What If You’ve Never Taught Phonics? A Practical Guide for Middle School Interventionists

Are you a middle school or upper elementary teacher working with students who struggle to decode words—but you’ve never actually taught phonics before?

You are not alone.

Many secondary educators enter the classroom equipped to teach literature, writing, or comprehension strategies—but without formal training in phonics instruction. Yet, this gap in knowledge can become a real barrier when working with older students who still lack basic word recognition skills.

📍 My Journey Into Phonics Instruction

When I transitioned into middle school after teaching high school English, I quickly realized that some of my students’ most persistent reading issues stemmed from gaps in foundational decoding skills. Words that should have been automatic—weren’t. I saw the frustration on their faces, and honestly, I felt a little helpless.

It wasn’t until I completed Orton-Gillingham training that the pieces finally clicked. I began to understand how speech sounds (phonemes) and written symbols (graphemes) work together—and how this knowledge could be applied explicitly and systematically to support students still struggling with decoding.

🔤 Phonics Basics Every Secondary Teacher Should Know

Let’s break down some essential terms and concepts that are at the heart of phonics instruction. This will give you the foundation you need to begin helping your students—even if you’ve never taught these skills before.

🔸 Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word. For example, the word ship has three phonemes: /sh/ /ĭ/ /p/.

🔸 Grapheme

A grapheme is the letter—or letter combination—that represents a sound. In ship, the sh is a digraph—two letters making one sound. This is a key concept when helping students decode unfamiliar words.

🔸 Blending

Blending is the process of combining individual sounds to read a word. For example: /m/ /ă/ /t/ → mat. This is what most people think of as “sounding out.”

🔸 Segmenting

Segmenting is the reverse—breaking a word into its component sounds. This skill is crucial for spelling and for developing phonemic awareness.

🧪 How to Identify Gaps and Begin Intervention

If a student cannot fluently read grade-level text, it’s important to determine why. Often, older readers can guess their way through familiar texts but fall apart when asked to decode unfamiliar or multisyllabic words.

A simple phonics diagnostic or screening tool can help identify whether a student struggles with:

• Letter-sound knowledge

• Sound blending

• Syllable division

• Word recognition

Once you know where the breakdown occurs, you can tailor your instruction accordingly.

🧰 Practical Strategies for the Intervention Classroom

If you’re feeling unsure about what to do next, don’t worry. Here are five concrete, low-prep strategies that you can start using right away.

1. Grapheme Cards for Letter-Sound Practice

Use flashcards to reinforce letter-sound associations. For example:

• Show the card b → student says /b/

• Show the card th → student says /th/

You can make your own or purchase sets, but the goal is to ensure automatic recall of these associations—especially for students who are still at the alphabetic stage.

2. Blending Drills with Nonsense Words

Older students may feel insulted by being asked to decode words like cat or dog. Instead, use nonsense words (e.g., mav, sot, jig) to reinforce blending in a way that avoids prior word memory.

Use a whiteboard or blending board to model:

• Point to each letter and pronounce the sound

• Stretch across and blend the full word

• Example: /m/ /ă/ /v/ → mav

This simulates decoding real syllables within longer words.

3. Syllable Division Strategies

Many struggling readers freeze when they encounter multisyllabic words. They don’t know where to start. Here’s a basic strategy:

• Find the vowels in the word

• Draw bridges between vowel sounds

• Divide between consonants (using rules like VC/CV)

For example:

• Word: candid

• Identify vowels: a and i

• Divide: can–did

• Identify syllables: closed syllables → short vowels

This visual and systematic approach removes the guesswork.

4. Open vs. Closed Syllables

Teach students how to predict vowel sounds based on syllable type:

• Closed syllable (e.g., cat): vowel is short because it’s followed by a consonant

• Open syllable (e.g., me): vowel is long because it ends the syllable

Understanding this distinction empowers students to read unfamiliar words more accurately and fluently.

5. Teach Word Attack with the REWARDS Strategy

The REWARDS program by Dr. Anita Archer is a game-changer. It focuses on teaching students to:

• Identify prefixes and suffixes

• Isolate the word root

• Apply syllable division rules

• Blend and reassemble the word

Example: investigate

• Identify prefix: in

• Root: vesti

• Suffix: gate

• Read in chunks → investigate

This kind of structured, scaffolded instruction helps older students attack big words instead of avoiding them.

📣 Final Thoughts: You Don’t Need to Know Everything—Just Start Somewhere

Teaching phonics to older students isn’t about babying them—it’s about meeting them where they are and helping them build the skills they missed.

Even if you've never taught phonics before, you can learn alongside your students.

My course, Reading Reset: A Framework for Middle School Intervention, is designed to give you the tools, confidence, and structure to support adolescent readers who need foundational instruction in decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, and more.

Watch my full YouTube video on this topic here.