The brain is a pattern-making machine—seeking-out patterns and creating new ones. This is its natural system for learning. And yet, when it comes to teaching abstract letter sound and phonics skills for reading, it can be difficult (if not impossible) to feed the brain the logical explanations for letter sound behavior that it craves!
The Best Thinkers are the Best “Pattern-Makers”
Watch as these first graders are transformed into analytical “word doctors” upon coming across the /ie/ phonics Secret during guided reading. Watch as they think-through (i.e. pattern-out) all of the Secrets they know about Superhero I in order to account for his (sound) behavior, and while doing so, also create a brand NEW pattern! Their diagnosis? Apparently, Superhero I has some sort of obsessive “cookie-eating” and then “excessive exercising” disorder— Lol! (If your kids know the /ie/ phonics Secret, they will LOVE watching this clip!)
Secret Stories® Superhero I
Secret Stories® Phonics “ie” Secret
And now for some teacher-fun!
These very talented teachers from Bremerton, Washington are bringing the “ie Secret” to life in their own way, which you can watch below. You can find this video and more on the free Secret Stories® Youtube Channel!
Underscoring existing reading and writing (phonics) curriculum and instruction with Secret Stories® makes kids privy to all of the letters’ “Secrets,” creating a “learner-driven” instructional environment that transforms daily reading and writing into a virtual playground for critical thinking and deeper literacy learning!
“The measure of intelligence lies in the ability to see patterns where others see randomness.”
Now let’s watch the same first graders (from Mrs. Mac’s 1st Grade Class) in a whole group mini-lesson, during which the kids have noticed that in the word light, the /i/ is making its long sound, despite the fact that there is no Mommy E® or Babysitter Vowel® in sight! This conundrum sparks a creative (and highly imaginative) conversation about letter-sound behavior that is purely driven by learners’ “need-to-know!” (This is actually one of my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE clips!)
It’s difficult to imagine, given the high level of interest and student engagement seen in this video, that these first graders are actually discussing the impact of the /gh/phonics pattern on the sound of the letter /i/ when reading and writing words like sight and night. Their enthusiasm for debating letter behavior is similar to that which is shown when discussing the behavior (or misbehavior!) of their classmates. This is because both concepts are anchored in the same familiar framework of social and emotional experience and understanding, making it easily accessible and ready for use!
“It’s neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things you don’t care about.”
— Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (Harvard Neuroscientist)
By aligning letter-behavior to kid-behavior, Secret Stories® forges learners’ own personal connections to letter sound and phonics skills, which allows inexperienced, beginning and struggling upper grade learners to easily hypothesize and deduce letters’ “most” and “next most” likely sounds. Targeting phonics instruction to the social-emotional “feeling” domain transforms letters and sounds from skills they have to learn into “secrets” they want to know! And the fact that they are grown-up reading and writing “secrets” makes them even more important and helps mark them for memory and prioritized learning in the brain!
And if you were wondering how these first graders so easily identified the different sounds for /gh/, you can learn the phonics Secret in the video, below. (Note the little girl standing next to the lady who is re-telling the Secret, as she is watching her closely to make sure that she doesn’t screw it up— Lol!)
Moving Phonics Instruction from Apathy to Engagement
All kids are naturally fascinated by the behaviors of other kids (i.e. “who did what to who, and why”) and this inherent “need to know” is what naturally drives their desire to learn more Secrets! Even kindergartners can easily remember who the line leader is, who can’t sit together, and who always gets in trouble. The same “social-emotional” learning networks that store and retrieve this information can be used to help them keep track of letter sound behavior, making it easy for them to predict their “most” and “next most” likely sounds. Secret Stories® provides the logical explanations that our brains crave about why the letters do what they do, so as to make phonics make sense! Secrets make phonics make SENSE because they are based on social and emotional frameworks that are already deeply entrenched within the learner. Knowing the letters’ “secrets” spark their natural curiosity. motivating them to engage more with text.
