Come On An Adventure With Us…
Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash
If you have found your way here to our fledgling blog, then you will already know a little bit about the Science of Reading (SoR) and the Science of Learning (SoL). It would be really easy to stay in this space with all the brilliant and dedicated teachers, school leaders, literacy specialists, academics, speech language pathologists, Dyslexia champions, and everyone else dedicated to making a change to the way we teach reading, writing and spelling in this country and around the world.
Michelle and I created this partnership at Teaching Together to share our passion for all things SoR and SoL. Our mission is to collate, curate and communicate all of the incredible but sometimes overwhelming, information out there for classroom teachers and literacy leaders. There are some amazingly dedicated people doing similar work to us, so why add our voices?
Because, this work is urgent…
We can not waste a minute. It is imperative that every teacher (and we mean every teacher) is making sure that every child in our care is given the best, evidence based, literacy instruction that we currently have in our tool box.
Is this a contested space? Yes! Will there be conflict and disagreement? Yes! Will we have to work harder than we ever have? Yes! Will we have to learn things about the structure of the English language that we should have been taught before? Yes! Will we have to leave our pedagogical egos at the door? Yes!
Why would we do this? Why would we stick our heads above the parapet and wait for the inevitable shots from the ‘neigh sayers’?
Because…
Literacy is the most fundamental gift that any teacher can give the children in their care. From Literacy all other learning is possible. Literacy is about equity, it is about social justice, it is also about connection and joy!
This is a long journey, and we never underestimate how hard making change is. We know how busy classroom teachers are! We have been there too. At the risk of tipping over to ‘soapbox’ territory I remind you of the often quoted words of Margaret Mead
Although I believe it to be true, I am nervous about including this quote, because we know that there needs to be an equal change, systemically and structurally in the education system, at all levels (including and most especially in initial teacher education). It always seems that we ask the (overworked) individuals in a system to be the ones making the change.
We invite you to come along with us… Sign up at the end of this page. Share this post with someone you know. Let your leadership know about the programs we can provide.
If you or someone you know is just sticking their toe into these waters then you might want to subscribe to Choose Your Own Adventure - The Science of Reading and Learning, a newsletter that takes you on a journey where you can choose (with a knowledgeable guide on hand) how much and/or how little you engage in this space and which voices you want to listen to!
Check it out here: www.teachingtogether.substack.com
