Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading: A Way to Empower Teachers to Help Kids by Dr. Sam Bommarito ©2026

This is the first in a blog series that is designed to encourage all sides to find out what the other side is really saying. This opening blog explains the origins of straw-man arguments on all sides and the consequences of proceeding that way. Future entries will present the hope that common ground can be found if all sides listen to one another. I will explain how learning about Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading gives me hope that finding common ground is a real possibility. I hope that conversations that start with common ground can lead to better solutions to the problem of how best to teach reading.

My name is Dr. Sam Bommarito. As regular readers of this blog already know, I am a not-so-retired reading teacher. Over the course of my 60-plus-year career in education, I have taught every grade from kindergarten through graduate school. I retired from full-time teaching in 2016. I began taking on a variety of activities, including tutoring, staff development, making presentations, giving Keynote Addresses and, of course, writing this blog. When I do my blog interviews, I always wear a hat.

ABOUT ME: Of all the hats I’ve worn over my teaching career, I’ve found the one that fits me best is that of a reading teacher/reading coach. I am a centrist. I try to take a nuanced view of things. I think there is real value to considering research-based ideas from all sides in what is sometimes called The Great Debate.If you explore my YouTube Channel, you’ll find interviews with many different individuals in education. Those folks come from a variety of roles. They take a variety of positions on how best to teach literacy. Several of them are known as the top leaders in their field.

LINK to my YouTube channel.

As you look over all the interviews, I hope you notice the folks interviewed include university professors, practicing teachers, and other folks with useful tools for teaching. They include people that I’ve worked with directly in various literacy projects and folks that I met through my interactions on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). Overall, I try to get points of view from all sides of the literacy discussion. Understanding what each side is saying is an important first step for finding common ground, as I’ve said many times- no straw men. Using straw men results in pendulum swings, not progress.

My views on Dyslexia

First and foremost, I do believe there are children with dyslexia. They do need instruction beyond what is typically provided in Tier One.

Some treat dyslexic children as if being dyslexic is a deficit. I do not believe that is the right thing to do. Consider the following mother-daughter team I interviewed LINK.

The screen capture above captures the heart of what Yvanna and her daughter had to say in the interview. Yvanna began working with her daughter when her daughter was in the early grade levels. The tutoring happened at a time when many folks failed to recognize Dyslexia as real. Yvanna was told her daughter was a hopeless case. She was told the best thing to do for her would be to institutionalize her. Yvanna rejected that advice.

Instead, she took the needed training. She tutored her daughter and kept careful records of what she did. Her daughter grew up and earned a PhD. They then coauthored a book that featured a dyslexia toolkit based on what they learned during the tutoring.

The interview from which the above screen capture was taken was from the original edition of their book. I now recommend folks get the new edition, Dyslexia Toolkit: Expanded Edition.

Here is a quote from the introduction of the new edition of their book:

About 10 percent of the population is dyslexic. It’s a difference, not a disability. People with dyslexia use creative skills more heavily than non-dyslexics. They see the forests, not the trees. They see patterns, not lines. They see context, not text.

I am old enough that the terms Dyslexic and ADHD were not yet in use when I was in grade school. My self-analysis is as follows:

• I am not Dyslexic.

• However, I do think I meet all the criteria for ADHD. My brain is wired differently, and so I problem-solve differently. I see things from the perspective of the whole forest. I’ve had a chance to talk to others who tend to see the whole forest, not the trees. I think that is one of the reasons I have been so successful in helping kids who are not working up to their potential in literacy skills.

 There are many success stories about folks who are Dyslexic. That is evidence that being Dyslexic can be a strength. I always share that idea and these books with parents and the child when I tutor a Dyslexic child. They love them. Nuff said

THIS NEXT SECTION CLARIFIES MY IDEAS OF WHAT CONSTITUTES SCIENCE

PLEASE LISTEN TO THE CLIP ON YouTube LINK. It only takes two minutes.

SCIENCE IS NEVER SETTLED

As Dr. Tyson indicates, when scientists talk, they treat each conversation as an ongoing inquiry. Truth is written in Xerox. When new observations don’t support a particular position, scientists change their minds. Go to Dr. Tyson’s site, and you can see many examples of scientists routinely challenging current doctrine in the field. Dr. Tyson comes from a group often labeled “the hard sciences.”  Also check out what recent news reports are saying about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). They indicate that it is fundamentally transforming our view of the universe. So, I’ll say it again: when it comes to science, truth is written in Xerox.

