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When we teach children to read, we open up doorways for their success in school and in life. Schools are obligated to teach children to read. BUT... please don’t buy the claim that there is one pre-packaged (and expensive) method that works best for all learners. 1/9
We need to adapt instruction to the individual learner. Early and ongoing assessment of all kids helps us to identify where they are and what they need to move forward. Knowledge of the cultural and linguistic backgrounds and prior learning experiences of kids is crucial. 2/9
Knowing our students, their interests, their strengths, their home language skills, their dreams, their needs, and what makes them tick is important. Getting to really know kids is never a “waste of learning time”-it’s what helps us to make the most of learning time. 3/9
If someone hands you a binder of pre-packaged lessons to teach in sequence with no deviation, question them. If someone tells you to teach your ELLs to decode “nonsense words” instead of providing meaningful, comprehensible input, question them. 4/9
If someone tells you that reading is only the ability to sound out words, question them. If someone tells you that a kid who memorizes a few simple sentence structures and uses pictures to guess the words without actually looking at them has now learned to read, question them. 5/
Students need to learn how letters make sounds, how to combine letters to make more sounds, how letters go together to make words, and spelling patterns/rules. They also need to learn how language is structured in English. They also need to make meaning from what they read. 6/9
You can’t focus on on only one aspect of reading and say that your job is done. Reading is a complex, multilayered process involving many moving parts. Small group and 1:1 sessions meeting kids where they are is what works, not delivering a pre-packaged lesson to all. 7/9
Literacy is a gift. It is also a right. Students deserve to be taught to read, especially if they came from a situation in which they were not taught to read in any language, or were not allowed to attend school. #wrdsbESL 8/9
Kids deserve differentiated programming based on individual strengths and needs. Meeting kids where they are, not forcing them to jump through the hoops of a standardized program so that they can perform on a standardized test. There is no such thing as a standardized child. 9/9
