September 8, 2023 • 38 mins
It's our first CALL IN EPISODE! Teachers voices are so important in this reading science movement. We asked teachers to call in and answer two questions:
- What is the most important thing you've learned so far about the science of reading?
- What is a goal you have this year connected to reading science?
Listen and learn as fellow educators share about what big things are happening in their classrooms aligned to reading science.
We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lori (00:00):
You're listening to.
Melissa and Lori Love Literacy.
We ask teachers all over theworld to call in and share what
they're learning about readingscience.
In today's episode you'll hearright from teachers about how
they're implementing structuredliteracy practices in their
classrooms this school year.
Welcome, teacher friend.
I'm Lori and I'm Melissa.
(00:22):
We are two literacy educatorsin Baltimore.
We want the best for all kidsand we know you do too, our
district recently adopted a newliteracy curriculum, which meant
a lot of change for everyone.
Melissa (00:36):
Lori and I can't wait to keep learning about literacy
with you.
Today, we want to give teachersa voice in the science of
reading movement.
This episode is truly inspiring.
As we head back to school, weask educators all over the globe
to call in and answer these twoquestions what is the most
(00:59):
important thing you've learnedso far about the science of
reading and what is a goal youhave this year connected to
reading science?
Lori (01:08):
Thank you so much to all of our listeners and educators
for calling in.
We received so many submissions.
Now let's hear from ourliteracy lover.
Community Teachers will sharewhat big things are happening in
their classrooms related toreading science.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
My name is Alana and I'm a reading interventionist,
and the most important thingI've learned about the science
of reading is that it's agrowing body of research and
that the research needs to bepracticed through our
instruction, and that somepieces are more definitive, like
our phonics and chemicalawareness instruction, and some
parts, like comprehension, aremore complex, but that all of
those pieces of literacy need tobe woven together and layered
(01:49):
into our instruction in theexplicit and systematic way, and
a goal that I have this yearconnected to science of reading
is to have students build theirknowledge and vocabulary through
connected text steps andcomprehension through learning
content.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Thanks, Hi Melissa, hi Lori, this is so exciting.
It's one of your biggestCanadian fans calling right now.
I am going to answer your firstquestion why is the science of
reading important?
(02:25):
And really I only have twowords to explain why I think
it's important, and that isbecause it works.
I have been on my science ofreading learning journey since
about 2013.
I started my master's, I did myOrton-Gillingham training and
recently I was certified as astructured literacy classroom
(02:49):
teacher, and so I see how thereading research has helped
inform my teaching practice.
I see how kids are moremotivated to learn.
I see them learning to read andwanting to read more Throughout
the year and overall, too, Isee fewer behaviors as a result
(03:09):
of the fact that these studentsare learning to decode the words
off the page and understandingwhat they're reading, not just
enjoying being read too, butthey're actually engaged readers
themselves.
You know, I always think backto Steven Dijkstra's podcast
episode where he talks abouttrauma and students able to read
(03:32):
, and how we are actuallyperpetuating that trauma for
students who come to schoolevery single day with the high
hope that they, too, can learnto read and understand those
words on the pages, like theirpeers, like their teachers like
their parents, and it breaks myheart when I think that we are
unable to help some of ourstudents actually learn the
(03:56):
reading magic.
So why is the science ofreading important?
It's important because itaffects our students' confidence
and belief in their self.
Second question about a goal.
My goal for this upcoming yearis to do a much better job of
teaching vocabulary and buildingcontent knowledge.
(04:18):
I have been listening topodcasts every single day while
driving my children back andforth to swimming lessons and
day camps, and I have beenlistening to Natalie Wexler's
Knowledge Matters podcast, andit has just been bombshell after
bombshell after bombshell.
I think, oh my gosh, why didn'tI know this before?
And so my goal for the upcomingyear is to do a better job of
(04:41):
explicitly and systematicallyteaching vocabulary to my
students especially mymulti-language learners who are
coming in with no vocabularybasis at all and ensuring that
we're building their backgroundknowledge so they have something
for this new knowledge to stickto.
So, yeah, it looks like it'sgoing to be an exciting year
(05:02):
ahead, and thank you foreverything you do.
You have really helped me on myscience of reading learning
journey.
I've loved your podcast andlook forward to many more
amazing podcasts with you in thenear future.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Hi, my name is Annie.
My role is a buildinginstructional coach, and the
most important thing I'velearned so far about the science
of reading is that we have aplethora of instructional
strategies at our disposal thatis, in fact, research based.
I've learned that the readingrope encompasses all of the
(05:46):
necessary skills that a childneeds to master to be able to
comprehend what they're reading,and one of the most important
things I've learned is thatthese strategies are especially
important for our multi-linguallearners.
Structured literacy is effectiveand it involves decoding and
encoding every day when workingon the word recognition side of
(06:10):
reading.
It encompasses vocabulary andbackground knowledge, language
structures and literaryknowledge.
I've learned that our brainsare naturally wired for speech,
but through a systematicapproach we can map those speech
sounds to print.
(06:31):
The goal for me as a teacherthis year is to really
incorporate fluency into mydaily practice with students and
teachers.
As a role as an instructionalcoach, providing teachers time
and professional learning todetermine where this outstanding
practice fits into their dailyschedule.
Most importantly, though, mygoal is to continue to spread
(06:53):
the word about the science ofreading and try to become an
advocate for pre-serviceprograms so that teachers have
the effective tools that theyneed to be able to teach
students how to read.
Hi, my name is Melanie Breutherand I'm a full-time resource
teacher in Montreal, quebec,canada, and one of my passions,
(07:16):
closest to my heart, isadvocating for dyslexia
awareness on the science ofreading.
This sparked it was sparked bymy son, benjamin dyslexia
diagnosis when he was just nineyears old.
He's going to be 12 next weekand he is severely dyslexic.
Seeing him struggleacademically and socially and
emotionally has made it amission for me to learn as much
(07:36):
as I could about dyslexia, andthen it led me down this path to
the science of reading.
I've done extensive training,almost obsessive, because I want
to be able to make an impact onmy students.
I even started decodingdyslexia Quebec Facebook page so
I can help parents, who arenavigating this journey as well,
(07:58):
and also teachers.
I think for me, the mostimportant thing that I've
learned that there is.
It is the body of research thatthe science of reading is.
There's a lot of misconceptionsout there and something that I
may do this year in my classroombased on that research may
change over time it may changewithin the next month and that
(08:18):
all children can learn to read.
We know that 95% of studentscan and for me, I'm really
interested in sharing the impactof not knowing how to read has
on your self-esteem.
I see that every single daywith my son and it's
heartbreaking.
My goal this year is to continueto advocate for change and
awareness, and I hope teacherscan make small changes.
(08:39):
They don't have to doeverything at once, because that
is extremely overwhelming.
A simple one, for example, isto stop using the three queuing
system, and for me personally inthe classroom I can go on and
on about this is to see mygroups of students more often
and use my programs andapproaches with fidelity and
progress, monitoring my studentsoften and share that data with
(09:02):
my classroom teachers andparents as well.
I also won the Nesview DyslexiaAware Teacher of the Year this
past year, and this is myobsession, my mission, and I
love listening to podcasts aswell and learning about that,
and I actually met Melissa andLori in Syracuse, new York, last
year at the Reading League, soI love the podcast and that's it
(09:24):
.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
Hey, Melissa and Lori , it is here, but I work in
Baltimore City Public Schoolsand I will be teaching a seventh
grade ELA this fall for thesecond year in a row and I'm
very excited about that, I wouldsay.
As far as the answers go right,what is a goal that I have this
year connected to readingscience?
(09:48):
I want to be more thoroughabout exposing students to
Scarborough's Rope, right, likethere are so many foundational
aspects of reading that areincredibly important to show
students, but not to showstudents right.
We talk a lot about buildingknowledge for students and a lot
(10:10):
of times we think that we don'thave to show students to sort
of ins and outs, right, and Iwant to be more thorough.
I want to be more transparentabout word recognition, language
comprehension and, ultimately,how those different strands of
the rope blend together toproduce schooled reading.
So that's exposing students andtelling them the importance of
(10:31):
a lesson and why buildingbackground knowledge is
incredibly important, but alsohow vocabulary is embedded
within that, but not just thatfor my friends who are a little
bit below grade levelunderstanding word recognition
right and decoding that part ofthe brain is dedicated to
decoding, so it's focused onthat right and a lot of
(10:51):
cognitive energy is focused ondecoding and not quite
comprehending, and that's whyit's important to have a
multifaceted approach.
I think a lot of times we getbogged down in the science of
reading and we don't want tosort of fuel the veiled back
right.
It's like a credit card with somany hidden strings.
Well, why don't we just presentthe information to students,
trust that they'll understand it, with a good, thorough
(11:13):
explanation of how this is goingto help them, including
explaining it to their parentsand their families?
So I still have to say my onebig goal this year is to show
students that there are so manystrings connected to reading.
It's all incredibly important,but it's also really fun.
We can build student knowledgeof the skills that it takes to
become a more fluent and abetter reader.
Ultimately, kids benefit fromthat and I think that's the most
(11:35):
equitable thing to do.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Carol McKinley.
My role is a recently retiredpart-time literacy coach.
My response to question onethere are many, many important
things I have learned regardingthe science of reading, but I
think the most important thing Ihave learned so far is that our
(12:01):
brains are not wired to read.
In my reading recovery trainingin the late 80s, we were told
that learning to read is asnatural as learning to talk.
So, as a result of the researchusing functional MRIs by
cognitive psychologists, we nowknow that is absolutely not true
(12:24):
, and hearing Stanislaw Dahanespeak at the 2022 Plain Talk
Conference was a highlight of mycareer.
The second question I am veryexcited because this is our
first year implementing CKLA andour second year implementing
(12:45):
the writing revolution.
However, as the newly retiredpart-time literacy coach, my
main goal this year is tosupport our new full-time
literacy coach, learn thereading science and understand
the incredible science ofreading journey our K-3-3
teachers have already traveledsince 2019.
(13:08):
So helping our teacherscontinue to shift from the
misaligned practices of balancedliteracy to the research-based,
effective literacy practicesaccording to the reading science
is my second goal this year.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Jennifer, middle school reading interventionist.
Reading is a complex cognitiveprocess that involves various
skills and neural mechanisms.
The fascinating brain researchhas demonstrated specific brain
areas are active during reading,such as the left hemispheres,
broca's area, reniki's area.
(13:50):
Quality reading instructionbased on the science is best for
all children's success.
Reading develops in stages,from early pre-reading skills to
fluent reading later on, andsocioeconomic factors can impact
reading development, withchildren from disadvantaged
backgrounds facing morechallenges in acquiring reading
(14:16):
skills.
That is the goal that I havethis year, connected to reading
science.
My goal is to work to improvethe middle school literacy
program, aiming to promoteeffective reading instruction
and improve reading outcomes forchildren.
The two ways that I intend todo this first, to develop better
(14:38):
assessment tools to betterunderstand individual reading
difficulties early on and tailorinterventions accordingly,
because we know thatpersonalized, targeted
interventions are effective inhelping struggling readers
improve our skills.
And secondly, to addressreading equity to ensure all
(15:00):
children, regardless of theirbackgrounds and socioeconomic
status, have access to qualityreading instruction and
resources.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Hello, I am Becky Sellers.
I teach seventh grade languagearts, full time teacher.
I am going back and getting mymaster's in curriculum and
instruction my second master'sin curriculum and instruction
(15:35):
and so I started this kind ofjourney in the science of
reading a long time ago but cameback to it very recently, and
so the most important thing thatI've learned in the last couple
of weeks months that I've beengetting back into this work is
(16:00):
really just how complicatedcomprehension.
So when we think aboutcomprehension, I have been told
by administration for the last10 years we need to see specific
growth on specific learningtargets and the standards, and
(16:24):
as I've been listening throughthe podcast and doing my own
reading, I'm realizing thatthat's impossible and it's
really interesting andfascinating, and so just
understanding the complexity ofreading comprehension has been
my biggest takeaway so far, andjust that it does have to be
messy, and I can't stick it in astandard space grade book and
(16:46):
show whether or not kids havemastered material, because it is
all dependent on all sorts ofthings, not only the background
knowledge and what the lexilelevel is of the text or whatever
, but also whether or not thekid ate breakfast that day, and
(17:11):
so that has been the biggestthing I've learned, I think.
Second question this year I amplanning to implement a lot more
with fluency.
So listening to Timers and SkiTalk about just how fluency is
that bridge that might move theneedle for kids who can be code
(17:36):
but still aren't comprehendingthat has been my issue in
seventh grade for many years, oreighth grade.
I was eighth grade for a whilebefore that and so just trying
to get kids to do better withthat aspect of it is going to be
my goal for this year.
So I'm using chat, gpp tocreate some screenplays centered
(18:01):
around some of the topics thatwe're doing this year where I'm
going to be doing a lot more.
I've watched some of the AnitaArcher videos on explicit
vocabulary instruction.
I'll be doing that A lot morethis year, more explicitly.
And so fluency just with thecoral reading of definitions,
(18:23):
coral reading of instructions,just simple things to add that
into our day that is going to bemy goal.
So I'm hoping to really tie insome of these new things I'm
learning.
I'm also trying to do more withmorphology and vocabulary, but
I've realized there's a lot morethere that I don't know.
So I'm looking into sometraining on that.
(18:47):
So that's where I'm at.
Thanks for letting me hear.
My name is Shelly.
I am an MTSS literacyspecialist in Kansas working
with all secondary schools westarted a walk to intervention
(19:10):
for K through 12, two years ago.
One of the most important thingsI've learned with working with
secondary students is they doneed some structured phonics,
that we've got to get them tofluency as quickly as possible
and then generalize to regulartext, and we've seen it's made a
humongous difference in ourdistrict.
(19:30):
I can't really get a question.
We have students who have beenin phonics, intervention and
fluency reading at fourth gradelevel and now leading at grade
level.
We have students who are in AP,euro and AP classes passing the
(19:51):
exams because of ourinterventions, and I'm proud to
say that my name is Robin.
I'm a literacy coach.
My goal for this year is to usemore multimodal activities to
enhance my students' learningand enhance my instruction, the
(20:14):
one thing I have learned aboutthe science of reading, although
that's the only way I've everknown how to teach reading.
I had to learn the bad way toteach reading, I guess, in order
to identify for teachers whatneeded to be changed, and that
has caused me to be superpatient, as teachers really
(20:37):
really took this seriously andpersonally, and there's a lot of
guilt, so I've had to reassureteachers and be patient myself.
Kim, I am a new second gradeteacher in North Carolina.
(20:57):
I've taught prior grades.
My most important thing I'velearned so far about the science
of reading is how our brainsare born wired to speak or for
oral language, but we have to beexplicitly taught how to read
and also that systematic andsequential explicit instruction
(21:21):
can benefit all readers.
A goal that I have this yearrelates to me moving back down
to second grade, a foundationalgrade, and making sure that I'm
giving my students a firmfoundation in the word
recognition side of the readingrope while also building up that
(21:42):
language comprehension strand.
My name is Amanda Wader and Iteach second grade.
So for the first question, Ithink the most important thing
that I've learned is how toeffectively teach students how
to read.
When I first began teaching, youknow it was the three queuing
(22:03):
system.
It was look at the picture,does it sound right, does it
make sense?
And there was always thisnagging feeling in my gut where
this isn't what my kids need,this isn't working.
But I wasn't quite sure what todo and how to change it,
because that's what I was taughtwhen I was in school.
So I think the biggest thing ishow to effectively teach
(22:27):
students how to read, how to usephonemic awareness and phonics
instruction in a direct,systematic and explicit way.
And also, you know,familiarizing myself with the
two sides of Scarborough'sreading rope and knowing that
both sides are so important, yetthe leverage should be used
(22:47):
differently for both sides andthey should be taught so
differently.
Like I said, phonics and uniqueawareness, that should be
direct, systematic, explicit.
But comprehension needs to occurthrough teaching content.
It's not a set of skills, it'snot something you can say okay,
today we're going to do mainidea, we'll focus on that all
this week and then I'll assessyou on it at the end of the week
(23:09):
.
No, I need to start building mystudents' background knowledge
and through all of that contentknowledge, then their
comprehension will come.
You know, using rich vocabulary.
I would say that's the biggestthing that I've learned.
And for the second question, Ifeel like I have so many goals
aligning to the science ofreading.
(23:32):
First, I'm adding moresystematic morphology
instruction to my phonics time.
I've been doing a lot ofresearch on morphology and
etymology and how to break thatdown for my students to really
get the meaning of what they'rereading.
And that's one thing that I'mreally excited about is adding
(23:52):
in that morphology instruction Iwant to increase word knowledge
through that vocabulary,through etymology.
That's something that I'mreally excited for.
Another goal that I have is I'mgoing to use the writing
revolution text which I'm reallyexcited for and I'm going to
align that to my content richELA curriculum that I'm using.
(24:16):
And secondly, I was I'm sorry.
Thirdly, it was actually taskedwith writing our second grade
ELA curriculum and actuallygoing back from my degree in
supervisor of curriculum andinstruction, I feel that my
background in the science ofreading my letters training
that's really going to help thatgoal of designing a curriculum
that meets our needs and alignswith our view of how to
(24:41):
effectively teach our studentsto read.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
Bye-bye, hi, melissa and Lori.
My name is Elise Turo Frederick.
I'm a first grade teacher.
I will be a second gradeteacher next year.
I'm in Prairieville, louisiana.
I've been teaching for 14 years.
(25:02):
I have two master's degrees ineducation and a reading
specialist certification.
I've been a two-time teacher ofthe year and district teacher
of the year, a Milken EducatorAward recipient, a student
teacher mentor and I'm a TAPmentor teacher.
My proudest accomplishment isthat I've taught hundreds of
people how to read.
(25:24):
Your first question was what isthe most important thing you
learned so far about the scienceof reading?
And when I read that, I thoughtabout the first time I read.
Teaching reading is RocketScience by Queen Louisa Mote
about how researchers estimatethat 95% of students can be
taught to read with futureachievement constrained by only
(25:47):
by their reasoning and listeningcomprehension abilities, and I
thought, wow, that is not thecase for my students, the kids
on my campus, district state, etcetera.
So the most important thing forme is realizing how much power
I have to make a difference as ateacher.
So I learned a little bit abouthow the brain learns to read
(26:09):
and that my instruction cancause those neural pathways.
And teachers don't have tounderstand the brain like a
scientist to teach a student howto read.
We have to understand a littlebit.
We have to understand thatreading is connecting those
graphings to phonies andmorphines to some extent.
So any strategy that studentsuse to compensate for not
(26:32):
knowing how to read isdetrimental to building that
neural network.
Here a question about a goal.
What goal?
I have related to readingscience.
So I'm in a unique positionbecause I leaped from
kindergarten to first grade inthe 21-22 school year with my
students and now I'm looking upfrom first to second grade, so I
know the students who will bein my class.
(26:54):
I ended last year with twostudents on yellow and dibbles,
which means they're going toneed strategic support more than
the core curriculum in order tobecome a proficient reader In
that pathways of progressteacher.
On dibbles, it showed that 17of my 22 students made well
above typical progress.
(27:14):
Three students made abovetypical progress and one student
just made typical.
So everybody grew at least ayear, but we want all students
to grow more than a year, ofcourse.
So thinking about that and thenthinking about when the kids
get to third grade andespecially beyond that, teachers
aren't equipped to teachstudents how to read because
(27:37):
they have their own skill set.
Very little of their work willbe in the lowest range of
Garber's work.
Garber's work I've heard somany upper-grade science, social
studies and math teachers say asocial studies test is really a
reading test.
So my goal for my secondgraders is that they completely
(27:58):
master the alphabetic code,including fluency, including
spelling and even handwriting.
My goal is for dibbles pathwaysof progress to show all
students above or well abovetypical progress, and I have a
plan for that.
I want to do that through beingan expert implementer of my
(28:19):
tier one curriculum, ckla skills.
