Julie Armstrong, a long-time teacher/educator, talks about her creation of decodable texts & her use of music to help teach fluency- An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito

I’m always happy to spread the good news about what effective practicing teachers are up to. Julie’s 28 years of teaching includes a wide range of experience. Among other things, she was a successful Reading Recovery teacher. During her time as a RR teacher, she did not fit the “us/them” picture that some of the more extreme SOR advocates try to paint when talking about RR. She learned a variety of methods and was adept at finding methods that fit the child. Currently, she is a reading specialist and continues to find ways to help her students become better readers.

When Julia first learned about decodable books, she didn’t reject their use 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 the motivation that comes from books having authentic storylines and natural language. What did she do? She wrote her own decodables and began sharing them with fellow teachers. She also created other resources. She and her husband created engaging videos using puppet skits to help her students learn new words and sounds. She made music a part of her overall teaching scheme. So, let’s learn more about Julia and see what she has 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 demonstrated one of the skits during the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/@wordworkwonders4814

The puppet skits also align with decodable texts. These texts are located on Amazon; links for each book are provided:

                   LINK                                                  LINK                                          LINK

     LINK                                                LINK                                         LINK             

LINK                                                    LINK                                                 LINK

              LINK                                                   LINK                                           LINK

                                                                           LINK

Julia also created passages for the “Words Their Way” series, and she created multisyllabic passages that align with the SIPPS Challenge program. These stories are located at:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Word-Work-Wonders

Final Thoughts

Engaging and meaningful decodable texts like those Julia has written help teachers help students make meaning. Even the shortest/easiest of them contain meaningful content. That content includes both fiction and nonfiction passages in the same book. 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 cross the bridge between decoding and comprehension that Dr. Rasinski talks about in his extensive work around fluency LINK, LINK, LINK.

Julia advocates using music to promote fluency. 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 works around music therapy with preschool children LINK and, of course, Rasinski’s ideas LINK, including the idea of artfully teaching the science of reading. 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. Using music to promote fluency will become the topic of a webinar that I hope to put together by this fall, so please be on the lookout for that.

Julia also expressed concerns about whether Dibels scores accurately track her students’ progress. Students who made good progress in comprehension were reported as making well below average in their overall reading score. When she examined why, she found that the overall score on the Dibels was composed of a number of different sub-scores. Speed was given the heaviest weight; comprehension was hardly given any weight at all. That means the way the test is scored results in students being penalized for self-correcting and rereading phrases even though both these reading behaviors result in better reading and reading comprehension. Yet this test, which focuses mainly on reading speed, is being presented to parents as an overall test of reading. In point of fact, because of the way the subscores are being weighted it is really mainly a test of reading speed. Long-time critics of Dibels, like Dr. Andy Johnson, have pointed out the many weaknesses of this testing instrument LINK. In my opinion, at the very least, if Dibels is to be used as a reading test, a test that determines both how well students decode AND how well they make meaning, the subtest weights for comprehension and other components of reading should be given more weight. The overall goal of reading is not to read fast but rather to read with prosody, i.e., to read in a way that promotes understanding. Frankly, there are other instruments that do a much better job of that than the Dibels.

I hope you find the materials and ideas from this interview useful. Please do visit her free YouTube site. I think there are things from Julia that 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 2024 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.

Dr. Sam is on family vacation this week. The blog will resume next week.

Thanks,

Dr Sam

Dr. Andy Johnson discusses two of his books and some of the many practical teaching ideas found in them in an Interview conducted by Dr. Sam Bommarito.

In this interview, Dr. Andy Johnson talks about two of his books, including his newest book about writing. He also gives examples of some of the reading strategies found in those books. Both books provide a treasure trove of information and practical ideas for teachers working with struggling readers. Dr. Johnson also talks about the ILEC, a new organization of educators trying to bring common sense back into the reading field. The ILEC now provides free PD for teachers. All ILEC webinars are free. CEUs from Minnesota State University are available upon completion. See details about times and dates later in this blog entry.

Here is a link to Dr. Johnson’s biography LINK:

YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW:

FREE ILEC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EVENTS- Summer 2024

On May 13th at 7:00 PM EST, How to Teach Writing, K-8 and Beyond, Dr. Andy Johnson will conduct a free, interactive Webinar focusing on developing students’ writing ability. Participants will leave this session with an understanding of how to teach the writing process and a variety of new strategies and activities that can be used to teach each step of the five-step writing process. CEU certificates from Minnesota State University will be provided.

https://minnstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2NvIWLFoTx26-jpcfSHIJg

Zoom: https://minnstate.zoom.us/j/95528562036

Coming June 25^th, Webinar on eye movement and miscue analysis (EMMA) research.  You don’t want to miss this one.  Peter Duckett, Alan Flurkey, Rick Meyer, Koomi Kim, and Perpie Liwang will describe and discuss EMMA research.  We are limited to 500 participants. Please click the link below to register for this free webinar: https://minnstate.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YboIz54mTD2fVDj7ZSINgQ

July – Research Club – You’ve heard of a book club?  Our two July conversations will be Research Clubs.  Here, we will select a research study to analyze and evaluate.  One of our ILEC members will be leading the conversation.  Look for dates and specific research studies to be posted.

