​So your district adopted a basal reader program?

No need to panic…. Yet.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of reading and learning to read via an anthology of short passages. Research supports the need for students to dive into a variety of texts including complex short passages. (Timothy Shanahan has a great blog on short passages here although I do disagree with his lack of a more urgent need to also incorporate novels in upper grades specifically.)

So what is the problem then with popular basal readers currently being marketed as being aligned to the Science of Reading?

Well, the answer to that is complex.

First of all, the most glaring pain point teachers and parents bring up is the lack of novels. This article by The Atlantic gives a valid critique of one popular program, Into Reading and is worth reading for anyone curious to understand everything that can and will go wrong when no flexibility is given to teachers using basal programs.

But a basal reader isn’t inherently bad. Even Into Reading has points to celebrate. First of all, the consumable nature of the MyBook allows students to annotate directly in the text. Magic. There are many great stories in the program that my students and I were able to dive deeply into while reading. However, the overall program ended up creating more moaning and groaning during the ELA block than I have ever heard from students in my career. The overall critique from teachers seems to be that basal readers as a whole are not working for our kids. There are a lot of nuances that play into what can go wrong with a curriculum.... and we all need to be paying attention to those details. Even with some glaring faults, the basal curriculum can be used as a part of a healthy and yes, very aligned to science, classroom instructional routine…. when used with caution.


The Absence of the Novel
The glaring exclusion of novels from basal programs has left teachers, parents and students mourning their absence and is a major downfall. It also happens to be an easy fix. Just weave a novel into the whole class literacy block. This of course will mean letting go of some of the short stories, maybe even an entire three week “module” but/and this should be encouraged. Teachers can easily still follow the same scope and sequence, practice the same skills, and foster a deeper and more engaging experience by incorporating novels. There is absolutely nothing magical about the stories in a basal. Replacing some as needed and staying true to the skills in the scope and sequence will still hold integrity to the program if one wishes to do that… So districts- please- leave room for this. I am not arguing for a novels-only classroom in the same way I wouldn't argue for short passages only. There must be, dare I say... balance.

Integrity, Never Strict Fidelity
Teachers who began their career during the No Child Left Behind Era, are all painfully aware of the million and one things that can go wrong when a district forces strict fidelity of a basal program. There are well-documented accounts of “Open Court Police” in the Los Angeles Unified School District and surrounding districts where literacy coaches came in, looked at the clock and noted whether or not every single teacher in every single room was on the exact same page at the exact same time. This, very not surprisingly, caused pushback from teachers. Micromanaging to this degree was suffocating- and worse- there were truly faulty pieces to Open Court’s curriculum that needed to be addressed and adjusted. (I encourage you to read this article from 2011 that gives a historical perspective on the legacy left by Open Court and, arguably why it all failed.)

The main complaint of Open Court, and we are seeing the same complaints with this new generation of recycled basals… it was boring. The stories, aside from a few, felt like a drudge and it was difficult to get authentic buy-in from students. So, before the pendulum made a heavy swing toward Lucy in many areas, teachers started to let go of the rigid parts of the program that weren’t working. (Although notably, it’s estimated only 25% of the country used Units of Study and Calkins herself estimates a rather low percentage of the country bought into her)  Room was made for  whole class novels as well as cross-curricular units that wove together the reading and vocabulary of content area subjects like science and social studies into the reading block. This fully maximized time to later do the work of scientists and historians during the science and social studies block. All of this with of course the balance of short fiction passages and again... novels.

Teachers can hold true to the integrity of a program, following its scope and sequence to ensure skills are still being taught while also simultaneously weaving in different, more relevant texts (and novels.) The careful weaving of novels, short fiction and non-fiction passages, and cross-curricular units with writing, reading, science and/or social studies is, in my opinion, the best approach. Those days were the glory days of teaching for me. I would say this model (which is admittedly impossible to box and sell countrywide) really and truly addresses all of Scarborough's Rope.

Foundational Skills – Are they truly Aligned or not Aligned to Science – That is the Question
One would hope, at this point, given the longevity of methods like Orton Gillingham and the depth of knowledge we have on the importance of teaching foundational skills and decoding from the start, that most programs claiming to be aligned to science have this piece right in K-3.

And I think that is true, mostly. Unless it’s not. Luckily, most districts now having to adopt ELA programs from state-mandated short lists of boxed curriculum already had supplemental foundational skills programs in place for k-3 (like FUNdations or UFLI) and those programs are proving to be a stronger fit to how science suggests we should teach these skills than boxed curriculum attempting to do it all might suggest.

