Yes, I know it isn't a suffix...
Before I get bombarded with comments, yes, I know <tion> is not a suffix, and yet I teach it as a whole unit. Yikes! I can sense so many of you want to jump to the comment section to set...
Thoughts From My Notebook
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How about these two softies?
Let's talk about soft c and g! I am not a linguist or a word historian; I am just curious about the English Language structure. I spend late nights reading obscure books and chasing google rabbits down deep holes. I...
i before e except after c?... does that work for you?
Is the <i> before <e> rhyme really accurate or consistent? Why are there so many different sounds for these two vowel pairs? How do I teach <ie> and <ei>? These are questions I frequently hear from OG practitioners. ...
Life in the time of Corona, or rather, it’s ok if I wear pajama bottoms with my cute blouse, right?
In mid-March 2020, as I headed into spring break, I never considered we wouldn’t be going back. And just like that, the thing I loved most about my job was no longer my reality. I cherished my one on one...
Why teach syllable accents?
I don't hear syllable accents, do you? Have you ever wondered how many of your students are unable to discern the stressed syllable from the unstressed syllable? Teaching syllable accents seems to be a prevalent activity in classrooms and many...
What is a digraph?
Until recently, I have intentionally isolated myself from the social media world of Orton Gillingham and the Science of Reading. I have limited myself to a listserve group, professional reading, including anything and everything about the history of the English...
Teaching r-controlled vowels
Bossy r? I never let consonants boss me around, do you? So why would we call r bossy? R controlled vowels can be some of the trickiest concepts to teach, this is true, but is calling them bossy r to...
What is mastery in an Orton Gillingham Lesson?
I was recently asked by a school administrator to define mastery and to present it in written form. I have to admit the question set me back a bit. No one has ever asked me to quantify this, much less...
Decodable readers
decodable readers I am a firm believer in controlled books for struggling readers. However, my description of a decodable, controlled reader varies from the many I’ve found on the market. Since I teach short vowels with CVC words to...