What Is Rubber Banding in Literacy?
Literacy was once succinctly defined as the ability to read and write. The definition has evolved over the past century. Many in the education field now regard literacy as the ability to identify, understand, evaluate, communicate and use written and printed material from a variety of contexts. Whatever definition we choose, the foundation of excellent literacy skills begins with the basics: sounds, syllables, words, sound/letter relationships and decoding (sounding out). Rubber banding is just one activity used to promote emerging literacy skills.
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Function
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Rubber banding is a hands-on activity used by some teachers to enhance children's phonemic (foh-NEE-mik) awareness, or their ability to hear, identify and orally manipulate individual sounds. Phonemes (foh-NEEMS) are the individual sounds in spoken words. In the English language, there are 44 different phonemes represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet. Phonemic awareness is an auditory skill requiring children to listen for the individual sounds of a word without seeing that word.
Process
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Students stretch the rubber band as they "stretch" each word. The objective of the rubber banding activity is to teach students to listen for the individual sounds in a word by "stretching" (saying each sound) the word out as they isolate the sounds they hear. For example, grasping a large rubber band between their thumbs and forefingers, students say the given word "top." As students stretch the word, saying each sound they hear (/t/-/ô/-/p/), they simultaneously stretch the rubber band, pulling it a little further with each new sound. Students then let the band go slack while repeating the whole word.
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Benefits
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A key benefit of an activity like rubber banding is the hands-on aspect. Hands-on activities keep students better engaged in the learning process, according to information from the University of Nebraska--Lincoln.
There are other advantages to hands-on learning experienced by rubber banding activities. Plain and simple, hands-on activities are more fun, and they provide motivation so that students learn without even realizing it.
Retention is another advantage to rubber band activities. Educational research has proven that students will have a better understanding of what they do more so than what they only see or hear. Finally, hands-on activities like rubber banding provide support for students who are kinesthetic learners--students who learn best with physical activity.
Significance
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Rubber banding and other phonemic awareness lessons provide the crucial skills students need to progress from emergent literacy to conventional reading and writing. Phonemic awareness is essential to learning how to read with an alphabetic writing system since the letters do represent sounds. Without mastering phonemic awareness, phonics will make little sense to emerging readers. The ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words has been a strong predictor of early reading success.
Types
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Rubber banding is one of several types of activities used for word segmentation and blending; breaking words down into their individual sounds and then blending them together to make a word. Stretching the rubber band as the word is segmented provides a concrete depiction of separating and blending sounds.
According to ReadingResource.net, techniques similar to rubber banding include having students stretch putty while saying a word's parts, having students stretch different muscles in a yoga-like manner and simply having students pull their hands farther and farther apart with each sound of the word.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit child reading image by Ryan Shapiro from Fotolia.com three rubber bands image by Sean Arenas from Fotolia.com