 Dr. Tyson’s position makes it clear that there is no such thing as “settled science.” He is not alone in that opinion. P.D. Pearson has been quite critical of the term “settled science” (see pages 9 & 10 of his website) LINK. Some SOR folks have been accused of not being scientific in their approach. That is because SCIENCE IS NEVER SETTLED. Science involves inquiry and discovery. This fact makes me question the efficacy of the positions some SOR folks take, especially those writing on social media.

THE RECENT BRAIN RESEARCH FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD SUPPORTS THE NOTION THAT THE BRAIN IS FUNDAMENTALLY A PREDICTION MACHINE LINK:

What follows next is my criticism of some of the legislation being passed by various states that attempt to regulate teaching literacy. To get state approval in most states, districts must meet the state’s standards and pick programs from a list of preapproved programs. To use materials that are not on the list, the district must get a waiver. The screen capture below shows a district that was getting the best scores in the state but was denied approval because it uses the 3-cueing system.  Explaining the confusion surrounding the term 3-cueing will be the topic of one of my future blog entries.  One can find multiple examples of similar situations around the country. There is a simple fix to this problem. The laws governing which programs merit approval should be based on achievement test results, not on whether a program adheres to one particular model for teaching.

LINK to the above screen capture.

Recently, Rachel Gabriel reported that some districts are showing “buyer’s remorse” because the programs they picked were not producing promised improvements in reading scores.

LINK to Rachel’s Substack.

How could this be? Why are the results from SOR not as promised? Is the so-called “Mississippi Miracle,” where districts report fantastic reading gains, somehow in error? Let’s investigate that question.

This is my explanation of how discourse on social media has resulted in widely held beliefs that are very much in error. What I have come to call the social media version of SOR often makes claims that are based on dichotomous thinking. The interchanges become debates, not conversations. In debates, both sides (all sides) use straw-man versions of the other side.  

When a particular model for teaching gets popular, everyone starts saying their program is based on that model. However, there are many cases where programs calling themselves by that name do not follow the model. The term Balanced Literacy became meaningless because everyone claimed it, and eventually there was no longer a widely accepted definition of the term. Seidenberg has recently indicated that the same fate could await the term Science of Reading.

During the past few years, a great deal of interchange happened on social media regarding best practices for teaching literacy. I took part in those exchanges. The exchanges were often contentious. When opponents of a particular practice wanted to discredit it, they used a straw-man version of the practice. Notably, the attacks on “balanced literacy” became widely read and widely believed. Unfortunately, as I indicated earlier, a lot of what was being posted was misinformation and, in some cases, outright lies. Neither side was looking at what the other was really doing; both were using straw-man versions of their rivals. A recent Reading Quarterly Report documents what can happen because of this kind of interchange. The next screen capture is of the RRQ report on the effects of the last five or six years of this online debate:

Here is a LINK to a recent open-source article from the Reading Research Quarterly, a highly respected, peer-reviewed journal. 

LINK to screen capture.

The social media debate over the past five to six years has resulted in half-truths and misconceptions becoming widely believed and being treated as fact. This is because neither side was looking at what the other was doing or accomplishing. Both sides were using straw men.

The result of these misconceptions and half-truths becoming widely believed is that programs using The Three Cueing Systems have been banned, even when they are successful. I’ll point out that the fact that they were successful calls the “failed program” label given to them into serious question. My conclusion is that using these labels is part of a public relations campaign designed to discredit the programs at any cost. (The misconceptions surrounding the term three cueing systems will be discussed in a future blog post)

LINK to this screen capture.

If we are using science and having a dialogue rather than a debate, the fact that evidence shows programs that fit within the array we call balanced literacy are being banned even when successful is of great concern. It is costing us the loss of our most experienced teachers. See this study from the University of Missouri LINK :

Andy’s book is coming out. I plan to interview him about it. I’ll also be contacting Paul; I’ve interviewed him several times already.

Now let’s look at how one project is using the concept of Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading. It is one that I am currently helping implement in South Africa. The session 8 training session I posted from the South Africa project gives you an idea of ONE WAY (NOT THE WAY) to Artfully Implement the Science of Reading. Here is a screen capture of the highlights of that project.

Here is a LINK to one of the training sessions that gives you a good idea of exactly what’s going on in the project. I hope teachers and administrators reading this will find many takeaways, things that they can use next Monday                                1

I now want to mention two colleagues, each with their own website. Both are experts in using writing in a way that helps reading. Both have many great ideas for teachers.