Upper-grade foundational skills continue to be another pain point when teachers are discussing concerns over popular programs and how they are seeing SoR roll out. There simply is very little out there that addresses the needs of upper-grade students. And this is bad news.

As kids grow, there should be a shift from basic phonics to more age-appropriate morphology study. This simply isn’t happening in the way research or evidence suggests we should proceed in upper-grades and it's leading to a plethora of problems- especially for our struggling students still needing support with grade-level decoding. There needs to be a shift from short and long vowel spellings to word study on the morpheme level and that simply isn’t happening in most boxed curricula and if it is happening, it is so surface-level and brushed over it simply doesn’t count as direct or explicit instruction.

I do not know one teacher in the two states and three districts that I have worked in that have a problem with phonics or morphology. In fact, they all love it. The problem we all have is seeing it done wrong over and over again- especially in the upper-grades.

Realistic Time Expectations
Basal readers- both old and new are notorious for being time suckers. In the early 2000s Open Court days, teachers expressed desperate concern over how to fit it all in with voices loudly sounding alarms over science and social studies being squeezed out of the day. This is a huge problem, and I imagine is the biggest pain point of all that led to a pendulum swing to balanced literacy for so many districts. (No I am not arguing for balanced literacy and no I will not address all the issues we all know existed there because that conversation is old, we have talked about it all, and we need desperately to move into the here and now. The here and now is how we ensure we are implementing science correctly this time)

Despite this clear and real historical failure, we are seeing the same mistakes repeated. Programs like Into Reading give teachers a wealth of resources to choose from. There are more modules than one can possibly get through in a year (unless of course, you taught only Into Reading all day every day to finish every writing prompt, worksheet and assessment available) From everything I have been told from trainers and representatives it was never meant to be used that way anyway. So again, what's the problem then?

The problem lies in the huge push to blame teachers and take away autonomy from all. While some argue taking away autonomy will even the playing field and ensure all students are receiving the most top-notch education possible, in reality, it's leading districts to decide to push strict fidelity of programs that weren't ever meant to be used that way. And as we have seen in the past, that simply doesn’t work.

So What’s a Teacher to Do?
Carefully evaluate the program you have.
What are popular complaints being said out loud on social media and in news articles? How can those issues be addressed (If the main complaint is lack of novels, just throw out a module and do a novel instead. Still following the comprehension skills and strategies suggested by the program) A curriculum that is largely disapproved of doesn’t have to be the end of the world. If teachers are given the room, it can be adapted into something good, maybe even great. If not, The Atlantic article will be come your district's reality.

Look closely at the foundational skills progression.
Is it developmentally appropriate? Is the scope and sequence something that looks to be rooted in evidence-based best practice? If you're an upper-grade teacher, regardless of the boxed curriculum you have, I urge you to carefully evaluate the foundational skills portion. If it isn't shifting to a heavy focus on morphology, replace that entire piece with something like Morpheme Magic. Morpheme Magic aint perfect but it's maybe as close to it as I have seen and it is worlds better and far more aligned to what science suggests upper grade level kids need.

Consider the consequences of Over-Testing
With a large selection of resources comes a large selection of assessments. Testing fatigue and anxiety are real issues and it's hard to find any evidence or any literature that would support giving kids weekly tests that mimic what they would see on standardized state tests. It's simply too much. Instead, research supports more time spent learning with direct, explicit instruction and less time assessing. Progress monitoring is of course crucial but educators need to be intentional about how and when we are doing this. Here is another great post by Shanahan to further discuss this issue.

What to do about writing?!
Writing is the most sadly neglected area of any boxed curriculum I have ever seen. I do not even know what advice to give here, it took me years to refine my writing instruction and my writing units were always best when they were integrated with other subject/content area material.

NoRedInk is a great supplement resource for the forever neglected grammar piece. For composition, looking for a resource that provides engaging, explicit and direct instruction is hard. Lean on master teachers here for what tried and true approaches they use in your school. I love sharing what I have, if you're in 4th grade, give me a shout-out and I will see how I can help.

Where does that leave us now?

In the end, we are at a crucial turning point with the Science of Reading movement. A moment in time where we need to move forward promptly with course corrections to ensure we are all successful. Our students depend on it.

