The Secret Ingredients in Reading, Pain and Purpose - Part 2

25 Aug 2020 · 3 min

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2:34

In this monologue, the author of Reversed: A Memoir and Literacy Problem Solver speaks to Lois Letchford about the emotional pain and purpose that drive educators to seek new methods for teaching struggling readers. He explains how chronic stress impairs the brain’s ability to learn, putting children (and teachers) into a fight‑or‑flight state where decoding instruction fails. Recognizing this pain point as a catalyst for change, he describes turning to poetry as a “secret ingredient” that re‑engages vulnerable learners. Poetry’s humor, visual elements, wordplay, and the act of reading it aloud create an inviting, low‑stress environment, a strategy also endorsed by Dr. Tim Rasinski. The speaker urges educators to incorporate poetry to transform reading instruction for the most at‑risk children, concluding with a call to action to share and support the approach.

Chapters

Hello, Lois Letchford. I'm the author of the book Reversed: A Memoir and Literacy Problem Solver, talking about the pain and the purpose leading to a secret ingredient for reading success. It's valid. When you get to the crossroads, I cannot go on with this pain any longer. Then you start to question, what else do I have to do to teach this child to read? And you see as a teacher and a mother that you are required to do something else. And when you reach that pain point, nothing's working. There's failure all around you. The child is distraught. You are distraught. No learning occurs. And in fact, The brain is stressed, and when the brain is stressed, you end up with nothing. If this is the brainstem, the brain cannot function. The child cannot take anything in. And even though we repeat it and we repeat it and we repeat it, the child gives out nothing. They're in fight and flight mode. Disastrous for the child, disastrous for you. So that's what we've got to change first. Before we go on to anything else. So there is much more involved in reading instruction than just simply teaching decoding. That child must be with us and we must engage them and say, this is worth your effort. So once we get to that pain point, what we are doing is not working, it gives us a point for inspiration. What else do I have to do? The first thing I do Is— was I went to poetry. And the poetry itself was transformative. Dr. Tim Rasinski also uses poetry. Why? Because the first thing you do is read it to the child. It is engaging. Often there's humour involved. There are pictures involved. There are wordplay involved. The poems can be simple. The poetry can be complex. So you've got— this is the basis. The basis and the secret ingredient is poetry for teaching our children who are most vulnerable and who struggle with reading the absolute most. So thank you. Think about poetry. Hit like, hit subscribe, and let's teach our children to read.