Visit Janet Stienberg’s website LINK. She is an expert in using Writing Workshop and does on-site P.D. for several districts.  One idea I learned from workshop teaching is the use of the ad hoc strategy group. These groups are formed based on classroom observation and are designed to give extra help just to those students who need it. It is a very efficient way to use small groups to teach reading/writing connections. Doing things this way addresses concerns raised that using small-group instruction in literacy is a waste of time.

Also visit Leah’s site LINK. She is also an expert using Workshop. Her website includes many resources for teachers. She also does on-site PD and conducts periodic workshops for teachers. One story I like to tell about Leah is that, although she strongly believes in and supports workshop teaching, she once reported on a district where, when she began advising the district on shaping their program. She did not have them start with the workshop model because they weren’t ready for it. This is the kind of thing that gives me hope that finding common ground might be possible.

 SOR advocates on social media are also using writing to promote the symbiotic relationship between writing and teaching.  Too often, that writing is in the form of a paragraph rather than at the single-word or very short-phrase level, rather than using longer running text. That does not get the kids ready for the kind of questions asked on end-of-the-year state tests. So, they can show great gains on tests of decoding but do not show gains on the kind of testing used on end-of-the-year state tests.  I think this fact helps to explain the problems associated with teaching fluency in the upper grades better than some of the explanations being given by SOR folks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Those familiar with my blog know that I am trying to encourage all sides to have conversations, not debates. That is the only way to find common ground and use it to make improvements in literacy instruction. Here is an article I wrote early on indicating that all sides often look at other sides through a straw-man mode LINK. I hope all who read this will ask themselves a very important question. What is the other side REALLY saying? Are there ideas and practices from the other side that I could find useful in my own classroom? For my own part, I am sharing this first entry with folks from both the Balanced Literacy and SOR side to get their take on whether they see any common ground.

I’ll also be talking about the grassroots movement that seems to be developing around the term “Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading.” That term properly belongs to Tim Rasinski and the others who first proposed it. The South Africa Project I have been a part of involves in-service training for teachers from South Africa. That in-service is being carried out this summer and is almost done. At least 1,000 students will be reached by the project this fall (actually, it’s this spring for South Africa!). I think that project provides a good example of artful teaching.  Here is a LINK to a blog about the project. Here is a link to a video detailing what the day-to-day instruction looks like. LINK.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be interspersing entries on this series with interviews from various individuals; David Harrison and Georga Heard are up this week. That will mean I’ll be posting two blogs a week for a while.

In the meantime, Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam

The guy in the middle taking flak from all sides

P.S. If you don’t already follow this blog, please use the information in the top right of this blog entry to do so!

P.P.S. I can’t thank the publishers of the two books used in the project enough. Both publishers gave deep discounts on the price of the two books. As a result of that, and after some other donations, we will be able to provide the teachers with the two books at no cost. See my blog entry about the project for details about the books used.  

I would also like to thank Minda Marshall and her cadre. They’ve done a great job of creating and implementing a first-class professional development program this summer. They were even invited to present in Paris about what they are doing in this project.  This is truly evolving into an international movement.

I would like to thank the teachers from the project who freely gave up a lot of their time in the summer just so they would be able to really help their students next term.

Finally, I would like to thank the members of the team who are implementing the research project connected to this project. They are top-notch people in their field, headed up by none other than Tim Rasinki.  They are all doing this work pro bono.

It really does take the whole village to raise the child.

STAY TUNED-THERE’S MUCH MORE TO COME.

I am in the process of downloading and paying for a copy of this picture.

Dr. Sam Is Taking the Weekend Off for Father’s Day

The blog will resume next week. Lots of important interviews coming up, including EBLI, Jan Steinberg and Chase Young.

See you next week.

Dr. Sam

Key takeaway from what I said at a conference in Ottawa this week: We should empower teachers to teach the Science of Reading: A blog entry by Dr. Sam Bommarito

Picture of Ottawa University taken by S. Bommarito

while on the Rideau Canal Tour

Before beginning this entry, I need to make some clarifications and acknowledgments. The acknowledgment is to Doctor Dee Tadock and Rhoda Stone. For the last few decades, they have run a very successful tutoring company. They invited me to join them at the annual Piaget Conference. It was held at the University of Ottawa. The University of Ottawa is quite large. It has an enrollment of over 48000 students. It has a staff of approximately 1500 well-published faculty and researchers. It is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I want to thank Rhonda and Dee for the invitation and for covering the cost of my trip to the conference.

