Blog Hero Image

Dr. Timothy Rasinski Speaks About the Art and Science of Teaching Reading 

Researcher and author, Dr. Timothy Rasinski, kicked off the Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative’s Summer Institute by helping educators think about The Art and Science of Teaching Reading.  

Rasinski spoke of how the teaching of reading is both a science and an art. Teachers can develop children’s phonemic awareness, understanding of morphology, knowledge of meaningful word parts (i.e. Greek and Latin Roots), automaticity, and fluency in a fun, artful, and authentic way: 

  • Real songs, nursery rhymes, and other poetry help children play with sounds and develop phonemic awareness.  
  • Word games help children understand morphology and meaningful parts of words.  
  • Children learn about prosody and develop fluency when they rehearse for performance reading of real text.  

Also of great importance, is to remember that prosody and comprehension go hand in hand. When children read with expression and pausing, it enhances their understanding of their reading. Rasinski shared research-based techniques for teaching fluency and prosody:  

  • Modeled Fluent Reading 
  • Assisted Reading 
  • Wide Reading Practice 
  • Repeated Readings  

These teaching methods are fun, engaging, responsive, and supported by science. They create successful reading experiences which children can build using authentic texts. Rasinski encouraged teachers to teach scientifically but to do so in an artful way and to ask themselves, “How can you create artful and scientific curriculum?”  

Divider Line

Like what you learned? Dive deeper into the essential elements of teaching phonics, spelling, and word study and come away prepared to address the needs of your students with these upcoming offerings!

PinLinkedIn

You might also be interested in

June 23, 2025 Heather Rodman, Literacy Trainer

Beyond Right and Wrong: Cultivating Deep Comprehension Through Teacher Listening

What do you listen for during comprehension conversations? The answer to this question might be the key to facilitating conversations that evoke and foster deep, meaningful, stimulating discourse during whole group, small group, and individual conversations.

June 13, 2025 Linda Murphy, Associate Director of Literacy Programs

AI Prompting with Purpose: 5 Tips for Teachers 

AI has been increasingly integrated into our daily lives. As we learn how to use AI in productive ways with students and for instructional planning, an important skill to develop is effective prompting.

May 28, 2025 Wendy Vaulton, Associate Director for Reading Recovery & Early Interventions

Rethinking Reading Proficiency

As educators, our understanding of proficiency shapes the way we teach, assess, and support learners. If we define proficiency narrowly, we risk overlooking not only important aspects of literacy, but the larger purpose of education itself. We seek not only to prepare students to perform well on tests, but to help them build the skills to engage critically with the world around them.