I am LETRS certified and am completing training to become a LETRS Local Certified Facilitator. I will soon become endorsed as a Reading Specialist in the state of Alaska. As a classroom teacher, I teach reading using the Science of Reading as my guide.
What is the Science of Reading?
Let me start with this IT IS NOT NEW!!! I have had many friends and colleuges who have brushed it aside as another wave in the world of teaching. The opposite is true. The SoR takes all of the research from the past and present, from experts, neuroscientists, from everything that has been used in classrooms and combines it to show the best way to teach reading. The science itself shows how a child's brain learns to read.
The Reading Rope is one of the best visuals that I have come across that captures everything that goes into reading--what makes a good reader. It is a challenge for many students.
COMING SOON--toolkit for implementing the Science of Reading
Here's a break down of what each strand of the rope means:
Reading Rope
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
Literacy Knowledge
Having familiarity and awareness of the genres. Read and explain common text structures in the specific genres being read.
Verbal Reasoning
Having the ability to think beyond the words in the text and use inferential thinking to help construct meaning. Being able to understand when words are being used figuratively or literally.
Language Structure
Semantics (the meaning of language: words, phrases, sentences) & syntax (grammar)
Vocabulary
Having the breadth (size of vocabulary), depth (richness of words), and fluency (how quickly readers can access the meaning of words) to understand the text being read.
Background Knowledge
Having an awareness of specific facts or concepts that are relevant to the topic, situation, problem or concept presented in the text being read.
WORD RECOGNITION
Phonological Awareness
Understanding that words are made up of separate sounds and being able to hear, blend, segment, and manipulate those sounds.
Decoding
Understanding that words are made up of separate sounds and being able to hear, blend, segment, and manipulate those sounds. (Phonics)
Sight Recognition
The ability to automatically read or say the word after seeing it in print
What is LETRS?
Click on the link above for more information.
Additional Resources: