I have had numerous teachers reach out to me to ask me about my thoughts on the Science of Reading. I have been teaching in special education for 16 years. I have been trained in Reading Recovery. I spent 12 years perfecting my guided reading instruction. Then, four years ago I attended an amazing training based on the Science of Reading. It changed EVERYTHING I knew about teaching reading. The science of reading is research based reading instruction. It is not a theory or an educational trend. It is the most effective way to teach reading.
What is the Science of Reading?
The Science of Reading is based on effective scientific research, that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, has been replicated by other scientists, and there in a consensus that the research findings are supported by other studies. How is this different then Guided Reading? Guided Reading is based on observations of what proficient readers do. It is not based on effective research. It does not support what we know about how the brain works.
What are the Essential Components of Scientific Reading Instruction?
In 2000, The National Reading Panel (NRP) identified five key elements to reading success.
✏️Phonological Awareness
✏️Phonics
✏️Fluency
✏️Vocabulary
✏️Comprehension
Four additional essential elements have been added:
✏️Print Awareness
✏️Letter Knowledge
✏️Irregular Word Reading
✏️Multisyllabic Word Reading
What Does This Look Like?
Your reading instruction should include both decoding and language comprehension. They are both equally important. This visual is adapted from he Simple View of Reading (Gough and Turner, 1986; Hoover& Gough, 1990).
You can see where the essential reading elements fall under decoding and language comprehension. When a child has deficits in one of those areas, they will struggle to become a skilled reader. How do you know if there is a deficit? You have to assess students and keep data to know if they are progressing.
Now That I Know Better, How Do I Do Better?
You are an amazing teacher and you are going to continue to provide your class with quality instruction. You are going to spend about half of your literacy block teaching Decoding Skills, and about half you time teaching Language Comprehension. During your decoding block (foundational skills), be sure to include letters, phonics, *irregular word recognition, *multisyllabic words, and fluency (*not appropriate for all ages). Teach letters systematically, with sounds, so that students can decode and encode words right away. Move away from sight words, and teach students how to orthographically map words. Teach heart words. Use decodable texts instead of leveled readers.
During your language comprehension (read aloud) be sure to include print awareness, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and fluency. Yes, fluency falls under both. Choose read alouds with rich language and read them multiple times. Have specific vocabulary words and comprehension questions picked out for each read.
I hope you have a better understanding of the Science of Reading. It is not a theory or a trend. It is research based teaching. This was a very basic overview, so I am going to recommend a few books you can find on Amazon.
