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I feel that each and every one of the videos were done fantastically! The teachers were firstly fully of energy and joy which will then be transferred to the child, creating a positive environment. One excellent example would be Surbhi who radiates a positive and cheeful energy from the beginning!

The teachers were also very patient; repeating themselves numerous times and going at a slower pace to facilitate in the child's learning. For example, we have Stephanie going through the air letters 3 times before moving on to the next letter.

Adding on, the teachers were well equipped with slides and visuals. This definitely makes the lesson a bit more fun and interactive as compared to just reading cards or passages. This resources will also allow for a smooth shift to online/synchronus lesson if needed.

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Yummy Nuggets by The Awesome Peers:

1. Surbhi
- Her joyful disposition naturally makes the lesson a safe environment to learn.
- Clearly written schedule
- Recall class rules
- The use of a mirror is very helpful for students to look at when mimicking the shape of the mouth to produce the letter sound

2. Hang Chi
- The use of ICT keeps students engaged and interested
- Repeated the sound of the letter

3. Jean
- Checked on prior knowledge
- Differentiated letters that make more than one sounds from letters that make one sound

4. Steph
- Clearly written lesson objective
- Explained how the letter sound can be made
- Skywriting

5. Haley
- Incorporated actions
- Brief but effective strategy of 'I do, We do, You do'.

6. Claire
- Explained the letter rules when it appears in different words
- For letters with more than two sounds, she used words and pictures
- Segmenting technique

7. Priya
- Showed both upper and lower case letters
- Card games made the lesson interactive

8. Edward
- Clearly written steps
- Word examples given in a sentence
- Simple yet effective

The better version of ME:

As previously mentioned, I fear teaching language, I've always been teaching Science and Math over the years. Furthermore, having to record myself teaching - doesn't help. HaHa.

This experience definitely has allowed me to embrace my fear, if not for it, I would have avoided teaching language.

I must say that my lesson is plain and dry. Watching the videos by our awesome peers has given me a variety of ideas on how the phonics lesson can be conducted more interactively. I can see that the use of ICT would certainly increase engagement.

Thank you for all the 'nuggets' TG - 1!

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My own experience:
For someone without prior experience in teaching letter sounds, it was rather tough for me. I had to watch number of videos from YouTube to ensure that I sound the letters correctly. I had to do the recording umpteen time in order to ensure it came out the way I wanted it to be. Every time, I did a re-recording, I learnt from my mistake and made it a point not to repeat in my next recording. This practice is definitely a good platform for all of us to brush up on our knowledge on letter sound and reflect back on our teaching style. I am  glad that I persevered and managed to learn the letter sounds and produce the recording.

My thoughts on my classmates' videos:
Kudos to them for coming up with such awesome videos. Different teaching styles were observed in each respective videos.

Many of the presenters had a very pleasant disposition and was all smiles when conducting their lessons. It would definitely make the child feel at ease. Some of them started their lesson WALT and class rules. These gives the child a brief idea of what he/she will be learning during the withdrawal session and the expected behavior in the classroom. Many of the videos clearly showed the 'I DO, WE DO & YOU DO. Lesson was simple to understand and paced appropriately.
Some of them made the lesson interesting and interactive by incorporating games/quizzes at the end of the lesson. I loved the ways they encouraged and the way positive feedbacks were given.

Every child learns differently. Thus, it is important for us as educators to understand and learn how our students learn the best. In that way, we can plan our lessons accordingly to suit our students' learning ability.

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Surbhi- Meet my 'invisible' student, Isaac (I call  him Boba)

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Surbhi- Meet my 'invisible' student, Isaac (I call  him Boba)

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- With no experience in teaching, I was not sure of how I was going to create a lesson that would help an SEN student understand and remember the phonemes. While I also did struggle in creating a smooth flow, I liked that I did my best in preparing a lesson as clear and concise as I could while still engaging my 'invisible' student (I had a smiling boba soft toy placed in front of me, which was very helpful haha!). From the videos I watched of my peers, I got to learn some wonderful techniques I can incorporate into my teaching. Thank you for putting in effort guys :D much appreciated!

Haley

Haley gives out a warmth and calmness that makes me feel safe as her student. She is such an encouraging and patient teacher. I was particularly amused by the gestures she showed when teaching multiple sounds. The incremental method was a good takeaway from her teaching as well :) Good job Haley!

Dee

Dee is that friendly teacher that I wish I had! I really like her tone. She also addressed the difference between phonic with 2 dots right after from the ones without. I thought that was good foresight on her part. She was clear in the way she taught the phonics and had a good flow! well done Dee :) !

Hang Chi

Hang Chi's idea of using the phonics to resemble an object that begins with that sound was really good! As a student, I'll be be able to remember the phonics from the graphics. Wonderfully done Hang Chi! :)

Jean

Jean speaks eloquently, which is admirable, and her lesson was very easy to understand and straight to the point! I like that she checked in with Jaiden first on what phonemes he might be aware of. A good teacher always assesses her student's understanding before introducing them to any concept. Good job Jean :)!

Stephanie

I really like that Stephanie did a recap before starting her lesson. Such a simple objective but an important one! She also gave good examples of common things that begin with the phonemes. The sky writing is especially helpful for SEN students. I will take note to incorporate that into my lessons. Thank you for the great sharing Stephanie :)!

Edward

I like that Edwards lesson was very easy to follow and straight to the point! His pronunciation was also very clear. WALT! Nice abbreviation there Edward :) I will credit you when I use this Edward. Thank you very much haha :) Great job Edward!!

Clare

Again, Clare, like Dee, explained the dots that  follow some phonemes and that is something that I really appreciate! Clare pronounced each phoneme very clearly. In particular, the segmenting technique which she used is really helpful :) Thank you for sharing your strategies Clare:) Well done!

Priya

Priya uses varied tone in her teaching, which is very helpful in keeping students engaged and feeling safe :) Good use of ICT tools and various examples to reinforce the phonemes. I also liked the use of card game at the end. to create a fun lesson for her student. Well done Priya :) !

