The Current Landscape As we navigate the post-COVID educational landscape, one stark reality looms large: the national reading failure rates are alarming. The pandemic exacerbated existing challenges, leading to a significant drop in literacy rates, particularly among our most vulnerable students. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s a call to action for principals and administrators […]
Building Phonemic Awareness: Segmenting Sounds
Segmenting phonemes is an essential component of early literacy instruction. Segmenting phonemes refers to the process of breaking down spoken words into their individual sound units or phonemes. The science is clear: students need both word recognition and language comprehension skills. In this third part of a four-part series, we explore the different levels of […]
Building Phonemic Awareness: Blending Sounds
Blending phonemes is an essential component of early literacy instruction. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in words, and blending phonemes is the process of combining those sounds to form words. The science is clear: students need both word recognition and language comprehension skills. In this second part of a four-part series, we explore […]
Building Phonemic Awareness: Isolating Sounds
In order to learn to read, students must have a balance between language comprehension and word recognition. Reading is about reading the word AND understanding its meaning. There is not always a 50/50 balance between these two vital pieces. Students in primary school will spend more time on word recognition, but both will still be […]
Embracing the Future: ChatGPT is Here to Stay
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing technology that has the potential to revolutionize the way we learn and work. However, as with any new technology, it can also create some conflicts in schools. While AI has been around for a while, it has never been fantastic – until now with ChatGPT. It is scary […]
Retain New Information Longer
Teaching for Understanding “If I had a nickel …” is the overused phrase I fight the temptation to say out loud when teachers tell me that they just taught something and their students don’t remember. What actually comes out is usually along the lines of “don’t take it personally. Your students are not out to […]
Finding Theme in Fictional Texts
Prerequisite Learning The first step to finding an implicit theme in a fictional text is for students to gain a solid understanding of story elements. The students should be able to discuss the characters, setting, problem, and solution. Truth is, fictional stories are more about who is affected by what is happening than about what […]
Guided Reading where Everyone Reads
Why every student should read their own book The number one reason that Guided Reading is a successful way to boost students’ independent reading levels is because each student is reading and rereading the bulk of the time. If they are waiting for their turn to read, we’ve lost all that time they could have […]