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Read Through It Strategy

Feb 1, 2024

“Read Through It” Rather Than “Sound It Out”

Sounding out words for correct pronunciation is an important skill, but as students get older the habit of stopping to focus on a singular word can also be a distraction from the activity of comprehending the meaning of the passage. Frequently, the context of the paragraph assists in both comprehension and pronunciation of any particular troublesome word. After struggling with several words in the paragraph, Kathryn confidently declared, “I messed up, but I got it,” and she successfully completed the comprehension exercises. She read through the struggles and deciphered the meaning adequately to answer questions. The result was improved confidence in her reading skills. By changing the habit of Sounding It Out to Reading Through It, students can gain confidence in their comprehension. This new confidence can encourage them to explore the interesting nuances of particular words if they would like. At a minimum, however, they can be engaged as active participants in class rather than frustrated with oddities of the English language.

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Sep 21, 2023

Story of a Slow Reader

Despite learning to read before kindergarten, he found himself in a slow reading group by third grade. Frustrated and anxious throughout his career, he created the Read Through It Strategy for his students and it worked for him as well.

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Mar 20, 2023

Teaching Moments/Learning Moments Are Empowerment Moments

When students become aware of the development of their skills then they also learn to appreciate their learning. They may even get excited about learning more, but we need to highlight these moments for them and for ourselves. This article reveals the path of five students who discovered that they could influence their learning. They were taught the simple skills in the Read Through It Strategy and were able to witness their growth. They became more confident as they felt empowered with their own skill development.

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Jan. 2022

Focusing on Ideas: How Idea Units Can Improve Comprehension and Build Confidence

Published in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2022 edition of Literacy Today of the International Literacy Association

In the early days of learning to read, there is magic in deciphering the code of the runes on the page. By about 5 th grade, however, that particular magic is gone. Now the magic is in the ideas. Ideas in the words provoke us to travel, to get angry, to feel joy or sadness. When faced with a difficult word, we still have the habit of sounding it out left over from early days. The habit of sounding out can be frustrating and discouraging as it distracts us from the ideas that could be magical. This article introduces a new habit, one that preserves the intrigue created by ideas in the text. By focusing on Idea Units in a sentence, readers can build ideas one component at a time. When the ideas are more complex, the readers can better analyze them because they have been building their component ideas one bit at a time. Let go the once effective strategy of sounding out troublesome words. Create a new habit of reading for ideas as they are presented, one unit at a time.

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Winter 2024

"Read Through It" Rather Than "Sound It Out"

Published in winter 2024 edition of the Chalkboard Newsletter for the Oregon Council of Teachers of English.

Sounding out words for correct pronunciation is an important skill, but as students get older the habit of stopping to focus on a singular word can also be a distraction from the activity of comprehending the meaning of the passage. Frequently, the context of the paragraph assists in both comprehension and pronunciation of any particular troublesome word. After struggling with several words in the paragraph, Kathryn confidently declared, “I messed up, but I got it,” and she successfully completed the comprehension exercises. She read through the struggles and deciphered the meaning adequately to answer questions. The result was improved confidence in her reading skills. By changing the habit of Sounding It Out to Reading Through It, students can gain confidence in their comprehension. This new confidence can encourage them to explore the interesting nuances of particular words if they would like. At a minimum, however, they can be engaged as active participants in class rather than frustrated with oddities of the English language.

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TESTIMONIALS

Trusted by Educators

Trailblazer

Wade was a trailblazer in his creation of a reading technique that helped students below grade level achieve goal after goal set by he and the student. He developed confidence through fluency with students who had resigned themselves to struggling and remaining below grade level for the rest of their lives. This then created an overall increase in the student’s self-confidence which was recognized by every teacher. It was very exciting to watch.

Brittany Eide,
School Counselor

Empowers Struggling Readers and Changes Their Lives Forever

I finished your book and am beyond impressed. You must have been one hell of a teacher. I wish I had read this when my daughter struggled with reading— none of her teachers used the simple techniques you describe. Her struggles shaped her confidence and education into middle age. Your book resonates with intelligence, care, and a deep concern for students. You’ve no doubt changed many lives for the better.

Michael J. Fitzpatrick*,
Amazon Book Review
*Paraphrased for length

This Works.

The author developed this method for improving reading as part of the process of trying to improve his own reading. As a teacher, he has had great success with this method. If you are motivated to improve your reading, this book will work and if you're a teacher, you can use this book to help students. This book will also help your self-esteem as a reader as the author is very relatable and encouraging.

Elizabeth Gilbert,
Amazon Book Review

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Featured Articles

Stages of Studenting

Sep 21, 2023

Can’t or Won’t: Ally with Students to Eliminate this Dilemma

Teachers and parents often wonder why a student fails to complete an assignment that is within their understanding of the student’s capacity. They may accuse the student of an unwillingness, which sparks defensiveness in the student. But sometimes even the student does not understand why the task seems so challenging this time. There are a variety of barriers that could explain the student’s lack of productivity, but they are not always apparent in the confrontation about why the assignment is not complete. Was the student up late at a job that was essential for the family’s income? Did the student just discover she was pregnant? Did the grandmother and matriarch of the family die over the past weekend? Possibilities abound. To get the most from our students, it is helpful to ally with them and be open to the distracting circumstances in their lives. This alliance makes the question of can’t or won’t irrelevant.

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April 2018

Stages of Studenting

Published in April 2018 edition of Principal Leadership.

What is to be done when the struggles that students face outside of school are greater than the struggles of school assignments? Teachers cannot ignore curriculum requirements when communicating expectations to their students. Neither can they ignore the student who seeks advice on how to tell her mother that she is pregnant. Or how to accommodate the needs of a student who is a primary breadwinner for their family. Or the student who as part of recovery is struggling to avoid the drug dealer than once got him hooked. The stories abound, but they have one thing in common, students are distracted from their academic lives by matters that are often beyond their control. Stages of Studenting provides a tool for talking about and realizing success within school. Being successful in school takes many forms, but credit accumulation is the only metric available to discuss academic success. Stages of Studenting provides another metric.

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Fall 2024

Teach Reading, Why?

Published in the Fall 2024 ORacle of the Oregon State Literacy Association.

With all of the new technologies that can perform reading for us, do we still need to teach reading? Of course, we do!! Reading is a complex tasks that allows students exercise multiple elements of their minds. Teaching reading reminds us that we teach students, human beings, and not just skills. Reading requires the coordination of many aspects of our minds. To read a passage, we use visual aspects that decipher the codes of our alphabets. We orchestrate the sounds of those letters into meaningful ideas that we must connect with other sound combinations in a sentence to formulate discernible notions. Additionally, we also create connections to concepts that are already established in our memories. We teach reading to provide practice for the coordination of all of these elements in the development of our brain activities. The result is an awesome and magical phenomenon.

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TESTIMONIALS

Trusted by Educators

Pulls Out Shame

[Stages of Studenting] is not judgment. It’s like a reality check. It pulls the shame out of the conversation.

Tasha C.
ELA Teacher

Meets Students Where They Are

This way of thinking allows us to meet our students where they are instead of where we want them to be. Then, we can walk alongside them with support, belief, and the gentle pressure of positive direction—avoiding the reactance that often comes when our level of support, care, and relationship isn’t as high as our standards and expectations... Thank you, Wade!

Russ R.*,
School Principal
*Paraphrased for length

Measurable Metrics

We are working hard for the students, but there is no metric for what we are doing. The standard metrics don’t start until Stage 5.

Tisha W.
Math Teacher

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