Donald J. Bolger sees literacy as a form of liberation, an act powerful enough to free the mind and change lives. For Simone Gibson, literacy is an embodiment of culture, a chance to express ourselves. The duo lead the Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity (MILE), a partnership between University of Maryland and Morgan State University that seeks to address systemic literacy challenges and a 10-year decline in Maryland reading scores, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).
We sat down with Bolger Ph.D. (associate professor at the University of Maryland) and Gibson Ph.D. ’09 (associate professor at Morgan State University) to discuss what educators should know and do based on the Science of Reading, an approach to literacy instruction recently adopted by the Maryland State Department of Education that emphasizes phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Bolger and Gibson share four ways educators can reframe their thinking about literacy instruction today, based on evidence-based approaches of the Science of Reading.
(1) Reading does not come naturally
Both Gibson and Bolger agree that the biggest misconception about learning to read is that it comes naturally. “Spoken language is natural, but written language is not. We don’t have any genes that are coded for reading",
says Bolger. The Science of Reading is grounded in this understanding: that learning to read (and write) requires explicit instruction. To illustrate this concept, Gibson recalls an assignment that asked students to read several Ray Bradbury poems and then create their own in his style. While this task may sound simple, experienced educators know that supporting students to complete such an assignment requires deconstructing Bradbury’s works into component parts (e.g., introduction, adjective use, syntax, rhetorical devices, etc.). This explicit instruction is necessary for higher-order literary tasks, such as the one described here, but also for learning to deconstruct single words or sentences. Bolger and Gibson remind educators that it is because written language is human-made–not a naturally occurring phenomena–that this level of explicit instruction is critically important.
(2) Teach by sound not by letter
The rules of the English language are known to be complex, especially for early readers. Because of this, Gibson and Bolger recommend educators focus on sounds rather than memorizing words when teaching emerging readers to learn and recognize sounds in speech and specific letters. Bolger shares that one strategy to teach by sound is to encourage students to play with their voices: “Let's sound like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo,’” he recalls from his daughter’s kindergarten teacher. Speaking like the Disney character Dory, who is known for speaking like a whale in elongated sounds and stretched-out enunciation, is a playful way for students to focus on letter sounds.
Asking students what sounds they hear or what happens when they manipulate the sound will help build comfort with reading words by the spelling-sound patterns. “It's all based on what you hear. What we know is that some of our struggling readers, and especially our readers who have language-based learning differences, don't actually hear some of the sounds,” says Gibson. The learning and language differences mean students perceive and process
sounds differently based on their home language and complicates their understanding of how words are spelled.
To Gibson and Bolger, teaching sounds instead of just letters requires cultural humility. “It's important for teachers to understand the speaking histories of people within the communities that they're teaching in, and to honor and acknowledge that,” says Gibson. She gives the example of the word dog, which for many Baltimoreans can be pronounced “dug.” To avoid acculturation, Gibson encourages teachers to take inventory of their biases and when appropriate, add rather than detract from students’ understandings of sound and pronunciation. Instead of “How you say that sound is wrong,” she suggests, “Let me help you think about another way of saying this,” ensuring that instruction is responsive.
(3) Reading ability is about exposure not intelligence
Reading passages and text serve different purposes based on the experiences of the student. “Is this informational text … going to be a window? Is it going to be a doorway? Is it going to be a mirror of something that they've already experienced?” asks Bolger. Reading has the ability to inform students of new information (like a window), take them to new mental landscapes (like a doorway) and also reflect their own lives (like a mirror). Bolger cautions teachers not to misconstrue intelligence with exposure. If a student is struggling to make sense of a text, consider how exposure to certain content may be impacting their sensemaking. Teachers can mitigate this by ensuring their students encounter a balance of texts that they experience as windows, doorways and mirrors. “As much as you can, bring in the lives and exposures of your kids so that as they're learning, it's relevant, it's meaningful,” says Gibson. She gives the example of using an igloo to illustrate the letter “I” as an image that lacks context for most students in the continental United States who have never seen or experienced an igloo; or the common use of toads to illustrate the letter “T,” which may be challenging for students who regionally have more exposure to frogs. Selecting culturally and regionally appropriate representations is one way to leverage students’ exposure to build literary connections.
(4) Literacy is brain science not rocket science, but you don’t have to be a brain scientist to teach it
The practice of brain science may be daunting to educators, but Bolger and Gibson encourage using research and data to inform classroom practices. They note that you don’t have to be a brain scientist to implement these practices. Bolger gives the example of using a sandbox for teaching children to write letters as a way of differentiating instruction based on brain science: “They [students] feel it stimulating their fingers which helps children with learning disabilities immensely. It [the sand] stimulates the nervous system in a way that just writing with pencil on paper doesn't for those children,” says Bolger. Gibson confirms that small tweaks such as this can make all the difference for learners and educators, but that educators must be willing to give brain science a chance. “Give it a shot. Explore it, try it, poke holes in it so we can improve it.”
If you would like to learn more about literacy and research backed practices reach out Simone Gibson and Donald J. Bolger.
Download and share this learning aid with your colleagues as a reminder of the importance of the Science of Reading.