“Giving” Phonics Skills, Not “Teaching” Them for Accelerated Access to the Code
To wrap things up, I just had to share this wonderful email and picture that was sent to me by Aimee Meyer and her first grade class from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Receiving letters like this one mean EVERYTHING to me, and I cannot thank her enough for taking the time to send it!
Dear Katie,
I just wanted to share our latest first grade classwork at St. Thomas More in Baton Rouge. My student made up their own Secret Story posters…..”Drop the “y” to add “ed” and “es! We adore our Secret Stories! I’d feel so lost without it! My school sent me to New Orleans a couple of years ago where I got to meet you and listen to you speak. Afterward, I went home and purchased the Secret Stories Classroom Kit as soon as could!
Thank you so much.
You don’t know how many little lives you’ve changed.
Aimee Meyer
PS Every K-4 classroom in America needs to implement Secret Stories!
https://www.thesecretstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/secret-2Bstories-2Bphonics-2Bfeed-2Bthe-2Bbrain-2B.jpeg7681024Katie Garnerhttps://www.thesecretstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Secret-Stories-Phonics-Method-Logo-1-copy.pngKatie Garner2015-04-11 01:28:002019-04-27 11:19:50Working With the Brain to Fast-Track Phonics Skills for Reading
In a previous post, I explained how to get the most brain-BANG for the buck when using Secret Stories® to sound-out unknown words and help learners to “think through” or pattern-out the most likely sound options. While that post focused on how to think like a doctor, this post will focus on why!
Engaging with unknown text in this way transforms daily reading and writing into a virtual playground for critical thinking and deeper learning, and is far more beneficial from a brain-based perspective than rote memorization of sight words, as evidenced by recent Stanford University Brain Study on Sight Words, referenced in this post.
Patterning IS Thinking
When it comes to learning, our brain’s core belief system is comprised of everything that’s already known to be true. Our brain is the ultimate pattern-makingmachine. It is continually engaged in two primary functions— seeking-out patterns and creating new ones. Whether deciding what to eat for lunch or solving complex mathematical equations, our brains remain on a perpetual hunt to both find and make new patterns!
Once identified, our brain will attempt to connect the new information its perceived to that which it already owns, so as to create a new pattern. And this pretty much sums up the brain’s core learning process!With each new pattern connection that is made, our thinking network continues to grow… and the more connections made, the easier it will be to identify new ones. Acquiring knowledge in this way is both easy and effortless, with no memorization or repetitious practice required!
Pattern making is pleasing to the brain. The brain takes great pleasure in taking random and chaotic information and ordering it. The implications for learning and instruction is that presenting a learner with random and unordered information provides the maximum opportunity for the brain to order this information and form meaningful patterns that will be remembered. The brain, when allowed to express its pattern-making behavior, creates coherency and meaning.
Research shows those considered to be the most intelligent among us, based on IQ testing, are actually the best pattern makers, as they are able to see patterns where others see only randomness.
Author Michael Michalko (author of Thinkertoys, Cracking Creativity, and Think-Pak) wrote in a recent blog post, How Geniuses Think, that “When confronted with a problem, a genius will ask, “How many different ways can I look at it? How many different ways can I solve it?”
Beginning and struggling readers must employ this same diagnostic thinking when using the Secrets to sound out unknown words in text, asking, “What else can it be?…. What else could I try?” Engaging in this type of analytical, problem-solving is often referred to as “thinking outside the box,” but to do it effectively, you have to know what’s in it! And this is why knowing the Secrets is so important for beginning and struggling readers, as they equip learners with everything that’s in the box so that they are empowered to think outside it!
According to Michalko, it is the ability to “connect the unconnected” that makes one some capable of “seeing things to which others are blind.” Einstein, Mozart, Edison, Pasteur, Picasso….some of history’s most prolific thinkers who were also great pattern-makers! Research shows that it’s about teaching students how to think, not what to think.So what does this mean for teachers? It means that we can teach thinking by teaching patterning!
