Sold a Story by Emily Hanford

I've recently listened the the "Sold a Story" podcast by Emily Hanford. It's well worth a listen for any educators!  It has left me with many thoughts to unpack and has resonated with me deeply. 

If you're a teacher in Aotearoa like me, you've likely said this three phrases thousands of times during your reading sessions over the years, "look at the first letter", "look at the picture" and "think of a word that makes sense". The idea that beginning readers do not have to sound out words, they can, but they don't have to is a idea that is so entrenched my pedagogy and our pedagogy as a nation. But it is an idea that is wrong, what once was a mystery, how our brains learn to read is no longer a mystery. The science of reading is clear. The research shows that we are not born with brains that are wired to read. Human being can get really good at reading. But our brains have to change for us to become good readers. And sounding out words is a key part of this process.

In the second episode, Emily Hanford describes how sounding out words is a key part of learning to read. 

"You are born with a brain that can remember the pronunciation of words and the meaning of words. And as you connect the pronunciation and meaning of words with their spelling, you create new neural pathways that allow you to remember written words. Once a typically developing reader has looked carefully at a word a few times and sounded it out and identified or figured out what the word means, the written form of that word gets mapped into their memory. And once a word has been mapped to your memory like this, about the only thing that can take it away is a brain injury. Otherwise that word is there for you, always, in an instant. You don’t have to sound it out or do anything conscious to recognize the word anymore. But you know the word because at some point you sounded it out and you connected the pronunciation of that word with its spelling and its meaning." 

There is lots more that I could unpack but I particularly love this quote near the end of the final episode - "Good reading instruction isn’t boring for children. Maybe adults find parts of it boring. But this shouldn’t be about what adults want. It should be about what kids need. And there’s no reason that reading instruction aligned with scientific evidence can’t be exciting and beautiful."

And now because I know better, I can do better! 

He waka eke noa!

We are all in this canoe together!