My Blog
Research and Science as Black and White? Not Quite!
In recent months, across social media and content domains, especially literacy, the black and white, yes or no rhetoric has seemingly intensified. If you are on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you’ve undoubtedly witnessed it and probably walked away with a bit of...
The Basic Guide to Reading Research for Teachers
In today’s discourse on educational practice in literacy, the term “research” is ubiquitous. You see it in the newsstands, on television and across the social media universe. A point of contention in many discussions is what constitutes “research-based” and...
How to Reframe the Way We Think About the Reading Debate
What do Phonics, Whole Language, Balanced Literacy and the Science of Reading “movement” (“movement” as seen in the press’ debate or through discourse on social media and not the SOR as formally defined or its advocates) have in common? The most obvious commonality of...
How Do You Get There…If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going?
Think about a time when you’ve been really lost. How did you get to your destination when you didn’t know where you were going? You probably tried different directions, asked a passerby, used a map or navigation system (if you were lucky to have one). Now,...
Resources for Striving Readers and Their Families: The Top Ten List
Sometimes, when a child faces learning differences, there can be a well-intentioned tendency to focus, very heavily, on their deficits rather than also acknowledging their strengths. Of course, it is essential to identify “problem areas” in order to find effective...
“Guiding Literacy Growth” – What’s in a name?
When I thought about a tagline for this website that captured what I hope to achieve through providing services related to literacy instruction, I thought about how I got to where I am today. The road to literacy is not a simple one, neither for students nor their...