It means that regardless of students’ personal strengths or weaknesses, inclinations or academic interests, teaching them how to pattern-out new information makes them better thinkers … and more intelligent! That’s right! The research shows that by helping learners to foster new connections, we have the power to increase physical brain mass, maximizing learner-potential and better preparing them for future learning!
It also means that kindergarten teachers can’t just say that the letter T will say “tuh” and then pretend to ignore the fact that it almost never actually does when kids see it in real words (i.e. this, they, them, those, them, that, there, those, etc… outnumber words like turtle and Toronto 10 to 1!) versus ignore all of the times that it doesn’t (i.e. the, this, they, those, them, then, than, these, etc…)
When the odds are 10 to 1 against a letter actually making the sound that learners expect it to, trying to read words can feel like a wild goose chase! But for learners who know the letters’ Secrets!
Effective instruction should align with the brain’s natural learning process, not against it, and this can be extremely difficult when teaching letter sounds and phonics. Teaching phonics is not intuitive, and most teachers in early classrooms today have received little to no training on how to do it effectively. So how does one teach something that doesn’t seem to make sense in a way that actually makes sense? They know the Secrets, of course!
Secret Stories® is not like traditional phonics, nor is it like any phonics program. The Secrets simply put meaning where there would otherwise be none, and thereby shifting instruction from brain antagonistic to brain compatible. Secrets empower teachers to break down the grade level walls of traditional phonics skill introduction that limit early learner-access to the code (and what are often letters’ most likely sounds!)
The ability to classify incoming information quickly into categories (based on patterns that we know) means that the brain can use easier rules to deal with the new input, which is less stressful than always having to deal with things that haven’t been seen before.
In other words, our brains are hardwired to look for patterns, and the Secrets are patterns— not abstract letter patterns, but patterns of behavior that aredesigned to mimic learners’ own behavior. Knowing these patterns (i.e. Secrets) equips learners to more easily deal with new information (i.e. unfamiliar words) and better identify the best course of action (most and next most likely sound options to try). In contrast, inexperienced early grade and struggling upper grade readers who don’t know the Secrets must constantly deal with things (i.e. words, phonics patterns) they have never seen before, and are usually told, “It just is… It just does… You just have to remember….” when they can’t read or spell a word.
Seth Godwin, author of Looking for Patterns (Where they don’t Exist!) writes, “Human beings are pattern-making machines. That’s a key to our survival instinct— we seek out patterns and use them to predict the future. Which is great, except when the pattern isn’t there, then our pattern-making machinery is busy picking things out that truly don’t matter.”
The brain science cuts a clear path for teachers today, and understanding how we might better align our instruction with the brain science is critical information for those in early grade classrooms, as well as those working with struggling readers at the upper grade levels. For more, click here to subscribe free to my YouTube Channel and check out the video clip below to find out why “Cheating the Brain is Like Robbing a Bank!”
Until Next Time,
Katie Garner :-)
Breaking down the grade level walls of phonics introduction— one “Secret” at a time!
Secrets account for WHY letters don’t always “do what they should” when they get together in words in a way that kids easily understand, making them easy to remember with no memorization or skill-based practice required! By working with the brain rather than against, Secret Stories® breaks down the traditional grade level walls of phonics skill introduction that limit learner-access to the code and increases momentum in both reading AND writing!(Note: Secret Stories® is not a program, but intended to underscore any existing reading curriculum/instruction, serving as a teacher “took-kit” to make phonics make sense!)
Did you know that if you had a fever and cough, it could be the plague,
or pneumonia…or maybe just the flu? Actually, it could be a lot of things.
Word Doctor Training
Because doctors know that the plague is the least likely cause of your symptoms, and that the flu is the most likely, they will probably go with the flu first and then work their way through the “next most likely” options, as needed.
