Over the holidays, I read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, and one of the ideas that has stayed with me long after I closed the book is this:

If we want to improve at something, we don’t rely on motivation.  We build a ritual around it.

And it got me thinking about reading, surprise, surprise!

Over the holidays, I stumbled on Everwood, a show that felt good to watch. It wasn’t too silly, or too teenagey, it’s just a really nice drama. It also not been some mind-numbing binge; it’s quiet, character-driven, and surprisingly… engaging. The storylines are relatable. I was a teenager once (lol), and I parent teenagers now.  And, oddly enough, it’s full of rich language. Vocabulary like eloquent and ruminate are sprinkled through everyday dialogue and used naturally by kids. The other day, I heard the word asinine for the first time, and I had to look it up! The other interesting thing is that there are no phones and no laptops on the dining table. No constant buzzing or scrolling. Just people talking, thinking, and interacting together.

I’ve had a lot of interest recently in how I design and run my 4-week literacy themes, so I thought I’d share a little more about my process.

I was just having a great conversation with two colleagues about this, and it struck me that it might be helpful to turn it into a blog post for anyone wanting to give something similar a go.

This is simply my approach; it’s not a formula, but it’s worked really well with my learners, particularly those who are dyslexic, autistic, ADHD, or have language difficulties.

At the end of each term, I sit down with a large set of data: reading speeds, accuracy scores, writing samples, spelling patterns, behaviour notes, and confidence observations. I write individual reports for every student I teach, and while this is time-consuming, it is also one of the most important parts of my work.

I also like to harness the ease of plugging data into Chat GPT, and as I did I could see some patterns emerging. As I have shared these previously, I thought I might also share the end of 2025 data. It tells an important story about literacy progress that often gets missed when we focus on a single score or number.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and we’re now past the halfway point in my 31 Days of Learning About Dyslexia series. Over the past week and a bit, I’ve kept unpacking common myths, everyday classroom signs, and practical insights that help us understand dyslexia more deeply. These have all been videos, and here I’ve uploaded the transcript and asked Assistive AI to break it down for you into easy to read chunks. Here’s what we’ve learned from Days 11 to 20.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and I’ve been posting daily videos about it to raise awareness and understanding. I decided to pop these all into a short, easy-to-digest blog post. I see this as a time to build understanding, empathy, and action for those with this common learning difference. Over the past 10 days, I’ve been sharing daily video insights to help bring some clarity to dyslexia and shed light on what it really means for learners and families.

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are the building blocks of sentences because they tell us who or what the sentence is about. Nouns can be concrete, such as a person, place, or thing, or abstract, such as a feeling or idea. They can also be broken down further into common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns do not need a capital letter; however, proper nouns do, as they name something specific.

Whenever I am teaching a new student in my practice, chances are I am not just teaching them reading, but also writing. As Pam Allym (2014) says, “reading is breathing in, writing is breathing out”. The two areas are interconnected, and I wouldn’t see myself as a good teacher if I were not teaching both. Generally, I find that after doing a literacy assessment, most students do not know how to write a coherent sentence. Therefore, starting with sentence-level learning for all my students provides clear boundaries for young or struggling writers.

Each term, I like to take a look at what is going on in my private tutoring practice. This helps me see where I need to make adjustments with teaching. I’m not just looking at increases in words per minute (WPM) and accuracy, but in the how and why of what we’ve done. I fed my data into Chat GPT and was able to draw out a summary of progress, which links to my instructional choices, and how this all ties back to evidence-based models like Scarborough’s Reading Rope and the Writing Rope.

I saw a post this morning saying this from a literacy intervention specialist: 

“Rainbow Words

Write tricky words in different colours. Seeing them in colour helps your brain remember!”

Some evidence supports the statement that using different colours to write tricky words helps memory; however, it is not universally proven to help with dyslexia, and when I am talking about busting dyslexia myths, this is something I bring up in every presentation I do.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of interviewing Dr Eunice Fuchs. If you haven’t already listened to the podcast, you can listen here or watch on YouTube here. I have found myself going back to this podcast several times, and so much of the conversation resonated with me. Dr Fuchs had so many teachable moments packed into the hour that I thought I might take the time to unpack these and pose some reflective questions.