The main reason for my invitation was that they wanted me to talk to the researchers attending their session and make them aware of a current movement in both the United States and Canada to ban all constructivist-based approaches to teaching reading effectively. Rhonda and Dee’s tutoring methods are clearly rooted in Piaget’s work. That means their approach is clearly constructivist. That means their company has been targeted in attempts to prevent them from providing the services children need. So now we are ready to begin telling the tale of what led up to the conference, what happened at this conference and why I said what I said.

The tale began when Rhonda contacted me through my blog. Let me tell you a little bit about me and my blog. I have been a teacher and a teacher of teachers for over  4 decades. I’ve taught every grade, kindergarten through graduate school.

I am famous for my hats. I’ve worn many hats over the years. But the one that fits me best is that of a reading teacher.

To search for common ground, I encourage folks to discuss areas of agreement first.

Argument vs. Debate- What Scientists do

See the screen content of the YouTube video below.

Use the link to listen to the video directly

It only takes two minutes

WATCH THIS VIDEO LIVE: LINK

This video clearly explains the difference between a debate and an argument. SCIENTISTS SHOULD ARGUE, NOT DEBATE. Debates lead to polarized positions. Polarized positions lead all sides to use straw-man versions of their competitors. This can and does lead to the spread of misinformation and disinformation. The fact that social media debates promote polarized views  has been documented.

Here is a link to that study LINK. It is an open-access article.

One tactic used on social media by folks pushing for the exclusive use of their approach over all others is to discount or discredit competitors’ programs by challenging the validity of their findings. One example is the claim that gains from Reading Recovery don’t stick. That claim is mainly based on one study. That study was challenged on the day it came out because it had an unusually high attrition rate. In addition, since RR has been conducted worldwide, many studies contradict this study’s findings. Here is a blog post I made about this topic.

Especially note Susan Vincent’s observation that RR is a SHORT-TERM intervention designed to catch students up enough to benefit from the district’s curriculum. Where that is the case, the gains stick. In addition, there is substantial evidence of RR’s success. See the RR blog site for links to such information.

LINK to the blogpost.

During the interview, Dr. Tadlock noted that her program was among the first to fall victim to the tactic of discounting and discrediting research. Claims were made that the results Dr. Tadlock reported over several years were impossible. Effectively, this charged her with falsifying data.

There are three big takeaways from all the preceding about ReadRight’s information:

1. Given Read Right’s great success over decades of use, it is important that the claims that ReadRight’s reported results were impossible be explored. I don’t think they were faked. But I’m not an expert in research. So I have contacted a couple of leading experts in the field about that issue. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
2. Dr. Tadlock discovered many new techniques for teaching reading before some of the other major leaders in the field. She deserves credit for that.
3. Given Read Right’s success, educators and administrators should consider including it in their districts’ reading programs. I think they could start with services for students who have been retained and for students identified with major reading problems, including Dyslexic students (all ages).

For more information, please email Dee at this address: deet@readright.com

A note from me to the folks in Canada. What I want to say is WOW! You guys ROCK!!!

Two of the five days we spent in Canada were spent at the conference itself. The other three were spent as tourists. My wife came along for this trip. We enjoy traveling together. Because I sometimes need handicapped access to things, she helps with that. Like all tourists, we ended up lost a couple of times. To get handicapped access to the boat tour we took, you have to go to a certain pier. To get to that pier, you need to go to the middle parking garage at the museum. Unfortunately, we did not realize that there are three parking garages associated with the museum. We went to the wrong one.

When we got there, we found we couldn’t get the scooter I use to get around in because the only way out of this garage was by stairs. A Canadian gentleman in the parking garage noticed our dilemma. He showed us the way out and got us into the museum building, where we were able to get a wheelchair. He called the right people and arranged for us to take a later tour.  That took up the better part of an hour of his time. Showing kindness and helping seem to be traits of Canadians. For instance, in traffic, you signal to move over, they let you in. Try that in New York.

Another tour we took was of the Parliament building. If you’re ever in Ottawa, that should be the first thing to see. We visited Parliament on a day when we could see it in session. I was impressed with what I saw. Before, I was a reading teacher. I was a social studies teacher for five years.   I also served 2 terms as the student body president at my university. So I’m very familiar with models of how government works. What I have to say is this. The Canadian Parliament is an excellent example of how legislatures in a democracy should work. There was disagreement among Members of Parliament. But there was also decorum. They knew how to agree to disagree.  That is an important skill for everyone to learn.

Final Thoughts:

It ispossible for us to address our current reading problems. What it takes is to first talk about what we agree on, so each side can gain insight into the other’s thinking. When we get to the areas of disagreement, we should argue, NOT DEBATE. See my earlier explanation of Dr. Tyson’s view. We should remember that science is written in xerox, not stone. We should be willing to try research methods from all sides and use the 3-tier system to match the right methods to the right child. Dare to dream!

