Respected literacy experts discuss topics about the science of reading.
Learn from today’s pre-eminent professionals and deepen your knowledge about topics related to the science of reading with our Science of Reading Webinar Series. You will learn why the science behind learning to read is important for student success and how you can implement it in your school or district. This informative webinar series explores what the science of reading is, how it is taught, and why it is critical to teaching students to read.
Sound Walls in Your Classroom: The Pathway to Reading Fluency
How do sound walls support the science of reading? Do you know how to best use a sound wall to get your students reading successfully? How can you improve the sound wall you’re already using?
Find the answers to these questions and more when you join us for this useful presentation. Literacy and sound wall expert Dr. Mary Dahlgren will help you build a thorough understanding of how to use a sound wall, implementation tips, and more—everything you need to know and why. This is one more step in understanding the speech-to-print connection to improve outcomes for increased reading skills.
Dr. Dahlgren, founder of Tools 4 Reading, (the original authority on sound wall resources), will share the research that validates reading is a process that requires knowing the sounds and print, and she will illustrate how a sound wall is a pathway to make sense of how print represents those sounds.
She will also share:
- The need and purpose of having a sound wall in the classroom
- How to introduce and teach all 44 phonemes
- How to integrate a sound wall into your daily phonological awareness and phonics instruction
- How and when to add print to a sound wall
Pam Kastner, Ed.D., is an educational consultant at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) Harrisburg, where she serves as the state lead for literacy in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Kastner along with the PaTTAN Literacy team has led Pennsylvania’s Dyslexia Screening and Early Literacy Intervention Pilot Program, extension and expansion.
Dr. Kastner serves on the Pennsylvania Taskforce for Higher Education. The taskforce's goal is to embed the science of reading and Structured Literacy in higher education institutions. She presented at the National Summit on the Science of Reading in Higher Education in 2022, and is on the steering committee developing a Summit on the Science of Reading in Higher Education in Pennsylvania planned for May 2023.
Dr. Kastner is an adjunct professor at Mount Saint Joseph University in the reading science program, where she teachers in the Masters’ and Doctoral program.
She serves as president of The Reading League Pennsylvania, The Reading League Journal’s Practitioner Editorial Board, and is a member of The Science of Reading: A Defining Movement coalition.
Phonemic Awareness and Letter/Sound Associations: Practices for Teachers
Phonemic awareness is an essential early literacy skill that underpins a child’s ability to read and spell and yet research demonstrates that without direct, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, this skill eludes many students (Adams, 1990).
Join us for this instructional presentation exploring the research supporting phonological and phonemic awareness and the theoretical frameworks that underpin it.
With an emphasis on how to teach phonemic awareness and letter/sound associations with effective Structured Literacy practices, this webinar will share strategies, resources, tips, and encouragement to literacy educators. Our expert will also share assessments to inform instruction and intervention, as well as comprehensive literacy resources to transfer knowledge to practice.
Participants will be able to:
- Define phonological and phonemic awareness
- Define decoding and encoding
- Transfer knowledge to practice using instructional routines
Hannah Irion-Frake is a third-grade public school teacher with more than 15 years of teaching experience in second and third grades. She is a graduate of Bucknell University, Bloomsburg University, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell with Masters degrees in reading and curriculum & instruction. Irion-Frake is a Local LETRS® Facilitator and is committed to spreading awareness about the science of reading. She shares actively about how she brings Structured Literacy practices into her own third-grade classroom on her Instagram account, @readingwithmrsif, and on Twitter, @readingwithmsif. She lives in central Pennsylvania with her husband, also a teacher, and their three sons.
Building a Reading-Writing Connection in the Classroom
Interested in improving your literacy teaching and discovering creative new ways to get students excited about writing? Join teacher and science of reading advocate Hannah Irion-Frake for this applicable webinar! Our presenter will explore the reading-writing connection and will share ways you can appropriately increase the amount of writing students do in your classroom. The presentation will span the strands of Scarborough’s Reading Rope and will include strategies for writing related to both word recognition and language comprehension.
We hope you’ll join us as Irion-Frake illustrates how writing can strengthen reading instruction. You’ll learn:
- How opportunities for writing can strengthen students’ reading development
- Classroom-friendly strategies to increase opportunities for students to write
- Science of reading best practices for classroom implementation
Help! How Do I Get My District Administrator or School Principal on Board with the Science of Reading?