I'm going to weave inadditional repetition,
multimodal components and equipstudents to self-assess and
provide feedback to one another,and I'm going to involve my
students in their own goalsetting their own goal tracking
and do as much work as possibleto promote even ownership.
(28:41):
Melissa and Lori, thank you foryour podcast.
I've learned so much from youand from your guests.
I began this science of readingjourney during the pandemic,
where we were all quarantinedand when I returned to campus I
was on fire.
I got my kindergarten team tojoin this science of reading
path, ditch the level of readersand we just became very
(29:04):
strategic.
All of the accolades I'vereceived are really just because
I'm passionate about literacy,and people notice that passion
and they want the best for theirstudents too.
So thank you both, because mystudents are more skilled
readers and writers because ofyou.
Thank you, hi.
(29:28):
My name is Lisa.
I'm a literacy coach.
I think one thing that I'velearned about SOR is, in order
to make real sustainable change,we need to have administrators
very much versed in the researchand really to understand what
(29:51):
science of reading is and whateffective practices are.
I think we are very lucky inMassachusetts to have someone I
consider a trail believer, andthat's Brent Conway.
He's proof that leadershipthat's all in and very much up
(30:21):
with all the current research.
He's a driving force in hisdistrict and has made great
strides.
So, yeah, that's what I think.
And then a goal for myself thisyear is I really want to focus
on our multilingual learners andnewcomers and making sure that
(30:46):
they have access to real,rigorous content and, as well as
our kids who receive specialeducation services, I feel like
that's an area that is somewhatuntapped as far as implementing
scaffolds and things like thatthat are continued to be
(31:11):
rigorous, but giving them thataccess.
So thank you, hi, Melissa andLori.
My name is Dawn DeLorenzo.
I am a special educationteacher.
This is my 23rd year.
I am currently teaching fourthgrade and we are in a middle
(31:33):
school.
It's a K to 8 setting Again.
So I'm a special educationteacher and I'm also a teacher
leader for my district, and Ialso serve as a what they call
an educator in residence for theProgress Center, which is a
center funded by the USDepartment of Education Office
(31:54):
of Special Education Program.
So what have I learned thissummer?
So much that I've learned, youknow.
It's interesting because I feltlike special education teachers
were somewhat insulated fromthese reading wars, because
we've been teachingsystematically and explicitly
forever.
But one of the things, one ofyour questions.
(32:17):
What's the most important thingthat I've learned so far?
And for me I feel like it isthat the pillars can't be silos
and everything like the readingrope into it.
It interweaves with each otherand that, as a teacher and you
(32:38):
guys know this you know you tryto have your your phonics block
and your comprehension time andyour vocabulary time and I
really kind of ties into thesecond part.
But one of one of my goals forthis year is to find a way to
incorporate that much moreseamlessly and weave it together
.
(32:58):
And as a special educationteacher, I know that the big
focus has been on the generalpopulation, like your tier one.
But so many of us in specialeducation feel like our hair is
on fire when these kids come tous and they can't read.
Particularly as a fourth gradeteacher, I feel like that's the
year, like God, we got to turnthis ship around.
(33:18):
It's now or never, because allthe research shows that you know
after fourth grade it's likethree to four times harder to
get these kids reading.
But I've definitely learnedthat I cannot ignore the
knowledge and that's come fromso many of your podcasts and
through reading the knowledgegap and we have written wisdom
(33:39):
and I'm definitely going toincorporate that into my
curriculum.
I have the freedom to do that.
So this year, what I've beenlooking at is utilizing that, so
and increasing that knowledgebase, because, even though my
students are still strugglingand some of them severely with
decoding and coding, they arethirsty for knowledge and my
(34:01):
goal is to always get thosestudents back into the
mainstream and I want them to beup to par with their peers.
I want to return them with the.
You know, if they're fourthgraders, I want them to have a
fourth grade knowledge base, Iwant them to have a fourth grade
vocabulary and, yes, I wantthem to be decoding at a fourth
grade level.
(34:21):
But if they aren't, thatshouldn't be an excuse for
holding them back from theknowledge that their peers are
getting.
So thank you for letting meshare, thank you for everything
that you've done, thank you forall the information that you've
shared with educators, and Ilook forward to your podcast all
(34:42):
the time, and I'm still lookingforward to seeing all the great
things that come from you,ladies, in the future.
Hello, my name is JenniferLacher.
I teach first grade in the EastMeadow School District on the
island in New York.
The most important thing thatI've learned about SOR is an
(35:02):
understanding of the researchbased on how individuals learn
to read and the best practicesfor reading instruction.
Children acquire a languageautomatically.
Reading is not natural andneeds to be taught.
Research has also proven thatteaching content knowledge is
teaching reading.
I've shifted my thinking andpedagogy from a balanced
(35:26):
literacy approach to structuredliteracy.
My goal is to effectivelyintegrate all of the strands of
Scarborough's reading rope intomy daily instruction to help my
learners become proficient andreader.
The delivery of literacyinstruction this year will be
explicit, systematic andsequential.
(35:46):
Our literacy program consistsof foundations and core
knowledge, language arts.
We're utilizing the knowledgeunits.
This is such an amazing andrewarding time to be an educator
, a moonshot.
Helping each childreproficiently is challenging
and means doing things in adifferent way, but we can do it.
(36:08):
Lori, I met you on plane talk.
I was star struck.
Ladies, keep up the great work.
Thanks for listening, goodbye.
Hi.
My name is Deanna.
I am a parent and the primarylearning coach for my daughter
(36:29):
and my son.
They are attending a virtualcharter public school at home.
We made this choice because,unfortunately, my daughter was
not learning to read the termbrick and mortar public school,
so I'm not a formal teacher butinadvertently I learned about
the science of reading.
I listened to the soul of thestory podcast, I watched the
(36:52):
right to read movie and I wastaught to read 9 to 8 with
Phonix.
I'm very passionate abouthelping my local community, my
library, learn about the scienceof reading in your podcast
Definitely a wonderful follow upto the soul of the story
podcast.
I recommend it to all myfriends, to my family, to
(37:14):
teachers, because this literacycrisis can be solved and we know
what we need to do.
We can do it and I am lookingforward to my state of Georgia
moving to structured literacy by2025, because it can be done
and your podcast helps.
Thank you.
Lori (37:36):
Thanks for listening.
Literacy Lovers, To stayconnected with us, sign up for
our email list atliteracypodcastcom.
Melissa (37:45):
And to keep learning together.
Join the Melissa and Lori LoveLiteracy podcast Facebook group
and be sure to follow us onInstagram and Twitter.
Lori (37:54):
If this episode resonated with you, take a moment to share
with a teacher friend or leaveus a five star rating and review
on Apple podcasts.
