I spent my district’s most recent Professional Development Day watching Emily Moorhead’s three-part webinar series, Implementing Structured Literacy Instruction in the Kindergarten Classroom.  Initially, I had a hard time deciding between the available Pro-D options.  I really wanted to hear something that aligned with, and would solidify, all of the amazing things I had learned from my professor (Melanie Baerg), the course (EDUC 397), and the course’s text (Speech to Print).  To assist the decision, I reached out to my fellow teacher candidates—those eager ones who had done their Pro-D hours—and asked them what they recommended.  The message I received was unanimous: “watch Emily Moorhead’s webinars …they bring everything together!”  They were right!  Moorhead’s approach to literacy aligns perfectly with our course objective—”creating literate students” (Baerg)—and supports all of the ideas outlined in the course text (Moats), as well as in Lyon and Trask’s structured literacy framework (SD 52) and Montgomery and Zwicker’s cognitive approach to printing (Printing Like a Pro!).

Five weeks ago, I was not at all equipped to create literate students.  Luckily, Professor Baerg (with all of her knowledge, expertise, resources, and connections) stepped in and changed that sad fact.  Her lectures, and the assigned readings, videos, and workbook activities, have taught me more than I could have hoped to learn in such a short period of time.  At the end of our second to last class, I felt fairly confident in my ability to create literate students.  Now, after having watched Moorhead’s three-part series, I feel fully confident in my ability to begin such work.  Moorhead provided me with an easy to follow, scientifically backed, scope and sequence—inclusive of explicit instruction, lively lesson enactments, guided practice, interactive activities, and fun games.  Like Lyon and Trask’s presentation, Moorhead’s webinar series showed me what structured literacy looks like and what it sounds like.  Reading about structured literacy is one thing, seeing it in action is something totally different.  Both have helped me understand how to help students master phonemic awareness, and connect it to print—that is, how to give learners the skills they need to read, spell, and succeed in school and in life!

I know that mastery of such tasks is not easy.  Moorhead, like Moats, Lyon, and Trask, tells us that children do not simply learn to read (or spell) naturally.  It is not a natural process for human brains to leap from phonological awareness (what we hear) to print awareness (what we see on a page); rather, it requires re-wiring the brain through explicit instruction.  Similar to Lyon and Trask, Moorhead likens this instruction to teaching a “secret code” (the code of the English language) and stresses that when introducing each new piece of code, teachers must pay close attention to whether or not students can hear the sound; whether they can pronounce the sound; whether they can recognize the letter; whether they can print the letter; and whether they can apply new learning (Moorhead, PART 1).  Although learning the “secret code” is hard, Moorhead’s approach makes it exciting and engaging for all learners (very similar to Lyon and Trask’s “perky-paced” approach to structured literacy).

I also know that this “code” must be taught in such a way that it gets into all students’ ears, eyes, and brains (Moorhead, PART 2).  Like Moats, Lyon, and Trask, Moorhead bases her scope and sequence on the fact that phonological awareness follows a predictable, brain-based continuum.  Although Moorhead’s sequence varies slightly from that of Lyon and Trask’s “SATPIN” sequence, the overall scope remains the same: getting students to hearindividual letters (and eventually blended letters and words) and know them based on what their mouths and vocal cords are doing when said aloud, and then move to having students associate letter sounds to letter names.  Students can then take their phonological and phonemic awareness to print.  During the print stage, Moorhead utilizes many Printing Like a Pro strategies, also akin to those of Lyon and Trask: guided instruction, modelling, and scaffolded practice (whiteboards and laminated strips with brown ground/green grass/blue sky)—with each task aiming to help students practice proper letter formation as they move from speech to print. 

I could go on for pages, detailing the parallels and valuable take-aways of this three-part series (i.e., how best to capitalize on whole group instruction and make the most of small group and one-on-one instruction; how to create controlled text; and so much more) but I am out of space and a voice in my head is saying “Joni, only two pages!”  So, I will leave it here 🙂

References

Lyon, K. and Trask, E. (2022, May 16). Teaching Kindergarten with the Brain in Mind. [Lecture] Presented at the University of Northern British Columbia, School of Education.

Moats, L.C. (2020). Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Montgomery, I. and Zwicker, J. (2017). Printing Like a Pro! A Cognitive Approach to Teaching Printing to Primary School-Age Children. Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children.  Downloaded May 10, 2022:  http://www.childdevelopment.ca/SchoolAge_Therapy_Practice_Resources.aspx

Moorhead, E. (2020, March 12). International Dyslexia Association Ontario. Implementing Structured Literacy in the Classroom – PART 1 – Phonological Awareness. [Video] YouTube. Uploaded June 3, 2022:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZrA8ak0Inw

Moorhead, E. (2020, June 4). International Dyslexia Association Ontario. Implementing Structured Literacy in the Classroom – PART 2 – Moving to Print. [Video] YouTube.  Uploaded June 3, 2022:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDcb5Jfc658

Moorhead, E. (2020, June 29). International Dyslexia Association Ontario. Implementing Structured Literacy in the Classroom – PART 3 – Putting it Together. [Video] YouTube.  Uploaded June 3, 2022:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBjzsfml-qo