As your students learn our complex code for reading — how the letters of our alphabet match to the sounds of our spoken language — they are going to make mistakes … and probably a lot of them! It’s part of the process, to try out their new learning and sometimes get it wrong. It’s up to teachers to help children see their mistakes, understand what they did wrong, and correct these mistakes so that they can learn to decode and spell correctly.

Let’s Watch! When a kindergartner makes a logical mistake — putting '-ck' at the beginning of a word — Ashton Smith of Hope-Hill Elementary School in Atlanta offers immediate, positive feedback, helping the student find and correct his error. (If you’ve taken our phonemic awareness course, you may have already seen this video.)

Video thumbnail for A Teachable Moment During Dictation

Hide Video Transcript Show Video Transcript

Ashton Smith: So Noah, what letter do I need to put for ...

Noah: 'C'!

Ashton Smith: 'C.' Kiss your brain.

Narrator: The kindergartners in Ashton Smith's class recently learned that there are three ways to spell the /k/ sound. With a 'c', a 'k', or 'ck'. Often students will mix these up as they experiment with these patterns and learn how they work. Let's watch how Ms. Smith handles one of these expected mix ups.

Ashton Smith: This word is going to be really tricky, so you're going to have to make two decisions for your /k/ sound. Okay? So listen to your vowel and listen to where your /k/ sound is. Tapper's up. Your word is kick.

Students: Kick.

Ashton Smith: Let's tap it.

Together: /k/, /ĭ/, /k/. Kick.

Narrator: Ms. Smith and paraprofessional Diamond Jones. Circle the room as they check the student's work, either reinforcing the correct spelling or offering positive error correction, giving their students the chance to learn from their mistakes.

Ashton Smith: Good job, Tran. Okay, Noah, I have a question. Can we use 'ck' at the beginning of a word?

Noah: Yeah. Wait. No, at the end.

Ashton Smith: At the end. So not 'ck'. What would we put here?

Noah: 'T'.

Ashton Smith: What's your vowel sound?

Noah: /k/. Wait. 'K'!

Ashton Smith: Very good.

Narrator: This wasn't a random mistake, but a logical one. Noah did spell the /k/ sound just with the wrong letters for this situation. Ms. Smith gave Noah the feedback and time he needed to figure out the right letter. She's created an environment of trust where learning grows from mistakes. With Noah's permission, she's going to share this teachable moment with the whole class.

Ashton Smith: Noah wrote 'c', 'k', 'i', 'c', 'k', but we talked about it and can 'ck' go at the beginning of a word?

Students: No. It can't.

Narrator: And best of all, Noah comes out feeling great about what he learned.

Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Hope Hill Elementary, Reading is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Ashton Smith: My name is Ashton Smith and this is Reading Universe.

Ms. Smith clearly has a strong relationship with Noah, and that can make giving feedback easier. She keeps a lively pace in her delivery and doesn’t single out the student who made the error but provides the error correction to the whole group and continues on. Of course, each of your students has their own needs, perspectives, and abilities — and sometimes they are tired, hungry, upset, or over-excited. Corrective feedback always has to be patient, kind, and affirming. If you make mistakes an accepted and expected part of your classroom, children will be more apt to try new things and to learn from their attempts.

Let’s Watch! Two moments from Ms. Miller’s review of letter sounds at the beginning of her daily phonics lesson. Notice her feedback is immediate.

Video thumbnail for Corrective Feedback in a Phonics Lesson — Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book

Hide Video Transcript Show Video Transcript

Ms. Miller: So we're just going to say the name of the letter and the sound. Are you ready?

Students: Yes.

Ms. Miller and students: 'z', /z/

Narrator: Next, she uses flashcards with no pictures to ensure the children can read the sound automatically in isolation.

Ms. Miller: Good.

Students: 'a', /ă/, 't', /t/, 'c', /k/

Narrator: Ms. Miller provides quick, direct, explicit instruction to correct errors.

Students: 'b' ...

Ms. Miller: Oh, let's look again. It says straight back, big belly, 'b'. Let's do it together.