Listen to the podcast first, then go through and take some notes.

A knowledge-rich curriculum refers to a curriculum that is deliberately designed to build students’ background knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding of the world in a systematic, cumulative way. We don’t leave this to chance or assume it will just ‘come along’ with generic reading or experience. (Consider biologically primary and secondary knowledge.)

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to attend Lyn Stone’s conference, Spelling for Life. This professional development opportunity was aimed at the upper primary year levels. There was a wonderful mix of attendees and I always love making new connections with teachers and tutors around New Zealand.

As Term 2 draws to a close, I’ve taken time to reflect on the wonderful gains made by the learners I have the privilege of teaching. Across a wide range of ages and learning profiles, progress has been real, measurable, and personal.

Cursive handwriting is a complex topic for students with dyslexia (a difficulty with reading) and dysgraphia (a difficulty with writing). While often promoted for its cognitive benefits, the experience for neurodiverse learners is nuanced, offering both unique advantages and significant challenges.

Term 1 Data Snapshot: Why My Students Are Making Record Reading Gains

It’s the end of Term 1, and the reading progress I'm seeing in my tutoring sessions is some of the strongest I've experienced in a while. While the national shift to structured literacy in New Zealand is likely contributing to improved outcomes, the most noticeable progress in my work comes from layering three key instructional threads: phonics, morphology, and structured writing.

English is a morpho-phonemic language, meaning its spelling system is based not only on sound (phonemes) but also on meaning (morphemes). When students learn both how words sound and how they’re built, starting with common prefixes and suffixes, then Latin bases, they unlock the logic of the language. This is boosting their confidence, accuracy, and long-term retention.

When Is It Time to Stop Tutoring?

As a literacy tutor, especially as the end of term approaches (like now!) and I’m planning the next term’s timetable, I often get asked a big question: “How will I know when it’s time to stop tutoring?” It’s a great question, especially for parents of neurodiverse learners who may not follow the same trajectory as their peers.

Case Study: Turning Around a Year 6 Struggling Reader in 20 Weeks

In January, I introduced the profile of a Year 6 student with significant red flags in reading and writing fluency. Despite near-perfect phonological awareness and basic letter/sound knowledge, his non-word reading and spelling were highly insecure, indicating trouble connecting sound to print. His initial Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) was a concerning 35 WPM with only 88% accuracy (well below the 121–146 WPM benchmark for his age), and his writing was essentially one run-on sentence.

My approach was intensive and multi-layered, tackling gaps quickly:

1. Gaps in Phonics/Spelling Rules

2. Morphology (for multisyllable words and vocabulary)

3. Writing Craft (starting with sentence structure)

Teaching this student, mostly via Zoom, has been an absolute pleasure. After consistently addressing insecure phoneme/grapheme correspondences, introducing prefixes (like un- and re-), and explicitly teaching sentence types and punctuation, the results after just 20 weeks are gratifying.

While his reading speed still has room to grow, his accuracy is now nearly perfect, and his pace and confidence are rising steadily. We’ve been able to move past the soundpack entirely to focus on advanced morphology and specific types of paragraph writing (e.g., compare/contrast). This journey shows that with targeted, structured intervention, remarkable progress is possible, quickly building mana and confidence for older students.

Recently, I’ve had a lot of older students join me who are struggling with reading and spelling... Up to the beginning of last year, I would be going over the same phoneme/grapheme correspondences in addition to spelling rules. I found that I was getting really stuck on this.

Morphology is the study of meaningful word parts, like prefixes, suffixes, and base words. It explains why musician and magician both end in -cian, and how sign, signature, and signal are all connected. For many of my older learners, especially those with dyslexia or other learning differences, morphology has been a total game-changer.

Did you know TikTok can be more than just dance trends? Over the past year, I’ve been creating short, practical tutorials on phonics, spelling rules, and writing skills. These bite-sized videos make literacy learning accessible, fun, and easy to fit into your day. No TikTok account required.