Medicine is not an exact science, and doctors must use what they know to determine what’s most likely to be effective. They work through these options based on a hierarchy of likelihood.
Like medicine, the English language and is not an exact science, and while phonics is the key to learning how to read, it often takes a binary form, with words either falling squarely under under the “rule” or the “exception” categories. However, when we align abstract phonics skills with human behaviors that mirror kids’ own behaviors, their “most” and “next-most” likely sounds become easily predictable, even for kinders….and even if they’re exceptions!
Good word doctors armed with the Secrets can “treat” these so-called exceptions by employing the same cognitive flexibility that doctors apply when diagnosing patients. The first thing a good word doctor must know is that there are only so many different sounds a letter or phonics pattern can make. Their sounds are not random, even though they may appear that way sometimes.
Just like the old saying “Apples don’t fall far from the tree,” letters don’t fall far from their sounds. For example, you will never see the letter q say “mmm,” or the letter k say “duh,” or the tion phonics pattern say “ing”….
…as contrary to popular belief, letters don’t just lose their little letter-minds and run amok! All they do (and it’s usually the vowels that do this) is make a sound that they’re perfectly capable of making, but it’s the NEXT most likely one! Watch the video clip below to see what I mean!
When working with patients, doctors must use what they know to figure out what they don’t. The must think analytically and diagnostically. “What’s the best course of attack? What should I try first, and if that doesn’t work, what should I try next?” This process continues until all options are exhausted and there is nothing left to try. That’s when the patient is sent to a specialist who can “recognize” what’s too difficult to diagnose. (Much like exceptions that can’t be decoded must be memorized.)
Just like real doctors, word doctors need to use the Secrets they know to figure out the parts of the words that they don’t. They must practice the same cognitive flexibility that doctors use when sounding out unknown words- “What else can it be? What else could I try?” This type of analytical, problem-solving is akin to “thinking outside the box,” and for kids to do this effectively they must first know what’s IN the box. In other words, they must know the phonics Secrets!
This is why earlier and faster access to the code is so important for beginning and struggling readers, as only once kids know what’s IN the box are they able to think outside it!
The Secret Story of ou/ow… Ou & ow play really rough and someone always gets hurt and says— “Oooowww!” (like in the words: how, now, round, house, etc.) But, flying overhead is Superhero O, who happens to their all-time, favorite superhero, ever! Whenever he flies by, they will always stop dead in their tracks and yell—“O! O! O!” That’s why the default sound for ou/ow is the long o sound! (like in the words: know, though, blow, dough, etc.)
The Secret makes sounding out the words with this phonics pattern easy, even in kindergarten! Words like how, now, about, around, know, grow, though, etc., that are commonly found on sight word lists don’t have to memorized, as kids can just READ them! Plus, because it relates back to what kids already know and understand, they can learn (and start using) the ou/ow Secret even if they haven’t yet mastered all the individual letters and sounds. yet because it makes sense to them.
Alternatively, memorizing a sight word can take multiple repetitions and seemingly take forever for some students to master, especially if there is little home support. More importantly, memorizing a sight word lets you read ONE word, whereas knowing a Secret lasts you read thousands!
Consider the word you…
The ou isn’t doing what it should according to the Secret. Even still, its sound hasn’t fallen too far away… at least not so far that a good word doctor can’t still figure it out.
And here’s how…
1. First, try the most likely Secret Stories sound for ou (as in house)….. NOPE, it didn’t work!
2. Next, try the individual sounds for the letters o and u ….. BINGO!!! We got the word!!
In this case, we got it on the second try.
Now, had we not struck gold on our first “out-of-the-box” attempt, we could have worked our way further down the list of possible sound options and turned this puzzle into a sort of problem-solving/critical thinking game….
3. Try the sounds of other Secret Stories patterns with o or u, like the Secrets for oo, oi/oy or ous. For example, in the word could, the ou is making the default-sound for oo (as in book) and kids who know the oo Secret might try that sound as one more possible option.