Melissa (38:04):
Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions
expressed by the hosts andguests of the Melissa and Lori
Love Literacy podcast are notnecessarily the opinions of
Great Minds PBC or its employees.
Lori (38:17):
We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to
learn with us.
You're listening to.
Melissa and Lori Love Literacy.
We ask teachers all over theworld to call in and share what
they're learning about readingscience.
In today's episode you'll hearright from teachers about how
they're implementing structuredliteracy practices in their
classrooms this school year.
Welcome, teacher friend.
I'm Lori and I'm Melissa.
(00:22):
We are two literacy educatorsin Baltimore.
We want the best for all kidsand we know you do too, our
district recently adopted a newliteracy curriculum, which meant
a lot of change for everyone.
Melissa (00:36):
Lori and I can't wait to keep learning about literacy
with you.
Today, we want to give teachersa voice in the science of
reading movement.
This episode is truly inspiring.
As we head back to school, weask educators all over the globe
to call in and answer these twoquestions what is the most
(00:59):
important thing you've learnedso far about the science of
reading and what is a goal youhave this year connected to
reading science?
Lori (01:08):
Thank you so much to all of our listeners and educators
for calling in.
We received so many submissions.
Now let's hear from ourliteracy lover.
Community Teachers will sharewhat big things are happening in
their classrooms related toreading science.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
My name is Alana and I'm a reading interventionist,
and the most important thingI've learned about the science
of reading is that it's agrowing body of research and
that the research needs to bepracticed through our
instruction, and that somepieces are more definitive, like
our phonics and chemicalawareness instruction, and some
parts, like comprehension, aremore complex, but that all of
those pieces of literacy need tobe woven together and layered
(01:49):
into our instruction in theexplicit and systematic way, and
a goal that I have this yearconnected to science of reading
is to have students build theirknowledge and vocabulary through
connected text steps andcomprehension through learning
content.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Thanks, Hi Melissa, hi Lori, this is so exciting.
It's one of your biggestCanadian fans calling right now.
I am going to answer your firstquestion why is the science of
reading important?
(02:25):
And really I only have twowords to explain why I think
it's important, and that isbecause it works.
I have been on my science ofreading learning journey since
about 2013.
I started my master's, I did myOrton-Gillingham training and
recently I was certified as astructured literacy classroom
(02:49):
teacher, and so I see how thereading research has helped
inform my teaching practice.
I see how kids are moremotivated to learn.
I see them learning to read andwanting to read more Throughout
the year and overall, too, Isee fewer behaviors as a result
(03:09):
of the fact that these studentsare learning to decode the words
off the page and understandingwhat they're reading, not just
enjoying being read too, butthey're actually engaged readers
themselves.
You know, I always think backto Steven Dijkstra's podcast
episode where he talks abouttrauma and students able to read
(03:32):
, and how we are actuallyperpetuating that trauma for
students who come to schoolevery single day with the high
hope that they, too, can learnto read and understand those
words on the pages, like theirpeers, like their teachers like
their parents, and it breaks myheart when I think that we are
unable to help some of ourstudents actually learn the
(03:56):
reading magic.
So why is the science ofreading important?
It's important because itaffects our students' confidence
and belief in their self.
Second question about a goal.
My goal for this upcoming yearis to do a much better job of
teaching vocabulary and buildingcontent knowledge.
(04:18):
I have been listening topodcasts every single day while
driving my children back andforth to swimming lessons and
day camps, and I have beenlistening to Natalie Wexler's
Knowledge Matters podcast, andit has just been bombshell after
bombshell after bombshell.
I think, oh my gosh, why didn'tI know this before?
And so my goal for the upcomingyear is to do a better job of
(04:41):
explicitly and systematicallyteaching vocabulary to my
students especially mymulti-language learners who are
coming in with no vocabularybasis at all and ensuring that
we're building their backgroundknowledge so they have something
for this new knowledge to stickto.
So, yeah, it looks like it'sgoing to be an exciting year
(05:02):
ahead, and thank you foreverything you do.
You have really helped me on myscience of reading learning
journey.
I've loved your podcast andlook forward to many more
amazing podcasts with you in thenear future.
Speaker 5 (05:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Hi, my name is Annie.
My role is a buildinginstructional coach, and the
most important thing I'velearned so far about the science
of reading is that we have aplethora of instructional
strategies at our disposal thatis, in fact, research based.
I've learned that the readingrope encompasses all of the
(05:46):
necessary skills that a childneeds to master to be able to
comprehend what they're reading,and one of the most important
things I've learned is thatthese strategies are especially
important for our multi-linguallearners.
Structured literacy is effectiveand it involves decoding and
encoding every day when workingon the word recognition side of
(06:10):
reading.
It encompasses vocabulary andbackground knowledge, language
structures and literaryknowledge.
I've learned that our brainsare naturally wired for speech,
but through a systematicapproach we can map those speech
sounds to print.
(06:31):
The goal for me as a teacherthis year is to really
incorporate fluency into mydaily practice with students and
teachers.
As a role as an instructionalcoach, providing teachers time
and professional learning todetermine where this outstanding
practice fits into their dailyschedule.
Most importantly, though, mygoal is to continue to spread
(06:53):
the word about the science ofreading and try to become an
advocate for pre-serviceprograms so that teachers have
the effective tools that theyneed to be able to teach
students how to read.
Hi, my name is Melanie Breutherand I'm a full-time resource
teacher in Montreal, quebec,canada, and one of my passions,
(07:16):
closest to my heart, isadvocating for dyslexia
awareness on the science ofreading.
This sparked it was sparked bymy son, benjamin dyslexia
diagnosis when he was just nineyears old.
He's going to be 12 next weekand he is severely dyslexic.
Seeing him struggleacademically and socially and
emotionally has made it amission for me to learn as much
(07:36):
as I could about dyslexia, andthen it led me down this path to
the science of reading.
I've done extensive training,almost obsessive, because I want
to be able to make an impact onmy students.
I even started decodingdyslexia Quebec Facebook page so
I can help parents, who arenavigating this journey as well,
(07:58):
and also teachers.
I think for me, the mostimportant thing that I've
learned that there is.
It is the body of research thatthe science of reading is.
There's a lot of misconceptionsout there and something that I
may do this year in my classroombased on that research may
change over time it may changewithin the next month and that
(08:18):
all children can learn to read.
We know that 95% of studentscan and for me, I'm really
interested in sharing the impactof not knowing how to read has
on your self-esteem.
I see that every single daywith my son and it's
heartbreaking.
My goal this year is to continueto advocate for change and
awareness, and I hope teacherscan make small changes.
(08:39):
They don't have to doeverything at once, because that
is extremely overwhelming.
A simple one, for example, isto stop using the three queuing
system, and for me personally inthe classroom I can go on and
on about this is to see mygroups of students more often
and use my programs andapproaches with fidelity and
progress, monitoring my studentsoften and share that data with
(09:02):
my classroom teachers andparents as well.