No program is perfect, basal or not. We must empower teachers with the training and knowledge needed to implement any curriculum they have in a way that is best fit for the students in front of them. And yes, this means allowing for autonomy and trust to let experts in the classroom be just that. The experts.

**Note I use Into Reading as it is the district adopted curriculum so brought that program up because of familiarity. There are other issues with it I didn't discuss here, like its failure to be culturally responsive and its inclusion of some culturally destructive texts. Districts need to intentionally think about these things, and these faults.... well leave perfect space to cut out the bad and incorporate novels.

This post is truly writing therapy for my teacher/mom heart. Its also for the moms out there, and the teachers, who desperately want to fix it. You are fixing it, just perhaps not in the way you imagined.

Growing up as the daughter of a dyslexic rocket scientist gave me a fascinating childhood with a unique perspective on many levels. My dad, for nearly a decade, spent his work life on top of a mountain on Maui admiring the sky via a world-class telescope. How cool is that? It also made one thing clear: One’s ability to spell is quite clearly no indication of their intelligence.

And yet in school, I remember having to stay in for recess to practice my very sloppy handwriting (that I had no power over improving) while simultaneously practicing ad nauseum the spelling words I simply couldn't remember how to spell

B
Ba
Bad

S
Sp
Spe
Spell
Spelle
Speller

I felt dumb. Except by any other measure, I was not. As school continued, I braced myself for passing every other subject with ease- but spelling never came easy. I don’t think I ever received higher than a 75% on any such test, and I hated it. (Slightly tempted not to run this through spell check to show the continual struggle, but I digress)

I never wanted to be a teacher. I absolutely hated school. I have some fond memories of elementary here and there, but the most profound memories, the ones that stand out most sorely, all relate to phonics and my inability to spell.

I am going to pause here because from this lens- absolutely loathing all things phonics… this shaped a lot of my pro-phonics feelings as a teacher. Perhaps I just wasn’t taught enough phonics? Maybe I didn’t try hard enough? Maybe if I teach phonics better, and without the punishments, my students will thrive.

I was lucky to have had a strong teacher preparation program (Shout out to the University of California Irvine and Los Angeles) who were fully and authentically trained in all things Scarborough's Rope. We were given an overflowing toolbox on how to approach phonics, morphology, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. And we passed the infamous California RICA test on how to teach reading with ease.

I spent the next 10 years pouring my heart into teaching. Upper elementary was my jam, and I was truly making an impact- strategically dipping into my toolbox to ensure my students were being lifted and propelled as close to or beyond grade level. I spent the bulk of that time in a Title 1 school. We had no supports, no art, music, or PE teacher, no interventionists… if a student wasn’t on an IEP but was struggling with reading, it was just me, their teacher, against the world, working before school, during my lunch, and after school tutoring (for free) to make sure I had the time to do it all.

And I really truly felt I was an expert in all things teaching. I was known as that teacher. The teacher that changed lives. The teacher that will bring reading to life for even the most struggling student. The teacher that found ways to make math everyone’s favorite subject. The teacher that truly knows her stuff.
​
But then…. Enter motherhood.

As the daughter of a dyslexic rocket scientist, I was painfully aware of two truths. Dyslexia is hard. And it runs in families. But given my background, my knowledge, my Orton Gillingham certification… I could fix it right?!
​
Not quite. Even with all of my knowledge, all of my training, and all of my successes as a teacher, I had absolutely no idea what wild ride I was about to embark on. (Pause to note: in later years of teaching when I was at schools with interventionists, those successes are very much shared, and wow I've been lucky to work with the best of the best)
​
The Early Years - 0-3
When I found out I was pregnant, one of the first things I did was hoard books. Baby books. Toddler books. Books for preschool, books for early elementary, books I couldn’t wait to read with my daughter when she hit 4th grade… boxes and boxes of books (thanks, Scholastic!)
We read nightly with my daughter, and I remember moments of pure bliss watching my 1-year-old carefully sifting through piles of books, pretending to read, soaking up all of the goodness of all of these books. My bibliophile heart soared.
​
All of those very early lit skills were there. Pure joy as a parent being able to check off item by item lists like this

Early Preschool - The Early Warning Signs
With dyslexia always in the back of my mind, I was pretty sure we were in the clear. My daughter was literally memorizing books (that's a good sign, right?!) But when she was 4… things started to change. I quickly realized I was able to check off everything from a new checklist, but not a checklist I wanted to be able to check

But as the all-knowing professional I believed I was, I wasn’t worried yet. Early intervention, right?? I've got this. Knowing she was getting a pretty solid phonics-based and developmentally appropriate start at her Montessori preschool, I reinforced learning at home. The summer before K we dove into all the fun.... Hopscotch blending, red word jumping… a little OG work sprinkled in here and there with still large doses of just loving books together.

