The Professional Learning Shaping My Thinking Right Now
One of the truisms about being an educator is that there’s always more to learn. Longtime instructional coach Steve Barkley says it best: “there is no apex to teaching.” That…
What’s the Difference in the Two Phonics Approaches?
There are, primarily, two approaches to phonics instruction. In simplified terms, they are print to speech and speech to print. Which begs the question…which of these two phonics approaches is…
Just Teaching Students to Read Is Not Enough
Whether ending the school year or starting a new one, an important question should come to mind: is the goal to teach students to read, or is it to teach…
How to Avoid State Reading Test Surprises
Assessments. When it comes to literacy, it seems we’re inundated with them lately. Screeners. Diagnostics. Curriculum-based measures. Computer adaptive. There’s really no shortage. Which is a really great thing. Taken…
Why Teachers Don’t Have Enough Time (And What to Do About It)
Ask any teacher anywhere what their biggest barrier is, and without a doubt, they’ll say time. And it’s true. Teachers never have enough time. There’s a lot to pack in…