You Don’t Just ‘Raise’ A Reader, You Have to Teach Kids to Read, Too

When I give presentations about dyslexia, I often illustrate how neurodiversity works by showing a chessboard. Some people can easily see all the patterns of…

How to Help Beginning Readers During the Pandemic

Before the pandemic, many American children struggled to read well. Now, the pandemic has thrown early elementary teachers a curve ball in teaching reading; they…

I Was There When Lucy Calkins Shifted Toward Cognitive Science

In October, national media reported on the remarkable shift toward phonics and away from 3-Cueing now under way for noted reading curriculum leader Lucy Calkins…

COVID Can’t Stop Ms. Gutierrez From Nurturing Her Students’ Love of Reading

Many students are looking to escape the harsh realities of COVID-19. Online learning, social distancing, closure of many businesses and recreation areas, and the struggling…

If You Want Justice, Teach Kids How to Read

In 1990, I was a brand-new teacher in an unusual environment: a Chicago alternative high school where teens and young adults could earn their diplomas…

Leveled Texts Are ‘Exhibit A’ for the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

The scene occurs daily in classrooms across the United States. Students, grouped by reading ability, come to the teacher’s table to read their leveled readers—books…

Here’s How Remote Learning Could Help Struggling Readers

While we grapple with the COVID-19 health crisis and the many social ills our country is facing, we cannot overlook the fact that one root…

My Son Cracked the Code in an Atypical Way With a Focus on Phonics

When my three older children learned to read, it seemed to us as natural a process as learning to talk. We read to them every…

Literacy Needs to Be at the Forefront of Instruction When Schools Reopen

According to the most recent report by the National Association for Educational Progress, 64% of all fourth grade students in America are unable to read…

I Learned How to Fight for My Child When He Couldn’t Read. Now I Help Other Parents Do the Same.

Advocating for your own kid, or teaching other people—doctors, dentists, teachers, etc.—about your kid, is something you learn as you go along. Even if you…