Below are eight commonly misunderstood terms related to reading instruction.

• Reading.

• Word recognition.

• Word identification

• Decoding

• Strategy.

• Skill

• Systematic phonics instruction.

• A balanced approach.

This podcast explains eight commonly misunderstood terms related to reading instruction.

• Reading.

• Word recognition.

• Word identification

• Decoding

• Strategy.

• Skill

• Systematic phonics instruction.

• A balanced approach.

Below are seven big ideas that you should take from this chapter.

1. Having a body of knowledge is important in any field.

2. Disagreement followed by academic discourse enables a field to evolve.

3. Silencing opposing views results in cognitive inbreeding.

4. Academic journals are essential for disseminating new knowledge and for academic discourse within a field.

5. The process used to get scholarly articles published in an academic journal is much higher than that used to get an article published in a newspaper or magazine.

6. Having a body of knowledge that is shallow and disjointed is not optimal for academic discussions or TV interviews.

7. John Stossel does not know what an academic journal is.

Let’s review. A couple of months ago, I recorded an online interview for a dyslexia summit. I also put together and recorded a short video presentation. These were both to be shown at a dyslexia summit. I was to then attend the online summit for a live question-and-answer session. On the day of the summit, I emailed to see what time I needed to be online. It was at this point that I was told that I had been disinvited. And my disinvitation had occurred without so much as a disinviting word. It was a gentle but wordless disinvitations.

Can you imagine such a thing?

The stated reason for my wordless disinvitation was that the writing tone used on some of my digital platforms “is fairly abrasive when speaking about those in other camps in the reading world”. In a previous excerpt, I examined how the abrasiveness of one’s writing tone is determined largely by the cognitive framework held by the reader. I also said that the wordless disinvitation I received was a form of silencing. And any abrasiveness in my writing tone pales in comparison with the continued abrasion endured by teachers and professors as well as the constant attacks on Lucy Calkins, Ken Goodman, and Marie Clay.

In this excerpt, we’ll examine reading camps.

It is very hard to have a serious and substantive discussion about a topic like reading instruction with somebody whose knowledge base is shallow and disjointed. You end up in a teaching role.

The abrasiveness of a writing tone is determined largely by the cognitive framework held by the reader. A cognitive framework is the mentally constructed structures that guide individuals in interpreting the world. It becomes the lens through which the world is viewed. Much like a theory, a cognitive framework is used to explain facts and understand phenomena.

Some see my writing as abrasive and ill-informed. Others see my writing as non-abrasive and insightful. Regardless, to silence, dismiss, or disinvite somebody based on their perceived tone … is … well, it’s the Science of Reading.

This podcast describes the following:

Words - sound groups that represent things in the real world.

Buzzwords - are words used to elicit an emotional response rather than accurately transmitting information.

Propagating lexiconic locution – an overuse of academic buzzwords.

Weasel words - words are used to give the impression of something without really saying something.

Strawman argument – Creating a cartoonish or distorted version of something then arguing against the cartoon.

This podcast defines the following:

Words - sound groups that represent things in the real world.

Buzzwords - are words used to elicit an emotional response rather than accurately transmitting information.

Propagating lexiconic locution – an overuse of academic buzzwords.

Weasel words - words are used to give the impression of something without really saying something.

Strawman argument – Creating a cartoonish or distorted version of something then arguing against the cartoon.

In a recent show, I referred to Emily Hanford as the Alexa App of reading instruction. This was a metaphor, a common literary device in which one makes a comparison without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. It creates an image. When we say America is a melting pot, we don’t literally mean there’s a big pot bubbling somewhere. Metaphors create images and communicate things that lists of words cannot. Recently, somebody took great umbrage of my use of metaphor. This was selective umbrage. If you want to take umbrage at something, take umbrage at the money wasted to pay for commercial products and services. Take umbrage at over-crowed classrooms and poor teaching conditions. Take umbrage at low teacher pay and lack of legitimate professional development opportunities. Take umbrage at tax cuts that make tuition costs rise. Take umbrage when the public cannot afford to go to our public colleges and universities. Take umbrage at the lack of health care, food insecurity, and mass shootings.

If somebody makes the claim that research says something, one has an obligation to have read a research article at least once in their life. And if somebody says, “Show me the research,” that person should know what research is and how to read and interpret it.