As a certified structured literacy dyslexia specialist, I have been using an Orton-Gillingham approach to teach students of all ages for more than 20 years. I love sharing my knowledge and resources with other teachers and helping them learn more about structured literacy and the science of reading.
Don't stop when they get the word right! π¦
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Dear Reader, Let's say you're reading a passage with a student. They stumble over a tricky word, so you use the little routine I mentioned last week... π Read it β Decode it β Map it β Spell it β Read it again! Success! π So then you move on. Not so fast! There's one more step I try not to skip: Put the word back into meaningful context.After we've worked through it, I have the student go back and read: β
the word Why? Because ultimately, our goal isn't for students to read individual words fluently. We want those words to become part of fluent, meaningful reading. This is where the syntax work I talked about last week comes in! Instead of jumping straight from the corrected word to the entire sentence, I like to put it back into a meaningful chunk first. For example, imagine a student misreads shop in: My mom ran / to the shop / at six. We might: 1. Decode and spell: shopβ It takes maybe 30 extra seconds, but now we've connected decoding practice to phrasing, syntax, fluency, AND meaning. If you skip this step, the student may lose the thread of meaning in the text, which is why rereading is so crucial! BONUS: when the student rereads the whole sentence, you get to see whether that corrected word actually sticks when it's back in connected text. So here's the quick tip to take into your lessons this week: Don't stop at the word.Fix the word β Read the phrase β Read the sentence. Small step. Big payoff. π Happy teaching! P.S. Short O is here! π I've just added the new Short O Decodable Fluency set to my Growing Decodable Fluency Bundle.β If you already own the bundle, you don't need to buy anything. Just head over to TPT and download the updated bundle to get Short O at no additional cost. π And if you don't have the bundle yet, it now includes Short A, Short I, AND Short O, with more skills coming soon. As I add new sets, the bundle price will gradually increaseβbut current bundle owners will continue getting the new additions at no extra cost. π Check out the Growing Decodable Fluency Bundleβ LET'S CONNECT |
Step by Step Literacy
As a certified structured literacy dyslexia specialist, I have been using an Orton-Gillingham approach to teach students of all ages for more than 20 years. I love sharing my knowledge and resources with other teachers and helping them learn more about structured literacy and the science of reading.
Dear Reader, Last week, we talked about why handwriting still matters, even in a world of keyboards, tablets, and speech-to-text, and I promised I'd share more of what I'm learning in my dysgraphia workshop. Well, here's something that's been on my mind lately: How many times have you told a student to slow down and write more neatly? Or heard someone say: "He CAN write neatly when he wants to. He just needs to take his time!" Sound familiar? Well, here's the thing: Being able to form letters...
Dear Reader, A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about why spelling still matters in a world of spellcheck, speech-to-text, and AI. Well, apparently Iβm on a mission to defend all the old-fashioned thingsβ¦because today I want to talk about handwriting. π We have keyboards. We have tablets. We have speech-to-text. So does handwriting really matter anymore? Yes, of COURSE it does! π― And here's why: Handwriting is not about beautiful penmanship or perfect letter formation. Itβs about automaticity and...
Dear Reader, I've heard this more times than I can count: βDoes spelling really matter anymore? We have spellcheck!β Believe me, I get it. Our students have spellcheck, predictive text, speech-to-text, Grammarly, and (dare I say it??) AI. π€ So why spend precious instructional time teaching them how to spell? Because spelling is about MUCH more than getting words right on paper. As you probably already know, reading and spelling are actually two sides of the same coin. When students learn to...