From the syllabus:

Course Description:

The Orton-Gillingham Approach is the underlying foundation of all multisensory, structured language instruction. Orton-Gillingham (OG) is biologically and linguistically sound, diagnostic and prescriptive, and structured yet flexible to the needs of each student. If you work with struggling readers, you will learn both the structure of the English language and how to teach it sequentially. In this 36-hour course, participants will gain a basic understanding of the OG Approach and how to develop an OG lesson. Participants will learn about the reading brain and dyslexia, phonology, spelling patterns, the history of the English language, and morphology. This course meets the requirements for the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators (OGA) Classroom Educator coursework requirements for those continuing with the practicum.

(A. Ducey, P. Price Summer 2020)

This particular course had the most immediate, direct impact on my current position as a literacy educator. Prior to learning the Orton-Gillingham approach, I felt I had a comprehensive and sufficient education regarding teaching literacy in my teacher-preparation program during my undergraduate career and professional development opportunities. Throughout this course and the subsequent school year, I felt a wave of emotions as a result. I felt relief, enthusiasm, regret, and guilt. However, I know that as a result of this learning, my students benefitted greatly and will continue to do so for classes to come.

I had heard of the Orton-Gillingham approach early in my career as it was used at the first school I taught at. Students who received “OG” instruction needed remedial literacy instruction, and I knew that it was direct and explicit phonics instruction. However, I was told that it would not mesh well with the “balanced” literacy program I had been asked to use in the general education setting. After taking this course, I am aware of the power it has for students with disabilities in helping them achieve literacy skills and become readers. Additionally, the skills it builds for readers of all levels and abilities are unmatched. I used to think students would lose the “joy” of reading if they were taught using direct and explicit phonics methods. However, the opposite was true in my classroom experience. Both sections of my second graders flourished and were excited to participate in whole-class lessons, enthusiastically following the predictable routine and flow of the lessons.

This is such a different method of instruction that routinely uses data from each lesson to inform the next whole class or small group lesson. While I might have taken copious notes regarding my students’ progress in the past, the amount of specific data I gleaned from their work during a single lesson was completely unmatched using the Orton-Gillingham approach. Teaching individual syllable types and spelling patterns in a thoughtful and methodic way helped my students achieve greater levels of mastery in manageable and approachable increments. I began to use this approach to plan my humanities lessons using the Universal Design for Learning. In both the Orton-Gillingham approach and UDL, there is a low floor (accessible to everyone) and a high ceiling (room to extend and enrich the learning).

I still incorporated a significant amount of interactive read-aloud time to foster discussion and comprehension of texts and within those read-alouds, my students would often call out particular syllable types they had learned. Making the connection that patterns of syllables and vowel sounds they knew made up the language I read to them was powerful and gratifying. They saw in real-time that their skills were truly the building blocks to exciting texts. Students succeed and stay engaged when they have agency and can figure things out for themselves. I could tell that, particularly for my students who might have previously struggled in literacy, there was much higher engagement and a sense of communal pride in the strategies learned.

Curriculum implies that there is a prescribed method of instruction. However, this approach works in tandem with the Universal Design for Learning (learned about in EDSP 224 Meeting the Needs of All Students) so elegantly, it is obvious it is intended for all learners. This approach and designing lessons for OG instruction encourage all students to be present and constructivist participants. I am grateful to have a science-backed and researched approach to design lessons that allow for the least restrictive environment for all of my students, building a stronger and more diverse learning community.

Throughout the school year following this course, I also took the 50 hour practicum to refine my practice. The practicum included 5 observations from a certified OG Fellow. The following are my lesson plans, materials, and feedback provided for each of the 5 observations.