19th Annual Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Symposium
The focus for the 2021 Symposium is: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics in K-3 Grades.
Research evidence, collected over several decades, has clearly laid out the case that emerging readers must have a solid foundation in phonemic awareness and phonics. We have also learned that the primary cause of dyslexia is rooted in difficulty with phoneme processing. It is imperative that all educators who work with students in K-3 understand why these components of reading are so vital, how to quickly and efficiently assess students’ skill level in these areas, and how to plan and deliver effective instruction and powerful interventions.
Jan Hasbrouck, PhD
Let’s Launch Successful Readers: Effective Instruction in Phonemic Awareness and Phonics in K-3
Abstract: In this session, Dr. Hasbrouck defined phonemic awareness and phonics and provided an overview of the research on these foundational skills. She also shared practical, classroom-proven strategies to efficiently assess and effectively teach these skills.
Bio: Dr. Jan Hasbrouck is an educational consultant, author, and researcher. She served as Executive Consultant to the Washington State Reading Initiative and as an advisor to the Texas Reading Initiative. Dr. Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and literacy coach for 15 years before teaching at the University of Oregon and later as a professor at Texas A&M University.
Dr. Hasbrouck has provided educational consulting to individual schools across the United States as well as in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Germany, helping teachers, specialists, and administrators design and implement effective assessment and instructional programs targeted to help low performing readers.
Dr. Hasbrouck earned her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Oregon, and completed her Ph.D. at Texas A&M. Her research in areas of reading fluency, reading assessment, coaching, and second language learners has been published in numerous professional books and journals. She is the author and coauthor of several books including The Reading Coach: A How-to Manual for Success, RTI for Educational Leaders, Reading Fluency and several assessment tools. Dr. Hasbrouck works with the McGraw Hill publishers as an author of their Treasures and Wonders reading and intervention programs. In 2008, she and her colleague, Dr. Vicki Gibson partnered to form Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates, with the mission to provide high quality professional development to educators nationally and internationally.
Wiley Blevins, PhD
A Fresh Look at Phonics
Abstract: In this session, Dr. Wiley Blevins presented the key characteristics of strong phonics instruction. This presentation shared information about the readiness skills of phonemic awareness/alphabet recognition, sensible scope and sequence, blending, dictation, word awareness (word building and word sorts), high frequency words, connected text reading, and teacher expertise. Dr. Blevins highlighted the 10 common causes of phonics instructional failure. Participants learned about these instructional issues through a combination of discussion and hands-on exploration.
Bio: Dr. Blevins is an author and educational consultant living in New York City. He received his bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Bowling Green State University. He completed graduate school at Harvard University. Dr. Blevins has taught elementary school in the United States and in South America, and was Director of Special Projects for Scholastic in New York City. He works with school districts around the United States, evaluating their teaching practices and use of instructional materials.
Dr. Blevins has conducted educational research on topics ranging from fluency to the use of decodable text, created reading instructional programs for companies such as Scholastic and McGraw-Hill, and has written over 15 books for teachers. These include: A Fresh Look at Phonics, Phonics from A to Z, Teaching Phonics and Word Study in the Intermediate Grades, Phonemic Awareness Activities for Early Reading Success, Building Fluency, and Teaching Nonfiction. He also writes children’s books, such as the Spooky Tales Retold series and the upcoming Ick and Crud early chapter book series.
In his recent book, A Fresh Look at Phonics, Dr. Blevins explains the ingredients of phonics instruction that lead to the greatest student gains, based on two decades of research in classrooms. His current interests include the use of adaptive technology and differentiated teacher training.
Event Photos
