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Editor's Notes

• #3: Metaphor: I heard a teacher say once that teaching students is like brewing coffee. Customers tell the barista exactly what they want – an iced decaf frappucino. Then the barista expertly crafts the drink and unlocks the flavor of the beans to make the drink. As teachers, we know exactly what colleges and businesses want – literate, critical thinking, that are capable of leading and creating in a technological world. And it’s up to us to unlock student’s potential to produce that result. Anecdote: 6 years ago, I was teaching high school algebra. I remember going over how to solve for x. Now you have to understand, both my parents were engineers and my dad worked for NASA. He used to teach me how to solve algebra problems quickly. After about 5 minutes, they all had it down and I felt that high that all teachers feel when students finally understand something. It was the reason I got into teaching. So, I wrote out a simple word problem and gave them 5 minutes to do it. After 5 minutes, I asked who had the answer. Only one student raised his hand, and he was the kid that was good at all subjects. It was then that I realized – these kids can’t do math because they can’t read and comprehend. And if they can’t do that, their math suffers, their science (which is all reading and word problems) suffer, everything suffers. Reading is the foundational Picture this -- every student, in your school is reading at or above grade level. Students coming into the school 1, 2, or 3 grade levels below, and within a year are reading at grade level.
• #4: So our goal, then is to implement research-based, rapid results reading instruction. If we can do this, we can bring students up to grade level. And if we can bring students up to grade level, then they have the foundation they need to succeed in all other subjects. And we’re able to unlock their potential so that they can be successful in the future.
• #5: By the end of this, you will have a solid set of instructional strategies: *That are immediately applicable to the classroom These strategies will help you assist all struggling readers. *Dyslexic *Disinterested *ELL/ESL *SPED That give you the skill of teaching reading instruction
• #7: Goal of Reading: COMPREHENSION We want our readers, regardless of their levels and backgrounds, to achieve success in their reading by adequately comprehending the text that they read. We want them to employ strategies to help compensatefor di culties that they encounter in the process of reading. We want them to have a knowledge of decoding strategies to draw upon when they encounter unfamiliar words to help them better comprehend the text they are reading. How Do We Help Students Achieve this Goal of Comprehension? For skilled reading to be achieved, students need to be armed with strategies that facilitate uent decoding at the word level, which precedes comprehension at the text level. Readers who comprehend well build on a solid foundation of decoding strategies. Research has shown that the most e ective approach for teaching decoding strategies is explicit, sequential, multi- sensory phonics instruction. Initial phonics instruction should be taught explicitly with the goal of helping students to develop automaticity in decoding so that attention can be focused on the meaning of the text. “Overwhelming evidence strongly supports the concept that explicitly and systematically teaching phonics in the classroom signi cantly improves students’ reading and spelling skills.” “Surveys conducted on early reading have repeatedly concluded that word recognition is best learned when it is taught according to three principles ...”Word recognition instruction should be: • Taught explicitly by the teacher.• Planned and organized systematically.• Sequenced in a fashion that moves from simple to complex.
• #8: Goal of Reading: COMPREHENSION We want our readers, regardless of their levels and backgrounds, to achieve success in their reading by adequately comprehending the text that they read. We want them to employ strategies to help compensatefor di culties that they encounter in the process of reading. We want them to have a knowledge of decoding strategies to draw upon when they encounter unfamiliar words to help them better comprehend the text they are reading. How Do We Help Students Achieve this Goal of Comprehension? For skilled reading to be achieved, students need to be armed with strategies that facilitate uent decoding at the word level, which precedes comprehension at the text level. Readers who comprehend well build on a solid foundation of decoding strategies. Research has shown that the most e ective approach for teaching decoding strategies is explicit, sequential, multi- sensory phonics instruction. Initial phonics instruction should be taught explicitly with the goal of helping students to develop automaticity in decoding so that attention can be focused on the meaning of the text. “Overwhelming evidence strongly supports the concept that explicitly and systematically teaching phonics in the classroom signi cantly improves students’ reading and spelling skills.” “Surveys conducted on early reading have repeatedly concluded that word recognition is best learned when it is taught according to three principles ...”Word recognition instruction should be: • Taught explicitly by the teacher.• Planned and organized systematically.• Sequenced in a fashion that moves from simple to complex.
