Leeds Learning Centre

One idea that kept resurfacing at the Iowa Science of Reading Summit was the importance of instructional hierarchy—a concept Matt Burns spoke about during his featured speaker session.

When students are learning something new, practice alone is not enough. First, they need clear modeling of the exact performance we want.

That made me think about decoding and transfer.

If students are using segmented blending—stopping after each sound—it may be because that’s what we’ve modeled for them.

Connected phonation is not about doing it “for” the child. It’s about modeling the oral movement we want students to use while decoding.

And this is also part of why phonemic awareness and phonics should not be treated as completely separate. If we want phonemic awareness to transfer to decoding, instruction has to bridge the two.

When we teach them in isolation from one another, we create more distance between the skill we teach and the way students actually need to use it in reading.

This is an instructional alignment issue.

If we want students to blend smoothly during decoding, our instruction should model smooth blending—and connect that work directly to print.

Practice matters.
What we model matters, too.

This is how we do it at Leeds!
Blending helps kids actually hear the word, even the irregular ones that don't sound out the way we say them.
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One idea that kept resurfacing at the Iowa Science of Reading Summit was the importance of instructional hierarchy—a concept Matt Burns spoke about during his featured speaker session.

When students are learning something new, practice alone is not enough. First, they need clear modeling of the exact performance we want.

That made me think about decoding and transfer.

If students are using segmented blending—stopping after each sound—it may be because that’s what we’ve modeled for them.

Connected phonation is not about doing it “for” the child. It’s about modeling the oral movement we want students to use while decoding.

And this is also part of why phonemic awareness and phonics should not be treated as completely separate. If we want phonemic awareness to transfer to decoding, instruction has to bridge the two.

When we teach them in isolation from one another, we create more distance between the skill we teach and the way students actually need to use it in reading.

This is an instructional alignment issue.

If we want students to blend smoothly during decoding, our instruction should model smooth blending—and connect that work directly to print.

Practice matters.
What we model matters, too.

When parents of young children ask me how they can help out at home I always say the same two things: read to and with them every day, and help them learn their multiplication tables.
You do not need apps, screens, or complex programmes to make big changes. You can take these simple steps and make both reading and basic math into a fun bonding experience instead of a battle.
Feel free to message me directly if you would like me to send you a list of simple games and activities that can be used at home to support learning.
Help prevent the summer academic slide, five minutes at a time!

I believe it!

"It takes a village to raise a child."

I am very grateful to have been one of those nominated and selected as an Asset Builder in our community.
As the presentation unfolded I saw several other Asset Builders from my own past who were also being recognised: Scott Halladay was one of my youth soccer coaches, Bruce McLeod was my grade nine math teacher, Cathy TeKamp was both my mentor and the person who helped me secure my first teaching position at SLC.
I was also in good company with another friend who was recognised for her work with children- Karen Storr!
Thank you to the organisers at Every Kid in our Communities of Leeds and Grenville Coalition for this honour.

From structured early reading intervention to subject-based tutoring, our programmes advance with your child.
We can get them started on the right foot in the early years and then help guide them through the academic challenges of high school and beyond!