Working with Dr. Kerns from Harris Stowe on several writing and action research projects. Love workshop teaching and teaching about workshop teaching. I have a blog https://doctorsam7.blog, all about Keys to Growing Proficient Lifelong Readers. I am President of the STLILA and Vice President of the MoILA.
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.
P. David Pearson talks about various literacy issues, including Reading as a Meaning-Making Process and the educational implications of that view, PART TWO. An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
Because of the length of the interview, it is being posted in two parts- this is the second part of that interview.
When P.D. Pearson agreed to this interview, it was a career moment for me. Pearson is credited with the creation of the gradual release of teaching model LINK. That model transformed the world of teaching. In addition, his ideas around the concept of “The Radical Middle” LINK shaped my thinking around the whole topic of what it means to be a centrist. In the first part of the interview, Pearson talked about social-cultural models of reading, the gradual release model, Durkin’s research around teaching comprehension, and the importance of reading definitions in establishing reading practices. He pointed out the shortcomings of definitions used by some SOR advocates and the need for a definition of reading that clearly includes the concept of reading as a meaning-making process. In case you missed it, here is a link to the blog about the first half of the interview LINK.
What now follows is Pearson taking an in-depth, research-based look at the remaining issues surrounding the question of how to best teach literacy in the 21st century.
BIOGRAPHY
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the interview (so, you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
I want to remind readers of what Pearson said in part one of this interview:
“So, what have they done? They have defined all this other stuff out of reading that’s part of literacy, that’s part of learning, but it’s not part of reading. And what that does is it makes the reading curriculum a much narrower swab that I think most of us think is involved in reading.”
We must take care when making policy at the district, state, and national level that those policies are based on a definition of reading that makes it crystal clear that reading is first and foremost, a meaning-making process. If you are not reading for meaning, then you are not reading at all. In a 2021 Reading Teacher article entitled The Science of Reading Comprehension, Duke, Ward and Pearson make this statement- “However, research has supported a simultaneous, rather than sequential, model of reading instruction.” p 665, LINK. The same article points out the need for graphophonological semantic cognitive flexibility, and the fact that reading comprehension is not automatic even when fluency is strong.
Right now, a model for reading instruction that is based on a limited definition of reading and questionable practices around comprehension is sweeping the country. Phonics first (phonics only?) has been tried before with disastrous results. Read the review of the Reading First initiative LINK. Millions of dollars were spent with very little in the way of improved reading/reading comprehension to show for it. I fear that, once again, we are on a path that will result in yet another very expensive pendulum swing.
Let’s take Pearson’s advice and think about taking positions instead of taking sides. How about starting with the thought that teachers and students need to learn to apply the phonics instruction that is best for each child?
I would propose that we start with synthetic phonics but have other forms of phonics waiting in the wings for those students for whom synthetic phonics fails to work. Pearson explained some of those other forms of phonics during the interview, 22:05.
Encourage teaching practices that result in a set for variability in both word recognition and comprehension.
Let’s look at all the research. That includes qualitative research. Let’s stop using strawmen to misrepresent what the other side says, 24:14.
Let’s listen carefully to folks like Pearson and Howett LINK, who actively use common sense to find some common ground. We owe it to the kids to stop the arguments and start the discussions. Dare to dream!
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.
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.
In the upcoming year, I will present at LitCon in Ohio, the Wisconsin ILA Conference, the Hudson River ILA Conference and the Write to Learn Conference in Missouri. Should you be interested in having me as a speaker or presenter at a conference, please e-mail me at bommaritosam@yahoo.com. Include the word “speaker” in your subject line.
