FOCUS ON PHONICS (GRADES K-3)

Do your students lack basic phonics skills? This online course focuses on effective ways to teach children to decode unknown words. Phonics basics will be emphasized along with specific ways to help students who are struggling in this area. Using context clues and structural analysis as a means of decoding will also be introduced. Suggestions for teaching sight words, high frequency words, and instant words will be shared. Teachers will also learn how to use the making words and chunking strategies as well as how to implement reader’s workshop and literacy stations. Teachers will gain ideas for using the language experience approach to reinforce phonics and spelling skills. The course will also focus on assessment strategies for phonics and decoding, including running records, miscue analysis, and informal reading inventories.

ADDITIONAL NOTES: 

PDI courses receive letter grades. You can register and begin the course at any time and have until the end of Ashland University’s academic year to complete it. This course is web-based so you can access it from any computer with internet access. It is also self-paced, so you can work entirely at your own pace, when it is convenient for you. There are no specific times you must be online and no individual deadline dates for assignments. They can be submitted any time, so long as everything has been submitted by the end of the academic term.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR COURSE MATERIALS: 

Within 1-2 business days of your Ashland registration, you will receive an email from your course content provider, Professional Development Institute, containing instructions on how to access your course materials. A note, their emails are sometimes forwarded to junk or spam folders. 

You'll work with PDI, using their LMS, to complete the course, at which time, your instructor will post your final grade here to your AU transcript. You'll receive an email notification from Ashland PDS when the grade posts, with instructions on how to view and order transcripts. 

Ashland Professional Development: pds@ashland.edu