Introducing ReadingUniverse.org: A Free Online Platform About Teaching Reading and Writing

[Music] If you teach reading, you know how rewarding it can be. But you've probably also found that in every class there will be students who really struggle with learning to read.

Reading Universe is here to help. With expert guidance we've developed a new framework to support educators everywhere. It's called the Reading Universe Taxonomy.

How does this free professional resource work? It's built upon the leading research on how we learn to read. We are born with the ability to learn oral language, but making sense of the written word doesn't come naturally; so we need to teach students that the letters on a page represent the sounds we all use to speak with each other.

The path to literacy is through word recognition. Children need to crack the alphabetic code using phonological awareness and phonics. They need to be able to hear that a spoken word like "net" is made up of separate sounds: /n/, /e/, /t/. That's phonological awareness. And they need to connect those sounds to the letters of the alphabet to see 'n', 'e', 't' and read "net." That's phonics.

But being able to read words is just one part of the process. Students also need to understand what the words mean. That's called language comprehension. As children gain more knowledge of the world around them, they begin to recognize more of the words that they sound out. Then they can build on their knowledge through more reading. Only students who develop word recognition and language comprehension can achieve reading comprehension. It takes both to become a good reader.

Inside the Reading Universe Taxonomy you'll find everything you need to know about how to teach the reading skills your students need to master. Each literacy component is broken down into its many skills and processes. For each skill we show why it matters and how to teach it effectively, and we offer ideas for supporting students who need extra help. We don't just describe effective teaching, we show it within classroom video filmed in schools around the country.

Ongoing assessment is critical to effective teaching, so we provide guidance for determining what each student needs and how to tailor your instruction to meet those needs. Reading comprehension is not just one skill. It's the product of all the many skills that we teach our children.

We hope the Reading Universe Taxonomy will become your trusted go-to guide and that, together, we can give more children the chance to excel as readers and in their lives. This is Reading Universe.