Dr. Sam’s Weekend Post will be delayed until Sunday Morning. LOTS to tell you about my presentation at the University of Ottawa.

We’ll explore how to Artfully Teach the Science of Reading.

The South Africa Reading Project: Empowering teachers to use Research-based Practices to Artfully Teach the Science of Reading:  A blog by Dr. Sam Bommarito

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

A clarification about the title. Teachers will use what they consider the best practices for each student doing that within the boundaries of each district’s curriculum. Then they will be artfully teaching the science of reading.

The story of the South Africa project  being carried out this summer begins with Minda Marshall, a teacher who provides professional development for hundreds of teachers in South Africa. She wrote to me in my blog and asked what she could do for her students. She was most especially concerned about her older students’ grades three through five. They were still functioning at levels below pre-primer. My answer to her was to try giving them professional development based on two books.  The books were as follows:

The fluency development lesson

(go to the Benchmark site in the United States to order this)

The Phonics Handbook

(go to the Routledge site in the United States to order this)

I told her the FDL book would help the kiddos cross the bridge between decoding and higher-level comprehension. I added the phonics handbook because she was concerned that not all her teachers were comfortable teaching phonics. Some felt they might need extra support.  I also told her that I would help her with the PD around the two books and would do that pro bono. She immediately accepted the offer.   

When we first talked about doing this, we were hoping to get at least 15 to 20 teachers involved. That would allow us to do qualitative research around the project. The actual number who volunteered rose to 66. As a result of that I asked Dr. Bill Kerns to join the project to create a qualitative research design. I knew that others in the project, like Dr. Tim Rasinski, were more than capable of creating a research design, but I felt it would not be wise to burden them with all the extra work required for a quality research design. After all, they were already committing large amounts of pro bono time to The Project. Dr. Mary Jo Fresch agreed to assist Bill when she could.

Another wonderful development came when both publishers involved agreed to give steep discounts on the price of the books. Everyone in the project will be forever grateful to Benchmark Publications and Rutledge for  doing this

It’s now fallen on me to see if I could find funding for the remaining cost. The reason for that is that the teachers in the project are teaching in economically challenged areas, The poverty factor weighs in for the-teachers students and districts.  Getting the local funding cost to zero became important . At the moment, a former colleague from my alma mater (UMSL) is asking a philanthropic organization that specializes in projects in Africa if they might be willing to provide a grant for the project. I’ll talk in future blogs about other efforts we might have in order to get the funding to provide these books for free.

What follows now are some of the other posts Miranda has done on Facebook. That should give the reader a good idea of what’s being done in the way of professional development around the two books in the project.   One thing I would like to point out is that conscious efforts are being made to adapt the PD about the books to the local districts.  Most of the districts have teachers that teach teach in English and students who are taught in English.  However, there are a few districts that don’t have that situation. For those districts the project is making accommodations.  You can judge for yourself whether those adaptions will be practical or not. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Please make those to my blog site.

Right now, I am sitting in a motel in Quebec writing this blog. What is Dr. Sam doing in Quebec?  The answer is joining another group of. educators who have a project of their own.  That project has its own three-decade long story that I will tell next week. That project is based on Piaget’s theories, which explains why I helped them give a presentation about how their project uses Piaget’s Constructivist ideas. My contribution to their presentation was to explain how, in the United States, Constructivist programs are being effectively banned. I asked the researchers in the audience to join their voices with the voices of American researchers like Andy Johnson, P.L. Thomas, Rachel Gabriel and George Hruby who are all pushing back on the ill-conceived notion that there is no place for constructivist practices in literacy education in the United States.

So, it’s been a busy summer for Dr. Sam

The foundation of all the projects discussed in this blog lies in the fact that they view meaning making as the prime goal of reading. They view the brain as a problem-solving entity. There is plenty of research to support that point of view.   To problem solve, the brain must have access to a variety of different information.  That view of the brain and how it works has a lot of research behind it. But that’s a topic for next week and beyond.  I hope my readers realize that what everyone involved in this project has been doing is problem-solving their way into making this project viable. I think there’s a message there.  I think we are practicing what we preach.

So, until next week, I’m wrapping things up. I’m still advocating for using practices from all research based points view. I remain concerned about the legislation in the United States that is designed to prevent that. That may very well be the primary topic of many of my blogs this summer.  