All ILEC webinars are free.  CEUs from Minnesota State University are available upon completion.

ILEC SUMMER MEETING

June 3^rd at 7:00 PM EST, 6:00 PM CST ( 9:00 AM, May 14^th in Newcastle, Australia) – A reflective ILEC Zoom Conversation: How are you Handling SoR Mandates? All ILEC members are invited to join this guided conversation.  We’re interested in hearing how things have gone this year.  Have you come up with any strategies for dealing with SoR mandates?  What SoR mandates have you found helpful?  Bring your good ideas, your questions, and your concerns to this June 3^rd conversation.

JOIN ILEC.  More voices make us stronger.  Use this link to sign up and become a part of ILEC. Add your name to the Google doc below. 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-X5EklYv3EL-jaRHsW1vDDXpG_jpKZYo/edit

Link to Being and Becoming Teachers of Writing LINK.

Link to Designing Meaning-based Interventions LINK

IN CONCLUSION- I’ve often written about the need to take a centrist position, drawing on ideas from all sides. In last week’s blog, I made it a point to list the websites of folks with many different viewpoints. LINK. I believe that one-size-fits-all solutions and going to extremes have historically resulted in pendulum swings. I hope that voices like Andy’s and organizations like ILEC will help bring common sense back into the reading discussions. We need to look at ALL the research. We need to follow the Sciences of reading (Sciences with an S!). I think folks like Andy will help us to do that.

STARTING NEXT WEEK, I’M CHANGING THE PUBLISHING ROUTINE FOR THIS BLOG. From now on, I will be publishing the blog every other week. Accordingly, my next entry will be May 25^th. I’m getting some great interviews lined up for the summer. So, until then:

Happy Reading and Writing!

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

Copyright 2024 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

Seeking Common Ground Using Common Sense: The Social Media Version of SOR: Myth vs. Reality PART TWO by Dr. Sam Bommarito

On April 27^th, I made a presentation about the Social Media Version of SOR to a group of New Jersey educational leaders. This is the second part of a two-part series about what I have said to them and others this year. Here are some of my myth-busting points:

Myth- there is one and only one Science of Reading.

Reality- Many researchers are pushing back on the notion that there is only one science of reading. They use the term Sciences of Reading:

Link to Screen Capture article- LINK

Link to article in the screen capture– LINK.

Myth- Balanced Literacy caused the drop in reading scores.

Reality- there has never been a drop in reading scores. Reading Scores have remained flat for decades.

Link to the blog post in the screen capture LINK.

Myth- Balanced Literacy is not based on research. That means ending balanced literacy should be the first step in ending our reading problems.

Reality—Social media folks are using a strawman version of Balanced Literacy. However, Balanced Literacy has a strong research base when examined using the model the Pressleys created.

Link to the blog post in the screen capture above LINK.

Myth- Synthetic Phonics is the best and only approach to teaching phonics

Reality- Synthetic Phonics works for many, but not for all. There are many ways to teach phonics, and children need access to all the different methods.

Here is a link to the screen capture above LINK.

Myth- The “failed practices” from the past should be outlawed and replaced with SOR-based practices:

Reality- Done properly, many of the “failed” practices work. But even when they do, they are still outlawed. That is simply not right!

Here is the link to the article in the screen capture LINK

Myth brain research supports the use of many of the practices advocated by the social media gurus lobbying for their brand of SOR.

Reality: A growing body of evidence demonstrates that the SOR social media gurus have misinterpreted and misrepresented brain research. Look at ALL the research before drawing conclusions about brain research.

Here is the link to the screen capture above LINK.

Here is a link to the screen capture above LINK.

Myth: Reading Recovery has failed, its effects don’t stick, and it must be ended.

Reality: When ALL the research is considered, Reading Recovery has succeeded. The claim that its effects don’t stick has been debunked. The movement to end it is ill-advised.

Here is a link to the screen capture above LINK.

IN CONCLUSION-

I’m advocating for taking a centrist-based approach to reading. That means challenging folks from both sides (all sides) when they present inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information. That means doing some myth-busting. That means becoming more informed about all the issues. Folks like Bruce Howlett LINK,  Jan Wasowicz LINK, Marc Seidenberg LINK, Rachel Gabriel LINK, Andy Johnson LINK, and Paul Thomas LINK can help you do that. So can reading  Fact-checking the Science of Reading by Rob Tierney and P David Pearson LINK

Last week, I related the story of a special ed teacher. Several years ago, he was told that since he was in a whole language building, he must stop using the synthetic phonics methods his kids needed. That was just as wrong as today’s attempts to limit teachers by forbidding them to use meaning-based practices.

Different kids need different things!!!!

Today, we are in the midst of a media-driven frenzy to move to an exclusively code-based approach. In my five decades as an educator, I’ve seen the results of that kind of thinking. The result is a pendulum swing. BTW, when the pendulum eventually swings to the other extreme- using meaning-based approaches exclusively, the result will be yet another pendulum swing. The path to success in reading requires empowering teachers, not tying their hands LINK.   In my opinion, the path to success requires us to do something we’ve never done before in the history of reading. That is to finally stop the pendulum in the middle and start using the best practices from all sides. Dare to dream!

Happy Reading and Writing.

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

Copyright 2024 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.