EBLI Blog

Speech to Print vs Print to Speech
If someone can talk, they can learn to read. The top priority with reading instruction is using a methodology that helps students very quickly master

How First Grade Teacher Stephane Bolton Transformed Her Classroom with EBLI
Stephane Bolton has spent more than two decades teaching first graders to read. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a Master’s degree, and

EBLI and OG: How Are They Different?
For over a century, educators have been searching for the best way to teach children to read. This blog will explore two approaches to literacy:

The What, Why, and How of EBLI
“I don’t understand what EBLI is and how it is different.” Although EBLI has been around for over two decades, there’s been a sharp increase

The Sky’s The Limit: Lift Every Learner to their Highest Potential
Introduction: The Influence of Expectations “High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.” This famous quote by Charles Kettering highlights the immense

Viki Stein: Rewiring a Dyslexic Brain
Guest Blog The Literacy Challenge: An Urgent Issue and a Path to Solutions We are facing an increasingly dismal literacy crisis. This problem has been

The Benefits of Speech to Print vs Print to Speech
Reading is a fundamental skill that opens doors to knowledge, imagination, and success. However, teaching children to read effectively has been debated and researched for

Spell Better, Read Better
If you can spell a word (by sound, not memorization), you can read that word! The reverse is not typically true. Many competent to exceptional

From Toddlers to Teens: Vocabulary Instruction Here, There, and Everywhere!
Word meaning is integral to all learning! If we can say a word but don’t understand the meaning, it has little value to our learning.

From Skeptic to Advocate: Lindsay’s EBLI Journey
“May you find benefit in this story of the evolution of an educator and her practices, told with refreshing honesty and vulnerability. Lindsay Journo, the

Rare National Certification Awarded to Michigan Teacher Training System
Product Certification Provides Transparency to Edtech Marketplace SEPTEMBER 2023 | Washington, D.C. – The K-5 Classroom EBLI Teacher Training & Student Lessons (ETSL) has earned

EBLI: Leveraging the Science of Learning to Empower ‘Teaching the World to Read’
Nora Chahbazi, EBLI Founder with Dr. Rachel Schechter, LXD Research Founder In the quest for effective literacy instruction, Nora Chahbazi, a neonatal nurse turned literacy

Trauma and Anxiety Surrounding Reading Difficulties
Trauma. Anxiety. Suffering. These experiences are widespread and deeply embedded within most, if not all, of the children and adults who experience sub-literacy or illiteracy.

Components that Make EBLI Instruction Unique
What Makes EBLI Instruction Unique When explaining EBLI to educators, administrators, and others, the most comment I get is “We already do that”. Reflecting on

My Podcast Interview with Darius Namdaran of Dyslexia Explored
I was recently interviewed by Darius Namdaran for his podcast Dyslexia Explored. Darius is an excellent interviewer, and I shared some insights with him on

Supported Reading in Text: Moving Rapidly from Decodable Books to Trade Books
How long should students continue reading decodable books? Do they need leveled books? When and how can they move to getting a book from the

Spelling and EBLI – Accelerate Reading with Accurate Spelling
Research says a lot about the importance of spelling as well as the connection between spelling and reading and writing. Here are just a few

Plea from a Former Balanced Literacy Teacher: Can We Let Go of Classroom Practices that Aren’t Working
“Teachers the world over are experiencing increasing awareness about the research that backs how reading should be taught – often referred to as the Science

Student Literacy Behaviors that Scream Success (and those that don’t)
How do I know if my student(s) or children are reading successfully? There is an abundance of information that is easily accessible about reading instructional
Parent Teacher Communication: Collaborating for Each Student
Effective communication in general is tricky, and communication between parents and educators takes this to a whole new level. There’s often so much emotion involved,

Phonics and Syllable Rules: Do We Need Them?
Writing about whether phonics and syllable rules are necessary for student learning makes me feel somewhat anxious and quite vulnerable. I’m certain that teaching rules

R-Controlled Vowels: How to Teach in a Way that Makes Sense
R-Controlled vowels. Bossy r. Pirate r. R-influenced vowels. R in charge, rhotic and non-rhotic. What do these terms mean? These terms are referring to words