I was pretty confident elementary school would be just fine. Three cheers for early intervention.

Kindergarten - Fake it Til You Make it
Kindergarten started online which was, as we all know, horrible- but it also gave me the chance to watch her brilliant teacher in action- teaching phonics, to a group of 5-year-olds- on a screen and holding them captivated. This is around the same time certain podcasts came out and I was before this filled with angst over what her school (that I had also just been transferred to) would be like. Will they be doing it “right” or will she be stuck in the poor practice described as widespread.

Pure relief. FUNdations for the win.

Until it got hard. Phonics wasn’t something she could memorize with ease, like she did with entire books. She wasn’t able to fake her way through mastering it. So she began slamming her Chromebook shut and running away every single day during phonics. I wrote this off to being screen fatigued and exhaled a sigh of relief when the district announced Kindergarten and 1st grade would be in person (I assumed the slamming shut of Chromebooks was a common theme)

Exhale.

By the end of kindergarten, she had tricked us all (including iReady) into thinking she was a reader. Kudos to that photographic memory of hers.

I was in a false state of believing she wasn’t dyslexic at this time. Convinced all that early work her teacher did in Preschool and my reinforcing daily at home had somehow saved her from being dyslexic.

1st Grade - Reality Bites
Early 1st grade, we found, one can still fake it til they make it in ways especially iReady will not catch.

But mid 1st grade? Buckle up everyone as here is where the realities of dyslexia start to peak out.

Her 1st grade teacher was THAT teacher. I had heard stories about him from parents not even at his current school. "He changed my dyslexic student’s life." Actually specifically it sounded like *through tears* “Mrs. K, thank you so much for everything you did from Sam. You changed his life. Also, Mr. M. what an amazing teacher he was. ....You both are.”

Oh the relief in my heart when I realized this teacher I had heard so much about is now at her neighborhood school. Not sure what stars aligned to make this a reality but.... Surely, he will fix it.

Day one I shared my dyslexic concerns with him, he being dyslexic himself appreciated the info but, to be frank wrote it off. She was, after all, reading according to most measures.

​By mid 1st grade, he backtracked and agreed- dyslexia it might very well be. So I told my husband we needed to test her before he fixed it because he could fix it right?! He was doing all of the things, is known district-wide as a literacy guru and even started one-on-one Barton with her daily. Hurrah for strong tier 1 and 2!

By the end of 1st, she was still at grade level but there were still signs. I could check off most, but not all of this new list and just wanted to believe her brilliant teacher fixed it. So we didn’t test her because dyslexia is fixable! Right?….right???

**notable due to budget restraints there were no interventionists available for 1st grade at this point of time. I am forever grateful her teacher had the time and knowledge to do Barton with her.

Enter Second Grade
Another year, another score for our family with another teacher known in the local dyslexia community as the teacher you want your kid to have. Her iReady this year was lower than one would desire so the school was quick to do deeper testing and boy did CORE phonics confirm all of my fears.

Strong MTSS had her quickly placed with one of my favorite people on earth, an interventionist with all the knowledge and skills to help her. IMSE’s Orton Gillingham intervention was now also in place, in addition to more small group comprehension work with her teacher and of course, continued strong tier 1 in the classroom.

At this point, she could explain phonics at her level like a pro, remind me when to use ee vs ea, and could likely teach the 3 part drill to me if I asked her because she knew it all so well.

Except when it came to authentic text and it all fell apart. Reading was hard. Really hard. I got many calls from the nurse this year. Every call a tummy ache and/or a headache. Every call during the ELA block.

There were days where we would struggle to get her to school- despite her loving it there. She always came home happy, but there was a strong dread at the beginning of the day.

So we found a neuropsych to do an evaluation and even though I knew, I cried when she said it's official. “Moderately compensated dyslexia” She could tell she was receiving great instruction but “The gap between her intelligence and her ability to read is, well, a Grand Canyon sized gap.”
Ouch.