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While doing the video, I made several mistakes along the way. I become more aware of what I am saying and doing. Not perfect though but it made me to be more critical of my presentation. But as I watch the videos of the other presenters,  I realized that there are many ways of delivering the lessons. There are many creative presentations; some are succinct, some more elaborate but it all depends on who you are delivering it to. That is why prior to the lesson, we need to understand the learner profile. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the videos. There are many takeaways; tone of voice of the presenter, building good rapport, use of PPT with animation, using hand gestures and many more..

Surbhi
Very clear instruction given to the child before commencement of the lessons of what is expected. Make the child feel comfortable even before the lesson. Build good rapport with pupil. Good tone of voice. She presented two words sight by sight that uses the same letter but has the two different sounds eg old octopus, big kite. This helps the pupil to understand in context a letter can have two sounds. Use a mirror to self-check. She repeated the sounds a few times.

Dee
Nicely done. Very clear oral pronunciations. Simple, clear and concise learning instructions for the child to follow. Use cards and segregate the words having one or two sounds. Good tone of voice. Praises the child. Use of I do, we do and you do.

Han Chi
Very clear pronunciation. Good tone of voice. Demo the sound a few times for each letter sounds. Good PPT slides. Use of Quiz which is a good way to check learning. Good pictures. Lesson also engaging.

Jean
Check for pupil’s prior knowledge. If the child knows the letter sound, then will not be necessary to teach the letter again. Split the lesson into a few lessons. Distributed learning will ensure the child retained more. Rather than having a one lesson with all 8 letters.

Stephanie
Use sky writing is a good technique; part of active learning. It helps the people to associate the letter B with the sound. Also, teacher can check if the child is Dyslexic. Explicit demonstration on how to use the mouth to sound out each word.

Haley
Very clear articulation of each letter sounds. Uses hand action to activate more senses. The letter R for example, Haley imitates a tiger ready to attack with the rrr sound. Pupils will have greater retention if it involves more senses and something they can link to. Explicit instructions given to child. (I say, We say, You say). Assess the child’s learning and follow up. Engaging lesson with hand movements.

Clare
Very good demonstration with the slides of what is meant by “at the end of syllable” or “beginning of the syllable”. She clearly demonstrate when the sound changes with respect to its position in the word with PPT animation. It helps a lot to reinforce the point eg the letter Y. Clare put in a lot of thought and effort in this lesson delivery. I would like to use this slides to teach my pupils.

Priya
Use of uppercase and lower case. Use of several words with the letter in the beginning and in the middle. To develop phonological awareness. Clear articulation of wounds. Use of games for active learning.

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My Experience

Recording a video is harder than I expected at home. Words and sentences can go haywire at times and now I know acting is tough with hilarious NGs.

I didn’t watch and practice much before recording so I was expecting to make mistakes in teaching which I did by separating the I, You and We do.

After watching the great lesson videos, I have learnt more ideas on how to focus on pronunciation when teaching and prepare a lesson with interactive apps and try to create a better lesson the next time. But before that, I need a lot more practice to teach phonics.

Thanks everyone and Dr Liz for these great activities!

POSITIVE ASPECTS

Clarissa

1. She plans her lesson by starting with 1 sound followed by those with 2 sounds.

2. For those with 2 or more sounds, she uses words and interesting pictures with helps student to remember like City Cat, Yellow gym Fly!

3. The recap at the end of her lesson was good and clear.

Surbhi

1. She checks the student feeling and set class rules and assure him of being safe!

2. Introduce lesson of the day with word cards and Pictures on the computer screen.

3. Usage of the mirror was good

4. Teaching and instructions were also clear and concise

Hang Chi

1. Interesting app that can make pictures with the letters!

2. Reminding student of the shape of the mouth when saying the sound

3. The short test in between to test the knowledge is wonderful to keep the student engaged.

Priya

1. Telling what the student will be learning for the day.

2. Her pronunciation is clear for the words

3. Interesting use of the app and nice game of puzzle matching at the end.

Edward

1. Slow, Steady, and clear lesson with the steps listed down,

2. Slides were easy to understand and explains up the vowels well.

3. The sentences for each slides helps the student to relate better to the letter.

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My Own Experience
I do have abit knowledge teaching phonics but thats for the preschool level. we use alot of songs and gestures but teaching the primary level might be something new to me. it was quite a challenge for me initially but im glad i learnt something from this assignment :)

My thoughts on videos viewed
Dee:
Dee will be a great phonics teacher! her tone and her pronunciations really caught my attention. dee also give multiple examples of the letter sounds in words.

Hand Chi
I love how Hang Chi lesson can also be for HBL. She used graphics which is great for students and the quiz at the end is a great tool for closure.

Stephanie
I enjoyed watching her video. Her pace is just right and her teaching on sky writing gives me a better view on ways we can teach the students.

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My own experience

I thought it would be hard, but it was not, at all. In fact I enjoyed the process. What have I learned? That creating the resources took quite a while.. On top of that, planning for the lesson flow on teaching also took some time. However so, I can see that as I progress in the future this will be second in nature.

Surbhi
Has several segments of interactions. She articulated the phonograms very well and demonstrated, I do, we do, you do in her own way that feels natural. She went " I'll do it first, now together, now you try" I like that.

Dee
Started out by comparison, and showed what is similar. She iterated that those with two dots are "magical". This metaphorical method works well to attract the young one. Her teaching method was " this is the letter, it makes the sound..."

Hang Chi
Her slides was very attractive. She started out by teaching vowels and consonants. The images she use incorporated the words and as she read out she articulated the sound very well. She included games and it was very interactive.

Jean
Her articulation was very good and she demonstrated how she would approach teaching the phonograms across a few lessons.

Stephanie
Her teaching includes exemplifying the method of articulation with the lips and how the air would flow. I like the linguistic method. She also used Finger to air tracing. I saw this method used in a learning journey to a Montessori child care. It works well too.

