When I first stumbled upon Heidi Martin’s TikTok, I couldn’t stop watching! Heidi makes structured literacy look fun and beautiful and efficacious for her curious followers. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Heidi about her work. What follows is a lightly edited interview with Heidi. If you’d like to see more of her work, you can find her on her website and of course, on TikTok.

How did your science of reading journey start? 

It’s kind of a crazy story. The pandemic hits in March of 2020, and I’m teaching first grade from home and trying to teach our four-year-old how to read. And my husband, who is also a first-grade teacher, just happened to walk by. I remember him looking at me, and he says, “What are you doing?” And I said “I’m teaching OUR son how to read. What do you think I'm doing?”And he goes on to explain that our son isn’t ready for that yet, and he started talking about phonological and phonemic awareness. I had no idea what he was talking out. But I did know I had been teaching longer than he had been. 

What happened next? 

So, I think to myself, “if this phonemic awareness stuff is real, someone would have told me about it, right?” And after that conversation, I started researching, just to prove my husband wrong. He was talking about things that were the opposite of everything I thought. So I started researching, and, you know, he was right. 

How did that realization that you were wrong feel? 

It wasn’t quite like the stages of grief, but I was angry and upset. Do you know how much professional development time I've spent? How many struggling readers I’ve worked with? And no one told me any of this. But then it occurs to me that I can’t be the only teacher who didn’t know about this. I still cycle through those feelings of guilt and anger now and it’s been several years.  But that is what keeps me going and motivates me to continue to share everything I learn!

So that’s how you ended up becoming a TikTok celebrity?

Well, not quite. At first, when I got on social media, I was actually looking for teachers who were sharing their work with the science of reading, but I couldn’t find any classroom teachers. So I started learning and researching on my own. And then my 19-year-old daughter tells me that there are all of these teachers on TikTok, and at first, I was adamant that I was not going to post teacher content. I said, “I just want it to be a fun app. I don't want to talk about teaching” but then I posted a video of me working with my son. It got a lot of views and I realized all there were people interested in this stuff on TikTok!

What happened next? 

It was so weird. People started asking me all of these questions and some thought I was a literacy expert who has known about these things all along. But since I was just learning myself, I would ask my husband, “do you know the answer to this question?” I’ve ended up doing so much more research than I probably ever would have done because of all the questions from social media. I wanted to be able to answer them honestly and accurately because it feels like teachers don’t have anywhere else to go. 

When you’re not responding to a specific question, how do you decide what to post TikTok? 

A lot of time I’ll just post something that’s on my mind. It’s just what I’ve been thinking about. Other times, I'll see some misinformation about something like sight words, and so I'll post about that. Other times, I’ll scroll through social media and hear a voiceover and realize “that’s perfect for explaining this concept.”

What’s it like to work with your son?

Well, I always ask if it’s okay with him before I start filming, and then I honestly just start filming him while I’m working with him. I actually have to pay him now. He charges me. He knows that some of the stuff I do with him is for these videos. He also realizes that he is helping other kids so he likes to help out!

What’s the goal of your TikTok channel? 

My goal is to reach and help as many teachers and parents as possible. They deserve to know what I didn’t know when I started teaching. 

What advice do you have for parents who are advocating for improved reading instruction for their children?

I encourage parents to have conversations with their schools because schools are often more inclined to listen to parents. Parents have a stronger voice than they think they do. The other thing I tell parents to do is to bring a copy of Scarborough’s Reading Rope to their child’s teacher and ask how or if each strand is being taught. All of the strands are necessary in order to be a skilled reader. It’s a good way to start a conversation about what’s not being done or what needs to change. I also recommend that parents watch the Purple Challenge so that they understand what their kid’s classroom might look like. 

What advice do you have for teachers who want to learn more about the Science of Reading?

Louisa Moats says, “Programs don’t teach, teachers do.” I recommend teachers start with training because there is no perfect program. I also recommend the book Know Better Do Better if you’re brand new.  It’s a practical read that will give a good starting point. Even programs that are SoR aligned are always missing something, and there is absolutely no substitute for acquiring the knowledge for yourself. No one can take that away from you!