This week I am completing the two-part interview with Mark Pennington about his reading program. I do this in the spirit of presenting ideas from all sides. Mark’s program is aimed at the older reader. Its foundations lie in the ideas of Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope. It includes direct phonics instruction for middle school/high school students. As I indicated last week, I recognize that some research indicates that such instruction does not usually pay large dividends. However, in a recent blog, Timothy Shanahan pointed out that newer studies indicate that some students could benefit from such instruction LINK. Could Mark’s program benefit some of the students you serve? Check out the links to the free materials he has provided and see what you think.

The regular readers of this blog know I am a centrist and believe that if we are to cut through the gordian knot that is reading instruction, it will take using ideas from all approaches. In the second part of this interview, we will look at such topics as vocabulary, Scarborough’s rope, and comprehension related to Mark’s program. The video starts as Mark changes from talking about decoding to talking about these other topics.

About the author (taken from the Mark Pennington Blog)

Mark Pennington is an educational author, publisher, reading specialist, and teacher. Mark’s English-language arts/reading resources help teachers apply assessment-based instruction to teach grade-level Common Core State Standards and also individualize instruction for the diverse needs of their students.

Mark has taught in the elementary, middle school, high school, and community college settings. He has also served as a district reading specialist. His MA Education (Reading Specialist) is from California State University at Sacramento. Mark received his teaching credential at the University of California at Los Angeles after graduating Magna cum Laude from the University of Southern California. Go Trojans!

Teachers refer to his books as “user friendly,” “written by a teacher for teachers and their students,” “comprehensive,” “minimal prep and correcting/grading,” “easy to individualize instruction,” and “efficient and effective balanced instruction.”

Mark and his family live in the beautiful Sierra Foothills of Northern California. In his spare time, Mark is a blues musician and avid day hiker.

Here is the link to the second half of the interview:

Scarborough’s Rope	00:00
Background Mentor Text & Response	03:28
Vocabulary	6:56
Language Structures	10:36
Verbal Reasoning	18:01
Literacy Knowledge	31:45
Closing Thoughts	34:08

Important Links from Mark (includes link to his Teaching Reading Intervention Program):

Mark Pennington BLOG LINK

Teaching Reading Intervention full-year word recognition and language comprehension program for students ages 8-adult.

Free ELA and Reading Assessments from the Pennington Publishing Blog

Over 700 ELA and Reading Articles with FREE lessons, activities, and resources from the Pennington Publishing Blog

I hope you got many good teaching ideas from Mark’s interview. Next week, I will review some additional ideas about teaching comprehension.

Soooo- until next, Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam Bommarito, aka the centrist who uses ideas from all sides to inform his teaching

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely the view of this author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

P.S. If you found the blog through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following the blog to make sure you won’t miss it.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.

An interview with Mark Pennington about his Teaching Reading Intervention Program. Interview conducted by Dr. Sam Bommarito

This week I am beginning a two-part interview with Mark Pennington about his reading program. I do this in the spirit of presenting ideas from all sides. Mark’s program is aimed at the older reader. Its foundations lie in the ideas of Science of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope. It includes direct phonics instruction for middle school/high school students. I recognize that some research indicates that such instruction does not usually pay large dividends. However, in a recent blog, Timothy Shanahan pointed out that newer studies indicate that some students could benefit from such instruction LINK. Could Mark’s program benefit some of the students you serve? Check out the links to the free materials he has provided and see what you think.

The regular readers of this blog know I am a centrist and believe that if we are to cut through the gordian knot that is reading instruction, it will take using ideas from all approaches. In the first part of the interview, we will look at the decoding aspect of Mark’s program. The video stops as Mark changes from talking about decoding to talking about comprehension. Next week’s blog post will deal with Mark’s approaches to comprehension. The following week I will be blogging about the importance of looking at all the research, especially research by folks like Nell Duke and P.D. Pearson, as one develops a curriculum for teaching comprehension. So, the next few weeks should prove both interesting and informative.

About the author (taken from the Mark Pennington Blog)

Mark Pennington is an educational author, publisher, reading specialist, and teacher. Mark’s English-language arts/reading resources help teachers apply assessment-based instruction to teach grade-level Common Core State Standards and also individualize instruction for the diverse needs of their students.