In the meantime, happy reading and writing. This is Doctor Sam signing off from Quebec Ontario. Please direct any questions or comments you have to my blog, and I will do my best to answer them.  My blog is found at https://doctorsam7.blog. Look for the entry about the South Africa project.

To see the full content of Minda’s posts about the project visit her Facebook page.

 Read All About It– Important things to look at online this week by Dr. Sam Bommarito

Each week, I search the internet and find important posts that you shouldn’t miss. The descriptions of these posts will be brief, hence the title Read All About It. Read All About It posts typically appear during the week. Read All About posts will allow you to link to the featured items.

ENJOY!  🙂

   

Sign up for ILA SmartBrief

Click here to go to the sign-up page pictured above. You’ll be directed to give information to set up your FREE account.

LINK

Once you’ve set up your FREE account, you’ll have links to stories like this one. New stories every week!

           NEXT PAGE

This is a recording of George Hruby’s ILEC webinar. He predicts another pendulum swing is coming.  He provides an excellent overview of the current SoR situation and provides a hopeful view for what comes next.

LINK

Next Page

LINK

Nora Chahbazi, founder of EBLI, leads a webinar about Linguistic Phonics.

I’ve known Nora for several years. I am especially impressed with her way of teaching phonics. It gets the job done just as well as other methods, but does so faster, leaving time for other important literacy instruction. This is a game-changer. Please see what she and her panel have to say. Dr. Sam

That’s all for this week! Be sure to check out my upcoming blog on Saturday as well!

Dr. Sam (the guy in the middle, taking flak from all sides)

Julia Armstrong discusses the activities she provided to supplement Dr. Tim Rasinski’s virtual appearance at the March SoMLA conference in Maryland. An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito

The SoMLA’s (Reading Conference) was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for both Julia and me. What happened was that I was able to interview Tim Rasinski at a conference dinner held in Tim’s honor. People attending the dinner saw Tim via a live feed. Among the topics Tim discussed was a book he co-authored with Lynn Kulick, Ph.D., and David Harrison. The book’s title is The Fluency Development Lesson Plan: Closing the Reading Gap.

After the interview finished, Julia Armstrong made a presentation to the folks at the dinner tables. Each participant got copies of books from Benchmark’s Decodable Readers Theatre single-copy set. They were able to keep these books, so that means all participants got “take-home materials they can use on Monday”. In addition, one lucky person at each table got a copy of the FDL book. It contains a full year’s set of lessons for grades K-2. It can also work with students in older grades who need help with fluency and comprehension.

Here is a link to the YouTube Interview:

Here are the time-stamped talking points for the interview

(They allow you to go to the sections that interest you the most first)

HERE IS A TIMELINE OF THE EVENTS THAT EVENING

The evening began with the State of Maryland’s Literacy Association’s Young Author awards. Here are some highlights.

Summary of 2026 Maryland’s State-Wide Winners- Here is the link:

Young Authors – STATE OF MARYLAND LITERACY ASSOCIATION

I want to use the winner from 2^nd grade to show you an example of the quality of the student writing submitted for this event. I think it contains a message we should all listen to today:

For anyone looking for qualitative evidence that younger readers and writers can and should be allowed the chance to perform at the highest levels of comprehension, here is one piece that does just that.

Next, our live podcast was held in the very same room as the Young Authors event. It began after the Young Authors event ended. Here is what the participants saw:

Tim came in virtually, and the audience got to see the whole interview live. When the interview ended, Tim turned things over to Julia. Here is a link to Tim’s blog LINK.

This is a picture of one of the tables. Notice that each participant received a goodie bag and three copies of books from the Benchmark Decodable Reader’s Theatre series. One lucky person at each table also got a copy of the FDL book. That means they brought home a full year’s worth of lesson plans and support materials for grades K-2. The folks at this table gave us permission to use the photo below.

Heather and Gabrielle (Gab) from Benchmark Publications did the introductions for the event.

Kelly, Carrie and Sandy were three of the hardworking members of SoMLA who helped plan and implement this year’s conference. The conference is an annual event, so keep an eye out for the SoMLA conference next year. Follow the SoMLA Webpage for more information LINK.

