Literacy skills and technology: The pros and cons

In episode 29 of the Are they 18 yet?™ podcast, I did part 3 of a 3-part series on literacy (you can find parts 1 and 2 in episodes 27 and 28.) Since the influx of technology, a lot of us are left wondering how this will impact our children's learning; especially their reading and writing skills. ✅That's why I discussed the following in this episode: ✅The difference between "explicit learning" and "implicit learning". ✅The kind of opportunities kids need in order to develop solid reading/spelling skills. ✅Why typical reading instruction leaves some kids behind; plus what pieces are typically missing. ✅The pros and cons of technology for struggling readers. In this episode, I mention a blog post called "What is texting doing to reading and spelling skills?" where I dive further in to this conversation. I also mentioned a simple protocol you can use to study challenging spelling patterns (like affixes), which I outline in this article. Finally, I also talked about my Word Study Toolkit, which offers a set of definitions and concepts you can use to help build the skills kids need to be fluent readers and spellers. Here’s what’s inside the Word Study Toolkit: Over 200 flashcards with prefixes, root/base words, suffixes, and multiple meaning words to build strong reading and spelling skills. Word lists with key orthographic concepts, so you have a quick guide to important word parts needed for strong vocabulary skills. Descriptions of 17 key concepts for building morphology/orthography skills. All flashcards and word lists have definitions, so your students actually remember how words are spelled. BONUS: Video tutorials with a quick-guide for using the toolkit to build reading and spelling skills. You can get instant access to the Word Study Toolkit here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/wordstudy The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding.