVERY SINGLE BOOK!

(That's also why we learn sight words...you can't SOUND THEM OUT.)

So, let's see what Marie Clay says about reading:
"I define reading as a message-getting, problem-solving activity which increases in power and flexibility the more it is practised." Becoming Literate

Yes, sound sequences and letter sequences are important in reading. It is a visual task. However, these should be little "dips" into visual cues, with meaning and structure driving the rest of our reading vacation.

And, how do we develop this message-getting, problem solving flexibility? In Literacy Lessons Part 2, Marie Clay states three activities which have proven useful:

• Writing - analyse the sounds in spoken words for written messages. Then READ that message back? WHAT??? Writing has just become a reading task. (You slowed down that necessary sound to letter correlation, THEN sped it right back up for reading.)
• Attend to the order of sounds within words while you are reading them.
• Link the analysis of letters and letter clusters in a word you scan from left to right to the word you are hearing in your head. (From beginning to end.) And while I'm thinking about it, don't tell a child to "check the end".  They may think they have to start at the end, then we've got a directionality habit to correct AS WELL as a huffing and puffing habit. 

\And, just to be clear, take all this learning back into running text as soon as possible.

In a previous post, I challenged you to spend a day not writing ANYTHING. I'm guessing that was pretty difficult.

This challenge is much, much easier. 

If you are a teacher of reading, if you are a teacher of anything that requires reading, or if you ever sit with your child and let them read to you, don't say "Sound it out" at all, for one day. Just one day. (This includes "tap it out".) You CAN say "say it slowly", or "stretch it out smoothly". (That will eliminate all those extra 'UH's" in words.) But try to do that one or two times per book. 

Let me know how it goes. And no, I don't really hate reading. But, I'm so thankful I don't have to read one letter at a time.