Final Thoughts

As I said earlier, taking part in this event with Dr. Tim Rasinski is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have known Tim for a very long time and have watched the evolution of the FDL from its earliest days to now. Tim’s latest book about FDL is an amazing resource for teachers. It has all the materials you need to conduct a FULL YEAR’S worth of Fluency Development Lessons. The only cost beyond buying the book is printing the support materials, which include word ladders from Tim and poems and passages by the very talented David Harrison. I think you will agree with me that Julie provided participants with some worthwhile activities.  Julie found she could use these materials with her 4^th and 5th-grade kiddos, with some amazing results. Here is a LINK to her blog post about that. It includes information about the data she gathered on the impact on her kids. Julie is not alone in finding the significant impact Tim’s work on repeated reading has had. You’ll find a large body of research on his website at LINK. The biggest takeaway of the evening is this: teaching fluency using Tim’s methods has produced effect sizes larger than those achieved with phonics instruction alone. I want to make it clear that I see his work as an addition to, not a replacement for, phonics. I’m asking educators to imagine what their programs would be like if they adopted both.

Tim, Julie and I would like to give a special shout-out to Benchmark for sponsoring this evening’s event and for supporting the conference. Do have a look at the many materials they have for supporting best practices like Readers Theatre. Here is a link to a video about their Decodable Books LINK.

So, until next week, it’s Dr. Sam signing off.

Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)

Copyright 2026 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization. Benchmark copyrights materials from Benchmark used in this entry. Benchmark retains all rights to those materials. Tim, Julie, and I want to acknowledge the generous support Benchmark has provided by sponsoring this event and providing the take-home materials to the participants.

PS If you found the blog on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), please consider following it so you will not miss future posts.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.

Note from Dr. Sam: Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the YouTube recording of the original interview with Tim Rasinski and of the professional development session conducted afterward by Julie Armstrong about her successful implementation of this program was lost. What follows is a recreation of what happened that night at the 2026 SoMLA conference. The activities described in the following two blog entries use the content of the same questions and activities as those carried out that evening. I think educators who read the two blogs will find ideas and activities in these presentations that demonstrate how the FDL (Fluency Development Lesson) will bring synergy to your classroom. There will be lots of “stuff you can use next Monday” in this recreation of the dinner event from the SoMLA (State of Maryland Literacy Association) conference this year.  ENJOY!

It was an honor to talk to Dr. Tim Rasinski about the book he co-authored, The Fluency Development Lesson: Closing the Reading Gap. The book is a real game-changer. It is research-based. It includes complete daily lessons written by Dr. Lynne Kulich specifically for the book. Each lesson includes support materials. One of those support materials is Word Ladders, created by Tim Rasinski. Each word ladder was written to support the lesson plan it appears with. There are also poems and other short passages written by David Harrison. The poems are designed to support fluency, build background knowledge and improve comprehension—a number of these lessons center around science and social studies topics. Although the materials are written for grades Kindergarten to 2nd, the support materials are designed to be used with older students as well.

As the interview progressed, Tim explained how the book evolved from a one-day lesson plan format he created many years ago into a resource with a complete scope and sequence designed to work for younger and older students. It is meant to be a supplemental program. It is built on the premise that fluency can and should be taught directly and explicitly. It is rooted in Tim Rasinski’s research, which demonstrates the power of repeated reading. It overcomes the potential problems of repeated reading becoming boring or meaningless by using the concept of reading to perform. During the interview, Tim stresses the importance of reading to perform. He points out that the goal of repeated reading is not to read faster LINK but to read better, in a way that encourages readers and listeners to make sense of what is being read.

The book is designed to empower teachers. The Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) format is clear and simple to use. Tim explains in the interview how it evolved from a one-day lesson plan he first proposed many years ago into a full five-day set of lessons. The lessons are short (15-20 minutes or so). Teachers are given specific examples of materials that would fit into the lessons. Teachers can find things that best fit their students’ age and stage. The materials also help students read and master different content areas. The book gives teachers a lot of bang for their buck. It contains a set of complete lessons for grades kindergarten through grade 2. That means a lesson for every week of the school year, along with the word ladders and poems to support each lesson.  It has also been shown to be helpful to struggling readers in grades 3, 4, and 5, focusing on improving word recognition, accuracy, and expression. The lessons and support materials are written to appeal to both younger and older readers. Before going further into what the conference attendees saw at this special event, let’s have a look at Tim’s biography and interview. The interview details what the attendees saw that night.

BIOGRAPHY

Here is the YouTube VIDEO

Rasinski, Timothy; Nageldinger, James; and Young, Chase (2017) “Reading Fluency Should Be Authentic Reading,” Michigan Reading Journal: Vol. 49: Iss. 2, Article 11.

Books Mentioned in the Interview

LINK

LINK

LINK

Tim’s website has several things you’ll want to see.  Visit the following tabs: Resources, Webinars, Articles and Blog to find many resources (including Julia’s blog post!). In addition, follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @TimRasinski1 for links to free materials that support a variety of reading skills.

