I work in a Title 1/dual language school where many children are MLLs or ELLs. The majority of students in our district rely on the instruction they get in school to support their learning needs. They do not have the means to seek out private tutors when they have large deficits in learning. Over the past several years I have had success implementing structured literacy lessons and helping my students make progress, but the acceleration piece has been harder to achieve until this year. A year ago, I became EBLI trained and started using it in intervention with my students. The results have surprised me. At this point in the year, I have exited 26 students from intervention, meaning that these students not only made progress but caught up to their peers.

Fun fact: Words with a “wr” spelling pattern for example have a Germanic origin that implies twisting. For instance, a “wreck” would involve vehicles twisting around each other in a collision. Your “wrist” is the turning joint that allows your hand to twist. When you “write,” you twist lines to form letters.

While some students may start with stronger “literacy hygiene” or come from more advantaged backgrounds, it’s unfair to expect parents to shoulder the entire responsibility of preparing children for major milestones like learning to read. Just as a dentist doesn’t expect me to perfect my child’s dental care before the first checkup, we can’t place that same expectation on parents. As educators, we now know the most effective science-backed methods for teaching reading; we are the experts in this area. Parents already face countless pressures in today’s world, so we must take the lead in guiding students to become readers, with their support at home. If we’re struggling to do so, the responsibility falls on us to find better solutions. While I am not trying to stop the sales of wonderful resources like “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Steps” I don’t want families to feel that a child entering kindergarten as a non-reader is falling behind. By focusing on these practical, actionable strategies, we can set students up for success and help them thrive in their literacy journey.