Thinking Vowels® / Head-Bop
And of course, the Thinking Vowels® head-bop trick is another great word doctor-tool to help kids decode those otherwise “undecodable” words, like of, come, love, some, what, was, etc.. (Learn more about Thinking Vowels® here or click on the picture below for the video.)
4. It’s the PLAGUE! It requires a specialist! When we’ve exhausted all options and have no more tricks up our sleeve, we must surrender to the word, which means we have to memorize it!
Why Not Just Memorize These Tricky Words?
Here’s why— because it is within this “figuring-out” process that cognitive flexibility is strengthened and opportunities for deep learning lie! Not just learning how to read, but learning how to think! Our brain is a pattern-making machine, and this patterning process of thinking-through all available options is its natural way of doing things. “If not this, then that…” Our brain is continually “patterning-out” the best available options in everything that we do…
We think… “I’ll park in the front, but if I can’t find a space, I’ll try the back, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try the next lot over. If I can’t find anything there, then I’m giving up and going home, as I’m too tired to walk that far.”
We don’t think….“If I can’t park in the front WHAT WILL I DO? This is similar to the way kids often deal with words that are exceptions, throwing their hands up in surrender whenever the letters aren’t making the sounds that they should.
However, this is not the brain’s system for learning. Our brain always has a back-up plan, a “next most likely” option to try if the first one doesn’t work. Much like the way doctors diagnose patients. They don’t just try one course of attack and then throw their hands in the air and give up. And good word doctors can’t either.
“Human beings are pattern-making machines. That’s a key to our survival instinct— we seek out patterns and use them to predict the future. Which is great, except when the pattern isn’t there, then our pattern-making machinery is busy picking things out that truly don’t matter.”
Our brains are hardwired to look for patterns, and the Secrets are patterns— not abstract letter patterns, but patterns of behavior that are designed to mimic learners’ own behavior. The ability to classify incoming information quickly into categories (based on the patterns we know) means the brain can use easier rules to deal with the new input, which is less stressful than always having to deal with things that haven’t been seen before. Knowing the Secrets equips inexperienced beginning and struggling learners to identify the best course of action when sounding out new words, and not knowing the Secrets means having to say, “It just is… It just does… You just have to remember….” when they can’t read or spell a word.
Another benefit to reading words rather than just memorizing them is that it sparks more optimal brain circuitry, as evidenced by numerous studies, including a recent one by Stanford University Professor, Bruce McCandliss, which you can read more about here.
Just to be clear, there are a small handful of words that cannot be decoded and must be memorized, but they are few and far between for kids who know the Secrets. Consider the fact that for every word that kids memorize, that’s one less opportunity to practice the decoding skills you’re working so hard to teach. And even more importantly, it’s one less opportunity to flex their “critical thinking/problem solving” muscles and reinforce the cognitive flexibility that’s needed for more advanced decoding.
It just is. It just is. You just have to remember.
Before you read any further, watch this video.
It’s easy for teachers to empathize with Ricky’s struggle to read words like: boughs, through, rough, cough and enough. Like many students in our guided reading groups, Ricky diligently attempts to decode what seem to him to be ‘un-decodable’ words and becomes understandably frustrated in the process. Ultimately, Ricky just closes the book and gives up, convinced that the sounds letters make just don’t make sense. Many of our students feel the same way.
In the same way that a doctor works through various options to heal a patient, we can do the same to “heal” the words that are stumping Ricky…. or at least to help make them more “figureoutable!” ( I know it’s not a word, but I really like it!)
Gh will make different sounds, depending on where they are in line (i.e. in a word)
When they are at the FRONT, they’re glad!
There, they make the hard g sound, saying….
“Gosh, this is great! We get to go first and get in before anyone else goes!”
(ghost, ghoul, ghastly, etc…)
When they are in the MIDDLE, and surrounded by lots of other letters,
they are silent and are too afraid to say anything and make NO SOUND at all
(sight, thought, straight, etc…)
When they are at the END, they’re not at all happy and they always complain.