Haley
She demonstrated I do, We do, you do with "I say, we say, you say. I like how she articulate the phonograms with hand coordination and actions.

Clarissa
when she modelled, she articulated the phonograms very well. She included example of the words that are related with pictures.

Priya
I can see how one would teach in an intervention lesson. I can see how using tablet will keep the student going in such a lesson. There were a lot of examples and it was interactive.

Edward
I like how Edward's lesson was simple and to the point. He started the lesson with clear precise instructions on what and how the lesson would flow. He demonstrated how I do, we do and you do repetition would work well with students.

In summary, reviewing how my colleagues has taught benefited me. I can see how I can improve in my deliverance. I would articulated with more precision and I would like to adopt good practices that they have shown. Particularly, how Edward started his lesson or how Jean approached the different phonograms across multiple lessons. Stephanie on how using linguistic understanding to explain how to produce the sound. Haley on how to use actions to help students remember.

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My Own Experience
I don’t have much experience etching phonograms. In fact, the video was actually the first time I had to think of a way to teach and actually video myself doing so. ‘Planning’ how to deliver the lesson was not easy due to my inexperience. One thing that all the videos had in common was that they showed a great ability combine their knowledge of the phonogram and how to deliver their content in a succinct and enjoyable manner. I do need a lot more practice in the teaching of phonograms as well as presenting the information in a visually engaging manner.

Reflections on the videos
Surbhi
I really loved how she used her gestures to indicate where the student should direct their attention to during the lesson. She was extremely energetic and overall made the session very engaging and fun for the student.

Dee
Dee used some visuals to supplement the learning of the phonograms. It is a very useful tip to bear in mind as it can help students identify these phonograms a lot faster.

Hang Chi
Hang Chi’s one is my favourite thus far. It was very apt for a HBL teaching session as it was so engaging with all the colours and the beautiful visuals. She managed to incorporate the visuals into the teaching of phonograms very seamlessly and made the lesson extremely enjoyable to watch.

Jean
Jean demonstrated good use of gestures during the session and it was made easier when she directed the attention to the dots that represent more than one sound. Additionally, the clean background of the video made it easier to focus on her (very important when doing HBL).

Stephanie
Steph used gestures to draw out the phonograms which was very helpful especially for a P1 kid. It taught the child how to form the letters, how to articulate the sound and provided examples of the words as well.

Haley
Learnt a lot from incremental rehearsal - she paired known materials to unknown ones which really helped to build the momentum of the child when learning. I love how she set her students up for success!

Clare
What Clare did really well was how she introduced the rules when learning of phonograms. She bolstered that by breaking up multi-syllabic words and used the rules to teach those words.

Priya
Priya used animations in her presentation which made the session every engaging. Additionally, she continually referenced the table which helped alot in the retention of what was being taught and the consolidation of the information.

Edward
Edward combined the use of visuals and animations but presented them in a slideshow that was very succinct yet simplistic. The pace of the session was great and there were many references to examples that helped wth the consolidation of learning.

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My own experience
This is my first experience recording while teaching and also my first time at teaching phonics. As I have no prior knowledge, I had a hard time thinking of how to conduct the lesson. I did some research on YouTube and some websites to learn. I was also feeling quite nervous as I felt that in order to teach something, one must fully master the concept of teaching the topic. It was quite confusing at first especially letters with more that 1 sound. I find it quite a challenge to remember the different sounds. After looking at all the good videos from our tutorial mates, I now had a better and clearer understanding as to how I could have teach my lessons differently and in a more fun and engaging manner!

My thoughts on the videos viewed:

Hang Chi
I especially liked Hang Chi's lesson as it is suitable for both online and face-to-face. I like that she drew the letter to represent the words (eg.she drew an "A" in a form of an apple). Her lesson is also very engaging  with he quiz. It helps to check the students understanding on the spot.

Surbhi
I like that she gives mirror to the student and also ask the student to focus on how the mouth and tongue moves. She sets the lesson objective at the beginning of the lesson which help the student to understand what they will be learning on tt day.

Stephanie
Thanks Stephanie, its my first time learning about sky writing. I had no knowledge of it before watching you video! The pacing of her lesson is also just right.

Edward
I like how clear Edward's lesson was and it is very easy to understand. I like that he highlighted the long and short vowels. He also uses pictures in his examples which is good for visual learners.

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My own learning:

Creating video to teach showing my face in it is my first! I’m glad you gave us this opportunity to try though I have no idea how to do it at first. But I get to explore video recording in power point app in a short time frame. This is especially useful if we need to do remote teaching(i.e. Last min HBL). YouTube tutorials have been very useful. I like the part that I can pause in between slides and re-record only for that particular slide that i need to make amendments while keeping the other slides recording intact. That’s my Positive Aha Moment. =) Truly appreciate the opportunity given. Thought stressful but practical.

My thoughts when reviewing the videos:

1. I get to see variation of marvellous teaching techniques. I see that it all depends on the profile of the child, the time given to cover concepts and the readiness of the child.

2. Some enhancement to encourage participation from the child is asking them for examples of words starting with that letter after we gave examples. It can act as a formative assessment, giving us the assurance if we are on the right track otherwise acts as a prompt for us to prepare more examples to help the child understand better.

3. It will be good to do a role-play switch too. Let the student make the sound and we guess the letter. I did that upon request from my pupil before. It turn out exciting and fun!

4. Last but not least I learnt a lot from the video on the content mastery of phonics. Especially when the letter has more than 1 sound. When to use each sounds. Their teaching techniques are easy to understand.

Thank you Everyone!💕

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Reflection of my own experience

It's not easy. I did not have any prior experience teaching phonics. My school stint was in secondary school thus the teaching of phonics was not done there at all. I would say what I feel I did well and what I could have done differently.

What I did well
I praise the student often and gave waiting time for the student to reply back.

