274. How to Help Students Read Big Words With Confidence

In this episode of The Stellar Teacher Podcast, I share a practical, step-by-step strategy to help upper elementary students tackle multi-syllabic words with confidence. I talk about the challenges students face when they see long, unfamiliar words, why simple prompts like “sound it out” often don’t work, and how we can give students the tools they need to break words into manageable parts. This episode is for teachers who want actionable strategies they can introduce in their classroom right away.

I walk listeners through the Big Words Strategy, a five-step approach that helps students identify prefixes, suffixes, roots, vowels, and syllables before putting the word together and pronouncing it. I explain how this strategy builds decoding skills while also supporting comprehension and vocabulary development. I also share tips for modeling the strategy effectively, providing guided practice, and supporting students who might not have a strong background in phonics or word study.

We also cover common roadblocks you might encounter when teaching this strategy and practical solutions to keep students on track, including slowing down the pace, using color-coded tools, and pairing students for peer feedback. I emphasize the importance of repeated practice, approximation, and consistent reinforcement to help students feel confident with complex words. This episode gives you a research-backed, easy-to-implement strategy that strengthens reading skills, supports fluency, and empowers your students to tackle big words independently.

Join us in the Stellar Literacy Collective Membership: stellarteacher.com/join!

Sign up for my FREE private podcast, the Confident Writer Systems Series, here!

Sign up for my FREE Revision Made Easy email series here!

Follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany.

To check out all of the resources from this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.stellarteacher.com/episode274.