This month we want to revisit Heart Word/ Red Words/ Irregular Words (whatever you'd like to call them!) The Orton Gillingham community has re-evaluated how to teach irregular words. This new way brings success to more students and creates more background knowledge about how language works. After doing this word analysis with students, I am convinced! Let's take a look at 3 shifts for Heart Word Instruction.

Can we talk about Parent-Teacher Conferences?It’s a stressful time to be a teacher. And, it’s a stressful time to be a parent. It’s parent-teacher conference time!After 20 years of teaching and 20 years of parenting  my own school-age children, I’ve sat though my share of parent-teacher conferences.  These are a few of my tried and true my tips, insights, and parent-teacher conference resources.

For several years I have been striving to provide explicit, structured literacy instruction to intermediate, striving readers. I have had many successes and just as many failures. I then made one change that has made all the difference. It wasn’t a costly program or fancy resources. Do you want to know what made the most impact? It was simply telling students about the science of reading and their own data-driven instruction!