It is a long-standing family tradition that the day before Thanksgiving is “Pie Day.” My wife, children and grandchildren spend the day preparing pies for Thanksgiving. This year, there were nine of them. My job is to help the grandkids get the apples for the apple pie cut up and ready. Thanksgiving Day has now come and gone, and the pies in the picture are now history. This weekend will be spent getting the Bommarito household ready for the holidays. To accomplish that, I am taking a Thanksgiving break.
BTW Thanksgiving is a time to remember all that we have to be thankful for. Doing that should be a catalyst for us to want to take stock of what we are doing with our lives. For teachers, that especially means we should continue the good work that we do, work that helps the kids grow into responsible, informed citizens of our nation.
Next week, I will resume with some new interviews. The first of those is with Kathy James, who will be telling us how her district uses ideas from all sides to scaffold children into becoming lifelong readers. Her district uses Rime Magic and Tim Rasinski’s work, along with Orton-Gillingham and Haggerty, to help their children develop their decoding skills and fluency. It is the perfect example of using ideas from all sides and paying attention to all the research. I can’t wait to share that story with you.
Happy Reading and Writing!
Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)
Copyright 2023 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 through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following it to ensure you won’t miss future posts. Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.
I also want to call your attention to some webinars and presentations I’ve done and will be doing.
Link to the Pioneer Valley Books webinar, which features Tim Rasinski LINK
I was the moderator for the webinar.
NOTE- You need to be in Vimeo to view this webinar. If you do not already have a Vimeo account, here is the link to set one up for free LINK. When you get to the site, click the Join for Free tab.
I will also do several sessions at the Wisconsin State Reading Associations Conference at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from February 8th through 10th next year.
Here is a link to information about the conference:
Long-time teacher Sharon Zinke talks about her Rime Magic Program: An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
I’m always happy to spread the good news about what effective practicing teachers are up to, and this week, there is even more news. As I talked to folks about the Pioneer Valley Webinar last week (the one featuring Dr. Tim Rasinski’s ideas to teach decoding), I learned about Sharon Zinke and her Rime Magic Program. Like Tim’s Fast Start program and HFL’s adaptation of Tim’s work, Sharon’s program gets big results relatively quickly. It is a program that works for both younger and older students. The program requires as little as 5 minutes a day and can be used to supplement any phonics program you are using. Let’s learn more about Sharon and the program she created.
BIOGRAPHY (Taken from her website)
Sharon Zinke is a specialist in the area of literacy development and reading intervention. She has worked extensively with struggling readers at elementary, middle, and high schools in her years as a Classroom teacher, Reading specialist, Resource Specialist, and Reading Intervention Specialist. Most recently, she has worked with elementary, middle and high schools to quickly raise the decoding and word recognition levels of students reading significantly below grade level, collaborating with classroom teachers, reading intervention teachers, reading specialists and coaches, special education teachers and administrators to plan effective intervention for struggling readers. Her unique, easy-to-implement techniques, based on onset-rime research and decades of classroom experience, help students experience instant success, immediately boosting their self-confidence as readers—critical for overcoming their reading challenges. She is the author and creator of the phonics and fluency accelerator Rime Magic: Phonics-Powered Prevention and Intervention for All Students (Scholastic, Inc., 2017)
Here are the timed stamped talking points from the interview (so, you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
Here is a link to the interview on YouTube:
Resources from Sharon
Sharon’s book (note: The Teachers Guide to her resource kit contains an updated version of all the information in this book, so if you get her kit, you won’t need this book)LINK
Rime Magic is a completely different, highly engaging approach to phonics instruction. It is not about memorizing letters and sounds in a sequence for mastery. Rather it is daily immersion in an array of phonic elements each day, starting with regular two-letter, short vowel rimes and moving on to less regular patterns. Students naturally focus on what they are ready to grasp and experience each success as they are ready for it. They experience power over their own learning and confidence blooms. Learning happens very quickly because students are swept up in the rhythm and are given only positive responses by the teacher. Slipped in for five minutes next to any phonics or reading program, Rime Magic is a phonics and fluency accelerator.
