Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom K-2 with Dr. Jan Burkins

In this episode, we (Mark Raffler and Sarah Shoemaker) connect with Dr. Jan Burkins, author of the recent best seller “Shifting the Balance:  6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom K-2.” Educators often feel they need to see the differences in these terms and “choose a side,” so to speak. The question arises, How do we go about having these conversations with the goal of building understanding to make sure that we implement classroom practices that align with what students need in order to most efficiently learn to read? 

Dr. Jan Burkins addresses each of the shifts and the reasoning behind these recommendations:

1. Rethinking How Reading Comprehension Begins

2. Recommitting to Phonemic Awareness Instruction

3. Reimaging the Way We Teach Phonics

4. Revisiting High Frequency Word Instruction

5. Reinventing the Ways We Use MSV (3 Cueing Systems)

6. Reconsidering Texts for Beginning Readers

Here are a few quotes from our conversation:

“We really deliberated over the word that we would use to describe what we were recommending… and eventually landed on the word ‘shift’ over words like ‘change’ or ‘rethink’ or ‘redo’ because ‘shift’ captures that idea… We’re not talking about throwing the baby out with the bath water.  We’re talking about refining some practices, holding on to some practices, and then others do in fact, really do need to be traded out.  Looking critically and open-heartedly and honestly at where our practices did and didn’t line up with the science of how the brain learns to read…”

“The placement of language comprehension as the first step in reading comprehension was very, very intentional…The ordering of the chapters is very purposeful and its cumulative...  You’re not going to have as much clarity around the why behind what we’re recommending for shift 4 if you don’t start with shift 1.”  “Language is the railroad track that word reading runs on.  Spoken language, ideally, for readers, enables reading comprehension.  The brain doesn’t know whether I’m reading or listening to speech.  Language needs to be out ahead of word reading skills.”

“What is important to note in the area of revisiting high frequency word instruction?”  “Many of us resorted to flash cards long ago… That drill and memorize approach has been very mainstream… Children end up in third, fourth, fifth grade and you look at their writing and these are the same words they’ve been working on since first grade and second grade and they’re not spelling them correctly.  We already had some pain points around high frequency word instruction.  We even began passing this work off to parents.”  “We have to continue to focus on the sounds and the spellings.  We want children thinking about how those words are blended.  The brain does not remember words as whole visual pieces.”

Concluding with our normal podcast protocol, we ask for resources for educators to learn more about Shifting the Balance.  Check out our resource page for all the links!

We wrap up this episode by asking listeners to share your thoughts on podcast topics - your voice matters!  Please visit bit.ly/LLCNtopics to tell us what you want future podcasts to focus on in relation to literacy.  

All resources in this LLCN Brief (and future podcasts) can be found at:  bit.ly/LLCNresources2425  Subscribe to the Literacy Leadership and Coaches Network podcasts here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/llcnbrief o