Nora Chahbazi, the founder of EBLI: An evidenced-based reading program, talks about her program and upcoming webinar. Interview conducted by Dr. Sam Bommarito
In the past few years, I have tried to talk to folks from various perspectives on reading, especially beginning reading. I’ve interviewed many literacy leaders, including Tim Rasinski, LINK Narelle Lynch LINK, Rachael Gabriel LINK, George Hruby LINK, Marnie Ginsberg LINK and Yvonna Graham LINK, just to name a few. I recently talked to Bruce Howett LINK and Jan Wasowicz LINK about their ideas around ending the reading wars. Also, in what was a career moment for me last week, I was able to interview P.D. Pearson LINK, whose idea of the Radical Middle LINK has served as the core foundation for my centrist position LINK. That was a two-part interview. I’ve delayed publishing the second part of that interview until next week because an old friend and colleague asked me to give her a chance to talk about a webinar she is holding next week. I thought that her request fit right into the Pearson segment because, in that segment, Pearson pointed out that there is more than one way to teach phonics. I think that Nora has found one of those ways. So, before closing out the Pearson thread next week, I thought I would share Nora’s project with you and tell you about her upcoming webinar.
I first met Nora 5 years ago. She invited Tim Rasinski and me to visit her site. Nora is the parent of a dyslexic child. The process of helping her daughter learn to read caused her to do a deep dive into the research. That, in turn, led to the creation of EBLI (Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction). EBLI teaches a form of decoding based on the work of Diane McGuinness. McGuinness advocates a speech-to-print rather than a print-to-speech way of teaching decoding. In this interview, Nora tells the whole story about the creation of EBLI. EBLI has grown a great deal since I first talked to Nora five years ago. It now serves thousands of teachers and students. It has many resources for parents and teachers. Links to that are provided later in the blog. EBLI is sponsoring a webinar next week.
Here is Nora’s biography taken from an earlier version of the EBLI website:
Nora is a believer in the Science of Reading. She and I don’t agree on everything. But since I first visited her, she has always been willing to talk and share ideas. I often allude to the fact that of all the SOR sites I’ve looked at, hers is one of the very few that can demonstrate that their methods improve BOTH decoding and comprehension. She measures her results with tests of the full reading process rather than tests that measure mainly decoding. In this interview, Nora discusses ongoing efforts to document research around EBLI’s impact.
Nora gets decoding taught very quickly and very efficiently. To do that, she takes a road less traveled. She uses linguistic phonics instead of focusing on more traditional approaches, e.g., OG. There is a link about linguistic phonics later in this blog. Nora also talks about EBLI’s upcoming webinar. It will use a panel discussion format. The panel will consist of 3 teachers who share their evolution from other methods to EBLI. They will talk about their transition, successes, and challenges along the way. I’ll be attending for sure; I hope you will too. LINK:
Here is Nora’s interview:
NOTE: In the interview, Nora said the webinar is on the 25th. It is on the 26th, and a link is provided below.
Here is a link to EBLI’s overall website. The website is worth exploring. I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the wide range of resources she provides for educators, parents, and students. EBLI website
Reading Reflexfor parents to teach their children, what Nora used to teach her daughter in 1997
Dr. Sam’s thoughts about this interview & a peek at future topics. As I mentioned, I have been talking to or writing about ideas from all across the reading spectrum for the past five years. I am a centrist. I am making the case that we should listen to ideas and findings from all sides of the reading issue. The way Nora carries out and promotes her program at EBLI represents one way of proceeding with Science of Reading that holds hope for eventually finding common sense and common ground. She demonstrates that there are ways to teach phonics effectively that don’t fit the mold some are trying to force on us all. Nora is not trying to force her views on anyone. Everyone would benefit from learning more about the “flagship of her fleet,” linguistic phonics.
Next week, I will post the other half of the Pearson interview. I’ll reflect on the best ways to end the reading wars. People like Nora give me hope that someday, all of us will follow P.D. Pearson’s advice to stop taking sides and start taking positions. Nora has taken the position that linguistic phonics is one path students can follow to help them quickly overcome difficulties with decoding. Please consider that. People like Nora give me hope that the day will come when we stop taking sides and start using the best research-based practices from all positions to guide us. Dare to dream!
Until next time- this is Dr. Sam signing off.
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.
ANOTHER UPCOMING 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.
P. David Pearson talks about various literacy issues, including Reading as a Meaning-Making Process and the educational implications of that view- An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
Because of the length of the interview, it is being posted in two parts- the first part today and the second part a week from today.