Ms. Miller and students: 'b', /b/

Ms. Miller: Very good.

Ms. Miller and students: 'm', /m/

Ms. Miller: So what we're going to do today is we're going to have some fun making words. Are you ready to make words?

Students: Yes.

Ms. Miller: Okay, here we go. Some of the words are going to be real words, and some might be nonsense words. Who knows what a nonsense word is? Tell me, Ilia.

Iia: They're words that are not real.

Ms. Miller: Words that are not real. They do not make any sense. Avery already told us that our blue letters are different. What's different about the blue letters, Shane?

Shane: The vowels.

Ms. Miller: They're vowels. Very good. Okay, we're going to start by just reading a word. Okay. We're going to say each sound in the word, and then I'm going to move them a little bit closer together, and then we're going to say the sounds and then I'm going to move 'em a little closer together, but we're not going to read it until they are touching and I say "catch it." Are you ready?

Students: Yes.

Ms. Miller: Okay. So I want to hear everybody's voice. Let's do it.

Students: /s/, /ă/, /t/

Ms. Miller: [whispering] Listen for the word. Are you guys ready? We're going to catch it this time. They're touching.

Students: /s/, /ă/, /t/ ... sat.

Ms. Miller: Good. Okay. What word was that?

Students: Sat.

Ms. Miller: Sat. Okay. I want everybody to pay attention. I might ask you to read this same word. Okay. Ready? So what word was this one more time, Avery.

Avery: Sat.

Ms. Miller: Sat. What did I just do?

Ilia: Cat.

Ms. Miller: Good. What word did she read?

Hadley: Cat.

Ms. Miller: Good. What did I just do?

Narrator: Ms. Miller models and practices the step-by-step process for blending sounds into words. All the words she chooses for blending contain the sounds the children just practiced with their flashcards. Each child has an opportunity to do the work of blending sounds.

Ilia: /n/, /ĭ/, nip.

Ms. Miller: I love how you tapped that word out. Excellent. What word did she just read?

Students: nip ... nap ...

Ms. Miller: Well, let's tap it together.

Ms. Miller and students: /n/, /ĭ/, nip.

Ms. Miller: Excellent. What did I just do?

Avery: /d/, /ĭ/, /p/ ... dip.

Ms. Miller: Excellent.

What do I do when my students make mistakes?

When students make decoding mistakes, they need clear, specific feedback to help them get it right. This kind of feedback is called corrective feedback because there is a right way to decode words that your students need to know. Your feedback is most likely to help students fix mistakes when they receive it from you early — ideally as close to when they make the mistake as possible.

Here’s a sample interaction for helping a student who mistakenly sounds out the word bake as /b/, /ă/, k/, back.

The teacher points out one part that was done correctly.

This first sound is /b/; you were right!

The teacher demonstrates the correct way.

Watch and listen while I do it: /b/, /ā/, /k/.

The teacher points out the place where a correction was made.

The letter 'a' makes the long vowel sound /ā/ because there is a magic 'e' that goes along silently with the vowel sound.
I heard you say the short vowel sound /ă/. What sound will you say next time?

The student fixes their mistake by saying the corrected sounds with the teacher.

Do it correctly with me: /b/, /ā/, /k/, bake.

Corrective feedback procedure:

Point out one thing that they did correctly.
Demonstrate the correct way.
Point out the place where you made your correction. Explain the correct answer.
Direct the student to try again, first with you and then independently.

Data Recording

When students struggle to correct their mistakes, you may want to take note and let your lead teacher know. Talking with your lead teacher about students' mistakes helps them identify appropriate review and practice resources for each student and helps you identify the best ways you can support your students.

Sample Error Recording Form

You can use a simple piece of paper, or use this sample form to record your notes, including comments like these:

1. The student does this well ...

2. The student made the following error ...

3. The student confused the following sounds ...

Download the Form

Give Corrective Feedback

Course 2: Phonics for Paraprofessionals

Sample Error Recording Form