My summer kicked off with a commitment to reading 9 books, following a method for accomplishing goals suggested by George Couros. As the third week of my summer break begins, I find myself two books behind my goal already. As I’ve thought (and thought and thought!) about how I’ve ended up this far behind, I keep coming back to the same 2 answers: 1) life happens (expected and unexpected events) and 2) I haven’t zeroed in on my daily goals for reading (and writing). In other words, I haven’t targeted a specific time each day (which doesn’t need to be the same time each day) or a specific amount of time each day dedicated to reading/writing.
I’m currently in a position of not being able to meet my 9-book goal by summer’s end, but I’m just as committed as ever to continuing the mission, even if I fall short. Much less gets accomplished if we spend time thinking, or overthinking, goals than if we just jump in and start. A heap of gratitude goes to George Couros, once again, for writing the just-right weekly email at the just-right time to kick things into gear for me. The following quote came from yesterday’s Couros email:
As I try to summarize my learning from Brain Words, the first book on my list of summer reading, I will do my best to avoid trying to be perfect with my analysis, understanding, and writing. Rather, I will take action and continue this post.
Melissa and Lori’s Literacy April 18 [Listen Again] Literacy Podcast episode with Richard Gentry was the inspiration for making Brain Words my first-read of the summer. The book is full of clear explanations about how the brain learns to read and acquires “brain words,” as well as practical applications for classrooms. It is packed with information about the science of reading, and an approach to teaching that makes an indisputable argument for including spelling instruction. Authors Richard Gentry and Gene Ouellette are to be commended for their contributions to ensuring effective reading instruction.
A recurring point made throughout the book is that young readers gain “brain words,” stored patterns and words or lexical representations, when they have a handle on the spelling, sound, and meaning of the words. When those three components are in place, they are considered high-quality representations. What are the implications for the classroom? Include solid spelling instruction that takes “word learning to a deep level in your students’ brains.”
In Chapter 3 of Brain Words, the authors describe the reading brain and how different areas of the brain work together in order for successful reading to occur. I have read descriptions of and seen visual representations of the reading brain many times in the past several years. I still don’t have a firm handle on it, but can summarize my learning, specific to this chapter, as follows:
There are several areas across the brain that work together in order for successful reading to happen. Readers must first hear individual sounds and chunks of sounds in words before gluing them to visual representations (letters and strings of letters).
The areas of the brain, specifically on the left side of the brain, include the frontal lobe (front of brain), responsible for speech processing; the parietal lobe (top middle of brain), responsible for processing sound sequences; the occipital lobe (back bottom of brain), responsible for processing letter shape; and the temporal lobe (bottom middle of brain), responsible for phonemic processing and location of the Word Form Area, responsible for “processing and storing visual representations of print.” All of these areas are interconnected. Pathways are built as decoding and encoding are strengthened, all a part of skilled reading.
Shortly before I finished reading Brain Words, a social media post prompted me to watch Planet Words’s Eyes on Reading: Dr. Stanislas Dehaene with Emily Hanford. It was absolutely perfect timing for my learning journey! Gentry & Ouellette referred to the work of Dr. Stanislas Dehaene throughout their book. As a perfect follow-up to Brain Words, I strongly advise this very recent (May 23, 2024) video. It is simply fascinating… and features two literacy greats!
In addition to emphasizing the importance of forming brain words through learning the spelling, sound, and meaning of the words, Brain Words also focuses on phase theory. I hadn’t understood Linnea Ehri’s reading phases at all like I do now (and I sure still don’t fully understand them!), but I am fascinated by Ehri’s reading phases and by the fact that they were developed independently of Gentry’s phases of spelling development.
Chapter 5 of Brain Words summarizes Gentry’s phases of spelling development as follows:
Phase 0: scribbles to letter-like symbols
Phase 1: Pre-Alphabetic: random strings of letters, not tied to sounds
Phase 2: Partial Alphabetic: starting to match letters to sounds; many sounds (especially vowels) still not represented
Phase 3: Full Alphabetic: at least one letter for each sound
Phase 4: Consolidated: conventional spelling, vowels in every syllable, tied to grade level
As I write today, I am halfway through my second summer book, Speech to Print by Louisa Moats. Quite honestly, in addition to the 2 reasons/excuses listed above for falling behind on my reading goals, I could add a third reason: this book is kicking my butt! It’s a tough (but important!) read that has been sitting on my shelf for some time. I remain committed to finishing and to zeroing in on daily goals… but am conceding that I may not meet the 9-book goal.
And that’s OK. I will still have read more than I would have without the goal, and I will continue to gain inspiration for writing. I will continue to embrace the challenge. Onward and upward.