When P.D. Pearson agreed to this interview, it was a career moment for me. Pearson is credited with the creation of the gradual release of teaching model LINK. That model transformed the world of teaching. In addition, his ideas around the concept of “The Radical Middle” LINK, shaped my thinking around the whole topic of what it means to be a centrist. What follows is Pearson taking an in-depth, research-based look at the issues surrounding the question of how to best teach literacy in the 21st century.
BIOGRAPHY
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the interview (so, you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
My three-blog series about the presentation at the 2019 ILA convention entitled What Research Really Says About Teaching Reading- and Why That Still Matters
P.D. Pearson, Nell K. Duke, Sonia Cabell, and Gwendolyn Thompson McMillon made that presentation.
The first blog was entirely about what P.D. Pearson has to say about the topic and included screen captures of slides from his presentation.LINK.
The second blog includes a link to the summary of the presentation done by ILA LINK. It includes my reflections on what was said about early literacy. A discussion of a project being carried out in St. Louis (where I live) and Molly Ness’s ILA position paper on Read Alouds included. Here is the link to the blog: LINK.
The third blog talks about what was said during the session about comprehension. LINK This quote about what the ILA summary reported Nell Duke said during the session is of special interest:
“It’s as though because we think content knowledge building is so important, we’re just going to ignore three decades of research on comprehensive strategy instruction,” said Duke. “This isn’t a zero-sum game saying, ‘if you can’t attend to content, then you can’t teach comprehension strategies’ or ‘if you teach comprehension strategies, you must not be paying enough attention to vocabulary or morphology.”
I believe what was reported in this session supports a position that calls for the direct, explicit, systematic teaching of comprehension strategies, using a gradual release model.
Links to the two special issues of Reading Research Quarterly LINK.
Final Thoughts & a preview of next week’s blog
Here’s what Pearson said in the interview about SOR and their definition of reading:
“So, what have they done? They have defined all this other stuff out of reading that’s part of literacy, that’s part of learning, but it’s not part of reading. And what that does is it makes the reading curriculum a much narrower swab that I think most of us think is involved in reading. It means, if you look at the teaching of reading today, it includes a lot of this other stuff, and it certainly includes a focus on comprehension, motivation, purpose for reading and the like. “
“So, I just think that what the folks in the science of reading are doing is they’re just picking off one little piece of reading, and they’re saying that THAT’S what matters most, and THAT’S what we should pay attention to. We’ll get to the other stuff, but we don’t have to get to it in the reading curriculum. You can do that in social studies or science or this sort of broad nothing of literacy for everyday life – but it’s not part of reading. So, I think the definition matters a whole lot.”
39:39 to 40:44 on the interview video
Bolding is mine
As my colleague Mary Howard pointed out to me when discussing her notes from previewing the video of this interview, By the way, Mary has created a very complete set of notes about the first half of this interview and made them available onlineLINK. Thanks, Mary!
Pearson’s explanation of the impact of how one defines reading helps to explain the origins of many of the current battles around SOR and Balanced Literacy. The definition chosen by the SOR folks oversimplifies things in a way that divorces the decoding aspects of reading from the meaning-making aspects. I think it is a major source of criticisms made about some SOR advocates’ views. Those advocates are often seen as taking a decode first, comprehend later view of reading. This narrow definition of the reading process also helps to explain why many SOR advocates prefer using tests like the Dibels to measure reading progress. When I talk to administrators about the issue of Dibels vs. the content of reading tests used in most states, I give a buyer beware warning. I asked administrators to compare the items on the two tests. The items are not the same.
Duke describes the typical content of state reading tests in this chart from page 7 of her article entitled Reading by Third Grade: How Policymakers Can Foster Early Literacy. LINK.
One quickly finds that the Dibels test does not directly measure many of the things measured by state reading tests. Many critics have written extensively about the “miracle gains” reported by some SOR folks and said those gains are illusionary or overstated LINK, LINK, LINK.
