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Our Top Posts from 2023

As the year winds to a close, let’s pause and reflect on the wealth of learning and collaboration that has enriched our Center in 2023. Join us in revisiting standout blogs, filled with invaluable strategies to empower young readers and writers – with the hope of infusing joy into the learning process.

  • Make Room for Meaning: How Decoding and Meaning Go Hand-in-hand
    Is it harmful to ask an emergent reader, “Does that make sense?” Associate Director Wendy Vaulton, highlights a few takeaways from one article that reviewed evidence related to using meaning-based (context) and code-based strategies (phonics) for early readers.
  • Getting to Know Your Readers
    Literacy trainer Nikki Drury talks about how observational assessment can be used as an opportunity to gain valuable information about your readers.
  • We Are Writers: A Kindergarten Journey
    Literacy trainer Heather Rodman reflects on her conversations with a literacy coach in Ardsley Union Free School District, NY. Find out what contributed to these kindergarteners’ identity, agency, and independence as writers.
  • A Word of Songs, Poems, and Nursery Rhymes
    Have you considered the many benefits of using songs, nursery rhymes, and poetry in your classroom? Literacy trainer Gen Arcovio shares how to get started with analyzing your books, texts, and poems.

What other topics would you like us to cover in 2024? Or would you like to contribute to our blog?

We’d love to hear from you! Email us to send along your ideas.

Invest in continuous learning! We offer professional learning opportunities designed to support literacy instruction for PreK-8 educators.

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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.