One of the most important factors in student learning is the teacher’s knowledge base. In recent years, there has been promising evidence that teachers are becoming better equipped to teach reading and writing by better understanding the science of reading. However, major decisions about curriculum and instruction are often made at the administrative level. Without equally knowledgeable and supportive leadership, teachers may find themselves limited in their ability to implement substantial change in their classrooms. Join Melody Ilk and Julie Klingerman as they present very specific and practical ways to begin talking with leadership about moving toward best practices in reading and writing for your students.
The How and Why of Implementing a Sound Wall
Have you ever wanted to implement a sound wall, but are not sure how to get started? In this informative webinar, literacy and sound wall expert Dr. Mary Dahlgren will share the basics of setting up and implementing a sound wall, including how sound walls support the science of reading. If you already are implementing a sound wall, Dr. Dahlgren will show you the latest ways to improve it to increase reading skills.
During the webinar, Dr. Dahlgren will discuss:
- The best way to arrange a sound wall
- Introducing the sounds in a sound wall
- How to implement a sound wall once it is set up
We hope you will join us.
Carol Tolman, Ed.D, was awarded a doctorate in Educational Psychology with a concentration in literacy and has been a consultant at the state, district, and school levels for over 15 years. Prior to earning her doctorate, Dr. Tolman was a classroom teacher and Special Educator with more than 25 years of experience in public schools at the elementary and secondary levels. She spent 12 of those years designing and implementing an innovative, exemplary reading clinic for academically challenged middle and high school students.
In addition to spearheading many successful, long-term literacy initiatives throughout the country, Dr. Tolman has published Working Smarter, Not Harder: What Teachers of Reading Need to Know and Be Able to Do and The Relationship between Teacher Knowledge and Effective RtI: When we Know Better, we Do Better (IDA Perspectives). Carol is co-author of LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Presenter’s Kits, co-author of LETRS Modules 1, 2nd Edition, co-author of LETRS Module 10, 2nd Edition, and co-author with Dr. Louisa Moats of the LETRS 3rd Edition series of text and on-line supports for teachers of reading and spelling. Dr. Tolman has presided over the LETRS Leadership Board, created LETRS On-Line, and provides LETRS Trainer of Trainer (TOT) workshops to prepare others for the rigorous study involved in becoming a Certified Local LETRS Trainer.
Phonological Awareness, Reading, and Writing: What Teachers Need to Know
Although we may not always know what came first, (the chicken or the egg?), we do know what came first in the world of literacy: speech. Both reading and writing are based on speech. We use a “speech-to-print” system, not a “print-to-speech” system when decoding and encoding words. Without an understanding of the way sounds are represented in print, many students continue to function well behind their peers. Evidence exists in support of phonemic awareness and its foundational role, but what does that really mean, and how does that translate to practical applications in the classroom? Join Dr. Carol Tolman as she outlines the role of phonological awareness, what misspellings tell us about students’ misunderstandings of phonemes, and what we can do about these errors to enhance their learning.
Attendees will learn to:
- Listen to students’ articulation errors as a window into their understanding of phonemes
- Identify reasons for specific misspellings, leading to targeted instructional responses that improve reading and spelling
- Articulate why subphonemic features are an important component of instruction
Dr. Louisa Moats has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. Dr. Moats is the author of LANGUAGE! Live®, a blended reading intervention program for grades 5–12, and the lead author of LETRS® professional development and the textbook, Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. Dr. Moats is also co-author of Spellography, a structured language word study program. Dr. Moats’ awards include the prestigious Samuel T. and June L. Orton award from the International Dyslexia Association® for outstanding contributions to the field; the Eminent Researcher Award from Learning Disabilities Australia; and the Benita Blachman award from The Reading League.
Is the Science of Reading Influencing Mainstream Educational Practices? Not Enough.
Scientific study of how children learn to read has been underway in the U.S. and around the world for several decades. Much has been discovered about the language and cognitive abilities related to success or difficulty in reading, about the neurological pathways that must be developed, and about implications for instruction. Yet, unfortunately, for the most part, mainstream education has not benefitted from these important developments. Join this fascinating and enlightening discussion that will target why and how this has happened. Dr. Susan Brady will identify steps to bring the gains from science to teachers and their students.
Attendees will learn:
- Why the field of education is resisting and rejecting the science of reading
- What strategies are being used to limit or block changes in instructional practices and in teacher preparation
- What kinds of actions in states and schools indicate positive steps toward adopting science-based reading practices—and which do not
The presentation will end with a discussion and question-and-answer segment with Dr. Brady and literacy expert Dr. Louisa Moats.
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