Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science Webinar Questions and Answers

Thank you for attending my webinar hosted by ESGI on August 31st. I enjoyed the opportunity to present the Reading Aptitude Continuum to you and explain how you can use targeted assessments to drive your reading instruction. if you want to watch the webinar for the first time, watch it again or share it with a colleague, it is available on YouTube.

There were lots of thoughtful questions before and after the webinar. Thank you for your engagement. I always admire the commitment of teachers—even after working all day at school! Here are some key points to remember about reading instruction and the Reading Aptitude Continuum:

· Teachers can target skills and teach to individual and small group needs by understanding progression of skills.

· Less is More! If we are trying to teach everything, we actually teach nothing. Young children need focused instruction.

· Great teachers never forget that our introduction of skills is one-third of what children need. They then need guided practice time (one-third of the time) and independent practice (one-third of the time). If we continue to teach, teach, teach, students don’t ever have time to practice and master skills.

· The best assessments change what we do each day. It is imperative that we have quick and easy assessments and charts that allow us to immediately use the data to instruct students. 

You can learn more about the Reading Aptitude Continuum and my tests on ESGI on a previous post on The Smartie Blog. The entire Reading Aptitude Continuum is available on a thumb drive for purchase at thesmatiezone.com. The thumb drive contains the reading ladders, instructions, printable flash cards, and score sheets, as well as customizable versions of the cards and score sheets.

To access the tests, you can also try ESGI FREE for 60 days! Sign up with promo code thesmartiezone to save $40 off your new user subscription. After entering your students, go to the Test Explorer to locate all of my Reading Aptitude tests. You can see the list of 112 tests here.  An introduction, lists of all included skills and the reading ladders are available to ESGI teachers here. I love that ESGI has allowed me to take what would be a massive amount of work and make it useable and quick for teachers to assess kids! 

Remember, if you want to watch the webinar for the first time, watch it again or share it with a colleague, it is available on YouTube.