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So, you’re heading to Orton-Gillingham training or just finished up. You sure know a lot about the Orton-Gillingham approach, but now what? Getting started with OG can be exciting and overwhelming. There are so many OG supplies and so much more to learn about structured literacy. Check out these Orton-Gillingham lesson-planning tips!
One challenge that structured literacy practitioners face in their work is isolation and frustration with how to share their knowledge in a way that will be well received. While this is a bigger challenge for those working in a school setting, the issue may also arise for those in private practice when communicating with other…
By keeping your focus on promoting independence, it encourages the gradual release of responsibility. This is a developmentally appropriate way to teach. Building independence during Orton-Gillingham lessons shows children they can have a sense of ownership and control over their work. This is meaningful for kids! Another benefit of building independence is to decrease reliance…
The science of teaching reading can sound like a foreign language, especially when you are first learning about Orton-Gillingham or Structured Literacy instruction. While you will likely be talking about digraphs, trigraphs, and blends before you know it, some of the specialized vocabulary can be a bit confusing. Let’s discuss three important terms: phoneme, grapheme,…
The road you take to become a structured literacy interventionist can take many twists and turns throughout your career. Who I am today is certainly not the young, impressionable twenty-two-year-old in her first year of teaching back in 2000. If I could talk to that young teacher now, I would definitely have some advice to…
When you’re in the middle of Orton-Gillingham training, you learn how to write lesson plans for your students. Part of writing an effective Orton-Gillingham lesson plan is to create a word list. The words you select must be appropriate for reading and spelling. By appropriate, I mean you are choosing words that suit the needs…
K or CK? Is there a rhyme or reason? After introducing the FLOSS rule, the next spelling generalization that is usually taught is the K/CK spelling generalization. This is an incredibly useful and freeing spelling generalization that allows students to spell many words using standard spelling. This generalization applies to the END of words and…
Some of the most powerful tools we teach our Orton-Gillingham students are spelling generalizations. These generalizations help them choose the correct spelling option. Most adults are not even aware of these “rules”, because, with increased familiarity with the orthography of English, one develops an awareness of what “looks right”. One way we can help our…
Decoding and encoding consonant blends is among the most important concepts you teach your beginning readers. This is a skill they will use across multiple syllable types, in both single syllable and multi-syllabic words and even in reading and writing Latin roots and Greek combining forms. Your students may come to you already confident…
Many teachers are familiar with decoding strategies that may emphasize the use of picture clues, meaning, and self-monitoring. Sometimes these decoding activities are even given cute nicknames to help students remember. While we want students to monitor our students and their reading for accuracy to make sure it makes sense, often these kinds of decoding…