Get Your Mitts on a Great Book: The EBLI Team Shares Their Favorites
The joy of reading and getting immersed in a great book is one of the main reasons we are obsessed with teaching kids and adults

How Learners Camouflage Literacy Struggles: A Shame-Based Secret
Think of something that you are not adept at, something that you can muddle through but it isn’t easy or enjoyable. For me, technology and

The Fallout of Illiteracy and Sub-Literacy: What happens to children who aren’t capable readers?
Those who read and write well, which most likely includes you if you’re reading this, typically take for granted the gift of literacy that allows

Behind The Scenes: The Truth About Reading Documentary
The seed that led to my involvement in The Truth About Reading documentary was planted back in 1997. My daughter’s reading struggles at the time were the

How to Make Our Teaching Even Better: How We Teach is as Important as What We Teach
Materials don’t teach children how to read, teachers teach children how to read. I don’t remember where I read or heard that but I do

Segmenting WITH Letters: Accelerate Reading and Spelling Acquisition
Since soon after I first taught my daughter Colleen to read back in the mid 1990’s, an experience that set me on this obsessive literacy

Streamline Effective Reading, Writing, and Spelling Instruction: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Let’s Marie Kondo literacy instruction! Or, follow the advice from the dynamic, amazing teacher and trainer Anita Archer: “Cut the fluff and teach the stuff.”

Fun Games to Boost Student Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is a hot topic in recent months and years, and rightly so! The literacy research is rock solid on the importance of phonemic

The Joy of Reading: Create a Book Club
Have you ever read a book and wanted to find someone else who had read it so you could discuss it with them? After reading The

Enhanced Read Alouds – Increase Vocabulary & Background Knowledge
Anytime is a fantastic time to take advantage of read alouds! In this blog, I’ll share some ways for both teachers and parents to do

Improve Fluency and Comprehension by Providing Supported Reading
The point of all reading instruction is for the learner to be able to accurately and automatically read the words on the page so they

Phonemic Awareness Instruction: Accelerate the Teaching and Learning of Phonemic Awareness
There has been much buzz, discussion, and debate around phonological and phonemic awareness instruction lately. Is instruction with larger units such as syllables and onset-rime

Avoid Island Teaching – Integrate Literacy Instruction
Twice in my life I’ve had the pleasure of living on tropical islands. For 3 years in the 1980s we lived at the Navy base

How One Kindergarten Teacher Got All of Her Students Reading
The 2019-2020 school year proved to be quite the year for US schools (and schools all over the world). In Michigan, where there were 120,000+

The Foundation that Leads to Great Reading – PART 2
Part 2: Accelerate Instruction As we established in Part 1 of this blog series, English is an alphabetic code. The skills needed to manage this code and

The Foundation that Leads to Great Reading – PART 1
This is Part 1 of a 2-part blog series. Once you’re done, be sure to check out Part 2! Part 1: Skills and Concepts There is

Pretend Reading: How does a child get good grades but read poorly?
How Might I Identify A Pretend Reader (and Speller)? In our reading center, parents often ask us how their child got all A’s on their

How to Motivate and Engage Students
How do we keep students ‘in the zone’ when they are learning? Whether learners are being taught in-person or virtually, providing instruction or guidance that

Simple Activities to Accelerate Learning
Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI) is an effective, efficient, systematic, research-based, revolutionary system of explicit literacy instruction, delivered through online, interactive training for classroom teachers and

Sub-literacy: A Problem Hiding in Plain Sight
What is Sub-Literacy? Sub = below. Literacy = the ability to read and write. Sub-literacy is a problem hiding in plain sight. Someone could be

Meet the EBLI Founder
In 1997, my daughter Colleen was in 2nd grade. Her math score on the Iowa test was so high (98th percentile) that she was placed into her

Why EBLI Was Created
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu Colleen, my middle daughter, has always been bright, kind-hearted, and curious. Her reading

How EBLI is Different from Traditional Instruction
EBLI is similar to traditional instruction in many ways: phonemic awareness and phonics instruction is structured, explicit, and systematic. Students immediately apply in reading and writing what was

What is EBLI: Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction?
Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI) is an effective, efficient, systematic, research-based, revolutionary system of explicit literacy instruction, delivered through online, interactive training for classroom teachers and