It is a new year and I hope you will join me in learning more about the science of reading. Our journey should not be one of confirming what we already know about reading or validating our experiences. Instead, consider what it would mean to change your approach to reading instruction based on scientific facts. …
Orthographic mapping is a process and not a skill. There are instructional practices and skills that promote orthographic mapping.
Mark Seidenberg’s 2017 book, Language at the Speed of Light explains how human brains learn to read and how educational instructional practices can support this complex process. By highlighting the decades of the science of reading, Seidenberg explains the gap between the science and current educational practices. He also offers suggestions for how teachers can…
There are too many “wars” happening right now. Political wars, reading wars, vaccine wars, and actual wars. We are divided into groups with whom we agree on topics that are important and relevant to us. But how many of us act like a scientist and actually read the data, research, polls, and first-hand accounts from…
If you are curious about what happens in the brain when humans read, this is the book for you! I am not qualified to write a true book review (nor am I attempting to), but I hope to summarize some of the main topics in the book. What happens in the brain when we are…
For some people, saying the words, “I am wrong,” might be incredibly difficult. But for me, saying or thinking the words excite me. I am energized by learning something that contradicts what I previously thought. Is that odd to admit? As organizational psychologist, Adam Grant said in his podcast and in his new book, Think…
Orton Gillingham is not a program. It is an approach to teaching literacy in a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive manner. Educators most often use this approach to support students who struggle with reading and spelling. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ORTON GILLINGHAM?: The name “Orton Gillingham” comes from two pioneers of…