LINK

My thoughts about this interview:

First, I’d like to thank Tim and Julie for taking the time to do these “extra” interviews. I especially wanted to thank Tim for delaying his trip to see his new grandson by an hour to get this interview in. Now, let’s talk about Tim. Dr. Rasinski has made wonderful contributions to the field of literacy. Stanford University named Tim among the top 2% of researchers worldwide. The literacy world is certainly lucky to have him!

I think the Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) is a real game-changer. For an investment of 15-20 minutes of daily lesson time, teachers and students can reap the benefits of what research demonstrates (LINK, LINK) is one of the most effective evidence-based interventions. The FDL can be used with virtually any literacy curriculum. Teachers are free to use the materials given in the book or to find similar materials on their own. The only cost of implementing the full program is running off the various materials from the book. Teachers are given a license to do that. I feel fluency can be taught and should be taught explicitly and directly. More about that in a minute.

Fluency is not about reading fast LINK. Fluency is about reading well, reading with prosody and reading for meaning. Fluency instruction can improve students’ knowledge and use of sound-symbol relations. As you will see from these two related blog entries, dinner guests that night were in for a real treat.

Here is a picture of what the audience saw during the live interview that evening. Tim came on virtually, and the whole audience watched the interview live.  Later today, I will post the video of Julia’s interview about her session. That session gave a detailed look at how she successfully implemented the FDL with both younger and older students. It came right after this one. I hope my readers will find the information from both interviews useful as they carry out their district’s reading and writing curriculum.

So, please take a look at the next blog, Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the middle taking flak from all sides)

Copyright 2026 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s views and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

PS If you found the blog on Facebook or X (Formerly Twitter), please consider following it so you won’t miss future posts.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.

Read All About It- Important things to look at online this week- by Dr. Sam Bommarito

Each week, I search the internet and find important posts that you shouldn’t miss. The descriptions of these posts will be brief, hence the title Read All About It. Read All About It posts typically appear during the week. Read All About posts will allow you to link to the featured items.

ENJOY!      

I gave my keynote address at the SoMLA Conference. This weekend I’ll have two blog posts about that. The first one will be about my live interview with Tim Rasinski. Tim is among the top 2% of researchers worldwide, according to Stanford University. He talks about a book he coauthored. The book is:

Tim explains the how and why of carrying out FDL (Fluency Development Lesson). The book contains a full year’s worth of weekly lessons for 5 different grade levels. Lynn Kulich does a great job of creating easy-to-follow lessons for each day of the week. Tim created word ladders specific to each lesson, and David Harrison created poems and/or questions for those weeks that included Social Science topics. ALL the materials you need to carry out the lessons are in the book, and you have copyright permission to recreate those materials. This is definitely a book to look at.

I usually do only one blog per weekend, but this weekend I’m also including an interview with Julia, in addition to the interview with Tim. She talks about how she got incredible results using Tim’s materials and shares some great nuts-and-bolts ideas for using them. Be sure to have a look at my blog this weekend. to find these two entrees https://doctorsam7.blog/

Paul writes a counterpoint article about an article claiming that states are blowing millions on reading instruction that doesn’t work. It’s always good to look at all sides of an issue before making up your mind.

LINK

It’s always good to read things from all sides before making up your mind about important literacy issues. The preceding links will help you find out what the other sides are saying.

Finally, ILEC has an upcoming webinar

George Hruby presents

After the Flood: Reading Instruction Post SoR

Thursday, April 9th, 2026, at 7:00 PM EST 6:00 PM CST, 4:00 PST

Register in advance for this free webinar:

https://minnstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NLkk_2jRSoyKg_znVXw_kw

Science of Reading’s murky waters have crested, says Dr. Hruby. Our classrooms are ours to reclaim if we strategize now. Join Dr. Hruby in a conversation about why SOR may be on the outs, the backstories behind it, and how we can take back control of our teaching and students’ learning.

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Final Thoughts

It’s always good to listen to all sides of an issue before making up your mind. There’s a lot of food for thought in the preceding links. Hope you will find them informative.

Dr. Sam

(The guy in the middle, taking flak from all sides)

The above image is from my keynote address. It summarizes the key points of my addressOne of the best explanations of the foundations of scientific inquiry was made by Dr.  Neil deGrasse Tyson.  The YouTube video is less than 2 minutes. Please do have a look and listen. A lso Please do feel free to leave comments on this post about the whole issue of how to teach literacy to our students.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDHD-zcwDPI