I also won the Nesview DyslexiaAware Teacher of the Year this
past year, and this is myobsession, my mission, and I
love listening to podcasts aswell and learning about that,
and I actually met Melissa andLori in Syracuse, new York, last
year at the Reading League, soI love the podcast and that's it
(09:24):
.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
Hey, Melissa and Lori , it is here, but I work in
Baltimore City Public Schoolsand I will be teaching a seventh
grade ELA this fall for thesecond year in a row and I'm
very excited about that, I wouldsay.
As far as the answers go right,what is a goal that I have this
year connected to readingscience?
(09:48):
I want to be more thoroughabout exposing students to
Scarborough's Rope, right, likethere are so many foundational
aspects of reading that areincredibly important to show
students, but not to showstudents right.
We talk a lot about buildingknowledge for students and a lot
(10:10):
of times we think that we don'thave to show students to sort
of ins and outs, right, and Iwant to be more thorough.
I want to be more transparentabout word recognition, language
comprehension and, ultimately,how those different strands of
the rope blend together toproduce schooled reading.
So that's exposing students andtelling them the importance of
(10:31):
a lesson and why buildingbackground knowledge is
incredibly important, but alsohow vocabulary is embedded
within that, but not just thatfor my friends who are a little
bit below grade levelunderstanding word recognition
right and decoding that part ofthe brain is dedicated to
decoding, so it's focused onthat right and a lot of
(10:51):
cognitive energy is focused ondecoding and not quite
comprehending, and that's whyit's important to have a
multifaceted approach.
I think a lot of times we getbogged down in the science of
reading and we don't want tosort of fuel the veiled back
right.
It's like a credit card with somany hidden strings.
Well, why don't we just presentthe information to students,
trust that they'll understand it, with a good, thorough
(11:13):
explanation of how this is goingto help them, including
explaining it to their parentsand their families?
So I still have to say my onebig goal this year is to show
students that there are so manystrings connected to reading.
It's all incredibly important,but it's also really fun.
We can build student knowledgeof the skills that it takes to
become a more fluent and abetter reader.
Ultimately, kids benefit fromthat and I think that's the most
(11:35):
equitable thing to do.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
Carol McKinley.
My role is a recently retiredpart-time literacy coach.
My response to question onethere are many, many important
things I have learned regardingthe science of reading, but I
think the most important thing Ihave learned so far is that our
(12:01):
brains are not wired to read.
In my reading recovery trainingin the late 80s, we were told
that learning to read is asnatural as learning to talk.
So, as a result of the researchusing functional MRIs by
cognitive psychologists, we nowknow that is absolutely not true
(12:24):
, and hearing Stanislaw Dahanespeak at the 2022 Plain Talk
Conference was a highlight of mycareer.
The second question I am veryexcited because this is our
first year implementing CKLA andour second year implementing
(12:45):
the writing revolution.
However, as the newly retiredpart-time literacy coach, my
main goal this year is tosupport our new full-time
literacy coach, learn thereading science and understand
the incredible science ofreading journey our K-3-3
teachers have already traveledsince 2019.
(13:08):
So helping our teacherscontinue to shift from the
misaligned practices of balancedliteracy to the research-based,
effective literacy practicesaccording to the reading science
is my second goal this year.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Jennifer, middle school reading interventionist.
Reading is a complex cognitiveprocess that involves various
skills and neural mechanisms.
The fascinating brain researchhas demonstrated specific brain
areas are active during reading,such as the left hemispheres,
broca's area, reniki's area.
(13:50):
Quality reading instructionbased on the science is best for
all children's success.
Reading develops in stages,from early pre-reading skills to
fluent reading later on, andsocioeconomic factors can impact
reading development, withchildren from disadvantaged
backgrounds facing morechallenges in acquiring reading
(14:16):
skills.
That is the goal that I havethis year, connected to reading
science.
My goal is to work to improvethe middle school literacy
program, aiming to promoteeffective reading instruction
and improve reading outcomes forchildren.
The two ways that I intend todo this first, to develop better
(14:38):
assessment tools to betterunderstand individual reading
difficulties early on and tailorinterventions accordingly,
because we know thatpersonalized, targeted
interventions are effective inhelping struggling readers
improve our skills.
And secondly, to addressreading equity to ensure all
(15:00):
children, regardless of theirbackgrounds and socioeconomic
status, have access to qualityreading instruction and
resources.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Hello, I am Becky Sellers.
I teach seventh grade languagearts, full time teacher.
I am going back and getting mymaster's in curriculum and
instruction my second master'sin curriculum and instruction
(15:35):
and so I started this kind ofjourney in the science of
reading a long time ago but cameback to it very recently, and
so the most important thing thatI've learned in the last couple
of weeks months that I've beengetting back into this work is
(16:00):
really just how complicatedcomprehension.
So when we think aboutcomprehension, I have been told
by administration for the last10 years we need to see specific
growth on specific learningtargets and the standards, and
(16:24):
as I've been listening throughthe podcast and doing my own
reading, I'm realizing thatthat's impossible and it's
really interesting andfascinating, and so just
understanding the complexity ofreading comprehension has been
my biggest takeaway so far, andjust that it does have to be
messy, and I can't stick it in astandard space grade book and
(16:46):
show whether or not kids havemastered material, because it is
all dependent on all sorts ofthings, not only the background
knowledge and what the lexilelevel is of the text or whatever
, but also whether or not thekid ate breakfast that day, and
(17:11):
so that has been the biggestthing I've learned, I think.
Second question this year I amplanning to implement a lot more
with fluency.
So listening to Timers and SkiTalk about just how fluency is
that bridge that might move theneedle for kids who can be code
(17:36):
but still aren't comprehendingthat has been my issue in
seventh grade for many years, oreighth grade.
I was eighth grade for a whilebefore that and so just trying
to get kids to do better withthat aspect of it is going to be
my goal for this year.
So I'm using chat, gpp tocreate some screenplays centered
(18:01):
around some of the topics thatwe're doing this year where I'm
going to be doing a lot more.
I've watched some of the AnitaArcher videos on explicit
vocabulary instruction.
I'll be doing that A lot morethis year, more explicitly.
And so fluency just with thecoral reading of definitions,
(18:23):
coral reading of instructions,just simple things to add that
into our day that is going to bemy goal.
So I'm hoping to really tie insome of these new things I'm
learning.
I'm also trying to do more withmorphology and vocabulary, but
I've realized there's a lot morethere that I don't know.
So I'm looking into sometraining on that.
(18:47):
So that's where I'm at.
Thanks for letting me hear.
My name is Shelly.
I am an MTSS literacyspecialist in Kansas working
with all secondary schools westarted a walk to intervention
(19:10):
for K through 12, two years ago.