What I could have done differently
My praises were all the same so I felt that I could have changed my praise here and there. Instead of just praising the student for saying the right sound, I could also praise the student for attempting the sounds. Another factor was that I could have explained to the student the process of I do, we do and you do. At the start of the session, I could have gone through with them the content of today's sessions and what they will be going through for the day instead of just going with the flow. I hope that I will get better in this as weeks go by.

Reflection on how others have taught the phonograms
I would reflect overall. From videos that I have watched, I noticed one common thing, they would use visual aids or actions as they accompany it with the sound. This would make it easier for the students to remember and relate back to the sounds that they are learning.
The second point that I learnt was that they went through each sound slowly and made sure to check for understanding. They would say things as "I say a", "We say a" and now "You say a". I noticed the vast difference in the way they showed I do, we do, you do compare to the way I did it.
The third one that I found interesting was Haley's unknown pile where she allowed the students to not know the sound and put it aside but goes back to the unknown pile after he went through the whole pile.
For the last one, I realised that some of them separated the letters with more than one sound visually and explained to the student the difference. They did not change the sequence of how it is placed when they test the students. I realise that this allows the students to know which letter has more than one sound and will be able to retrieve the information easier

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My own learning experience.

The video recording was my first experience teaching phonics. As I was in a secondary school setting, I do not have any prior knowledge to test it out. It was hard for me because I believe to successfully teach, I really needed to master it first. I sourced out YouTube videos to accelerate my learning. I found those videos which link the sound words to the objects were confusing for me. I found the sound words videos which involved tactile movements to be interesting. After looking at the good videos, I will do it differently the next time. Below are some of the observations:

Surbhi

She sets the lesson objective at the start of the lesson. She also went through the class rules with the student. She recapped the previous lesson and linked it to a music lesson. She explained in detail what a phoneme is. She even has a mirror for the student when the student tries to sound the words after observing her sound the words. She will point to her lips so that her student can follow. Student engagement is high with her method. She is also very encouraging and gives wait time for the student to try.

Hang Chi

She uses Pear deck app when teaching her students. Even though it is still a work in progress for me to link objects to sound words, I felt that I could follow her lesson well. Her lesson is crafted in such a way that it can be used for both classroom teaching and Home-Based Learning lessons.

Dee

Dee method is slightly different from the rest. She scaffolds the card into 2. Those with 2 sounds and another with 1 sound by asking the 2 dots and no dots cards. I can see her joy when she taught her student and even allowed her student to work independently.

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Reflection on my own teaching phonics (c,g,h,i,o,x,y,z)

I’m glad to share my teachable moments by video recording myself, which is a different experience and self-practice. As I have no experience teaching phonics, It taught me how to pronounce the word with different sounds for certain letters after some research. I need to create an interactive lesson for my SEN students based on their learning needs.

Surbhi

I enjoyed Surbi phonics class and big hi5 for you. Subhi has shown clearly the mouth and tongue placement while pronouncing the different sounds.

Siti Khadijah

I enjoyed Dee phonics lesson with initiating the class by introducing the letter with different sounds. Later she gives an example of a word by integration of ‘I do’, ‘We do’ and ‘You do’.

Hang Chi

Well Done Hang Chi and Hang Chi clearly stated and explained the movement of the mouth for the phonic sounds. She has warm gestures throughout the lesson while guiding the student.

Jean

Good lesson Jean!! Her lesson was exciting and concise which easier to understand. She also explains the movement of lips integrating with letter sounds.

Stephanie

Well Done Stephanie and I enjoyed her lesson as her lesson sounds explicitly with teaching thru finger in front of the screen. This strategy will allow students to remember the letters and sounds thru finger movement gestures.

Haley

I found Haley’s lesson was interesting, and she taught by associating the sounds of the letter with hand gestures. Children will capture quickly by using this strategy.

Clarissa

I’m fascinated by Clare teaching with a warm tone and more precise. I learned here that the dots after the letter (eg.’c..’) represent two sounds letter ‘c’. Thanks for highlighting this and being more transparent throughout the lesson.

Priya

Well Done Priya !!. Her lesson was interactive, and children will like it when it comes with colourful pictures. Her teaching on sounds was very clear and easily understood by kids.

Edward

Good Job Edward. He reinforces on ‘I do’, ‘We do’ and ‘You do’ strategy and showed the sounds of the letter in the context. Kids can pick up the sound when reading the short sentence.

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A) my your own experience in teaching the set of phonograms
I have a lot of practice with the phonograms I had. I wanted to be confident to teach phonograms in the future. I had two strategies to approach this task first was by using flashcards and phonics with I do, We do, You do. The focus is to identify the letters and phonics. The second approach was using a visual aid as I also believe using an object they can relate like A for Apple (word+picture). I recorded my first strategy as I wanted to focus on my teaching of the phonogram. After reflecting on the recording, I would need more practice. I used the second strategy with my kid the next day, and he likes it! He was able to pronounce the phonics and relate with the visual aids.

B) your thoughts after reviewing how the others have taught the phonograms to their students.

Surbhi
1) Create classroom rules setting
2) Engaging activity
3) Students using a mirror to see the movement of the mouth and tongue
4) Using engaging pictures

Dee
1) Her expression shows motivation to teach the students
2) Explaining the dots after the letters that indicate how many sounds
3) Using the I do, We do, You do strategy
4) Student to be an active learner

Hang Chi
1) Her approach of using ICT and great graphics can help the student relate to everyday things.
2) At the end of the lesson, she reinforces the learning and assessment by doing a quiz.

Jean
1) Finding prior knowledge of the students
2) Using an overview and checklist for introduced phonics and progression.
3) Very consistent with Scaffolding each phonogram

Haley
1) Very engaging lessons by using hand gestures and acts as a visual aid
2) Clear articulation of phonics while doing the hand acts
3) Using the I do, We do, You do strategy.

