WHY?
Have you ever considered how it is that the human brain learns to translate squiggles, lines and dots on a page into thoughts and ideas, all of which convey meaning?
Although much information is available for professionals and practitioners in the field explaining this process aligned with what is known as the Science of Reading, I saw a need for this information to be brought directly to children, their families, and their caregivers.
Educators, parents, and other concerned citizens are clearly hungry for information about how the brain learns to read and how to optimally teach children the literacy skills they need to be successful in school and in life. This hunger has particularly come to the forefront as parents became even more involved with their children’s education on a daily basis for the past 18 or so months.
I’ve asked my students, as well as adults, and most cannot recall how or even when they learned to read. Few seem to remember…it’s only the students who struggled to make sense of the print who can provide anything resembling a response with details. These students’ responses included: “when I learned the vowel sounds”, “when I learned suffixes”, or “when you taught me, but not in my classroom”, etc.
Speaking for myself, I can only recall tracing basic words occurring frequently in beginning readers such as ‘come’ and ‘said’, etc., dictating, reading, and copying ‘Class News’, and spending a good deal of time independently practicing (and self-checking my responses to questions without any teacher guidance, as were the rest of my elementary school classmates!). I am a child of the 60s, and that is how reading was taught back in the day.
WHAT?
Children have a right and deserve to know how the brain learns to make sense of the print and text they are expected to master (in other words, “break the code” of the English writing system) by the time they are 8-9 years old (end of grade 2/grade 3), with reading/spelling development continuing until about grade 5, at which point, many (but certainly not all) children read automatically and concentrate far more on the meaning of what is read. Of course, learning continues throughout one’s education and life, but children are able to “break the code” to unlock new words after several years of instruction.
I have created a video to help children, parents, caregivers, and educators learn how the brain learns to read and spell aligned with the Science of Reading!
“We human beings were never born to read; we invented reading and then had to teach it to every new generation. Each new reader comes to reading with a ‘fresh’ brain – one that is programmed to speak, see, and think, but not to read.“
Maryanne Wolf
As Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid, Tales of Reading in the 21st Century, and Reader Come Home says,
“We human beings were never born to read; we invented reading and then had to teach it to every new generation. Each new reader comes to reading with a ‘fresh’ brain – one that is programmed to speak, see, and think, but not to read.“
AND, let me share an additional thought from the renowned cognitive neuroscientist, Stanislaus Dehaene, author of Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read and How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine…For Now:
“It is simply not true that there are hundreds of ways to learn to read… when it comes to reading we all have roughly the same brain that imposes the same constraints and the same learning sequence.”
Stanislaus Dehaene
“It is simply not true that there are hundreds of ways to learn to read… when it comes to reading we all have roughly the same brain that imposes the same constraints and the same learning sequence.”
Along with this video, I have created:
A Parent/Teacher Study Guide
A Kids’ Activity Booklet
A Bookmark Template as a reminder when kids practice reading
Both the Kids’ Activity Booklet and the Bookmarks are meant to be duplicated for use by children in the home and school settings.
It is my personal and professional pleasure to provide you with information and materials so that children everywhere learn how their brains learn to read and spell! It is a complex process, which I have tried to make easier for all (kids, parents, teachers, caregivers) to think about and understand. I have found that people learn in different ways. So in addition to sharing information in a written format (like this blog!), using a format such as this animated video will enhance our understanding of all that is necessary to create a ‘reading brain.’
WHEN?
My video, “Learning How To Read With Reese” will be debuting as part of the 2nd Anniversary Celebration Event of the Facebook Group—Science of Reading—What I Should Have Learned In College, which has over 110K members at this point (nearly doubled in just one year’s time!). I volunteer my time pretty much daily to help as one of about 15 Moderators of this large group, composed predominantly of teachers, administrators, parents, and other concerned citizens.
All will be available for purchase following this event—next Saturday’s debut is the only way to see the video without purchasing this Teaching Tool Kit.
You must pre-register for the event! It’s next Saturday, August 14, 2021, starting at 11am EDT—I suspect my portion will be starting about 20 minutes into it, but I am unsure. You can view a recording later on, which will be posted on Facebook; however, a recording of this video will not be available.
Here is the link to pre-register:
I’ll be live with remarks before and after the video.
Feel free to share this information with the pre-registration link with those who you think would benefit!!
HOW?
To acquire this valuable Teaching Tool Kit to use with your own children or students for the start of the school year, visit (information will be posted shortly):
or my website:
Meet Reese, the cutest narrator ever, to help you and your kids understand the process!!
Most importantly, enjoy!
Can’t wait to meet Reese! 🙂
And I can’t wait for you to meet her!!