We put a 504 in place as she would not qualify for an IEP given her compensation and above the IEP threshold ability to read. I also knew that the school's tier 2 was STRONG and the teachers are brilliant- so the 504 was in place still with the delusional belief we could all fix it, cure dyslexia and make reading easy for her but… just in case, I wanted that 504 in place given the anxiety over reading and writing and “just in case we moved.”

The Summer Before Third Grade
Trying not to panic, I initiated operation fix it (as I still believed in my heart of hearts that was in the realm of possibilities) Her best friend had a very similar end of year iReady score (just barely below grade level) so I started what we called Unicorn School. We met a couple of times a week, did UFLI and some reading of whatever books we could. We would laugh, we would giggle, we would geek out on phonics. I decided to throw in some multiplication work because why not? We were solving the reading problem right?

Well yes, for her non-dyslexic friend that needed that little push we, in fact, did fix it. She was now at a place that the gaps were filled and she started of 3rd grade strong.

For us…. We went on a 2-week vacation, had another week and a half before school started and then bam. It was like a blank slate. Her beginning of the year 3rd grade scores were actually shockingly low considering all of the work we did over the summer and all of the work she had done along side her teachers in years prior. I was shocked, even knowing iReady is infamous for cause severe angst that leads to false results. But her CORE phonics scores... well proved that she was in fact still dyslexic. (duh.)

Side Note: In my panic over attempting to fix it during the summer, I also pulled together a large group of girls (it's now about 21 lol) to start a book club. This book club is still going strong a year later. Highly recommend it. Maybe ease off on the number of kids. The once-a-month meetings and choosing of books to collectively read together have been huge for every kid in that group- strong reader or not.

Third Grade - The Rollarcoaster
Third grade went as one expected. Reading was hard, but she still somehow loved it. Progress was huge, but the struggle was real. By the end, she was still testing just below grade level.

Strong interventions were still in place in addition to strong tier 1- although I will pause for a bit as at this time there has been over prescribing of phonics and for a blimp there was a time it was suggested k-3 teachers continue with FUNdations in addition to Into Reading's foundational skills. Which is a time suck that I do not believe was a valuable use of time and those in charge must have agreed because it quickly stopped. The entire rope is a must. Squeezing out other parts of school for more phonics is not research backed practice. I am in ways curious if this stalled some progress for her. It definitely robbed time away from Science and Social Studies. Thank goodness for course corrections.

As a 4th-grade teacher, I have to say, at this point pure panic has set in. I know how hard 4th grade is, I know what the demands are, and I want to do everything in my power to prevent the high anxiety, the stomach aches, and the headaches.

So I gave her a choice- "I can do “summer school” with you, just (ha- just) an hour a day or we can hire someone else." Her reward for her hard work and the money saved since she chose me is horse camp. Her dream of dreams. And a carrot I found that needed to be dangled to get her full buy-in.

Teaching your own kid is hard. Like… really hard. But it also has given me insight beyond what I imagined. I am, daily, shocked out how complex dyslexia is. I marvel at what she CAN do and am baffled by the things that still trip her up. I am in awe over her work ethic, I see her as one of the strongest people I know. And... this is hard. Its a rollercoaster I wasn't prepared for. One day I am seeing great progress and soaking in the pride she has in herself with her successes and the next day I am comforting her in a puddle of tears over how hard it all is.

"Mom, it isn't fair that this is so hard."

I know sweet girl. It isn't fair. It just isn't.

Daily we push on. IMSE approach (very similar to UFLI) is great. I love it. But there are some pieces of it that seem to be a bad fit for older kids (as in the summer before 4th grade) with dyslexia. Lyn Stone has this brilliant piece on blends. A piece I wish I had read before this summer as wow the truths here. Its a piece of popular programs that I am now finding needs more critical examination for all the reasons discussed in Lyn's article. It is also, in my daughter's words "babyish" and feels, as I have seen with my students, demoralizing at points. But what else is an upper grade teacher trying to fill some decoding gaps supposed to use? Nothing that I know of exists and I think the success rate of OG programs will back my concerns.

It's simply not a silver bullet. No matter how desperately I wish it were.
And no, expressing concerns over this isn't some how an argument for balanced literacy as described in popular podcasts. Its a critique we all should consider in order to ensure we are doing it all right this time. And not spending another 100 years scratching our heads about why pendulums swing to extremes.

I was finding we were stuck in this strange place. My daughter can read slowly but mostly fluently. The things she trips up on are not what one would expect (example reading the word apothecary? Not a problem. Reading a word comparatively simple one syllable with a beginning consonant blend. Yikes.) So I was left feeling at a loss for what we should truly spend our time doing.