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My own experience:
Since we had to keep the video to 10 minutes, I considered what were the important points to include and practise with the student, and eventually decided to focus on having many opportunities for the student to hear and produce the sounds. I also included skywriting as it's a good informal way to observe if students are forming their letters correctly, as I've observed that students who tend to "anyhow do" their skywriting also tend to have writing difficulties.

This task was a good practice for potential future online teaching sessions, especially with HBL becoming more common. I definitely experienced technical difficulties and it made me think about what tools or resources I could use in the future to better engage students during video lessons.

Thoughts on peers' videos:
Everyone had such creative teaching methods! I really learnt a lot from everyone and it made me reflect on how I can improve my own teaching.

Surbhi
- Lively and engaging session.
- Use of mirror and attention to mouth shapes.
- Good graphics & phrases to remember the sounds e.g. "yummy flying candy".

Dee
- Clear demonstration of I Do, We Do, You Do.
- Mentioned how the dots on the cards indicated whether the letter had 1 sound or 2 sounds.
- Allowed student to choose which sounds to focus on, take ownership of learning.

Hang Chi
- Lovely graphics that were key words for the letters.
- Good use of ICT tool & app so that the session was interactive & engaging.
- A lot of repetition of the target sounds.

Jean
- Checked for prior knowledge of the letter sounds.
- Good scaffolding with gradual inclusion of new phonemes.
- Reviewed & reinforced letter sounds from previous sessions before learning new sounds.

Haley
- Interesting use of actions to represent the key words for the letters; activated different senses for learning.
- Scaffolding done through incremental rehearsal.

Clare
- Very clear explanation and presentation of the lesson material (letters, key words, sounds, spelling rules).
- Considered student's strong visual memory and provided the letter + visual (even during the recap at the end) to aid student's learning.
- Good choice of words to illustrate the rules for soft c/g, long 'i', long 'o' and the sounds of 'y'.

Priya
- Clear presentation of lesson and good variety of words & pictures.
- Included words with initial and medial vowel sounds; develops phonological awareness.
- Card game at the end for active learning and for the student to apply what he has learnt.

Edward
- Clear expectations and objectives at the start of the lesson.
- Slides had clear indication of I Do, We Do, You Do.
- Presented the key words in short sentences.

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My experience

Teaching phonics/phonograms is not something I had prior experience doing. As a result, I tend to break down my lesson too much, with the intention of scaffolding in later sessions. I tried to take perspective of what it would be like for someone new to phonograms (i.e. like myself), so I decided to break it up into multiple lessons.

Why didn't I have teachers like you guys growing up? Teachers who were creative, have clear delivery, broke up lessons into parts, could scaffold according to our ability and were so encouraging.

Present: I tend to simplify my lessons too much.
Future: But after watching the videos uploaded, I've learnt that I can deliver a clear, concise lesson even by incorporating multiple examples and pictures.
Present: I need to be more creative in my presentation!
Future: I did not look up Google or Youtube resources even though I should have.

Things the others did well

Surbhi

She clearly lays out the class rules

Her lesson was fun and engaging!

The use of the mirror

Instructions were also clear

Dee

I love her tone! Dee is so enthusiastic!

She clearly distinguishes letters with 2 sounds and those with a single sound.

Her feedback is also really affirmative and encouraging!

Dee also gives multiple examples of the letter sounds in actual words.

Hang Chi

Her lesson can be done both online and face to face!

Making pictures out of the letters

Emphasising the shape of the mouth when producing the sound

Inserting quizzes to check for understanding.

Stephanie

Sky writing when making the sounds (WOW i never knew there was a term of this! Thanks Stephanie!)

Teaching the placement of the tongue in relation to the parts of the mouth.

The pacing of her lesson was just right, not too fast and not too slow.

Haley

explained the lesson for the day.

She also has gestural prompts for “I say” vs “we say” vs “you say”. She pairs the sounds with actions that are associated with the phonograms.

Incremental rehearsal – Haley modifies her teaching strategy based on how her student is learning.

She checks for learning by doing a fluency check at the end of her lesson.

Clarissa

Clare plans her lesson by starting with the easier phonograms – those with 1 sound followed by those with 2 sounds.

She also segments the words when the phonograms have more than 1 sound, making it really clear for the student to understand.

She is also very encouraging in her tone and sounds really upbeat.

Clare does a recap before concluding her lesson.

Priya

Priya starts of the lesson by telling Tom what he will learning for the day.

She gives multiple examples of words that begin with each letter sound. She also emphasizes the long vowel sounds in her examples by stressing on the “a” sound.

I love the use of different materials! Using both the iPad and the self-correcting alphabet puzzles.

Edward

Very clear plan for the lesson. Edward lists the 3 steps of I do, we do, and you do.

His lesson was also very easy to understand and remember. Edward splits up the long and short vowels.

For short vowel “a”, he highlights it in red and provides examples. For long vowel “a”, he also highlights it in red and underlines it.

The pacing of his lesson was really good. He is clear and Edward uses pictures in his examples.

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My own experience:

I based my student profile on an actual primary 3 student who has severe dyslexia but has strong visual memory. The inspiration for using words and picture association came from one of the videos posted on NTUlearn. I wanted the words and pictures to have strong visual association, the weirder the visual the better for recalling. It definitely took a while to come up with words that fit the phonograms, sound logical and to find images that were relevant. But I was glad when I managed to do so in the end.

Looking back on the first presentation which I did with Jean and this phonogram video, I felt that I did not really grow much, my creativity and strategies were really limited. Honestly, I felt that there was not much difference between the two presentations. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement. It just so happened that we were able to choose the student profile for this video and hence I was able to select something that I was comfortable with doing.

Nevertheless, this mini presentation allowed me to use a medium (online teaching) that I am not as familiar with. I also had to explain when the phonograms had two sound and under what circumstances will they make the sounds. It was a good opportunity for me to revisit the phonograms in a different way and to understand first before explaining it.