Mark has taught in the elementary, middle school, high school, and community college settings. He has also served as a district reading specialist. His MA Education (Reading Specialist) is from California State University at Sacramento. Mark received his teaching credential at the University of California at Los Angeles after graduating Magna cum Laude from the University of Southern California. Go Trojans!

Teachers refer to his books as “user friendly,” “written by a teacher for teachers and their students,” “comprehensive,” “minimal prep and correcting/grading,” “easy to individualize instruction,” and “efficient and effective balanced instruction.”

Mark and his family live in the beautiful Sierra Foothills of Northern California. In his spare time, Mark is a blues musician and avid day hiker.

Here is the link to the first half of the interview:

Mark’s Background Information                                              00:28

Marks Program- Introduction to                                             06:16

Activity 1 Prefixes                                                                         10:30

Sam and Friends Phonics Books (suitable for older kids)                                                                                                                                                               17:33

Dr. B. talks about Nell Duke and Comprehension                                                                                                                                                                          31:29

NEXT WEEK THE SECOND HALF OF THE INTERVIEW WILL BE POSTED

============================

Important Links from Mark (includes a link to his full Teaching Reading Intervention program):

Mark Pennington BLOG LINK

Teaching Reading Intervention full-year word recognition and language comprehension program for students ages 8-adult.

Free ELA and Reading Assessments from the Pennington Publishing Blog

Over 700 ELA and Reading Articles with FREE lessons, activities, and resources from the Pennington Publishing Blog

.

Soooo- until next week when we resume with part two of this interview, Happy Reading and Writing.

Dr. Sam Bommarito, aka the centrist who uses ideas from all sides to inform his teaching

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely the view of this author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

P.S. If you found the blog through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following the blog to make sure you won’t miss it.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.

An interview of Latisha Smith, Children’s Author & Director of Professional Development- St. Louis Public Schools. Interview conducted by Dr. Sam Bommarito

Dr. Latisha Smith is very active on the literacy scene in St. Louis. In addition to her full-time duties as Director of Professional Development for the St. Louis Public Schools, Latisha is also the author of many children’s books and an active member of the Missouri Literacy Association Board. MLA is an International Literacy Association board. Here is a sample of some of Latisha’s many community activities:

Latisha reports that having the mayor of St. Louis read her newest book, And the People Carried Signs for this year’s African-American Read Aloud Week, was a real career highlight for her. She also served as the installation officiant for this year’s St. Louis Literacy Association installation ceremonies. Dr. Tracy Hinds, Deputy Commissioner of Learning Services for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, was the keynote for that event. As you will find in the interview, Latisha still finds time to be a mother and the author of many different children’s books. She does an amazing job of facilitating the partnership between the St. Louis Public Schools, St Louis & Missouri Literacy Associations, and the St. Louis Black Authors. Here is a link to the interview, followed by time-stamped highlights from the interview.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

Tell Us about yourself

As a person                                                     01:45                                     

Professionally                                                   02:17

Tell Us about the partnership between SLPS

and ILA/St. Louis Black Authors (especially

the many events speakers and P.D.)                  07:45

Tell Us about your book.                                         12:18

Any final remarks?                                                   15:00

Be sure to visit Latisha’s website LINK. Here are just some of the books you will find on that website:

It was a real pleasure to talk to Latisha again. As indicated in the interview, I got to know her very well when I worked for the St. Louis Public Schools as a reading specialist and staff developer. In addition to still working with Latisha on the MLA board, I also participate with her in the bi-annual BTAP program, which provides beginning teachers in St. Louis with PD in order to help them get a good start to their teaching careers. That program is organized by Dr. Betty Porter Walls, another MLA board member. Latisha works hand in hand with MLA and St. Louis Black Authors to provide various P.D. opportunities to teachers. Incoming MLA president, Julius Anthony, has played an important part in keeping the partnerships alive and well.

In the coming weeks, I will continue my interviews with various literacy leaders. I will also continue to do op-ed pieces advocating for centrist-based reading practices. So…, until next week, Happy Reading and Writing!

Dr. Sam Bommarito, aka the centrist who uses ideas from all sides to inform his teaching

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely the view of this author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

P.S. If you found the blog through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following the blog to make sure you won’t miss it.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.