I am a firm believer in the power of novels so I let her choose one. She chose Red by Liesl Shurtliff. A heavy lift for her current ability, but we are reading together, and she is loving it. I found we could do some syllable division with words that would pop up in the chapter we read so that she was prepared to attack them. This part all felt good.

The foundational skills piece felt like a mess. There are some skills she is strong in, others that she shouldn't be struggling with but does, and her spelling is what one might expect with a dyslexia diagnosis.. To be frank- its bad.

While IMSE and/or UFLI felt like a great fit for her when she was younger, I found it was causing tears. Blends being one confusing sticking point and nonsense words in the blending board routine causing frustration and confusion within the drill but more strickingly, while reading authentic texts. (What's perhaps worse than looking at a picture and guessing meaning? Looking at a word and guessing its nonsense- not promoting the former but the later is a trip.)

I wanted to do morphology work with her, but with the tripping on some basic skills she has been practicing since the start, I felt pulled to the status quo and pushed on for a bit. Chatting with expert teachers and interventionists (Thankful for that community on X) I decided to drop the nonsense word part, the flashcards of letters sounds and blends and focus our time on fluency, encoding, writing practice, and reading novels.

Is this the right path? For sure dropping nonsense words out of the routine was. Leaving the flashcard drills with common morphemes behind has felt huge for her. A much needed break from a perceived "babyish" routine and a confident boost she desperately needed. Now we are just applying and practicing all those years of strong tier 1 and 2 into writing and reading. Stopping to correct and review skills as we read, instead of just in isolation. (Remember again, we are talking about a rising 4th grader who has always had strong tier 1 and has thankfully had strong tier 2 in place when it was proven necessary. I am not arguing against these routines for younger students or older students who never had solid phonics instruction.)

Will this fix it? Not in the way I dreamed. Not in a way that will make her a strong speller or a fast reader. She might not ever love reading the way I hoped and dreamed when I first found out I was pregnant. And that is okay. I am slowly letting go of the need to fully and completely "fix it" in the definition I once believed is possible. Dyslexia won’t be fixed, it won’t be cured, but what we have in place is easing the pain of it all. I am thankful for the instruction she has had, I know how much easier it has made it all for her. But it is in no way shape or form easy.

There is a path to success, it might not mean reading with quick fluency, or spelling with ease. It might look much much different than that. But that different... the success that is possible while strengthening skills and simultaneously embracing realities... I am finding is more than a mom of a dyslexic child can hope for.

​Where does this leave us now? Well...

Nine years later, I am embracing dyslexia, the triumphs and the struggles, and doing everything in my power to move forward with realistic expectations that ensure success- by whatever definition that might truly mean.

My dad, who grew up to be an avid reader , was recently asked the question, “When did reading become easy for you?”

He paused, looking perplexed before responding. “Never. It never got easy. It’s still really really hard.”

Some Recommendations for at Home Supports
This one is tricky for me during the school year as I firmly believe the amount of effort all kids put into the school day, especially dyslexic kids, warrants a post school break from it all. During the school year, I would only proceed with reading a book with your child, allowing books on audio, and/or leaning on great tech like Speechify.

​Readibility is a new app we have been trying out- I have mixed feelings about it and the ads absolutely over promise what it is and does for dyslexia.... but this might be a good fit for younger readers building fluency and confidence.

Writing - The link between reading and writing is real. One successful practice we share is collaborative story writing. I write a paragraph leaving a fun turning point and she carries on. At home, this is a fun (tricky) way to practice writing and spelling- as we go I gently remind her of rules she knows so well in theory and how to apply them in practice. If she's having a tough day and we need to focus on joy, we just write together focusing on output, content, and not at all spelling.

Summer Time Practice
Hiring a tutor is out of the reach of so many families as many charge $100 an hour or more. Also mixed feelings on DIY but... for those who feel confident in at home intervention with out the help of a highly trained tutor... (will maybe add links later but until then... google is a powerful tool!)

