Podcast Review: Deconstructing the Rope

 I must admit that it wasn't until recently that I learned about Scarborogh's Rope through the podcast The Science of Reading. Now that I've been an active listener and I've also searched for more information, I can confidently say that this is concept is one I will continue to learn about. 

My first encounter with it was while listening to Season 3, Episode Three- Deconstructing the Rope: Decoding with Lousia Moats. Simply put, Scarborogh's Rope represents the different aspects/skills of reaching that when twisted together allow one to be a proficient reader. 

One of the strands that was the topic focus of this particular episode was decoding. Being one of my favorite topics, I figured this would be a great place to start to learn more about the rope and how all of the concepts are pulled together. 

One of the things Moats shared was: "that 50% of the words in spoken English are decodable if you know the phoneme grapheme correspondences. You can spell another 34% in addition with one error (usually on the vowel) another 10% if you know morpheme structures and the way morphemes are spelled take into account the origin of the word or language in which it came from etymology." 

This to me stands out as one of the many reasons why younger students need to have the proper time to learn through structured literacy. They need explicit instruction in these areas to succeed with this strand. If this strand is not attained properly, the others will literally unravel. Both decoding and encoding need to have occupancy in our teaching time, yet many school districts and programs leave this area up to chance while students read and attempt to figure it out alone. There of course will be some who can learn how to read and spell words on their own, but as a teacher,  I'd prefer to be the support that student needs in his or her learning. 

I am very excited to listen to more episodes of the podcast to take a deep dive into Scarborogh's Rope and learn what the specialists have to say. Who's ready to jump in with me and learn more? Go download the podcast, research, and get excited with me to include this in your repertoire! 

Final Thoughts: My goal for this blog was to share out quickly the concept, resources, and starter information, let's keep up the learning together! Keep the passion for reading, keep advocating for structured literacy!


Resource: Here is a great link to use to begin your own search on Scarborogh's Rope!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Leadership Mini-Series: F.E.E.D the Teacher Leader in You! Part #2: Engagement

Greetings everyone and welcome to my blog this week! I'm so glad you're here for our mini-series leading up to a great event at the end of the month: the KDP, Delta Rho Teacher Leadership Development Summit on 2/24/24. It is a free virtual summit open to all educators everywhere! Please visit my social media for information, or reach out to me! Our theme this year is “Leaders are hungry... F.E.E.D the teacher leader in you!” Each week we will break down F.E.E.D and get excited to hear our amazing presenters and keynote speakers that will give us the fuel we need to confidently lead in our classrooms, schools, and beyond! Last week we talked about “F”- foundations. Discovering our own definition for teacher leadership is the foundation for growing as a teacher leader, and embracing the role. Foundational skills also include knowing yourself as a leader, and believing you are one. Self-reflection, networking and professional learning are great ways to establish your foundation t...
Read more

T.E.A.C.H er Appreciation Month, Part #1

Welcome to Teacher Appreciation Month educator friends! For most places there is a week designated to teacher appreciation, but I vote we celebrate all month! With that in mind, let's celebrate with the acronym T.E.A.C.H. Each week I'll focus on a different letter and what makes educators unique and essential to our world. Today let's start with "T" for Time . Time is one of the most valuable things that we have. We all know that it cannot be bought, exchanged, or given back once it is gone. Teachers know this better than anyone because of the amount of time they spend on work for the profession. From lesson plans, reports, reading, spreadsheets, videos.... and the list goes on, teachers can easily spend hours in their classroom or at home working on things that need to be completed. This is all to better serve their students, schools, and the community.  It's often difficult for teachers to choose between personal time for themselves and doing something that ...
Read more

Veteran Teachers' Corner: Post #3- The Journey of Curriculum Writing- Out with the Old, In with the New (and Old).

 One of the overarching ideas for rewriting the ELA curriculum was the concept of keeping what already worked and add in new details to create and enhance the new version. I paused and thought "would writing from scratch actually be easier in this case?" I determined given the timeframe (see blog post #2) that answer was definitely a no. Others who were creating curriculums from a blank template had a more difficult road to travel by for sure. But for me, as an educator and writer, weaving new and old concepts was a challenge in of itself.  I decided the best way was to start by reading each section what was there, look at new notes I made throughout the year during lessons and reflection, and add those in. There were of course essential pieces we had to include such as new standards, cross-curricular activities, and career readiness. While those were a "copy-paste" movement, it took some time to locate them. Once found, I added all of them into the first unit of t...
Read more