Here, they make the fff sound, saying….
“This is no fun! We’re so far away it’ll take forever for us to get to the front!”
(rough, enough, cough, etc…)
Playing Word Doctor
bough
No problem with the ou as it is doing just what it should (see ou/ow poster up above)
But gh is a different story, as it is not making the sound that it should, which is “fff.” So let’s try one of the only TWO other sounds that it can make, and voila! We got it! The gh is silent! The gh Secret is everything that’s IN the box when it comes to all of the possible sounds that gh can make, making it easy for learners to deduce the next most likely options when it doesn’t do exactly what it should!
rough Luckily in this word, gh is doing exactly what it should. However, just like in the word you (at the top of the post) ou is not making the sound that it should, but all good word doctors know that the vowels are the “eyes, ears, nose and throat” of a word, so they know to always check the vowels first whenever something’s wrong. If they try the both the long and short sounds for o and then u, they would ultimately “get” the word, as only the short u is heard, and o is not saying a word. This is actually pretty common for one vowel in a pair to sometimes divert to its individual sound while other remains silent. You’ll see it happen again in the next two words as well, so it’s pretty handy for word doctors to know about! On a side note, gh is doing exactly what it should at the end of a word, so there’s no issue there.
cough Just like the in the word above, ou is not making the sound that it should. Only the short o is heard and u is not saying a word. And again, the gh is doing exactly what it should.
enough Once again, the ou is not making the sound that it should, as only the shortu is heard and o is not saying a word. And once again, gh is doing exactly what it should.
though In this word, it’s gh that’s acting up, as it’s not making the sound that it should at the end of a word, BUT…its sound is still easily predictable. There are only 3 possible sounds that gh can make, so any good word doctor knows to work through the most likely option first, and then try the others until they “get” the word. And luckily, this time ou is well-behaved!
through Now this one’s a little trickier— bordering between being “fun to figure out” and “just easier to memorize!” I would probably go with the latter for this one, but it is gratifying to know that with a whole lot of cognitive flexibility, we CAN crack this word if we really want to!
Granted, the ou is not making the sound that it should, nor is it making the o or u sound, but like the word you that was mentioned at the top of this post, it IS making the sound of its “cousin” oo. And by cousin, I mean a Secret that looks like it’s a “relative” as they share common letters, which in this case is an o. Using this “hierarchy of likelihood” to work through the most, next most and finally “if all else fails” options mirror the brain’s system for learning, and it’s great critical thinking practice for young word doctors.
But we’re not done yet, as we still have that same little problem that we had above with gh, but it’s nothing that a good word doctor can’t fix! However, it does require an extra analytical step to crack the word, which may be one too many to make it worthwhile. Thus, this word may be worth the extra time, energy and space in the brain that’s required to memorize it.
The video clip below shows a group of first graders playing “Word Doctor,” applying critical analysis and diagnostic thinking to make sense of the word light. While they already know how to read the word, they want to know WHY I isn’t saying his name when Mommy E® and the Babysitter Vowel® is in sight.
For a quick overview of the Superhero Vowels® and their “short & lazy” sound disguises, watch this video.
As mentioned above, the vowels are the most likely culprits when words just won’t “sound-out” correctly. Remember that they are the eyes, ears, nose and throat of words, which is why good word doctors always check them first, as they’re the best “window” into what’s going wrong.
Learn more word doctor strategies for tricky vowel sounds here, including the Hungry Thing and the Hungry Thing Returns.
https://www.thesecretstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/word-doctor-decoding-undecodable-words.001.jpeg7681024Katie Garnerhttps://www.thesecretstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Secret-Stories-Phonics-Method-Logo-1-copy.pngKatie Garner2014-06-05 02:30:002023-10-27 22:36:34Decoding the So-Called “Exceptions” By Thinking Like a Word Doctor