• #9: Learning Disabilities: As previously stated, research has been clear that systematic and explicit phonics instruction is essential for those who struggle with reading/spelling, have learning disabilities, and who may have language processing issues. Generally, the most common learning disability is dyslexia, which is de ned as “a signi cant reading disability in people with normal intelligence.” There is now de nite proof that dyslexia is a very real neurological disorder. 2. Dyslexia: Dr. Sally Shaywitz, co-director of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and member of the National Reading Panel, has made remarkable ndings using MRI technology. Good readers use all three of the main portions of the brain involved in reading to manipulate word problems. These three areas of the brain are highly active while reading. When students who are dyslexic are reading, most of the activity takes place in the frontal portion of the brain. They did not utilize those portions in the rear of their brain that help make visual and auditory connections in language. Research has proven that many learning disabled students, including dyslexic individuals, have trouble breaking down words into letter-sound segments. But research has also proven that they “can learn these relationships with intensive phonics training. ... After more than a century of frustration, it has now been shown that the brain can be rewired” (Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming Dyslexia. Knopf Publishing: New York).” Because of this research, we know that:1) Students need to be trained in hearing sounds and joining them into words. 2) Accurate decoding is required for skilled reading.3) Automatic recognition improves comprehension.
• #10: Reading programs without an explicit approach require students to abstract word pronunciation, phonemic rules, and aural-oral vocabulary intermediation through reading. This tacit/implicit approach to reading instruction results in students missing some or all of the rules of reading that allow fluency and comprehension. Reading Horizons provides 100% explicit instruction. The 42 sounds of the alphabet, including diagraphs, diphthongs, and pronunciation, are presented. 5 Phonetic Skills and 2 Decoding Skills are introduced and reinforced through teacher-led instruction, direct instruction materials, and software.
• #11: Teaching phonemic awareness alphabetically (a, e, i, o, u; q before u) presents major roadblocks to conceptual differentiation and word-fluency. Our program teaches phonemes through most frequent vowel-consonant groups (a, b, d, g) and separates similar sounding phonemes in the progression of instruction (a, e, o, u, i). The National Reading Panel finds that a systematic approach increases the speed and retention of phonemic awareness, aiding fluency and comprehension.
• #12: Research has shown that the language centers of the brain involved in seeing language, reading language, and writing language are distinct, allowing a student to see a word but not be able to say it, or hear a word but not be able to write it. In addition, engaging in fine-motor skills (writing a word on paper) is less effective in retaining information than utilizing gross-motor skills (miming the word with the hand). The Reading Horizons reading method utilizes a unique marking system that allows students to identify vowels, vowel sounds, digraphs, and so forth within whole words. Marking the words strengthens the visual ability to identify patterns and is always accomplished in a left-to-right sequence. The marking system and decoding process employed in Reading Horizons provides a working knowledge of likely and unlikely sequences of letters and gives students the ability to easily break words into syllables. RFP #2017B: Supplemental ELA Materials K-5 Page 8 The Reading Horizons methodology engages all three language centers of the brain simultaneously through multi-sensory phonics instruction to increase learning and retention. Teachers and students hear the word, say the word, use hand gestures, and finally write the word in all direct instruction materials.
• #13: Reading Horizons is taught in a logical sequence. The alphabet is introduced in sets of four consonants and one vowel. Each letter is introduced individually, and students learn the name, sound, and formation (uppercase and lowercase) simultaneously. Students are then taught to combine consonants with the vowel sound, blending the sounds together in what is called a slide. Consonants are then added as ending sounds, forming words. The material is consolidated for students who know the alphabet. Sentence structure begins following the introduction of the second set of consonants and vowels. As each new set of letters is introduced, it is combined with those letters previously learned. RFP #2017B: Supplemental ELA Materials K-5 Page 7 The program continues through the entire alphabet, and then adds blends. Long vowel sounds are taught, and the five phonetic skills are presented, helping students know and identify the five patterns of English words. Next, a two-step decoding skill is taught. Skillful readers' ability to read long words depends on their ability to break words into syllables. Reading Horizons teaches students to break words into syllables and apply the Five Phonetic Skills they've learned to decode the words. Consequently, they can read words of any length. The remaining sounds are taught (r-controlled vowels, digraphs, special vowel sounds, etc.); each new principle building upon previously learned skills. As students move through the logical sequence of the course, they experience learning success in incremental steps while receiving continuous, positive reinforcement of previously learned skills.