Although there are seven steps in Rime Magic, only Steps 4 and 5 are done each day; Steps 1-3 are done only on the first day to introduce Rime Magic to the students. Step 6 follows when students have mastered Steps 4 and 5. Step 7 is for students (grade 3 and above) who have difficulty blending and/or have letter confusion.
Steps 4 and 5 are done each day (whole class or small group) for a total of less than 10 minutes, followed by lots of repeated reading material that is of interest to students.
Note: You might notice that one of the students begins each rime with /h/. I ignore it because he will be immersed in Rime Magic each day and will discover it on his own, when he is ready.
The folder contains additional information, including a blog post about Rime Magic authored by K. James for Tim Rasinski and the Rime Magic Pilot Report, which provides data demonstrating the effectiveness of the project. Sharon’s website also includes other reports about the effectiveness of the project.
As a centrist, LINK, I reject one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, I advocate for using good research-based ideas from folks of many points of view. Let’s talk about points of view about how to teach. Some of those points of view are over 2000 years old. What am I talking about? Please have a look:
As my slide indicates, we need both Inquiry (Discovery Learning) and Direct Instruction. Inquiry learning has its foundations in constructivism. Direct Instruction has its foundations in behaviorism. Keep in mind that both these forms of teaching have been around for over 2000 years, and in all that time, neither has replaced the other. I believe we can use Rasinski’s ideas about Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading to guide us in using each approach. It is important to use both some of the time.
Consider this quote from the eminent futurist and philosopher Alvin Toffler.
“the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Applying that idea to the reading world, doesn’t that sound suspiciously like creating a set for variability?
As you think about Sharon’s program, think about how she masterfully allows students to engage in activities that teach them how to use their wordwork skills. Her methods are based on constructivist ideas and use an inquiry approach. She is helping students develop that set for variability they need to be effective decoders. They are learning about sound-symbol relations and using that knowledge to help them problem-solve their words. She doesn’t call for replacing the direct instruction phonics programs. Instead, she calls for using this in addition to the direct instruction. She has documented that as little as 5 minutes a day of this approach can significantly positively affect children’s ability to decode. This is true for children of all ages. That is something to consider as you prepare for next Monday’s lessons. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely going to start using some of her materials. I want to thank Sharon for sharing her materials and ideas.
Next week, I’m taking a Thanksgiving break. The week after, I’ll be writing about The Pioneer Valley Webinar and the use of Tim Rasinski’s ideas on how to teach decoding (prosody!). I’ve put a link to that webinar at the end of the blog post. Until then,
Happy Reading and Writing!
Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)
Copyright 2023 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 through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following it to ensure you won’t miss future posts. Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.
Link to the Pioneer Valley Books webinar, which features Tim Rasinski LINK
NOTE- You need to be in Vimeo to view this webinar. If you do not already have a Vimeo account. Here is the link to set one up for free LINK. When you get to the site, click the Join for Free tab.
Julia Armstrong, a long-time teacher/educator, talks about her journey as an author and her creation of decodable texts- An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
I’m always happy to spread the good news about what effective practicing teachers are up to. Julia’s 28 years of teaching includes a wide range of experience. Among other things, she was a successful Reading Recovery teacher. She does not fit the “us/them” picture that some of the more extreme SOR advocates try to paint when talking about RR. In my experience, RR teachers try to learn a variety of methods and are adept at finding methods that fit the particular child they are working with. They are always open to exploring and learning about the latest methods. Follow the child, find what they need and provide it to them. That is the core of what RR is all about.