UFLI is free and easy to use for phonics, OG based instruction. I would personally drop the nonsense words part of the blending board routine.
Nessy is a great app that incorporates game play and reinforces many skills a kid may have learned in an Orton Gillingham intervention.
Blast of to Reading is rather easy to follow and could be a good fit for kids who had strong tier 1 and tier 2 instruction during the school year and want to keep those skills sharp.
Advanced Word Study is a program I like for older kids, is easy to follow and dives into morphology.
Hand Writing Without Tears is a great go to for writing practice. Dyslexia and Dysgraphia are also comorbid and there is strong evidence linking handwriting, spelling, and reading.

Above all else, practice in real books with support seems to be the strongest fit and can lead to most powerful movement forward.

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For decades, there has been a hyper focus on instruction in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and with reason. The developmental timeframe of laying the foundation for students to grow into strong readers and mathematicians is crucial. Attention to the details of the needed appropriate, whole child approaches to these early years of learning should continue with hyper focus.

And…. we need to add the same hyper focus to the needs of our upper-grade students.

For decades, curriculum is bought and sold with a microscopic lens on how it teaches kids in grades K-3. Keen detail is given to its alignment to evidence in research in these grades. Legislation is written based on what programs some groups decide are worthy of purchase based on K-3 approaches. The cycle of analyzing and purchasing curriculum based on the needs of K-3 continues decade after decade while people scratch their heads about why kids in 8th grade have lower than desired comprehension scores.

This year, my class showed tremendous growth. While I do have a record of strong growth on measures like iReady and State Tests- even I haven't seen growth quite like this.

On Twitter I simplified it all to a point of - "I used novels." - but wow was it so much more than that. So here is a brain dump of this year, what it was, the supports we had and how to maybe replicate it (**Maybe as every great educator knows results are hard to replicate and are so dependent on the year, the kids and what they need.)

Here's a look at my class- simplified into one chart based on one test. We had a new student join us in April- she scored "light green" in the end of the year and is the one untested in the beginning of the year.

Top look- Beginning of the year results and bottom- end of year placements.

On social media, I see a lot of comparisons between the teaching profession and others.
Like...

WOULD U EXPECT A MUSICIAN TO WRITE THEIR OWN MATERIAL?!
Actually ya. The musicians we respect most in fact do write their own music.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS DON'T JUST IGNORE RESEARCH
Actually, research on menopause & standard care treatment has been largely ignored for decades? It's an issue largely talked about and ignored.

But teaching and learning isn't like  any other profession. Truly. I think the closest analogy we can get to is  health and nutrition. It is  a lot like that in some ways.

We know, and have always known, more or less what  we need to do to achieve our own optimal  health. Eat a balanced, whole food diet. Exercise regularly. Sounds simple enough?

And yet the health and fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with advise swinging  wildly from one extreme to another. Eat a strict vegan diet some might say. No no! Its all about Keto! No Paleo! No no... 80% veggies 20% meat and absolutely no sugar. Its all about the Mediterranean Diet girl. What should you do in regards to exercise?  Oh that is simple. Walk 10k steps a day. Definitely increase cardio. Decrease cardio and lift heavy! Run. A lot. Don't run a lot but do at least 5 days of HIIT workouts. Do not do HIIT, just lift heavy weights but like... sometimes also cardio.

​The contradictory advise is enough to make your head spin.

And it's not far from what teachers hear constantly.

We know what kids need. In 2001, what kids need was put together in this now once again incredibly popular concept known as Scarborough's Rope.

There are a lot of mixed feelings in education in regards to the use of AI. But its time for the conversation to move beyond "kids use it to cheat," and "it might replace teachers!" We need to move on towards discussing and finding ways to best implement it. Love it or hate it, AI is here and it's here to stay.

From the Teacher Lens
Approach with Caution
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The Cons - AI is still in its beginning stages and it is flawed. From the perspective of using it as a professional and through the lens of allowing students access to it considering the following.

1. AI Amplifies Bias - This absolutely must be considered when using AI and especially when allowing students to use it
2. AI is NOT perfect and at times gives inaccurate information
3. AI can be used as a tool to assist  with grading but should not be used as the grader. It is horribly inconsistent and often gives poor feedback.

The Pros-Overall, AI can be used as a tool to save time on tasks that can be automated to then move focus to student engagement, interaction, and building lessons that are both authentic and engaging to student learning.

Align to the Science of Reading
For many teaching professionals, the Science of Reading has created a strong shift in their teaching. A shift that requires materials that sometimes, at least in upper grades, are not engaging, not relevant, or simply non existence. AI provides teachers with a tool to quickly provide resources to use in the classroom.  Need a list of words that match the morpheme you are teaching? Done. ​