You can click on the link for direct access to the website for more information.
Tools 4 Reading: Have you heard about people moving from word walls toward sound walls? Tools 4 Reading provides teachers the opportunity to learn about the science behind how our brains learn to read, it provides information about phonemes, graphemes and morphemes with their definitions and examples. You will review phonemes and the mouth placement for each sound. Additional material can be purchased including a sound wall and prompt cards to support your teaching. I would recommend this course for K-3 teachers, as well as those who teach Special Education. This course was the first I completed on my science of reading journey and I highly recommend it. We use the sound wall each day, and it has been very beneficial to my Grade 1 students. Completed 2021
Orton Gillingham IMSE: IMSE stands for the Institute of Multisensory Education. Orton Gillingham is named after its creators and the approach has been in existence since the 1930's. This is a direct, multi-sensory approach to teach literacy. It is helpful to all students, but can be especially beneficial for those students with dyslexia. This course is aimed at K-2 teachers, or when teaching students who need reinforcement of skills. You will learn a systematic approach to phonemic awareness and phonetic instruction, as well as how to introduce encoding of the sounds that students are learning (the grapheme phoneme correspondence GPC). Completed 2021
IMSE provides a free linktree where you can access resources such as blending boards, flip books, or even strategies to help your students learn. This course is quite expensive to take, I would suggest you look at the free site and use what you can in your classroom. Free Resources
Carla Siravo is a teacher who works for IMSE. She and her husband create videos with catchy lyrics to help reinforce reading skills. My students love these songs, and they help students learn how to decode words and other strategies that are required when learning how to read.
Teachers for Reading Canada provides free Orton Gillingham training to teachers. You need to register as soon as it becomes available because spaces fill up quickly. Teachers for Reading Canada
Basics of Spelling and Decoding: Offered through IDA Ontario, this course is a good fit for brand new teachers, or experienced teachers who are learning about structured literacy. It is $75 to take and/or free for students enrolled in a faculty of education. The Basics of Spelling and Decoding is a course you take on your own time by watching pre-recorded videos and completing practice activities to help you learn more about spelling generalizations and when they are used. You will receive an overview of basic to complex phonics, spelling, multisylalbic words and morphology. It is a good introductory course for teachers in K-6. Completed 2022
Top Ten Tools: This course is offered on the Tools 4 Reading Website and was created by Dr. Deb Glaser. You can go through these courses at your own speed by watching videos and completing the follow up activities. It is very detailed and you will learn more about the Science of Reading. This course is designed for new teachers or experienced teachers new to structured literacy. It is more expensive to take but the learning is invaluable. Completed 2022
Introduction to Structured Literacy: This course is offered through the IDA Ontario and is fairly competitive to be selected. Course registration opens in the Summer and fills up quickly. By taking this course you also have access to the Basics of Spelling and Decoding, as well as the Top Ten Tools. Each month you meet with a volunteer who is a teacher in Ontario to discuss the strategies learned. You will review the 5 pillars of structured literacy including phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. This course is suitable for educators from K-6. There is also information for French Immersion teachers, and regualrly the group discussion was split by divison, or French Immersion, giving everyone a chance to learn. This course was incredibly beneficial to me as I began my journey into structured literacy. Having an instructor who was expeienced and very knowledgeable was instrumental as I navigated strucutred literacy for the first time. When I took the course it was around $300 and there was a subsidy available to those who required it. If you are able to register and be accepted this is the best course I have taken to date. Completed 2022
Acadience Learning: Acadience is a research based, baseline screener for students K-8. This training is also available for teachers in French Immersion and that screener is called Idapel. Acadience provides benchmark goals for students at the beginning, middle and end of the year. It is an opportunity for teachers to identify students who may be at risk for learning how to read and progressing as they read. The materials are free to access and administer to your students. There is also progress monitoring available for students who need the skills reinforced for when you want to check in on how they are improving. The course has a fee to enroll but it will provide you with explicit instructions on the reason and data behind each testing measure, how to administer and score each screening measure. This screener is being used across many school board in Ontario and will continue to be accessed as it was one of the recommended screeners published in the OHRC's Right to Read Report. Completed 2022
Structured Word Inquiry: SWI is important when looking at the morphology of words. What is the meaning behind words? Where does the history derive from? Why is this important as we teach our students how to read? By taking a class in structured word inquiry you will learn how to use word matrices to analyze words and show their relationships. For example the word goes is actually go + es --> goes. The pronunciation changes but the meaning stays the same. The same for the word does: do + es --> does. It is fascinating to learn about morphology and it will help your understanding for teaching students. This course is suitable for K-8 teachers. The instructor also offers other courses that you can take. You can use the website Etymonline to learn more about the history of words. Completed 2022
IDA Ontario: The IDA Ontario or Institute of Dyslexia Association of Ontario offers many free workshops and resources for teachers learning about structured literacy and Dyslexia. You can also access previous workshops that have been offered. I highly recommend taking a look at this website for more information, to answer any questions you may have, or to continue learning about structured literacy.