When I began writing this blog in January of 2021, I outlined my goals for the blog which are as follows: Document my learning journey as a teacher, coach, and student Improve my writing craft through reflection Act as a producer rather than a consumer Push my thinking Connect with others Two and a half … [Read more…]
Words matter. Routines and procedures matter. The more we can simplify each in our educational systems, the more likely we are to reach high levels of success. At the risk of sounding like I desire robotic teaching, where we all do the exact same thing, I’m going to make the following statement: I think we … [Read more…]
The Truth About Reading The truth about reading is that we have been failing to teach kids how to read for years. According to The Truth About Reading website, “Illiteracy and sub-literacy in America (and around the world) is a growing issue. Awareness is important, but so is action.” Action is happening in the state … [Read more…]
There are so many times in education when we seek the “one thing” that will ensure all of our students can read/can learn at high levels. I reflected on this notion in a recent blogpost titled The Mythical Silver Bullet, at the end of which I concluded, “…which is all to say that the business … [Read more…]
The Learning Journey As I’ve written before, I’ve dedicated much of the last four years of my life to learning about the Science of Reading. Four years in, I fully recognize that there is much, much more to learn – from the body of research that currently exists, and from the body of research that … [Read more…]
Literacy Advocates Take Action Emily Hanford has done it again. She and colleague, Christopher Peak, have poured blood, sweat, and tears into the podcast, Sold a Story, that reveals, once again, the cause of the literacy crisis in America. Hanford is the reason that I, and so many others, have shifted our way of thinking … [Read more…]
More Work to Do Yesterday, I found myself being frustrated at a social media post that expressed a less-than-favorable opinion of the EL Education curriculum, specific to the Modules. As I read the equally unfavorable comments that poured in after the original post, my heart sank. I felt like I was sitting on a cracking … [Read more…]
We (I use this pronoun loosely) have made significant gains as an educational society in shedding light on the power of the Science of Reading/a structured literacy approach. Phenomenal resources like The Reading League, Amplify Science of Reading the Podcast, the International Dyslexia Association, and reporting from journalist Emily Hanford and author Natalie Wexler have … [Read more…]
When Sky and her mom walked into my classroom four years ago for Open House night to launch the 2017-2018 school year, I was taken aback when Sky (a brand new 6th grade student whom I was meeting for the first time) looked right at me, stomped her foot, and said, “I hate reading.” The … [Read more…]
Rarely a week goes by when questions aren’t raised about the structure of the EL Education curriculum, which the Fort Madison Community School District adopted in the fall of 2019 for grades K – 5, and the fall of 2020 for grades 6 – 8. The questions go something like this: “Why do we have … [Read more…]