For The Love Of Literacy

“If only we, as dyslexics, had learned how the English writing system works—from words to sentences—when we were in elementary school! Maybe we wouldn’t have struggled with language and literacy.”  For decades, non-dyslexic individuals have been telling dyslexics how they learn, often focusing strictly on early literacy skills. This offers a very limited view of dyslexia. Listen to two adult dysle...

If your students read accurately but with limited fluency, comprehension or interest then Elfrieda “Freddy” Hiebert’s talk will be of great benefit. Freddy summarizes her decades of research, showing how vocabulary depth and richness are key components of reading comprehension and written expression.   Dr. Hiebert has created two essential materials: Teaching Words and How They Work , and TextProj...

Many students who struggle with literacy also struggle with math.  Understanding the number system requires engaging linguistic, cognitive, executive functions and conceptual understanding -- just like literacy.  Meaning is as important to math learning as it does in literacy.  Math that is taught as a series of isolated procedures, facts and “islands of knowledge” disconnected from meaning will m...

Why do so many students continue to struggle with spelling and writing even after years of phonics instruction? In this episode, Sarah Mitchell explores the missing layer between decoding instruction and deeper literacy transfer: integrated word study. Drawing on research, classroom experience and practical teaching examples, Sarah explains how word-building using a six-layer “word study map” that...

Teaching about morphemes (the meaningful components of words), sentence structure (syntax) and grammar (the framework for organizing words and sentences) isn’t hard, once you learn about two new resources: Mary Beth Steven’s Dramatic Scripts and Meghan Hicks and Louise Hewitt’s The Sentence Studio. In fact, you can learn about these vital components of language as you teach your students by using...

Title: Meet the Students / Humans of the Boring (into words) Scholars Collective Listen Sara Leland’s students, five humans who have dyslexia, ADHA and/or autism. With Sara’s guidance and support they grew to love literacy. They joined together and built a website www.boringscholarscollective.site . The boring scholars used their writing, creative and artistic skills to express their love of readi...

If you have ever wondered why your students struggle with word reading, or read accurately but with limited comprehension, then you may want to flip your approach to reading instruction. Start at the sentence level by using Xiuhong Tong and Hélène Deacon’s groundbreaking Linguistics Pathways Model , which provides two parallel paths leading to reading comprehension. The first pathway leads to word...

Meghan Hicks returns to talk about how teaching structure at the word, sentence, and text levels can help students make sense of the writing process. We often discuss literacy as a system and the importance of students understanding how it works. Meghan explains the broader system and how her students discover that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.  You’ll learn that syntax—how...

Bonnie Feeney, a dyslexic mother and Jen Petrich, her PhD neuroscientist daughter discuss dyslexia from a unique perspective—one of from a journey of personal discovery and the other from studying brain science. Hear how their journeys came together, enriching both their lives.  Learn the difficulties that dyslexics confront within and beyond the classroom. Dyslexics share more than a diagnosis an...

“Just thinking about grammar and syntax raises my anxiety.” Whether you share that reaction or you just feel shaky on some aspects of writing and sentence structure, you aren’t alone. Such a complex topic is not mastered in a one-and-done class. Yet it takes intellectual courage to become a student again and not to give up, especially when we are already acknowledged experts in our professions. In...

“Spell what you mean, not just what you hear,” is researcher and speech pathologist Kim Murphy’s advice to students. While spelling instruction often focuses on pronunciation, spelling-meaning instruction makes so much more sense to students and their teachers. Graphemes (letter patterns) and morphemes, the meaningful core of every written word, spell words in predictable and consistent ways, even...

Language issues are a surprisingly common source of reading, spelling and writing difficulties. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is impacting students in your classrooms and offices. Listen to Speech-Language Pathologists Kathleen Love and Beth Coppoc Gunshor as they share about observing, supporting and teaching students with language challenges, including DLD. They provide practical methods...

Three experienced teachers show how to get even your most resistant students to become fascinated by words and sentences. They explain how to turn memory-draining spelling homework into an activity that enriches vocabulary, sight word mapping and provides a deep understanding of how words are constructed. If morphology and the English spelling system doesn't make sense to you and your student...

Would you like to: understand how the English spelling system, or orthography, can be taught in so it makes sense to students and teachers, alike?  integrate morphemes, the meaningful core of every word, into your reading, spelling and vocabulary instruction?  Alternatives to memory and attention demanding practices like sight word spelling, syllable types, and spelling rules?  In this episode, Su...

A wonderful plan for teachers, starting with five-year-old students on up to secondary school, to create a community of students who love exploring language, starting with the written and spoken word. Based on Ann Whiting and Lyn Anderson's beautiful books , A Field Guide to Words and A Year in Words . Children learn how the English spelling system, or orthography, works and how it is the fou...

Do you know how English spelling really works? Go beneath the surface of words to find the connections between orthography (spelling system) and morphology, the meaningful core of every word in every language. While sound-symbol relationships in English are variable the spelling-meaning relationships are consistent.  Jennifer Petrich and Brad Johnson are dedicated to advancing their students’ lang...

The High Frequency Word Project , is an explicit, systematic resource that teaches the 130 high frequency words using strategies that make them stick. Each of these critical words is taught on multiple levels, from sounds and spellings to the morphological meaning, and how they are defined in sentences. Each word is further defined using something new: linguistically-accurate and fascinating stori...

If you think you know how dyslexia affects children and adults please listen to this moving and uplifting podcast. Dyslexia causes confusion way beyond decoding. Roadblocks frequently arise during vocabulary, sight word and morphology development, and sentence construction. Often overlooked is how sentence structure and complex grammatical patterns can limit comprehension. .  Marie Foley spend dec...

Would you like to turn your Read Alouds into a dynamic lesson that improves language comprehension - the upper strands of Scarborough's Rope - as well as reading comprehension and sentence writing? Trina Spencer and Doug Peterson not only have been researching these topics for decades but have made Story Champs, a series of ready-to-use stories and scaffolds. See their videos below and watch...

Learn how educators can enrich lessons and develop a deep appreciation for written and spoken language for students in all grades. Learn that spelling, morphology, vocabulary development and sentence writing can be taught, not as separate subjects, but in a time-saving integrated manner. If you are looking to connect word meaning and sentence comprehension to decoding instruction then this is the...

Listen to three of the most important voices in literacy, Linnea Ehri, Peter Bowers and Kenn Apel, talk about the important role of morphology in reading, vocabulary, spelling and sight word development.  Linnea Ehri updates her theory of orthographic mapping to emphasize the role that morphology plays not just in the four initial phases but when words are stored in sight word memory directly - wi...

Jennifer Constantine and Kara Lee have written an implementation guide to one of the most exciting areas of literacy instruction - Structured Word Inquiry. They are the authors of Structured Word Inquiry – An Implementation Guide for Teachers. About the book: We invite you to uncover the transformative power of Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) with this comprehensive implementation guide. SWI unveils...

Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry by Lisa Barnett and Katie Squires is designed to help you implement lessons guided by the four essential questions of structured word inquiry. The book contains a teacher guide, lesson template, and student work packet. The comprehensive Teacher Resource Guide leads you through the four guiding questions of SWI to help the teacher present l...