Let's go back to 2016/17 when the Arkansas Department of Education had just introduced The Science of Reading and began holding in-person training for it. Working in Specail Services, my director encouraged me to attend.

Once I began my career as a Reading Intervention teacher, I had great tools under my belt to help struggling middle school students make academic gains with reading instruction as the foundation. See, I learned through SoR that phonics instruction alone would not remedy the ailing reader's woes. This systematic approach had to be coupled with true reading and reading comprehension instruction, so that's what I did. My students experienced great success. The next year, the district purchased a new reading system. I tried to use it solely. It just wasn't working for my kids.

I remember going to my principal, and saying, "I don't know how you're gonna feel about this, but I can't teach my kids only Just Words everyday. They need reading comprehension as well." I started to tell her my planned approach to utilize the phonics instruction combined with reading comprehension from another source. She simply said, "You know your kids and what they need." Subsequently, those kids made gains like nobody's business month after month! Their grades in other classes increased as well.

As reported in this Forbes article, there has to be more than JUST phonics instruction to help our kids reach the greatest reading potential.

I am ever grateful for a principal who believed in me as a professional educator and allowed me to have the autonomy necessary to grow with my kids. Six years later and working for myself, I'm still doing the same and teaching my team to do so as well.

I love it here!

🧡💚 Ar'Jillian Gilmer, MED