Another concern about what some SOR folks say about comprehension instruction is that many call for much less direct instruction in comprehension strategies. They base this on the work of Daniel Willingham. They count on background knowledge to provide most of what students need in order to comprehend, minimizing the need for instruction in comprehension strategies. In addition to Pearson, two other prominent researchers differ from them on that point. The first is Dr. Tim Shanahan. He wrote a blog entitled The Spirit is Willingham, but the Flesh is Weak. Shanahan concludes that blog by saying, “There definitely can be too much strategy teaching, but in most places, any dosage, not overdosage, is the problem.” Clearly, he thinks Willingham has underestimated the need for strategy instruction. I already mentioned Nell Duke’s take on this issue earlier in the blog. She expressed the fear that some folks were ignoring three decades of research on comprehensive strategy instruction and are overemphasizing the importance of background knowledge. I would add that research has indicated that teaching comprehension strategies using the gradual release model has been shown to raise test scores significantly.
So, does that mean we must fall to the use of dichotomies (BL vs. SOR) once again? I’ve often said that dichotomies have consistently led to pendulum swings, not progress. We need something else. Next week, I will talk about that “something else.” It is my belief that taking a centrist approach, an approach that draws the best research from both sides (all sides), is a possible way to cut through the Gordian knot of the reading wars. P.D. Pearson’s ideas are at the heart of that centrist approach LINK. I’ll pick up on this idea next week as we examine the interview’s second half. Stay tuned!
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.
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.
Dr. Jan Wasowicz talks about the SPELLtalk discussion group, the Language Literacy Network &issues around the teaching of beginning reading: An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
“Informed, empowered teachers are the best solution to our current literacy problems.” Dr. Jan Wasowicz(quote from her Oct. 2nd e-mail)
My regular readers know that I have been on a quest trying to find common ground in the often-contentious world of literacy. My doctorate was completed in the last iteration of the so-called reading wars. In my dissertation, I found that the two sides of that era had more practices in common than those on which they differed. At that time, I joined P.D. Pearson in what he called The Radical Middle LINK. His ideas became the core of my centrist approach – i.e., using the research-based ideas of all sides and steadfastly working toward the day when we finally recognize there really are no sides.
Recently, some developments have given me some hope for finding that common ground. Amanda Goodwin, the Reading Research Quarterly Co-Editor, had much to say about this topic in a recent interview in the KAPPAN– LINK. She described how, in the process of peer review, researchers who at first viewed themselves in different camps found themselves shifting more to the center:
“Some researchers probably started out thinking they were in different camps, but during the editing process, that changed. You know, in an academic journal like RRQ, we ask experts to review each article and give the authors anonymous feedback. A lot of them pushed the authors to say more about the gap between research and practice and to consider differing perspectives. And when they revised their articles, those researchers who started out in separate camps seemed to move more to the center and acknowledge and welcome other views. So, overall, I’d say that the experts agreed that it’s valuable to conduct various kinds of scientific research that aims to better understand and meet children’s complex and varied needs — not to insist that there’s a single, “one best” way to teach reading.”
I wrote an entire blog around Amanda’s articleLINK.
A few months after reading Amanda’s article, I met Bruce Howlett on social media. He told me about his plan for ending the reading wars. I had a chance to interview him about his model to achieve that end, I wrote a blog about that LINK. If you haven’t seen Bill’s model yet, please do take a look. He has some very interesting insights into things like LTRS and Reading Recovery. Bruce told me Dr. Jan Wasowicz had invited him to post his work on SPELLtalk. That has happened. He thought it would be a good idea for me to talk to Jan and perhaps interview her.
That brings us up to the present. I did talk to Jan. As part of that conversation, I posited to her the idea of the importance of informed, empowered teachers. One of the results of the conversation around that is the quote from the beginning of this blog. The solution to the reading wars (a term many folks think should be abandoned) and our reading problems lies in fostering the creation of informed, empowered teachers. We’ve known since the First Grade Studies were published more than 50 years ago that in terms of improving reading scores, teachers make more difference than programs LINK, LINK,,
In the current interview, Jan talks about her background, the Language Literacy Network and her extensive work in the reading field, work which spans several decades. Although I may not agree with every single thing she says, I do see an enormous amount of common ground in our literacy views. What now follows is her biography, the details of the interview and a list of resources Jan has shared. Let’s take a look at all that now.
