Why Your Heart Word Method Might Not Be Working: Insights from a Coaching Call
In my recent coaching session inside the Route2Reading Membership we tackled an issue many educators face: why the heart word method wasn't delivering the expected results. Early in the year, some of my teachers expressed frustration, noting, "It's just not working." They diligently taught students to map sight words, but something was missing. Here's what we discovered and how we addressed it.
Setting the Stage: Understanding Sight Words
So, let's talk about what we do know about sight words. We'll delve into some activities to teach sight words effectively and extend their use. We'll also discuss how to reinforce these sight words once they've been taught.
Common Misconceptions About Sight Words
Some prevalent misconceptions about sight words are:
They can be learned as whole units by sight alone.
They cannot be sounded out.
They are mostly irregular.
Teaching them to map the phoneme onto the grapheme is enough
However, new research has helped us shift our understanding. But the question is, did we shift too far? We know that the brain doesn't memorize words as whole units, that most can be sounded out at least partially, and that there are really only about 4% of words in our language that are completely irregular. David Kilpatrick suggests calling them "partially irregular words," meaning some part of the word is decodable. This concept is integral to the phoneme-grapheme mapping approach. Only after storing these words in long-term memory can we easily retrieve them. As a professor once told me, once you're a proficient reader, you can't look at a word and not recognize it.
Orthographic Mapping: The Key to Retention
Orthographic mapping is the process of storing written words in our long-term memory so that we can effortlessly retrieve them. This process involves connecting a word's sounds (phonemes) with the letters (graphemes) representing those sounds. It's not about memorizing words as whole units but understanding the relationship between sounds and letters.
When we teach sight words, orthographic mapping allows students to store these words efficiently in their memory. By mapping each phoneme to its corresponding grapheme, students can read and spell words more easily and automatically.
Defining Key Terms
We're going to define all the relevant terms, as there are quite a few:
Regular Words: Completely decodable using sound-symbol correspondence (e.g., "play").
Irregular Words: Words with unusual spellings, although only about four percent of words are entirely irregular (e.g., "of," "does").
Partially Irregular Words: Words with both regular and irregular components (e.g., "said" - S and D are regular, AI is irregular).
High-Frequency Words: Words that frequently appear in grade-level texts.
Sight Words: Any word known by sight varies from person to person.
Heart Words: Words with at least one irregular sound that must be known by heart.
Bridging the Gap: Reviewing and Reinforcing
Let’s go back to the conversation that we started with. Our initial issue was that teachers mapped sight words and followed all the tips and tricks, yet students still did not retain them as they had hoped. The issue is that we can’t expect students to retain them without reinforcing them. Research indicates that students need to encounter a word 1-4 times to master it, but like any skill, it requires continual practice to achieve automaticity. We decided to incorporate structured review sessions into our routine. The initial mapping of sight words is crucial, but it must be followed by activities that reinforce this knowledge.
Activities to Reinforce Sight Words
At our school, we LOVE to reinforce sight words with games. We practice them in isolation, but most importantly, we ensure that our kiddos also see them in context. Here are some of our favorite games to play when it comes to practicing sight words:
Shake, Shake, Rattle, and Drop
Students use magnetic letters to build and rebuild words, enhancing their multi-sensory learning. Here's how to play:
Provide each student with a set of magnetic letters (I only give them the letters they need for the particular words)
Have students shake the letters in their hands or a container.
Students rattle the letters around and then drop them onto a flat surface.
Students use the letters that land face-up to build sight words.
Repeat the process, encouraging students to create different words each time.
This activity is great for tactile and kinesthetic learners, helping them connect letters and sounds in a fun, hands-on way.
Mystery Word
In this game, students identify missing letters in a word. Here’s how it works:
The teacher writes a word on the whiteboard, leaving out one or two letters.
The teacher says the word aloud and asks students to identify the missing letters.
Students write the complete word on their whiteboards.
Repeat with different words, varying the missing letters each time.
This game reinforces spelling skills and helps students practice their phonemic awareness by identifying the correct letters to complete each word.
Beat the Teacher
A crowd-pleaser! In this competitive game, students try to write a word faster than the teacher. Here’s how to play:
The teacher divides the whiteboard into four grids and does the same for each student on their individual whiteboards.
The teacher calls out a word.
The teacher tries to write the word four times before the students can write it once. (Sometimes, we need to let them win, right?)
Students race to complete the word, trying to beat the teacher.
Sometimes, the teacher might let the students win to keep them motivated.
This game is excellent for building speed and accuracy in writing sight words, and it adds a fun and competitive element to learning.
Laser Pointer Writing
Students use laser pointers to "write" words in the air, making learning fun and interactive. This activity combines movement and visual learning, keeping students engaged. Here's how it works:
Give each student a laser pointer.
Turn off the lights or dim the classroom for better visibility.
Call out a sight word.
Students use their laser pointers to "write" the word in the air or on the wall.
Encourage students to say the word aloud as they write it.
Find All Five
The teacher writes sight words on cards (each word is written six times on separate cards).
The teacher removes one card, leaving five of the same word for students to find.
Each student gets a different word.
The teacher throws the extra cards in a pile on the floor.
Students race to find all five of their word cards first, encouraging quick recognition and reinforcing spelling.
Bang
Students draw cards with words on them.
If they read the word correctly, they keep the card. If not, it goes back in the pile.
Special "Bang" cards cause players to lose their accumulated cards, adding excitement to the game.
Practice in context
While the games above are super fun, it’s important to remember that students need to practice the words they have learned in context. They should read sight words in books and sentences and write with them frequently. Repetition and context are key to mastering sight words.
Students practice sight words in sentences to ensure they can use them fluently in their reading and writing. We incorporate a variety of games and activities to make this practice enjoyable and effective. By blending engaging games with meaningful reading and writing exercises, we help students solidify their sight word knowledge and improve their overall literacy skills.
Conclusion
Addressing the gaps in our heart word method has significantly improved our students' mastery and automaticity with sight words. We've created a more robust and effective learning process by combining initial mapping with ongoing review and interactive activities. If you encounter similar challenges, consider these strategies to enhance your sight word instruction and watch your students' skills soar.
Join the Route2Reading Membership
If you loved this recap, you should consider joining the Route2Reading Membership. We hold monthly coaching calls that dive deep into topics like this one. The best part is that I also provide all the resources you need to implement what you've learned. It's as easy as listening, learning, printing, and implementing.
