In this episode I dive into the underpinnings of literacy strengths and difficulties. In a simple 4 square style, we look at the core areas we need to assess in each student and the learning profiles and instructional needs that match those assessments. This is a much watch episode for parents, caregivers, teachers, and administrators. Articles referenced - https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=13959&i=740141&p=38&ver=html5

A vocabulary quick guide: How many words to teach in a week, which ones to teach, and how to do it in a fun and engaging way. Teachers, parents, tutors, this episode will get your juices flowing with simple ways to boost vocabulary this spring and all summer long.

This follow-up fluency session is your step-by-step guide to fluency instruction. In a short and sweet 7 minutes, I give you the nuts and bolts of Tim Rasinski and Chase Young's approach to small group fluency instruction. Their webinars are awesome and available on demand at https://www.literacyworldwide.org/meetings-events/ila-digital-events/ila-webinars. I'm having great results with small group fluency instruction, I hope you do too.

Read Like Us Step by Step Plan

Need ideas for boosting reading skills this summer? Curating text sets on a topic supports knowledge building, decoding skills, and serves as a bridge to to new concepts.

Click here for a link to developing content knowledge in classrooms and at home.

Visible Learning is the landmark book that unlocked the key to knowing your impact as a teacher. It helped us to know what educational practices work best. The much anticipated sequel is here. During this episode I delve into one of the many impactful topics in the text, Integrating prior knowledge. Get this! Integrating with prior knowledge has the power to accelerate learning and achieve over two years worth of learning in a year. Check out 3 key tools to integrate prior knowledge and accelerate literacy learning in this episode.

The brain craves specificity! In this episode we talk about articulatory gestures and the importance of explicitly teaching students how to pronounce sounds.

If you want a tool to get specific and actionable reading assessment results, click here for our assessment quickstart tool.

The assessment funnel. From whole class screeners to small group diagnostics, this episode walks you through the the important elements of a whole class screener. Then we take a look at how we can use diagnostic assessments to help you plan small group classroom instruction or begin thinking about your spring & summer tutoring plan. Click here for a link to the tutoring quickstart tool.

Unpopular point of view? I believe every K-2 teacher is a reading tutor. In this episode I talk about teachers as practitioners and prescribers of dosage. If you think of dosage, you're thinking about what you're prescribing for the student by increasing the frequency that you meet with them, the length of time that you meet with them during each session, and the overall time that this intervention or instruction is going to extend.

Decodable texts are center stage in the science of reading discussion. Today's episode I chat about thinking about decodable texts like your fruits and vegetables. They're an important part of a nutritional lifestyle, but they are not meant to be the whole diet. Then I share some practical tips about how to incorporate decodable texts in an efficient and effective way.

Click here for UFLI's fabulous list of a variety of decodable texts aligned to specific phonics lessons.

Progress equals happiness. When we can see and track progress we accelerate achievement, engagement, and increase joy. Learn how microprogressions or bump-it-up charts can be used as student friendly tools to accelerate early literacy.