BIOGRAPHY
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:
RESOURCES FROM JAN– Listed in the order they are mentioned in the interview:
Connect with researchers and practitioners via SPELLTalk™, the FREE online multi-disciplinary professional discussion group dedicated to improving literacy through discussion of research and evidence-based best practices. Be Informed. Be Empowered. Make a Difference. (Dr. Sam note- please consider commenting to this group about Bruce’s model to end the reading wars)
(the publisher requires that readers download directly from their website.)
Download 17 FREE activities for speech-to-print reading and writing instruction at www.spell-links.com
(Teachers must download this directly from the home page of our website.)
Final Thoughts & a peek at upcoming blogs:
At the start of this blog entry, I said that discussing how to teach reading can be contentious. This is especially true today. Today, there are some advocates of SOR who fail to tell the whole story and who push what I view as a narrow and limited view of the reading process. They claim it’s all settled science and attack anything that doesn’t fit their narrow views exactly. I have pushed back many times on such views LINKLINK, LINK. These particular advocates of the SOR, whom I have dubbed the social media version of SOR, often use public relations tactics like misinformation and misdirection to push their agenda. The result has been some questionable legislation around reading, legislation that in some states has resulted in some publishers getting a state-enforced monopoly on the sale of reading materials LINK. Just this week, I dealt with one such advocate who was condescending, used brutal sarcasm and ignored several calls to end the conversation with an agreed to disagree statement. He took what I characterize as a my way or the highway stance. By the way, there are also advocates from the opposite end of the spectrum who are prone to use strawman versions of SOR in order to counter such arguments. I wrote an article around this phenomenon of folks with extreme views arguing about reading instruction, with each side using strawman versions of the other. In the article I talk about how to handle that kind of situation. It appeared in Literacy Today, in 2020 LINK. The name of the article was Talk More Argue Less. In it, I called for all sides to stop using strawman versions of each other, start recognizing that every side has limits and limitations and, most importantly, that we talk more about common ground.
I’ll be explicitly clear in saying that both Jan and Bruce have sincere views about SOR and are willing to consider all the information and research. Jan’s story is one of seeking better understanding through research, and her story isn’t finished. Her reaction to new ideas about how to teach reading was the reaction of a scientist (see the video 29:27). In his own teaching, Bruce reported he does use ideas from all sides. Asking folks to use research-based ideas from all sides has become my mantra. We are at a crossroads in discussing the best ways to teach reading. We can choose to let the folks at the extremes remain in control of the discussion. Historically, when that has happened, the result has been another swing of the pendulum. Or we can choose to refrain from using strawmen, to admit all sides have limits and limitations, and most importantly, to admit there is common ground in what we all believe. I sincerely hope we choose that path.
I’m meeting tomorrow with P.D. Pearson. Dr. Pearson is a well-published reading researcher best known for creating the gradual release model. I’m sure there will be a lot to unpack from that interview. I’ll also be doing a blog about my upcoming webinar. Pioneer Valley Books sponsors it. The name of it is Transformative Reading Strategies. Details can be found at the end of this blog. So, as we get started in this new school year, there’s lots going on. Until next week, this is Dr. Sam signing off.
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.
Kenn Nesbitt talks about his website, Poetry4Kids.com and its many different resources for teachers: An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
My readers know that I am very interested in finding ways to help all readers improve both fluency and comprehension. Singing and repeated readings LINK, fluency training LINK and use of short texts like poetry LINK are surefire ways to help your kids become better readers. Poems are often thought-provoking and entertaining. They are also meaning rich. So, if you are looking for short, meaning-rich texts for your lessons, look no further than poems. As you will discover in his biography below, Kenn Nesbett is a well-known, well-published poetry writer. He writes for kids. In 2013, the Poetry Foundation selected him as the Children’s Poet Laureate LINK,. He held that position from 2013 until 2015. Tim Rasinski and others often use and refer to his poems. His website provides a treasure trove of resources that not only includes poetry for children of all ages but also has resources and lesson plans that can help teachers to meet their students’ needs in a variety of ways. Let’s take a brief look at Kenn’s biography.