When Julia first learned about decodable books, she didn’t reject the use of them out of hand because they were being promoted by the “other side.” Instead, she chose to take the path outlined by P.D. Pearson- take positions, not sides. She took the position that decodables could be a useful tool but she thought the decodables of her day lacked meaning and authentic storylines. What did she do? She wrote her own decodables and began sharing them with fellow teachers. She also created other resources that I think my readers will find helpful. So, let’s learn more about Julia and see what she had to say about the materials she has created.
BIOGRAPHY
Julia (Julie) Armstrong has 28 years of experience teaching in Title 1 public schools in Howard County, Maryland. She has a wide range of experience as a Pre-K, K/1 classroom teacher, a Reading Recovery teacher, and a Reading Specialist for grades K – 5. Mrs. Armstrong has a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with additional certifications as a Reading Recovery teacher and a Reading Specialist. Julia integrates her love of music and knowledge of curriculum to design puppet skits and create sight word songs, and she has created fiction and non-fiction stories and passages that reinforce foundational skills.
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the interview (so, you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
Here is a link to the U-Tube Interview:
Julia’s Resources:
Julia and her husband create puppet skits incorporating songs or raps to reinforce phonics skills. If you like these skits, be sure to subscribe to their channel.
Julia also created passages for the “Words Their Way” series and she created multisyllabic passages which align with the SIPPS Challenge program. These stories are located at:
I taught reading courses for decades. I often began those courses with a very special slide. I introduced the slide by saying here are all the methods that work with every single child every single time. As technology improved, I was able to add a drum roll just before the slide came up. The class waited in anticipation.
The slide was blank.
I paused momentarily to let the class wrap their heads around the message. The message was quite clear. There is no one method. There is no one magic bullet. I’ve challenged those who think otherwise to provide studies showing their “one and only” methods work with most students most of the time. Remember that the idea of “works” includes proof that their methods have an educationally significant impact on direct measures of comprehension. To date, none of them have provided studies meeting those criteria.
HOWEVER- there are things we can and should be doing. We should lead with systematic phonics instruction and encourage children to try synthetic phonics-based decoding first. We should have other methods waiting in the wings for times when that fails. The folks from HFL Education I talked to last week are masterful at that LINK. We should teach decoding and comprehension concurrently. From day one, students should understand that reading is much more than just saying sounds or reading single words or short phrases. First and foremost, reading is a meaning-making process.
Engaging and meaningful decodable texts like those Julia has written help teachers help students to do just that. Even the shortest/easiest of them contain meaningful content. The books encourage students to use their decoding skills on running text, text with a message to be found. These books can (and should) be used to help students find the bridge between decoding and comprehension that Dr. Rasinski talked about in last week’s Pioneer Valley webinar. Information on how to view that webinar can be found at the end of this blog.
At the end of this interview, Julia talked about her ideas about using music and repeated readings as part of what teachers can do to promote prosody. That is a topic near and dear to my heart. I’ve written about my own ideas about that LINK, about Eric Litwin and his work LINK, LINK, about Ann Kay’s work LINK, Nina Kraus’s brain research LINK, LINK. Geoff Barnes work around music therapy with preschool children LINK and, of course, Rasinski’s ideas LINK, including the idea of artfully teaching the science of reading LINK. There’s lots of room in all that for using common sense to help find some common ground LINK. Julia is definitely on track for talking about including music in teaching literacy skills and does a masterful job of doing that LINK.
I hope you find the materials and ideas from this interview useful. I hope there are things you can “use on Monday.” So, until next week
Happy Reading and Writing,
Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)
Copyright 2023 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 through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following it to ensure you won’t miss future posts. Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.
Transformative Teaching Strategies Webinar with panelists.
Use the link above to view the webinar. For the link to work, you must be logged into Vimeo. If you have a Vimeo account, you’re good to go. If not, you can set up a FREE account at https://vimeo.com/. BTW, there are TONS of great videos on Vimeo, including many about literacy. I hope you enjoy the webinar and find it useful. The heart of the webinar deals with Tim Rasinski’s idea that Fluency Instruction is the bridge between Word Study and Comprehension. The webinar details how the teachers from HFL in England help their students build those bridges. Here is a model of Tim’s idea about fluency instruction being a bridge.
