Meet the Students (A.K.A. Humans) of the Boring (into words) Scholars Collective - Sara Leland & Students

Connecting Math and Literacy Learning Difficulties - Meghan Hicks & Jennifer Petrich

Many students who struggle with literacy also struggle with math.  * Understanding the number system requires engaging linguistic, cognitive, executive functions and conceptual understanding -- just like literacy.  * Meaning is as important to math learning as it does in literacy.  * Math that is taught as a series of isolated procedures, facts and “islands of knowledge” disconnected from meaning will make little sense - just as it does with reading.  * Math makes sense when students learn the structure of math, including its syntax and vocabulary, and approach it as a coherent system. This also diminishes math anxiety.      Bruce Howlett’s Seven Layers of Literacy Approach:  ReadingShift.com  [https://www.readingshift.com/] Megan Hicks: scienceofthesentence@gmail.com  The Sentence Studio www.scienceofthesentence.com [http://www.scienceofthesentence.com/] Jen Petrich:  * Literacy Dr website:  https://www.theliteracydr.com [https://www.theliteracydr.com/] * ·         D.O.T.S. course info and registration:   https://www.theliteracydr.com/pd/dots [https://www.theliteracydr.com/pd/dots] * ·         Wednesdays with Literacy Dr (free drop-in) info and registration: https://www.theliteracydr.com/drop-in [https://www.theliteracydr.com/drop-in] * ·         Literacy Dr videos https://www.theliteracydr.com/videos [https://www.theliteracydr.com/videos] * ·         List of Resources for Further Learning [https://cb29367d-4ec0-40b5-af0b-a46966ed9d5a.filesusr.com/ugd/2c8fa0_47cff29b89e34ae2bcf16d59670de2d7.pdf]

Enriching Structured Literacy Through Integrated Word Study - Sarah Mitchell

Why do so many students continue to struggle with spelling and writing even after years of phonics instruction? In this episode, Sarah Mitchell explores the missing layer between decoding instruction and deeper literacy transfer: integrated word study. Drawing on research, classroom experience and practical teaching examples, Sarah explains how word-building using a six-layer “word study map” that develops sounds, meaning, spellings, connections, morphemes and sentences in the same lesson. The more connections a child has with a word the easier it is to recognize, comprehend and use it while writing. The conversation explores the implementation gap many teachers experience — understanding the theory but still feeling unsure how to apply it during real lessons — and introduces practical ways to make literacy instruction more connected, efficient and meaningful for older students. Sarah Mitchell  Author - Teaching Structured Literacy Series Contact Info: admin@teachingstructuredliteracy.com [admin@teachingstructuredliteracy.com]  Structured Literacy for Older Students:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/360409786946482 [https://www.facebook.com/groups/360409786946482]  Founder - Morphology Hub Website: www.morphologyhub.com [http://www.morphologyhub.com/] Social media: YouTube @sarahmitchell3941

Scripts, Sentences and Structures: Helping Students Unlock Meaning - Louise Hewitt, Meghan Hicks & Mary Beth Steven

Teaching about morphemes (the meaningful components of words), sentence structure (syntax) and grammar (the framework for organizing words and sentences) isn’t hard, once you learn about two new resources: Mary Beth Steven’s Dramatic Scripts and Meghan Hicks and Louise Hewitt’s The Sentence Studio. In fact, you can learn about these vital components of language as you teach your students by using their scripts, sentence and text practices. Their common goal is to create insightful readers and articulate writers.  These educators recognize that word study, syntax and grammar go to the heart of reading comprehension and written expression. They also focus on responsive teaching that brings these topics alive through rich highly engaging activities. Mary Beth Steven book, Enhancing the Teaching of Morphology and Grammar with Dramatic Scripts for the Classroom, uses plays to build reading comprehension while creating a collaborative classroom. Meghan and Louise’s new instructional guide, The Sentence Studio, teaches grammar and syntax with fables and a groundbreaking BubbleMap analysis strategy. Educators and students discover the artistry of sentence structure while unlocking the meaning that lies within every sentence You can find more information about Mary Beth’s book on her classroom blog mbsteven.edublogs.org [http://mbsteven.edublogs.org/] You can purchase The Sentence Studio and access free downloads and other supporting resources at Meghan and Louise’s website www.scienceofthesentence.com [http://www.scienceofthesentence.com/]

Meet the Students (A.K.A. Humans) of the Boring (into words) Scholars Collective - Sara Leland & Students

Title: Meet the Students / Humans of the Boring (into words) Scholars Collective Listen Sara Leland’s students, five humans who have dyslexia, ADHA and/or autism. With Sara’s guidance and support they grew to love literacy. They joined together and built a website www.boringscholarscollective.site [http://www.boringscholarscollective.site]. The boring scholars used their writing, creative and artistic skills to express their love of reading and writing through the website. Learn how they became word detectives, deeply investigating the spelling, meaning and history of words.  Sara shares how she develops a fascination for words in children who may have struggled with basic skills. She explains that the ultimate purpose of education is human development, helping children to grow into capable, curious, creative and empathic citizens. You’ll also learn how a philosopher views language, filled with metaphors and narratives, fueled by critical thinking.    Sara’s own website is:  www.wordscholars.net [http://www.wordscholars.net] Sara can be contacted through the site or by email at:  sara.wordscholars@gmail.com [sara.wordscholars@gmail.com]

The Sentence Pathway to Decoding and Comprehension -- Xiuhong Tong & S. Hélène Deacon

If you have ever wondered why your students struggle with word reading, or read accurately but with limited comprehension, then you may want to flip your approach to reading instruction. Start at the sentence level by using Xiuhong Tong and Hélène Deacon’s groundbreaking Linguistics Pathways Model, which provides two parallel paths leading to reading comprehension. The first pathway leads to word recognition by morphological decoding. Deacon and Tong show how word reading and meaning arise from an awareness of how morphemes—the meaningful components that compose all words—are linked to graphemes. Unlike phonics decoding, students develop word reading, spelling and vocabulary knowledge in unison, which supports reading comprehension.  The second pathway is a syntax to sentence pathway. Syntax, the blueprint for creating and understanding sentences, is the layer of language that most directly supports reading comprehension and fluency. Together, words are not only read with meaning but as part of meaningful sentences – which largely determines text comprehension. Xiuhong Tong and S. Helene Deacon 2025. The Linguistic Pathways Model: Capturing the Multiple Dimensions of Reading Development. Reading Research Quarterly