As a teacher, I've been called many things. Today, I was called something by a student that I've never been called before - "Miss God". I was given this new name by the cutest little spunky kindergartner you have ever seen.
She saw me approach for bus duty and blurted out my new name to her teacher. "Look, here comes Miss God!" I didn't hear it so the teacher shared it with me after I had checked off the bouncing group on my clipboard to board the bus. "She called you Miss God. Isn't that so strange?" I started to explain that I was her sister's dyslexia therapist. "Oh," the teacher responded, "no wonder she thinks you are like God." I am pretty awesome - but, no. There is an explanation. A perfectly dyslexic explanation.
My name is Mrs. Scott. When you consider that the hard sounds of g and c are made by the same mouth position with the only difference being that /g/ has a "voice" and /c/ does not, AND the same applies to /d/ and /t/, then it is easy to understand how Mrs. Scott gets translated by a kindergartner (with dyslexia in the family) to be "Miss God".
So - now you try it. Make the sound of /g/ and then the sound of /c/. Look in the mirror and see that you are doing the exact same mouth movements with both sounds. Put your hand on your throat to feel the "voice" for /g/ and the lack of a "voice" for /c/. Do the same for /d/ and /t/.
It explains why some children mispronounce some words when reading - they are not distinguishing the differences in the partner sounds and their voiced/unvoiced characteristics.
This is why phonemic awareness is so important and worth the time to teach. It is a foundational skill to reading development. As a teacher, when you notice that a child is having trouble differentiating between letter sounds, they need MORE phonemic awareness.
While I am a very passionate dyslexia therapist and teacher (and so happy it shows!), I'm mere mortal - just flesh and bone.
She saw me approach for bus duty and blurted out my new name to her teacher. "Look, here comes Miss God!" I didn't hear it so the teacher shared it with me after I had checked off the bouncing group on my clipboard to board the bus. "She called you Miss God. Isn't that so strange?" I started to explain that I was her sister's dyslexia therapist. "Oh," the teacher responded, "no wonder she thinks you are like God." I am pretty awesome - but, no. There is an explanation. A perfectly dyslexic explanation.
My name is Mrs. Scott. When you consider that the hard sounds of g and c are made by the same mouth position with the only difference being that /g/ has a "voice" and /c/ does not, AND the same applies to /d/ and /t/, then it is easy to understand how Mrs. Scott gets translated by a kindergartner (with dyslexia in the family) to be "Miss God".
So - now you try it. Make the sound of /g/ and then the sound of /c/. Look in the mirror and see that you are doing the exact same mouth movements with both sounds. Put your hand on your throat to feel the "voice" for /g/ and the lack of a "voice" for /c/. Do the same for /d/ and /t/.
It explains why some children mispronounce some words when reading - they are not distinguishing the differences in the partner sounds and their voiced/unvoiced characteristics.
This is why phonemic awareness is so important and worth the time to teach. It is a foundational skill to reading development. As a teacher, when you notice that a child is having trouble differentiating between letter sounds, they need MORE phonemic awareness.
While I am a very passionate dyslexia therapist and teacher (and so happy it shows!), I'm mere mortal - just flesh and bone.
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