Since my last blog post in mid-October, Iâve been deeply immersed in both teaching and (my own!) learning. On the teaching front, Iâve been having an absolute blast supporting students in grades 4-12 in pursuing their writing and learning goals. From applying to college and secondary school to developing proficiency in planning and executing school assignments to submitting essays to the New York Times Student Essay Contests and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, IOC Writing & Learning students have been busy and, as one parent recently put it, finding âhappiness, joy, and success!â
When not with students, Iâve been keeping very busy on two learning fronts:
1ď¸âŁ Learning about Learning
First, Iâve completed five professional learning courses about supporting students with language-based learning disabilities & executive functioning deficits through the Landmark School Outreach Program. These courses have been absolutely fantastic. I have learned a great deal about âhow learning happensâ and, in particular, about the (truly remarkable!) âscience of readingâ (which, by the way, is not merely a buzzwordâto understand reading requires dedicated and thoughtful engagement in the history of language development and neuroscience). I highly recommend that all educators consider taking Landmark courses to fulfill their professional development requirements, and I also recommend checking out their excellent free webinar series.
And for anyone who is thinkingâŚIâm not a special educatorâŚI donât need to learn about learning disabilitiesâŚrest assured that understanding how learning works will improve ANY teacherâs practice in supporting ALL students with ALL learning profiles.
In the âDeep Diveâ section below, I summarize my most significant takeaway from these courses: how reading works & best practices for teaching reading.
2ď¸âŁ Learning about ParentingâŚ!
(i.e. whatâs next for IOC Writing & Learning)
For those who havenât heard the news yetâŚmy husband, Luke, and I are expecting a baby girl on March 30th! Her nursery library (aka my childhood library preserved by Nana-to-be, Marnie Reynolds đ) eagerly awaits her!
Following our babyâs birth, I will be taking maternity leave until August 2024, at which point I will start filling a limited late-summer enrichment/ application-support schedule & a regular fall tutoring schedule. I will reach out to my current roster of tutoring families first to offer priority scheduling, and once their needs are met, I will take on new students. If you think any family might be interested in late summer or fall writing & learning support, donât hesitate to introduce them to me in the next few weeksâŚbefore I enter baby land!
Deep Dive đ¤ż: Insights about Reading
đAmerican Reading Education is NOT in Good Shape + What We Can Do about It
For excellent overview of the state of American reading education & the âscience of readingâ reform that is under way, read this 4/16/23 New York Times article (free PDF), which provides an excellent overview.
The Short(er) Story:
The National Assesment of Educational Progress (NAEP aka âThe Nationâs Report Cardâ) has consistently found over the past 30 years that only about 1/3 of Americaâs students can read âproficiently",â and rates of reading proficiency have declined for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders over the past decade. Consider the figure below, which summarizes historical US 4th-grade reading proficiency data. (2022 âNationâs Report Cardâ; follow the link to view other grade-level data and definitions for âbasic,â âproficient,â and âadvanced.â)
đ What Can We Do?: Pivot Towards âThe Science of Readingâ
Both the history of how humans began to read and write (VERY recently in evolutionary history) & ample studies of brain activity during reading (using fMRI scans) reveal that reading an alphabetic language such as English requires the brain to integrate auditory and visual processing. One does not become a proficient reader of English by memorizing all the words as âwhole chunksâ (as one memorizes Chinese characters); instead, we develop reading proficiency through being able to hearall of the distinct sounds in our spoken language, match those sounds to letters and letter patterns, and understand how those patterns blend together to make spoken and written words.
PHONICS is simply the name of the reading instruction system in which students are taught to match sounds to letters. And once one understands the history and science of reading an alphabetic language, it becomes 100% clear why phonics is the best way to teach a person to read English.
A relevant side anecdote about this little person đâŚ
I canât remember learning to read (I was reading Harry Potter by myself in first grade), so I guess I just thought that I picked up reading ânaturally.â I think this is true of many educatorsâreading came easily to many of us, which led us to always âlike schoolâ and want to stay in schools forever!
However, my mother recently unearthed my Kindergarten report cards, and it turns out that I DID use phonics to learn to read. In 1998, Mrs. Mougin wrote: âIsabel listens carefully when phonics rules are explained and remembers them. When I ask Isabel what she does when she sees an unfamiliar word, she says, âI sound it out.ââ
So much for learnng to read ânaturallyââŚ..!
For anyone who wants to learn more, I highly recommend reading Maryanne Wolfâs seminal Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain; the book provides a perfect introduction to both the history and science of reading. In fact, Wolfâs central argument is that reading is not a ânaturalâ process but one that each person must learn âfrom scratchâ without any genetically endowed instinct to assist.
Reading Rockets is also a fantastic resource full of short explainers and concrete lesson-plan ideas about all aspects of reading.
My excellent Landmark Courses (also a great option!) frequently cited Maryanne Wolf & linked Reading Rockets resources.
đ§âđFollow-Up for Students
If you find reading challengingâperhaps even too challenging to enjoyâknow that you are not alone AND you can become better at reading! Connect with your teachers and parents to ask for support in developing your reading skills; with the right guidance, you will grow.
Also, using audiobooks (you should have access to free audiobooks through school and your local library, and you can buy just about any audiobook from Audible) and text-to-voice software such as Speechify can reduce the strain of readingâI use these tools all the time to âread on the goâ and check my work when writing!
In addition, reading challenges often lead to writing challenges. Consider drafting your ideas using Voice Typing in Google Docs and using Grammarly (the free version is all you need) to help edit your work (if your school allows it). I also think that ALL students, regardless of reading/writing skills, benefit from access to these tools.
đ¨âđŠâđ§âđ§ Follow-up For Parents
Donât assume your child is receiving adequate reading instruction in school! I recommend that Massachusetts parents check out the recent Boston Globe literacy investigation series (free PDF of key takeaways) to understand the magnitude of the problemâeven in Massachusettsâ most vaunted public school districts.
Reading challenges typically appear very early in a childâs reading journey yet often languish undiagnosed until after 3rd grade, when students are no longer âlearning to readâ but expected to âread to learn.â Early intervention is KEY to ensuring a student doesnât fall behind and become discouraged. It is important to observe your childâs reading and writing starting in Kindergarten; if they have trouble âsounding outâ words and spelling familiar words correctly, donât hesitate to seek a professional evaluation!
