Assessments for Phonemic Awareness
Last week, we talked all about the importance of phonemic awareness. If you have not read that post, you can find it here.
Now that we know what phonemic awareness is and how important it is to teach, it only makes sense that we figure out how to assess it.
When we assess our students in phonemic awareness, we are able to figure out what they know and what they still need to learn. Once we can pinpoint exactly where to start instruction, we can deliver short, explicit and systematic lessons.
I know what you are thinking.
“Another assessment? Where will I find the time?”
Trust me, I thought the same thing. However, the beauty of assessing our students is that we can actually figure out a lot about what they know by just selecting 10-12 words.
Let me break down the process for you:
Step One
Create a list of 10-12 words. Be sure that the words are one syllable words that do not include consonant blends, such as flag, grab, slid, etc. and decide what skill you will be testing for. If you are unsure where to begin, check out my last blog post (here) for the continuum and progression.
Step TWO
Provide explicit directions and examples: “ I am going to say a word very slowly /b/ /u/ /g/ and I want you to say it quickly /bug/.” Then provide the student with a few practice rounds to make sure they understand the directions.
Step Three
Begin the assessment- Record the students' answers. If a student struggles, count the answer incorrect, but provide appropriate modeling and reinforcement “Try it with me /r/ /a/ /t/”
Step four
If the student is unable to complete the first several words, stop the assessment and begin instruction at that point. A good rule of thumb is for the student to score 80% or higher before moving to the next skill.
None of us, enjoy giving assessments, but they are key to driving our instruction.
Sometimes giving a short assessment like this can help tremendously when planning your small group time! It takes the guess work out of what to teach and when to teach it.
If you are interested in a premade assessment, snag it here!