In this blog post, we’ll dive into strategies and practice problems to help you ace your teaching reading certification exams. Whether you’re preparing for the Praxis 5205, 5206, the new 7002, or any other teaching reading exam, the tips and techniques shared here are applicable across various assessments. Understanding the fundamentals of print awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading progression is key to excelling in these tests. Let’s break it down step by step.
Understanding Print Awareness
Print awareness involves recognizing how print works in books and on paper. For example:
- Correct: When a teacher holds a book upside down, and the student asks them to turn it right side up, this indicates print awareness.
- Correct: In English, students know that we read from left to right, top to bottom, and front to back.
- Incorrect: Identifying sounds in a word, like ‘forgetful,’ relates more to phonological or phonemic awareness rather than print awareness.
Phonemic and Phonological Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. Phonological awareness, on the other hand, includes a broader set of skills such as recognizing onsets and rimes.
For instance:
- Correct Approach: Working on blending sounds in words can be a good strategy once students have grasped initial sounds.
- Incorrect Approach: Focusing solely on beginning or ending sounds might miss the critical step of understanding medial sounds, which are essential for blending.
Effective Strategies for Teaching Reading
When assessing students, it's crucial to understand their current abilities and next steps. For example:
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Identifying Medial Sounds: If a student can identify the beginning and ending sounds of a word, the next step is often focusing on medial sounds to improve blending skills.
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Phonographic Relationships: To enhance phonics instruction, having students break down words based on sound-letter correspondence (phonemes and graphemes) can be highly effective.
Resources for Exam Preparation
To further assist in your preparation, consider the following resources:
- Study Guides: Comprehensive guides for the Praxis 5205 and 5206, and other relevant exams, can be found at our website. These guides include practice questions and detailed explanations.
- Audio Course: For on-the-go learning, an audio course that complements the study guide is available. You can explore the Praxis Teaching Reading audio course here.
- Online Courses: Detailed video courses cover everything from the new 7001, which has the 7002 Teaching Reading and the Praxis 5205 Teaching Reading, offering hours of instructional content to enhance your understanding.
Final Tips
- Study Regularly: Make sure to review key concepts such as explicit, systematic, and recursive approaches to teaching reading.
- Practice Strategically: Use practice problems to familiarize yourself with the exam format and question types.
- Leverage Available Resources: Utilize study guides, audio courses, and online resources to reinforce your learning.
Good luck with your teaching reading certification exam! For more tips and strategies, check out additional resources and videos on our YouTube channel. Keep studying, stay focused, and you’ll be well-prepared to succeed.