My thoughts on the other videos:

Watching the other 8 videos was an eye-opening experience for me! Each of them had certain aspects that I could learn from and they taught me different ways in which the teaching of phonograms can be done for different profile of students. Kudos to everyone!

I found Hang Chi’s presentation the most addictive. Not only did she personified the phonograms with her own drawings (e.g. like the letter f was drawn in the shape of a fish), she also repeated how the phonogram sounded in a repetitive manner with a specific rhythm (a a apple). It really drills the sound into my head. She also told the student where to place the tongue which will help. Using the ICT tool makes the session more interactive and it is very apt for blended learning.

I was really engaged by Haley’s presentation. It was an ingenious way of combing actions with the sounds. I found myself doing the actions with her! This will be so suitable for the lower primary who might learn better kinesthetically as compared to just visuals. In the later part of her video, she introduced how the phonograms looked like and used the actions she taught to prompt the student. There were also very clear hand directions given when she said ‘I say, we say and you say’. I also learnt the new strategy of incremental rehearsal. This can help my student who has trouble retaining certain sounds yet at the same time, being paired with sounds that he/she already knows does not make the task seem too difficult.

Steph’s presentation was extremely clear, systematic and easy to understand.  Explaining the airflow in the mouth/tongue placement/mouth shape allows me to get a better understanding on how my mouth should feel. E.g. pushing the air out for the /b/ sound, making a wide smile for the short /e/ sound. Skywriting it also allows the student to have a muscle memory of the letter and the sound. I feel that her video would also be good for caregivers who are supporting their children at home.

My learning points from Jean’s video: 1) She did an assessment prior to her session, 2) she broke up teaching the 8 phonograms into separate sessions, 3) she reassessed using a different material and 4) she ticked off the phonograms after the student has mastered them. Other than her clear presentation, what I really liked and took away was that Jean understood her student well. It reminded me not to be too ambitious to try and squeeze all the 8 phonograms into one session, even if I could, my student might show signs of fatigue towards the end and it will not help in learning. Having an assessment done prior will also allow Jean to know what to focus on and when she ticked off after her student has mastered them, it really gives the students a sense of accomplishment. Lastly, reassessment using a different set of cards will help Jean check the student’s understanding. The dots were removed on the assessment set of cards and this required the student to know the number of sounds each phonogram makes and what the sounds are.

Surbhi created a safe learning space for the student. I appreciate that she checked-in with her student and acknowledged how he felt, before commencing the session and she does not diminish anything that he said. The recap of the previous session on notes was seamlessly linked to letters creating sounds. She also made sure the student knew what he was going to learn.  Surbhi was also very explicit in her teaching, giving instructions to look at her mouth when she is doing the ‘I do’ phase and she also gave the student a mirror for him to observe his own mouth. This is an excellent support tool, so that the student is aware of how his mouth looks like instead of just how it feels like, when sounding out the phonogram. I really felt myself inching closer to the screen whenever Surbhi says ‘watch my mouth’, and doing it with her when she says ‘let’s do it together.

Both Dee and Edward gave very clear expectations at the beginning of their sessions. Dee showed her students the cards, this allows the students to know how much she is going to learn. Separating them into two rows and using the word ‘magical’ will pique the interest of the student. I also like how there was a choice element at the end where the student can choose two phonograms instead of doing all. Edward laid out what the student/himself was going to do at each I do, we do and you do stage. There was one thing that caught my attention, which was the ‘you do’ part that Edward mentioned, you do, you do on your own, but I listen. It showed that not only does the student need to listen to the teacher, but at the end, the teacher will also respect and listen to the student. This is something mutual and important for the student’s learning. Having a teacher listening in is not just for correction, but also affirmation. Edward also provided a sentence to show the word (that contained the phonogram) being used in context, and not just in isolation.

There were a lot of examples used in Priya’s teaching, the graphics and word choices were also pitched at the student’s level. There was also emphasis on the phonogram in each of the words that she showed, no matter if the phonogram was found at the beginning, or middle of the word. I really admire that she was willing to expand the student’s knowledge by bringing in the different permutations of the long a and e sound. She also placed everything in a neat table to represent it more easily. The simple game at the end also helped to revised the sounds that were being taught during the session.

On a side-note:

There will never be a ‘one size fits all’ strategy to teach phonograms, every child is different and every educator is different too. But I am really thankful to be able to receive so much from this diversity. This will definitely help build all our strategy banks and maybe even combine some stuff here and there to suit our students’ learning needs in the future. It was not an easy task this time round, but overall, we made it!

Lots of Love, Clare

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My experience teaching the phonograms -

Initially I had some trouble thinking about the strategies to incorporate into my teaching as I had no prior experience teaching phonograms. However YouTube was a great help. I also drew from my personal experience of seeing how incorporating movement into my lessons enabled students to commit information to memory more easily, and used it in deciding which strategy to use amongst the videos I saw.

Surbhi - I liked how you gave Issac a mirror, which is a helpful tip to get students to watch how your lips pronounced the words as he self-corrected. I also loved how your lesson has a flow to it

Dee - Your steps for the I do- You do is very clear, and easy for the student to follow. Your praises given was also specific (e.g. “I like your voice”) which is an alternative to “well done/good job” I can definitely learn from! The strategy of using “magic cards” with the additional full stops is also helpful in helping the student remember how many sounds each letter can make. (Helped me too!).

The recap at the end, with all the different word examples is another useful strategy as it helps the student put the sounds in context.

Hang Chi - I absolutely loved how the corresponding pictures are drawn as letters! Really creative and fun. The quiz is also an interactive feature of the lesson, and helps the students to immediately recall what they’ve learnt.

Priya - The use of many examples for the sounds was particularly helpful, because it helps the students to see how the sounds are like in different words.

Jean - It was visually really clear to use the yellow paper border, so that the student can immediately know whether the letter has only one sound, or more than 1.