Dr. Michal Taylor talks about her successful intervention with a child struggling in reading- An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
Over the years, I talked to several folks who were struggling in learning to read or were the parents/grandparents of folks who are struggling in reading LINK, LINK, LINK. Their stories provide a rich resource of ideas for teachers looking for ways to help their struggling readers. In this interview, Dr. Michal Taylor talks about her grandson, who was making little or no progress after a year’s worth of phonics first (phonics only?) instruction. Dr. Taylor intervened successfully. For teachers looking to help their struggling readers, the story of how she gained that success is well worth considering. Let’s find out a little about Dr. Taylor and her background. Her background made her uniquely qualified to give her grandson the kind of help he needed. After that, we’ll go right on to what she said during the interview.
BIOGRAPHY (Information was taken from her website)
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the interview (so you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
Donna Scanlon’s research around the use of context.
Dr. Sam’s blog about how to do language experience LINK.
Quote found on Dr. Taylors website:
Final Thoughts:
The information Dr. Taylor provides in the interview is anecdotal. Does such information have any place in our quest to use research-based information to guide our instruction? It does. Review my Oct 17th blog LINK, where I gave a detailed accounting of the presentation at the 2019 ILA convention entitled What Research Really Says About Teaching Reading- and Why That Still Matters. The issue of how to teach reading is not settled science. As P.D. Pearson has said, the term settled science is an oxymoron. Anecdotal evidence like Dr. Taylor presents here is the foundation of research. Such information guides us in formulating the research questions we ask. In addition to telling us a compelling story, Dr. Taylor also provided evidence that the Reading Recovery-based methods she used to help her grandson have a substantial research base LINK. Language experience and interactive writing also have extensive research behind them.
The clear message from Dr. Taylor’s story is this. What works with one child doesn’t always work with another. When something is tried for a year or more and doesn’t work, it’s time to try other things. The best phonics program for a child is the one that works best for them. I advocate that synthetic phonics is the first thing we should try. But what happens when that doesn’t work for a particular child? Do we just give them more of the same medicine that didn’t work for them? Or do we have other things waiting in the wings to help them? We need to have other things available.
What would happen if lawmakers outlawed all drugs to treat infections except penicillin? There would be a public outcry of tremendous proportion. Yet, as Dr. Taylor alludes to in the interview- that is what is happening currently in the reading world. We’re outlawing things that work for some children. It’s time to rethink that policy. It is time to approach this problem using common sense to find common ground. I think Bruce Howett and Jan Wasowicz are seeking such answers LINK. Maybe it’s time we start listening to the “radical middle.” I’ll have much more to say about this in future blogs.
In the meantime, please consider attending the upcoming Pioneer Valley webinar. We are bringing together a panel of experts who outline other things we can try when the phonics first (phonics only?) approach isn’t helping. Until next week-
Happy Reading and Writing.
Dr. Sam Bommarito (aka, the guy in the center taking flak from all sides)
Copyright 2023 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 through Facebook or Twitter, please consider following it to ensure you won’t miss future posts. Use the “follow” entry on the sidebar of the blog.
COMING EVENT
Join us on November 9 at 4 pm EST for a free webinar! Register today for Transformative Teaching Strategies, moderated by Dr. Sam Bommarito with panelists Tim Rasinski, Kathy Roe, and Penny Slater.
In this special session, Dr. Sam Bommarito will bring together an exciting panel of literacy experts to discuss strategies for improving student reading comprehension, fluency, accuracy, and reading stamina. Bestselling author and fluency scholar Tim Rasinski will share some important research on fluency. Penny Slater and Kathy Roe will show how they have used Tim’s research to develop a Reading Fluency Project in the UK that has led to struggling readers achieving more than 1.5 years of growth in comprehension/fluency in just eight weeks of small-group instruction.
