The Real Question We Should Be Asking
It takes less than five minutes on social media to see that the acronym “SOR” is a divisive one. More and more lately, there are two camps of educators. There are those that believe that teaching primarily foundational skills is the one and only way to teach reading, and all else must be thrown out, and those who take a centrist view, believing that a balanced approach is best. Much of what’s out there, though, is misrepresentation, misunderstanding, and false claims, including the term SOR itself. You’ll also find absolute vitriol. What seems to be getting very lost in the back and forth arguing is…kids. The most common question I see lately is “is it SOR aligned?” But is this the real question we should be asking? And this begs the next question: are we sure the people answering really even understand what SOR is referring to?
Many teachers ask questions about reading instruction in Facebook groups. Most of the time, in my own head when I see these questions, I have more questions. Usually, there just isn’t enough known about the student from just the original question posted. In order to provide guidance to a teacher, more context is needed. I’d want to be sure that the next steps taken were truly what will move the needle. Teaching reading is complicated–so the more information, the better.
Most often lately, people on social media wrongly think that “SOR” is synonymous to phonics. This couldn’t be more false. This is part of the issue with all the misunderstanding. SOR is simply referring to the body of knowledge around how we learn to read. There’s far more to it than just phonemic awareness and phonics.
The problem with the questions..and the answers
But more and more, what only matters to teachers on social media is assurance that everything they do follows only strict adherence to an approved program that uses a rigid scope and sequence of phonics skills. This adherence is the prevalent answer to anything and everything. More often than not, even when it seems obvious that the answer is not phonics-related (because it certainly isn’t always), every answer that teachers give is to teach more phonics.
Jennifer Serravallo recently commented that “multiple key terms are incorrectly defined, misused, or partially explained in a way that is both misleading and incorrect, and this sows division and confusion.” She even created a glossary of literacy terms to help clarify all of this miscommunication.
So when teachers ask “is is SOR aligned,” they often are not even using the term correctly. This will lead to a misguided approach to next steps for kids.
Instead, the real question we should all be asking first and foremost is “what’s best for the student?”
Of course we should be following best practices in our instruction. That has always been the case. As educators, we should for sure be up to date on emerging ideas. But those ideas should be woven into what we already know to be true for literacy success for students. These ideas should not replace other, time-tested findings that are equally important for kids.
Those that take a centrist view, for example, have always understood the important role of phonemic awareness and phonics and employed it in their practices. We’ve also known for years that independent reading matters a lot in terms of developing strong readers. See The Robbie Review blog for several research studies in one place about this. And what about motivation? Executive functioning? With their Active View of Reading, researchers Duke and Cartwright have recognized the importance of many aspects of reading beyond the National Reading Panel’s 5 pillars.
In their explanation of this model for Reading Research Quarterly, they tell us that “[a] large and growing body of research has demonstrated that skilled readers are highly active, strategic, and engaged, deploying executive skills to manage the reading process.” That large body of research they refer to here is also SOR.
Let’s remember…
In essence, skilled readers are great comprehenders. Treating comprehension as a totally separate entity, as something that comes later, and in a very controlled manner, as more and more “SOR” curriculums are designed to do, and as more and more and more Facebook and Instagram users are pushing to do, will cause what Ellin Oliver Keene said in her Literacy Studio conference through PEBC I just attended: that “in just a few years, we are going to have a comprehension crisis in this country.”
We must remember that comprehension is always the goal. It’s developed over time, and in layers. For sure we need to teach foundational skills. Of course. Among the many things a child might need, sometimes there will be a need to build schema. Sometimes, some goal-setting around staying focused. Other times, they’ll need vocabulary development. They will most definitely need time to read, and read widely. And they’ll need various strategies for ensuring comprehension is front and center. (For more on the research behind the importance of comprehension, see Duke, et. al). Because the need for comprehension instruction is also an important SOR finding.
So instead of asking “is it SOR?” as our first (and often, only) question, which is deeply mired in misconception, the real question we should be asking first and foremost is what’s best for my student(s)?
This would lead teachers to consider a wide variety of practices–which might fall under any part of the many sciences of reading inherent in the Active View. Teachers wouldn’t feel pressured to teach only one thing, one way, inevitably leading to gaps in literacy development. If we led instead with the question what’s best for my student(s), I bet there’d be a whole lot less arguing, and a whole lot more success for our readers.
Shouldn’t this in fact the goal of every teacher? To do what’s best for kids, according to their needs?
If you’re not sure where to go with your readers beyond just “teach more phonics,” let’s chat! We can partner together over a coaching call to chat about the whole child in order to create next steps that will propel them forward.
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