Hooked on Phonics Worked for Me!

I learned to read using both phonics and by memorization of sight words. In my experience, I used phonics when my parents worked with me outside of school on my reading. My parents used phonics because that was how they were taught to read as well as my brother that is six years older than me. I found this approach helped to to learn to read at a faster pace and higher level than my peers. At school; however, I was taught using sight words and required to memorize words not paying much attention to letter sounds and blends.When I am in schools now I see that the trend has changed since I was a student. I see students sounding out words and "teaching themselves" a variety of words. For example, in my Teaching Fellow internship placement I work with kindergarteners that are able to sound out words and are encouraged to use inventive spelling. It has been my experience that children may be more successful with this strategy rather than memorization, but that is just my opinion. I feel that as an aspiring kindergarten teacher, I have been given the precious gift of teaching children to read, and that by far is one of my favorite areas that I will teach students.