Join Me in Learning About Literacy!

During the month of January, in conjunction with my partner organization Project Our Town, I hosted a number of learning opportunities for our community about our illiteracy and sub-literacy crisis and the best instruction to combat that crisis.

My reason for hosting these events was because, as a reading and writing specialist, I had no idea of the scale of this crisis. I also had no idea that the instructional method I was using, the Orton-Gillingham method, was part of the problem. What follows is my story and where I’m hoping we can come together around a solution… 

For 20 years I’ve taught children with dyslexia how to read with the OG method. Those of you who know OG are aware that it is far from easy to learn and even harder to teach. I’ve only used it with students for whom other forms of instruction are not effective because it’s very slow moving and puts an incredible strain on a child’s cognitive load and working memory. I used it because I believed it was the gold standard for literacy instruction for children with diagnosed reading disabilities. I fully anticipated using the OG method with the population of students I served until I retired. 

Last year I saw a friend and former colleague in the movie The Truth About Reading, and gave her a call. We had trained in OG together and the idea that she was teaching with another approach baffled me. She kindly gave me a crash course in the overwhelming benefits of Structured Linguistic Literacy (SLL) instruction and directed me to the Evidence Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI) website. 

As a professional it is my responsibility to learn about the benefits of various instructional approaches. Within the science of learning how to read and write there are a few schools of thought. It was a humbling experience to realize that the instruction I was so tied to wasn’t the best of them. I believe it is malpractice to discover more effective and efficient teaching methods and opt to not use them for one’s own convenience. With this realization and new perspective things happened quickly. I signed up for EBLI training and got started right away. I switched all of my students from the OG approach to EBLI overnight. The results have been astounding.

The circumstances that led to our illiteracy crisis are complex but what’s shocking is that the fix isn’t. The fix we need is certainly not training all K-3 teachers in cumbersome methods like OG. How many of us were taught the structure of the entire English language in order to read and write? I see tremendous harm in deluding ourselves into thinking that OG and methods like it are the cure all for illiteracy. We have no time to waste and those who dig in their heels about OG are doing just that. 

Literacy instruction has one overarching goal, communication. Humans are hardwired for one form of communication, speech. By taking advantage of that hardwiring we come to a very straightforward fix to our crisis. I know that SLL is without a doubt that fix because it is fully based on Speech First instruction. 

For those who engaged in our Literacy Series in January, thank you so much. I hope you will continue to stay involved and spread the word about the literacy work we’re doing at Project Our Town.  

For those of you who are just learning about this movement, I hope you’ll take advantage of the new resources we’re offering and join us in our fight against illiteracy and sub-literacy. I also hope you will explore SLL to understand what the best literacy instruction looks like.

I look forward to meeting more of you as we come together. Please check back regularly to see what’s new and share the information as broadly as you’re able. 

Shari Most