Hello, friends! We are comrades in the same cause—developing proficient readers while creating a love for literacy. Today, I am a proud educator, confident in my literacy teaching knowledge, skills, and abilities, and a lifelong learner who continually embraces research-based processes and strategies to best accomplish literacy instruction.
To date, I have taught roughly 200 students to read and shared my understanding with fellow educators through coaching and leading professional learning opportunities. However, if you told me in 2013 that this would be my future, I would have died of shock and disbelief! Let me explain. Prior to that time, I enjoyed a career in the field of life sciences for a well-known pharmaceutical company. A career shift was the last thing on my mind, but life had other plans for me and my family.
A Personal Challenge
The "life" I'm referring to is the life of a parent. In 2012, my daughter ended her first grade school year reading at an early kindergarten level. Reading caused her great anxiety. In turn, that anxiety spread through our family. Presenting her with sight-word flash cards or a book would bring forth a flood of tears and wails of trauma. It was devastating. I kept asking, "Where did I go wrong?" and "How have I failed her without realizing it?"
A Foundation of Diversity and Language
My husband and I are avid readers (although these days, reading for pleasure is a distant memory), and we routinely read to our children. We are also an interracial couple with multiracial children, so diversity is important to us. So, we traveled with them as frequently as possible and exposed them to different cultures. These diverse interactions bolstered my daughter’s language ability and deepened her knowledge. Her ability to converse at length from a young age was a direct result of our intentional rearing.
Striving for the Best Education
Additionally, my husband and I were very purposeful in selecting our residence based solely on a desirable school district. We were in a phenomenal community with A-rated schools, right outside of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. My daughter's kindergarten and first grade teachers were both veteran teachers and loved by all, but by the end of first grade, she was a year and a half behind. They assured me that my daughter's lack of progress should not overly worry me because children progress at different rates. Still, I could not help feeling like I had failed her. I wanted her to love learning as much as I did but she was far from it. I desperately needed to find a way to reach her. That thought consumed my every waking moment, even while I worked. And boy, am I thankful it did!
The "Aha" Moment in the Lab
While examining sterility plates for microbial growth in the lab, I had an “aha” moment. For microbes to grow, they needed an optimal environment and the proper diet. In fact, that's what all living organisms need to thrive. So that's what I was going to find for my daughter. However, I felt I needed to learn about child psychology, how humans learn to read, and the best materials for reading instruction. My logical next step was to enroll in an instruction and curriculum design graduate program. For the next two years, I soaked up the information like a sponge and immediately applied what I learned.
Transformational Practices
My newfound understanding of the written word made me think about connecting symbols for reading the same concrete way that math symbols are connected since my daughter had no challenges in math. I found an explicit, systematic, and cumulative phonics program. I paired it with curriculum-aligned decodable readers for reinforcement and application. I started incorporating a phonemic awareness program. Additionally, I researched vocabulary and reading comprehension instruction programs and strategies. For reading comprehension and connected writing pieces, I chose passages from fairy tales, fables, social studies, and science since these interested her most. We started with writing prompts about what she liked most, what she learned, and how she would change the character, events, and conclusions if she were the author.
At first, we completed a few components per day. Later, we were able to complete each component daily. She became so confident that she wanted to participate. I printed on colored paper, used fun pencils, colored pencils, and markers, and she always made a drawing before the writing portion. For her hard work and progress, she earned treats, privileges, and experiences. These practices changed my daughter's trajectory. She became super confident and reinstated her love of school and learning.
A New Beginning
My husband and I were so impressed by our daughter's improvement and fearful of our son experiencing the same reading struggles that I withdrew him from preschool and taught him at home. The results? Our son was a confident reader prior to entering kindergarten! Seeing my children soar academically fulfilled me like nothing I've ever experienced. The whole process was life-changing and kick-started teaching as a second career.
By sharing this journey, I hope to inspire you to pursue the best strategies for literacy instruction and to never lose hope in the transformative power of dedication and research-based practices.
Want to read more about literacy? Check out our Science of Reading page and Renea’s episode of the Extraordinary Educators™ Podcast.