Also learnt a a useful tip, to have the letters written out instead of printed during the review, to see if the student is able to generalise the skill learnt (sometimes the print can look different from handwritten letters, but both are equally as important).

Clare - Your lesson was very well-structured, the transition from the explanation of what phonograms are to the schedule for the day was really seamless. Your lesson was well-paced and your tone was both welcoming and calming!

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While recording, I realized that it was tough as I would have to make a few attempts to teach a letter. Lack of experience in teaching phonics, mistakes occurred while recording and repeated times to check if sounds were right taking me longer than expected. However, it was a form of practice of me as I have to “look at myself” teaching several times. While searching for related resources online, I found that there were different sources that had the letter sounds differently. It further confused me, leading me to check with materials on blackboard. After submission, I reflected and realized that I should have included some phonic rules on the a and e sounds to help the learner gain clarity over the lesson. It was a good learning experience for me.

Surbi

-relate phonics to other subjects as introduction

-using mirrors to help learner look the way she sounds

Dee

-explaining to learner some letters have more than 1 sound

-pacing of lesson was good

-recap end of lesson to check if learner has remembered

Hang Chi

-repetition in sounding to gain memory

-engaging visuals

Jean

-assess learner’s ability before conducting the session

-breaking into sessions to ensure learner aids retention

Stephanie

- using fingers to gesture while sounding

- recap end of lesson to check if learner has remembered

Haley

- routine of (I say, we say, you say)

- gestures to help learners relate to sounds

-incremental rehearsal to help retention

Clarissa

-explanation of phonograms

- phonics rules and when to use the different sounds

Priya

-multiple objects with the same sound for learner to relate to

-explanation of long and short vowel sound

Edward

- Clear steps for learner to follow

- good pace throughout session

- animated objects to keep learner engaged

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My own experience:
While preparing for the lesson, I realised that it was not easy as many examples I wanted to use included digraphs and diphthongs, which might confuse the student. Preparation is important so that we do not teach students the wrong thing. or overload them unnecessarily.

Surbhi
·Use of mirror to get student to be aware of mouth shape

·Pictures and funny concepts e.g. old octopus, green giraffe

Stephanie
·Good job remembering – praise was specific to the behaviour

·Clearly explains how to position lips to form the sound

·Uses multisensory approach (pronounce, air write)

Edward
·Lists out steps clearly (ID, WD, YD)

·Slides are not cluttered, easy for students to check

Priya
·Taught both uppercase and lowercase letters

·Used a table to organise letter sounds

·Used many examples to reinforce practise of letter sounds

Hang Chi
·Interactive element to the lesson – harness use of technology and games

·Uses art to make the lesson more engaging

·Visual elements to emphasize larger number of consonants

Clare
·Good organisation of information (pictures, details etc)

·Recap at the end of the lesson

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My own experience:

When I was searching for strategies in the big world of Google, there are many ways of teaching phonograms. The sounds vary and make me question if I may have mispronounced some phonograms. The teacher must first know the correct sounds before he/she can teach another person. I realized that the basics, our foundation, are very important and need to be strong.

Dee

I felt at ease during her lesson, and she was very systematic from teaching sounds then move on to word examples.

Hang Chi

Her lesson flow was smooth, and she had good techniques in showing how to shape the mouth when sounding out the phonograms. The quiz and quick recap at the end were a good way to end the lesson.

Steph

From the perspective of the teacher, when she skywrites the letter, it is actually the mirror image, but students can see the letter formation correctly. Positioning of teeth, lips and pushing out the air are some of the techniques that are new to me.

Clarisssa

Her explanations are very clear and easy to understand. The picture of Cat City and Green Giraffe are stuck in my head. Especially good for visual learners.

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A)      I have learned that multi-sensory approach can help student with Dyslexia learn better.  I realized that I was too greedy to include all the techniques learned. I should choose a strategy that can best suit teaching the SEN student and applied, instead of shortening the teaching procedures due to time constrain.

B)      I am impressed by the following teaching approaches which I found useful:

To create a friendly environment to let students feel ease and safe.

Let student preview the agenda of the day and what to learn (which 8 letters).

Group the letters into 2 groups: a group with one sound and the other in 2 or more sounds.

Student can understand and remember better during learning process.

Tracing in the air is a good strategy to learn.  The kinetic movement may help student learn better instead of just sitting down and learn.

Find out what student had learned is important so that teacher do not repeat what student know and student doesn’t feel bored.

Break the lesson into 3 sessions instead of learning all 8 letters in one lesson is a good strategy. Student learn the phonograms progressively, they can grasp the phonograms better without confusion.

Review and conclusion at the end of the lesson help student to recap what they had learned.

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First of all, I'm so impressed by everyone's teaching!!! I think their future students will be so lucky to have them as their AED!!!!

I was the most engaged in Hang Chi's lesson. Her lesson was so clear; her illustrations and explanations made it so easy to remember the sounds; and her quizzes in between each phonogram helps to reinforce my understanding. I also loved her review at the end when I get to practise again what I've learned and see all her cute illustrations once more.

Surbhi is so clear and encouraging as a teacher and I like how she provided a mirror for the student to check whether he's mouthing the sounds correctly! Her pictures to teach 2 different sounds of a phonogram makes it so fun and easy to remember.

Clare uses pictures in her teaching too which I feel is so effective and she breaks down her explanation so well about when to use each sound. I admittedly had problems understanding that from our phonogram cards but her lesson totally enlightened me. haha thanks Clare!

I like how Jean broke her lesson into different days because honestly, I don't think a student can remember all 8 phonograms in a lesson.

I like how Stephanie focused on the correct ways to sound each phonogram with tips on where to place the tongue or how the lips should be. I learned a lot!

I love Edward's lesson too because of the big words and graphics and how he also contextualised the phonograms into words and sentences.

I wish I can download all these videos to use as a reference when I need to teach phonics. I'm not as proficient as all of them in teaching phonograms!