One of the most important thingsI've learned with working with
secondary students is they doneed some structured phonics,
that we've got to get them tofluency as quickly as possible
and then generalize to regulartext, and we've seen it's made a
humongous difference in ourdistrict.
(19:30):
I can't really get a question.
We have students who have beenin phonics, intervention and
fluency reading at fourth gradelevel and now leading at grade
level.
We have students who are in AP,euro and AP classes passing the
(19:51):
exams because of ourinterventions, and I'm proud to
say that my name is Robin.
I'm a literacy coach.
My goal for this year is to usemore multimodal activities to
enhance my students' learningand enhance my instruction, the
(20:14):
one thing I have learned aboutthe science of reading, although
that's the only way I've everknown how to teach reading.
I had to learn the bad way toteach reading, I guess, in order
to identify for teachers whatneeded to be changed, and that
has caused me to be superpatient, as teachers really
(20:37):
really took this seriously andpersonally, and there's a lot of
guilt, so I've had to reassureteachers and be patient myself.
Kim, I am a new second gradeteacher in North Carolina.
(20:57):
I've taught prior grades.
My most important thing I'velearned so far about the science
of reading is how our brainsare born wired to speak or for
oral language, but we have to beexplicitly taught how to read
and also that systematic andsequential explicit instruction
(21:21):
can benefit all readers.
A goal that I have this yearrelates to me moving back down
to second grade, a foundationalgrade, and making sure that I'm
giving my students a firmfoundation in the word
recognition side of the readingrope while also building up that
(21:42):
language comprehension strand.
My name is Amanda Wader and Iteach second grade.
So for the first question, Ithink the most important thing
that I've learned is how toeffectively teach students how
to read.
When I first began teaching, youknow it was the three queuing
(22:03):
system.
It was look at the picture,does it sound right, does it
make sense?
And there was always thisnagging feeling in my gut where
this isn't what my kids need,this isn't working.
But I wasn't quite sure what todo and how to change it,
because that's what I was taughtwhen I was in school.
So I think the biggest thing ishow to effectively teach
(22:27):
students how to read, how to usephonemic awareness and phonics
instruction in a direct,systematic and explicit way.
And also, you know,familiarizing myself with the
two sides of Scarborough'sreading rope and knowing that
both sides are so important, yetthe leverage should be used
(22:47):
differently for both sides andthey should be taught so
differently.
Like I said, phonics and uniqueawareness, that should be
direct, systematic, explicit.
But comprehension needs to occurthrough teaching content.
It's not a set of skills, it'snot something you can say okay,
today we're going to do mainidea, we'll focus on that all
this week and then I'll assessyou on it at the end of the week
(23:09):
.
No, I need to start building mystudents' background knowledge
and through all of that contentknowledge, then their
comprehension will come.
You know, using rich vocabulary.
I would say that's the biggestthing that I've learned.
And for the second question, Ifeel like I have so many goals
aligning to the science ofreading.
(23:32):
First, I'm adding moresystematic morphology
instruction to my phonics time.
I've been doing a lot ofresearch on morphology and
etymology and how to break thatdown for my students to really
get the meaning of what they'rereading.
And that's one thing that I'mreally excited about is adding
(23:52):
in that morphology instruction Iwant to increase word knowledge
through that vocabulary,through etymology.
That's something that I'mreally excited for.
Another goal that I have is I'mgoing to use the writing
revolution text which I'm reallyexcited for and I'm going to
align that to my content richELA curriculum that I'm using.
(24:16):
And secondly, I was I'm sorry.
Thirdly, it was actually taskedwith writing our second grade
ELA curriculum and actuallygoing back from my degree in
supervisor of curriculum andinstruction, I feel that my
background in the science ofreading my letters training
that's really going to help thatgoal of designing a curriculum
that meets our needs and alignswith our view of how to
(24:41):
effectively teach our studentsto read.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
Bye-bye, hi, melissa and Lori.
My name is Elise Turo Frederick.
I'm a first grade teacher.
I will be a second gradeteacher next year.
I'm in Prairieville, louisiana.
I've been teaching for 14 years.
(25:02):
I have two master's degrees ineducation and a reading
specialist certification.
I've been a two-time teacher ofthe year and district teacher
of the year, a Milken EducatorAward recipient, a student
teacher mentor and I'm a TAPmentor teacher.
My proudest accomplishment isthat I've taught hundreds of
people how to read.
(25:24):
Your first question was what isthe most important thing you
learned so far about the scienceof reading?
And when I read that, I thoughtabout the first time I read.
Teaching reading is RocketScience by Queen Louisa Mote
about how researchers estimatethat 95% of students can be
taught to read with futureachievement constrained by only
(25:47):
by their reasoning and listeningcomprehension abilities, and I
thought, wow, that is not thecase for my students, the kids
on my campus, district state, etcetera.
So the most important thing forme is realizing how much power
I have to make a difference as ateacher.
So I learned a little bit abouthow the brain learns to read
(26:09):
and that my instruction cancause those neural pathways.
And teachers don't have tounderstand the brain like a
scientist to teach a student howto read.
We have to understand a littlebit.
We have to understand thatreading is connecting those
graphings to phonies andmorphines to some extent.
So any strategy that studentsuse to compensate for not
(26:32):
knowing how to read isdetrimental to building that
neural network.
Here a question about a goal.
What goal?
I have related to readingscience.
So I'm in a unique positionbecause I leaped from
kindergarten to first grade inthe 21-22 school year with my
students and now I'm looking upfrom first to second grade, so I
know the students who will bein my class.
(26:54):
I ended last year with twostudents on yellow and dibbles,
which means they're going toneed strategic support more than
the core curriculum in order tobecome a proficient reader In
that pathways of progressteacher.
On dibbles, it showed that 17of my 22 students made well
above typical progress.
(27:14):
Three students made abovetypical progress and one student
just made typical.
So everybody grew at least ayear, but we want all students
to grow more than a year, ofcourse.
So thinking about that and thenthinking about when the kids
get to third grade andespecially beyond that, teachers
aren't equipped to teachstudents how to read because
(27:37):
they have their own skill set.
Very little of their work willbe in the lowest range of
Garber's work.
Garber's work I've heard somany upper-grade science, social
studies and math teachers say asocial studies test is really a
reading test.
So my goal for my secondgraders is that they completely
(27:58):
master the alphabetic code,including fluency, including
spelling and even handwriting.
My goal is for dibbles pathwaysof progress to show all
students above or well abovetypical progress, and I have a
plan for that.
I want to do that through beingan expert implementer of my
(28:19):
tier one curriculum, ckla skills.
I'm going to weave inadditional repetition,
multimodal components and equipstudents to self-assess and
provide feedback to one another,and I'm going to involve my
students in their own goalsetting their own goal tracking
and do as much work as possibleto promote even ownership.
