Decodable Texts

Recently I was invited to go to Sunshine Publications for a day to meet with editors with the view of making decodable texts available online.  We heard how the books are structured and about the deliberate choices of illustrations. The publication team wanted to listen to teachers and practitioners about what would be helpful in the digital versions. We had lots of time to talk and make suggestions so I hope they were helpful. Charlotte Gaston from Pt England School attended and will trial the digital versions with her class. 

Prior to going I spent some time researching decodable texts and how they fit into a reading programme. I was opened to the world of Structured Literacy, The Science of Reading and the battle between 3-cue reading, Reading Recovery and Structured Literacy. 

In my research I found Lifting Literacy Aotearoa and dived into this as it is in a New Zealand setting. Their manifesto made for interesting reading and has links to research. 

I had to get my head around a different way of teaching that would be needed with decodable texts. A phonics or code-based approach is used in the early years with the decodable books supporting the practice and generalisation of concepts and elements taught so they can experience success.

This is such a change to using natural language texts and the 3-cue approach that professional learning would be necessary to affect change in schools. It is also a decision that would need to be made school-wide and not done in isolated pockets. 

The Ministry of education have been rolling out Ready to Read Phonics Plus books to school since the end of March this year. Support resources are available for these series.

The Ministry of education has also been reviewing the Reading Recovery Programme. It is now known as Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support. 

So from being invited to spend time at Sunshine Publications came a pathway of learning that I am still trying to make sense of and to understand what this means to teachers and learners.