It’s Time to Bring Teacher’s Voices into the Dialogue Around Best Ways to Teach Literacy by Dr. Sam Bommarito

The past few weeks have been amazing in terms of my professional career. I was a featured speaker at LITCON and presented a case for why Reading Recovery is a viable intervention LINK. Remember that RR is a one semester intense intervention designed for use in the first semester of first grade. It is not meant to be an ongoing program. If that first semester intervention doesn’t work, and in a small number of cases it doesn’t, then we should move on to other things. To be crystal clear, that could mean moving on to some SOR interventions. If that sounds like Doctor Sam is saying that one semester of RR could serve as a screening, that is exactly what I am proposing. That idea is a trial balloon. We’ll see how all sides receive it.

The past few weeks, I’ve also had a lot of time to think about where I began in this quest to make sense of the current iteration of the reading wars LINK. Just last week I posted a summary of my current thinking. The upshot of that thinking is that the group I have dubbed the “my way or the highway” branch of The Science of Reading says they have all the answers. They don’t. Check out my last week’s blog, and you’ll see there is plenty of evidence that major folks in the research field do not believe that it is settled science LINK, LINK. By the way, in my view, the definition of science is never settled LINK, Science is an ongoing inquiry. Science should be an ongoing quest to discover what else we can learn. It’s a bit difficult for me to see how the “my way or the highway group” branch of SOR can be so ready to say they have the final answer and so ready to force that answer on all of us. Frankly, I don’t see such a position as being very scientific at all.

I don’t view myself as having any final answers. I do think I have some important questions to ask. For instance, in this current iteration of the reading wars, what can each side learn from the other? Is there a path for using common sense to find common ground? I think that there is. There are signs there are advocates of the Science of Reading who are willing to talk. This past week, someone from DNA Films (see thetruthaboutreading.com) Interviewed me for a documentary they are doing about the reading. I think that they wanted to hear what a centrist might have to say. By the way, they are interviewing folks from various points of view. I can’t wait for that to come out because that is the kind of thing that is needed to start a dialogue about how to best help the children.

For such a dialogue to occur, all sides must be willing to admit that there are limits and limitations to all points of view. What works with one child, or one group of children doesn’t always work with another. When your particular point of view’s methods fail to work for a particular child, you must be willing to try methods from the other side(s). You must be willing to look at both qualitative and quantitative information to decide whether the methods are working. You can and should add to Cambourne’s quilt (p. 18) https://joom.ag/rXuI . But remember, no addition can be made without some research supporting it. Again, the research can be either qualitative or quantitative. Given the complexities involved in any school setting, I recommend that you provide both kinds of data whenever possible.  

My regular followers know my doctorate was done around the last iteration of the reading wars. It found that teachers from the two sides had more practices in common than practices they differed on. Unfortunately, back at that time, some of the constructivist advocates were dead set against the use of phonics. Fortunately, times have changed. MOST educators now believe phonics is needed. The question is now more around how much and what kind of phonics. Because we went through a time when teachers weren’t taught phonics at all, there is a real need to rectify that situation. This ILA document outlines nicely the kind of things that all teachers should learn LINK.

I’m writing this today as I finished up the Write to Learn conference in Missouri. There is a certain symmetry to that. Four years ago, my very first blog post was made from that conference. There is always much to be learned at the conference, and this year was no exception LINK, LINK, LINK. I presented a last breakout session on the last day. I want to thank the teachers who stayed for that session (it would have been so much easier to get an early start for home). I’d especially like to thank @TeacherMommyMO and @zachary_hamby shout-outs on Twitter. I hope I gave the teachers something they could use on Monday (e.g., Rasinski’s Word Ladders, his materials on Prefixes/Suffixes/Roots and most especially his Megabook of Fluency). At the end of the session, I made a mental note to myself that I needed to flesh out the idea of how to use “reading to perform” &  repeated readings- expect a blog post about that soon.

I want to end this post with the same thought I left with those teachers. Over five decades ago, the First Grade Studies demonstrated that good teachers account for more of the variance in reading scores LINK. Good teachers tend to get good results. Isn’t it time for us to stop focusing on the perfect program (we’ve never yet found one) and start focusing on the thing that can have the biggest impact of all? That something is empowered, informed teachers operating within each district’s best plans for their particular district. Dare to dream!

Dr. Sam Bommarito, aka the centrist who uses ideas from all sides to inform his teaching and who thinks teachers, not programs, matter most.

Copyright 2022 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely the view of this author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

P.S. If you found the blog through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following the blog to make sure you won’t miss it.  Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.