(28:41):
Melissa and Lori, thank you foryour podcast.
I've learned so much from youand from your guests.
I began this science of readingjourney during the pandemic,
where we were all quarantinedand when I returned to campus I
was on fire.
I got my kindergarten team tojoin this science of reading
path, ditch the level of readersand we just became very
(29:04):
strategic.
All of the accolades I'vereceived are really just because
I'm passionate about literacy,and people notice that passion
and they want the best for theirstudents too.
So thank you both, because mystudents are more skilled
readers and writers because ofyou.
Thank you, hi.
(29:28):
My name is Lisa.
I'm a literacy coach.
I think one thing that I'velearned about SOR is, in order
to make real sustainable change,we need to have administrators
very much versed in the researchand really to understand what
(29:51):
science of reading is and whateffective practices are.
I think we are very lucky inMassachusetts to have someone I
consider a trail believer, andthat's Brent Conway.
He's proof that leadershipthat's all in and very much up
(30:21):
with all the current research.
He's a driving force in hisdistrict and has made great
strides.
So, yeah, that's what I think.
And then a goal for myself thisyear is I really want to focus
on our multilingual learners andnewcomers and making sure that
(30:46):
they have access to real,rigorous content and, as well as
our kids who receive specialeducation services, I feel like
that's an area that is somewhatuntapped as far as implementing
scaffolds and things like thatthat are continued to be
(31:11):
rigorous, but giving them thataccess.
So thank you, hi, Melissa andLori.
My name is Dawn DeLorenzo.
I am a special educationteacher.
This is my 23rd year.
I am currently teaching fourthgrade and we are in a middle
(31:33):
school.
It's a K to 8 setting Again.
So I'm a special educationteacher and I'm also a teacher
leader for my district, and Ialso serve as a what they call
an educator in residence for theProgress Center, which is a
center funded by the USDepartment of Education Office
(31:54):
of Special Education Program.
So what have I learned thissummer?
So much that I've learned, youknow.
It's interesting because I feltlike special education teachers
were somewhat insulated fromthese reading wars, because
we've been teachingsystematically and explicitly
forever.
But one of the things, one ofyour questions.
(32:17):
What's the most important thingthat I've learned so far?
And for me I feel like it isthat the pillars can't be silos
and everything like the readingrope into it.
It interweaves with each otherand that, as a teacher and you
(32:38):
guys know this you know you tryto have your your phonics block
and your comprehension time andyour vocabulary time and I
really kind of ties into thesecond part.
But one of one of my goals forthis year is to find a way to
incorporate that much moreseamlessly and weave it together
.
(32:58):
And as a special educationteacher, I know that the big
focus has been on the generalpopulation, like your tier one.
But so many of us in specialeducation feel like our hair is
on fire when these kids come tous and they can't read.
Particularly as a fourth gradeteacher, I feel like that's the
year, like God, we got to turnthis ship around.
(33:18):
It's now or never, because allthe research shows that you know
after fourth grade it's likethree to four times harder to
get these kids reading.
But I've definitely learnedthat I cannot ignore the
knowledge and that's come fromso many of your podcasts and
through reading the knowledgegap and we have written wisdom
(33:39):
and I'm definitely going toincorporate that into my
curriculum.
I have the freedom to do that.
So this year, what I've beenlooking at is utilizing that, so
and increasing that knowledgebase, because, even though my
students are still strugglingand some of them severely with
decoding and coding, they arethirsty for knowledge and my
(34:01):
goal is to always get thosestudents back into the
mainstream and I want them to beup to par with their peers.
I want to return them with the.
You know, if they're fourthgraders, I want them to have a
fourth grade knowledge base, Iwant them to have a fourth grade
vocabulary and, yes, I wantthem to be decoding at a fourth
grade level.
(34:21):
But if they aren't, thatshouldn't be an excuse for
holding them back from theknowledge that their peers are
getting.
So thank you for letting meshare, thank you for everything
that you've done, thank you forall the information that you've
shared with educators, and Ilook forward to your podcast all
(34:42):
the time, and I'm still lookingforward to seeing all the great
things that come from you,ladies, in the future.
Hello, my name is JenniferLacher.
I teach first grade in the EastMeadow School District on the
island in New York.
The most important thing thatI've learned about SOR is an
(35:02):
understanding of the researchbased on how individuals learn
to read and the best practicesfor reading instruction.
Children acquire a languageautomatically.
Reading is not natural andneeds to be taught.
Research has also proven thatteaching content knowledge is
teaching reading.
I've shifted my thinking andpedagogy from a balanced
(35:26):
literacy approach to structuredliteracy.
My goal is to effectivelyintegrate all of the strands of
Scarborough's reading rope intomy daily instruction to help my
learners become proficient andreader.
The delivery of literacyinstruction this year will be
explicit, systematic andsequential.
(35:46):
Our literacy program consistsof foundations and core
knowledge, language arts.
We're utilizing the knowledgeunits.
This is such an amazing andrewarding time to be an educator
, a moonshot.
Helping each childreproficiently is challenging
and means doing things in adifferent way, but we can do it.
(36:08):
Lori, I met you on plane talk.
I was star struck.
Ladies, keep up the great work.
Thanks for listening, goodbye.
Hi.
My name is Deanna.
I am a parent and the primarylearning coach for my daughter
(36:29):
and my son.
They are attending a virtualcharter public school at home.
We made this choice because,unfortunately, my daughter was
not learning to read the termbrick and mortar public school,
so I'm not a formal teacher butinadvertently I learned about
the science of reading.
I listened to the soul of thestory podcast, I watched the
(36:52):
right to read movie and I wastaught to read 9 to 8 with
Phonix.
I'm very passionate abouthelping my local community, my
library, learn about the scienceof reading in your podcast
Definitely a wonderful follow upto the soul of the story
podcast.
I recommend it to all myfriends, to my family, to
(37:14):
teachers, because this literacycrisis can be solved and we know
what we need to do.
We can do it and I am lookingforward to my state of Georgia
moving to structured literacy by2025, because it can be done
and your podcast helps.
Thank you.
Lori (37:36):
Thanks for listening.
Literacy Lovers, To stayconnected with us, sign up for
our email list atliteracypodcastcom.
Melissa (37:45):
And to keep learning together.
Join the Melissa and Lori LoveLiteracy podcast Facebook group
and be sure to follow us onInstagram and Twitter.
Lori (37:54):
If this episode resonated with you, take a moment to share
with a teacher friend or leaveus a five star rating and review
on Apple podcasts.
Melissa (38:04):
Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions
expressed by the hosts andguests of the Melissa and Lori
Love Literacy podcast are notnecessarily the opinions of
Great Minds PBC or its employees.
Lori (38:17):
We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to
learn with us.
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