Literacy Blogs

            Bonjour, cher lecteurs.              Oops…. Hello, dear readers.              Awhile back I set out to teach myself to read French, with neither teacher nor class. My goal was to be able to read the news from a different culture (or maybe I was trying to make up for being Mrs. Benstein’s worst French I student in high school).              I started with old textbooks from a programmed reader series, and then with the help of dictionary and Google Translate, I set out on a journey through flash cards, children’s books, grown up magazines, and heavily abridged French books.                I managed to learn French well enough that I’m ...

Teacher question:  In terms of teaching comprehension to grade 3-5 students, what is the best way to help the readers transfer the strategies they are taught so they can be independent, self-regulated readers? Shanahan's response:   If you want to teach reading comprehension strategies to on-grade level students between the ages of 8-10, we have a pretty good idea of how to do that successfully. The teaching of strategies is a good focus as well, given the large amount of research showing that strategy instruction can be beneficial. However, before we get to strategies, I’d like to take a couple of (what I hope will ...

Blast from Past: This blog entry first posted on January 4, 2016; and it was re-posted April 19, 2018. Recently, I got a lot of criticism on Twitter for arguing that school time should be used for teaching--rather than engaging kids in independent reading. Last week, I watched Doug Fisher argue for having kids reading on their own at home--rather than school (the kids whose teachers focus on independent reading instead of teaching reduce the school year by 14 days of teaching!). Despite the complaints of the critics, I'm a big supporter of having kids read at school--within instruction. This ...

Blast from the Past: First published December 16, 2015; re-issued September 13, 2017. This explanation of dyslexia seems especially pertinent given the recent documentary from American Public Radio (go to Publications: Audio/Video on this site to listen to that). It elicited a lot of comment at the time and the only thing I would change in it now is the estimate of the phonological/phonemic awareness role in reading problems. There are some more recent data in relatively large studies suggesting a somewhat lower incidence of these problems at least with some populations; that wouldn't change the overall thrust of this ...

Teacher question:  You are confusing me. You have said that we should “never do in small group what could have been done as well as whole class,” but you also say that phonological awareness and phonics instruction are more effective when they are taught in small group. What should be taught in small group and what can be taught in whole class? Shanahan's response:              I’m a strong believer that when readers point out my contradictions that it is time to lather on plenty of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was Emerson who famously said, “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”              That quote ...

Teacher question: I am looking for some insight on the use of mazes to progress monitor reading comprehension.  I teach in a middle school (6-8) and am struggling with using this to measure reading comprehension with fluent readers. So much of their reading comprehension in class is measured by determining main idea, recalling basic facts, inferencing, and analyzing the use of literary elements. It seems that when the maze is used to monitor reading comprehension, it doesn’t offer much information about the reader. Often students rush through it and circle words just to complete it in the time allotted and score ...

Teacher question:      Our Kindergarten is using a reading program that has some wonderful lessons. However, we also feel that the pacing doesn't match current expectations for kindergarten students. For example, the program doesn't introduce high frequency words until December and it only teaches 25 words for the entire year. The first lesson for teaching letter names doesn't come until December. What does current research say about when letters, sounds, and sight words should be introduced in kindergarten?  Shanahan response:      The National Early Literacy Panel examined a lot of research on the role of letter knowledge in learning to read by kindergartners and preschoolers. Those studies clearly showed the value ...