Last updated: February 8, 2024
Hi everyone! It’s been way longer than I anticipated since my last blog post (hello, life with an 18-month old!), but I am finally back and ready to discuss a hot topic: Orton-Gillingham. More specifically, I will be diving into the Three-Part Drill and how this easy-to-implement, highly-effective routine has changed the game for my students! Also, be sure to snag my FREE Three-Part-Drill slides at the end of this post!
Disclaimer:
Let me begin by owning up to the fact that I am by NO means claiming to be an OG expert! That said, I have had almost 100 hours of OG training over the past year and a half and have definitely learned a TON throughout my OG journey. I truly feel like I am becoming a stronger, better structured literacy educator with each and every lesson and I am seeing AMAZING results with my students!
So…what exactly is the Orton-Gillingham approach?
Simply put – Orton-Gillingham is a structured literacy approach (NOT a program) that uses explicit, direct, sequential, systematic, multisensory instruction to teach reading. OG is ESSENTIAL to some (i.e. students with dyslexia), but EFFECTIVE for all!
Each Orton-Gillingham lesson is diagnostic and prescriptive. The lessons are tailored to your student’s unique learning needs which makes the instruction incredibly powerful and effective. A true OG practitioner takes detailed, anecdotal notes throughout the duration of each lesson and uses that information to plan for the subsequent lesson.
OG lessons are multisensory – meaning they will incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic components to deepen student understanding of the concepts presented. Contrary to popular belief (I, for one, was guilty of thinking this as well) – multisensory instruction does NOT need to have a ton of frills. You don’t need sand, pop-its, play-doh and ALLLLL the things to provide high-quality and effective multisensory reading instruction to struggling learners. A pencil and paper truly work just fine! Is it fun to add those components in to increase engagement? ABSOLUTELY! Is it necessary? No.
The OG Three-Part-Drill
Each and every OG lesson should begin with the infamous Three-Part-Drill. The Three-Part-Drill is easy to implement and highly effective in helping students master phonograms. Students are looking, listening, and interacting with the sounds/letters in words. This drill is NOT the opportunity to introduce any new content – this is all a review of previously learned concepts.
As its name suggests – there are three parts to this routine:
1. Visual Drill
In the Visual Drill, the teacher displays cards (or slides) with LEARNED/KNOWN phonograms. In my OG training, we’ve learned to choose around 10, but the number that you choose to review could vary depending on the needs of your students. Upon seeing each card, students then say the sound aloud (and for an added kinesthetic bonus, they should finger trace the letter(s) while verbalizing the sound). If a student fails to produce the sound for the phonogram shown, the teacher will make note of it AND provide immediate, corrective feedback to the student. I’ve learned that if/when a mistake happens, students should then trace and verbalize the sound 3x to reinforce the correct letter-sound correspondence.
I have a set of phonogram cards, but I find it challenging to manage the card deck and much prefer conducting the Visual Drill digitally, whether I am tutoring in-person or virtually. I have created an editable, customizable Visual Drill slide deck for google slides with over 50 phonograms pre-loaded for your convenience. You can grab your copy here!
2. Auditory Drill
The next component is the Auditory Drill. In this routine, students are not seeing the phonograms as they are in the Visual Drill. Rather, you, as the instructor, are dictating a sound aloud to the students. After you dictate a sound, the students will repeat the sound and then write all the ways they’ve learned how to spell that sound. For example, if you say /s/ and you’ve introduced soft c, students would write s, c on the line because they’ve learned two ways to spell the /s/ sound. As with the Visual Drill, immediate corrective feedback should be given to students if and when there are errors. Below, you will find TWO FREEBIES – one is a set of routine slides I inserted into my slide deck to help students (and myself) become familiar with the procedures and routines of each part of the drill and the other is a printable template I use for students to record their Auditory Drill responses.
3. Blending Drill
The final component is the Blending Drill. Now, students will put their letter/sound knowledge into action and decode words. Many instructors prefer to do this with a card deck sorted into three piles (one for initial phonograms, one for medial, and one for final), but again – I am a digital girlie and I just find it so much easier to manage the drill using one of the various online tools available. Two of my favorites that I’ve discovered so far are Blend Reading and the UFLI Blending Board. Both of these online tools can be customized to reflect the phonograms that you have introduced to your student(s). REMEMBER – ALL three components of the 3 part drill are used for REVIEW – no new content or concepts should be introduced during this time. Regardless if you are implementing the blending drill with tangible phonogram cards or digital – you will present students with one word at a time and they can tap and blend the sounds. I like to incorporate nonsense word practice and real word practice during this segment and have students give a thumbs up/thumbs down for real words versus nonsense. I usually cycle through about 10 practice words, but this will depend on the needs of your student(s).
And Voila! That’s the Three-Part-Drill in a Nutshell
So, there you have it! This routine is SO incredibly powerful and effective for students to review and reinforce previously learned concepts. When I am conducting an OG lesson, when I notice a student has made a decoding error and/or seem to be struggling with a particular phonogram, I jot it down and then incorporate it into my drill for the subsequent lesson. Once you and your students nail down the routines and procedures, you will find that you can get through this pretty quickly!
If you are still with me at the tail end of this post, THANK YOU for reading! I wish you the very best on your OG journey. I know it can feel a bit overwhelming at times to take on something new, but the results I have been seeing with my students has made all my efforts worthwhile. There is a reason that OG is considered the gold standard of literacy instruction! Together we CAN help close the literacy gaps in the students we work with. One day, one lesson at a time.
