Excited attendees in the Main Ballroom March 2023’s Plain Talk 28th Annual Conference in New Orleans was a fantastic opportunity for me to immerse myself in the world of cutting-edge literacy and learning. The conference brought together a diverse group of experts and practitioners, sharing their insights and experience on a range of topics, from …
Recently, in my pre-breakfast glance at social media and emails that have come in overnight, I happened to catch a post on the Levelled Literacy Intervention for Teachers Facebook page that warrants some attention. It neatly highlights the difference between the culture of the science of reading, and cultures who reject that science. I read …
Tutor Puppy-Farms: Find the right tree to bark up It’s true that many children have missed out on vital parts of their education over the last two years. My own dyslexic daughter completed her final education certificate mostly via Zoom and though concessions for the pandemic were on offer, she still missed out on gaining …
Tutor Puppy-Farms: Find the right tree to bark up Read More »
It’s been a bit of a tough week for literacy giants Fountas and Pinnell. Firstly their products were reviewed by edreports.org and found to be wanting. That’s a pretty damning indictment right there. As a damage-control measure, the authors decided to try to ‘navigate to a place of clarity’ by producing some strange, very unclear …
I keep getting drawn into situations where I feel a need to defend my work. That’s what you get when you say things publicly, I guess. I don’t mind at all, because every time I get asked for comment, I get to refine my thinking on my works. But let me clarify a …
Yesterday I spent the whole day with 5 leaders from a K-12 school north of Sydney. Their incredibly supportive principal ducked in from time to time whilst doing everything else he needed to do, and you could see he had complete trust in his team. Indeed, these teachers have been on a long journey, the …
Since sentence diagramming is one of the major activities in the Language for Life book and course, I thought I’d respond to a point raised in The Writing Revolution (P14-15) about the authors’ reservations on this subject. Firstly, I don’t think I disagree with the authors when they talk about the superiority of sentence combining …
Do Language for Life and The Writing Revolution disagree? Read More »
Coming up to the third anniversary of the death of my firstborn, I can’t say she’s not on my mind. The anniversary effect started a lot earlier this year, with reminders just about everywhere, turning my thoughts to her, and especially to her last weeks: a kid in a wheelchair, a hospital scene on a …
I often get asked to recommend ‘independent reading activities’ or ‘independent spelling activities’ for children learning to read and spell, and I’m always reminded of this article: A revolutionary driving school in Finland has smashed the traditional concept of learning to drive and is taking the world by storm. The state-funded School of Whole Driving, …
Independent Driving Activities for Learner Drivers Read More »
And now we cross live, for the launch of the Correct Reading Alliance People. Interviewer: I’d like to welcome Professor Donna Kruger to the launch of a visionary new initiative, called the Correct Reading Alliance People. Welcome, Professor Kruger. Professor Kruger: Thank you John, delighted to be here. I: So what exactly is the Correct …
The Correct Reading Alliance People: A New Bottle (spoiler: same old wine) Read More »