My own experience:

As this is my first time learning phonics, I used a lot of Youtube videos to help me understand phonograms and how to teach them, but honestly, these 9 videos are so much better as they also involve strategies suitable for our students with SEN.

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My own experience:
This was an interesting but challenging assignment for me as I was not confident at all in teaching Phonograms. While I was planning for the 10 minutes lesson, I reflected on my own learning experiences. Questions that I asked myself: As a visual learner, what helps to make learning phonogram easier? How do I retain knowledge?

This assignment not only made us learn the phonograms, but also provided the opportunity for us to reflect and think for our students.

What I have learnt:
Lesson structure:
Surbhi and Edward's lessons showed clear lesson structure which is extremely important for students with SEN. Surbhi showed a schedule and set of class rules, that helps to convey her expectations for the students. Edward modelled the use of the I do-We do-You do model, providing scaffolding for the student.

Warmth of a teacher:
My first thought after watching Surbhi's video: I want to be your student!
Her voice is friendly but at the same time, very firm. She makes the classroom a conducive place for learning and as a student, he/she will not feel intimidated. Clare's and Jean's used a calm and clear voice, they did not rush in completing the lesson, and encouragement was given to the students.

Using Gestures:
Haley and Stephanie incorporated hand gestures when teaching phonograms. Similar to the use of illustrations for visual learners, some students learn and remember better with hand sign/gestures/movements. It is an eye opener as I have never thought of using hand gestures in my lessons.

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My own experience:
Thank you Doctor Liz for sharing my video to my classmates and for the kind words that you shared with me.

Planning for this lesson was an eye opener for me as I learnt many things along the way. When I started off the planning, I asked myself a few questions:
-Who is my student? Does he have any learning needs?
-What medium do I want to use to do my teaching? Should I use powerpoint slides, lettter cards or whiteboard?
-Is there a specific order that I should follow when I teach the letter sounds?
-How do I plan my lesson such that I do not exceed the given time?

Based on the questions I had, I planned my lesson. I decided to work on a P3 student who has Dyslexia.
I decided that powerpoint slides (with pictures) will be a good way to engage my student.  When I was planning the order of the letters that I was going to teach, I was confused as to whether I should teach the vowels before the consonants. Then I decided that I should not teach both the vowels one after another to avoid overwhelming my student. Also, letters b and d make very similar sounds thus I did not want to teach these two letter sounds one after another so that my student does not get confused. Thus I decided to split these 4 letters.
Planning the teaching component for the consonants was a breeze as the consonants have only one sound each. However, the challenge came when I was planning the teaching component for the vowels as both letters a and e have two sounds each. I felt that I cannot simply teach my student that letter a has two sounds and introduce the two sounds because I felt that my student will not know when he should make the first sound for letter a and when he should make the second sound for letter a. I felt that I should teach my student when he should use the relevant sounds for these two letters (which will mean I have to teach the magic "e" rule and the "ea" sound and so on). But given the ten minutes, it was a challenge for me to go in-depth thus I did a quick introduction to the letter sounds.
I wanted to include a hands-on activity in my teaching. Thus at the end of my teaching, I used a letter and picture puzzle to recap what I have taught by getting my student to match the picture to the relevant letter to conclude the lesson.
Preparing this lesson was definitely a very good learning experience for me.

Watching my classmates videos, I have definitely picked up alot of new ways to teach phonics.

Stephanie's teaching:
I liked the sky writing method that she used in her teaching. I felt that this was an effective method as allowing the child to write the letter and say the sound will allow him to make the connection between the letter and the sound. I also liked how she taught the child how to make the sounds explicitly. Another element that stood out to me was that she used a schedule. I think it is important to let the child know what he will be learning at the start of the lesson so that he is aware.

Dee's teaching:
I liked Dee's "I Do, You Do and We Do" method in teaching the phonics. At I Do stage, she did good role modelling of the sounds. At We Do stage, she did the sounds together with the child and finally at You Do stage, she allowed the child to try on his own. This is a good method as there is a good flow from scaffolding to allowing the child to work independently. Another thing which stood out to me in her lesson was the usage of picture cards. I feel children will learn better when there are visual cues.

Haley's teaching:
The thing that I liked in Haley's teaching was the hand gestures that she used while teaching the sounds. I found that interesting and I feel younger children and kinesthetic learners will find this very engaging. I believe that when students start making associations between the gand gestures and sounds, they will be able to remember the letter sounds better. She also used the incremental rehearsal method to help the child to remember the sounds better. I found this efficient.

On the whole, I found this whole activity very enriching as I learnt alot when I was planning for my lesson. And after watching my classmates video, I realised that I have picked up alot of tips and strategies to teach phonics.

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Own experience
I am glad to understand the phonograms a bit better after I made the video. The recording was done a few times due to my inexperience of handling the presentation and the recording but I was quite happy to learn it.
The nine videos featured taught me a few more things that I can use in my teaching  next time. The ideas my classmates have were very interesting. Very creative indeed!

Haley
Using movement to teach sounds, that is a great idea. It is something we can use to teach the kinaesthetic students who learn better through physical activities.

Hang Chi
I see differentiation of content in the video. Although 'a' and 'e' each has two sounds, the teacher chose to focus on one sound first. This catered to the student's needs and profile. The graphic representation of the letters was so cute and surely hooked the attention of the student. The quiz at the end is a wonderful wrap-up of the lesson.

Surbhi
Wow, it was really a whole lesson because the teacher went through the schedule, class rules, and the 2 min break. Kudos! I like it when she asked the student to observe the shape of her mouth, and then gave him a mirror to check his own mouth.

Clarissa
The graphics were interesting - cat city and green giraffe. I also like the recap at the end which would help the student to remember what he had learnt for that lesson.

Edward
WALT - What are we learning today? Nice! The video reinforces the I do, we do and you do strategy. It is a good idea to build a sentence to put the word in context for the student to understand better.

Priya
There were many examples given in the video. To end the lesson with a game using picture cards is something any student would look forward to.