The links in the screen capture above will be active if you go to the webpage. Here is a link to the bio on the webpage LINK
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the interview (so, you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
Here are links to some of the web pages Kenn mentioned in the interview. I’m sure you’ll find them useful as a source for poems, writing lessons and writing your own rhyming poems.
If you would like to help Kenn with what he is doing, you can have an ad-free experience on the website, get free goodies, and have access to the members-only pages of his website. You can join here :
You can also use the link above to join using the “super member” option. That option is $25 a month and gives you a free online school visit from Kenn. Those visits usually cost $325.
As I said in the introduction, poetry can be used to help children of all ages. Kenn has used his programming expertise to create these incredible resources for students and teachers. I use his site in my current teaching. I joined his site as a supporting member in order to gain access to the members-only pages. Those pages make a good thing even better. Be sure to spend some time this week visiting his site and exploring it. You won’t be sorry that you did.
I have several important blogs in the works. Next week, I will be interviewing Dr. Jan Wasowicz. She’ll be telling us about SPELLtalk and her model for teaching reading. I’m also meeting next week with P.D. Pearson to set up what we will discuss in his upcoming interview. I’ll also be doing a blog about my upcoming webinar. Pioneer Valley Books sponsors it. The name of it is Transformative Reading Strategies. I will be talking to a panel of experts that includes Tim Rasinski, Penny Slater and Kathy Roe. A link will be forthcoming. In the meantime, please have a look at what Penny & Kathy had to say about their innovative adaptations of Tim’s fluency work LINK. So, as we get started in this new school year, there’s lots going on. Until next week, this is Dr. Sam signing off.
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.
New book by Robb, Rasinski and Harrison- Ready to use Differentiated Lessons for Grades 3-6. An Interview by Dr. Sam Bommarito
Before I became a reading teacher/professor, I was a social studies teacher for five years. So, I’ve had an ongoing interest in how to best teach our older students. Imagine my delight when I found out that three well-credentialed reading experts have gotten together to create a book designed to help readers in grades 3-6. I can’t tell you how many times at a conference I have been asked how we can help readers at this age, and this book certainly provides a go-to resource to that end. David Harrison has custom-written short, high-interest passages for the lessons. Tim Rasinski has made word ladders to go with the lessons. How good is that? Add to that the fact that Laura Robb has done a masterful job of organizing the book so that teachers can easily access the lessons they want at the difficulty levels they want. Some lessons can be used for struggling readers but also for both on- and above-level readers. I believe the lessons can be adapted for readers outside the 3-6 grade range. I know this book will become one of my go-to resources. Let’s now learn a little about each of the authors:
Here are the timed stamped talking points for the Interview (that way so you can go to the sections that interest you the most first)
As I said in the introduction, I predict this book will become teachers’ go-to resource. The custom-made supporting materials include both the high-interest passages and the word ladders. These lay the foundation for easy-to-use lessons that teachers can use for many different purposes.
I have several several interesting blogs in the works. Next week, I will be posting my interview with Ken Nesbitt. He will give us a tour of his amazing poetry site, Poetry4Kids. That site provides a treasure trove of resources. He will give us a cook’s tour of those resources and explain how they can be used. I also will be talking to Mary Howard about her recent post about guided reading. That post appeared in the Robb Review. I’m also arranging an interview with Jan Wasowicz, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, about SPELLtalk and her thoughts about Bruce Hewett’s recent post on that site. In that post, Bruce proposed a way to end the reading wars LINK. So, many interesting things are coming up as we get started in this new school year. Until next week, this is Dr. Sam signing off.
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.
