Decoding 101: Turning Letters into Sounds One of the most exciting moments in a child's reading journey is when they realize they can read a word independently. What may seem like a simple accomplishment is actually the result of a complex process c...
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About Me
As a children's author and educator with over a decade of experience as an English Language Arts teacher, I am passionate about fostering literacy and empowering students to become confident readers and writers. Holding two master’s degrees in education and a PhD in literacy development, I have dedicated my career to developing effective teaching strategies and creating engaging literacy resources that cater to diverse learning needs. Explore my collection of literacy resources designed to ignite a love for reading and writing in every learner.
Blog Posts
Reading: How the Brain Learns to Read (Neuroscience Made Simple) As teachers, we spend a significant part of our day helping children become readers. We celebrate their first decoded word, support them through reading challenges, and encourage a lif...
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What “Balanced Literacy” Got Wrong For years, balanced literacy was presented as the reasonable middle ground in reading instruction. The name itself sounded reassuring: not too rigid, not too skills-focused, not too worksheet-heavy. Just a balanced...
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The 5 Pillars of Reading: What Every Teacher Needs to Know If you've spent any time in literacy circles, you've heard the phrase "the five pillars of reading." But what does it actually mean for your classroom on a Tuesday morning, when you've got t...
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Phonemic Awareness vs. Phonics: What's the Difference? If you've spent any time in elementary education, you've likely heard the terms phonemic awareness and phonics used interchangeably. While they are closely related and both play c...
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A teacher's take on the most important thing the Science of Reading teaches us Every fall, I watch the same thing happen. A child sits in front of a book and struggles. Maybe they reverse letters. Maybe they sound out a word perfectly and then can't...
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Reading is one of the most complex skills we teach, yet for years it was often treated as a single process. In reality, skilled reading develops through the interaction of multiple language and literacy skills working together. One of the most influ...
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If you’ve ever had a student who reads every word on the page perfectly but can’t tell you what the passage was about, you’ve already met the problem the Simple View of Reading was built to explain. It’s one of the most useful frameworks in the Scie...
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Why the Science of Reading Is Crucial to Helping Students Develop Literacy Skills For decades, reading instruction in American classrooms rested on assumptions that felt intuitive but didn’t hold up under scrutiny. Many of us were trained to teach r...
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