#literacymatters

Phonics Teacher Training Course helps parents and aspiring educators understand the structure of phonics and trains them with skills and techniques to guide children to Learn to Read by Phonics.

Table of Contents How to Teach a Child to Read with Phonics? Introducing the Phonics Sounds Oral Blending Introduce the Letters and Their Sounds Moving Onto Blending First Words

(Really trying not to doxx myself here.)

Sometimes, my job requires me to edit articles professionals send in so they can be published. Let me tell you, a lot of these people cannot write.

Like - the basics of spelling and grammar are there but they write run-on sentences, change perspective and tenses within the same paragraph and aren’t very engaging…

I’m working on one article right now and it’s…really bad. And the worst part is? This person assists other professionals in the field with getting their research published.

They worked as a TEACHER. They have a BA in English. I know publishing research requires a different set of writing skills than writing short form content for a magazine but this article requires more than just the “light editing” my supervisor said was required in order to make it readable.

Adjective

1. able to read and write

2. well-educated; having or showing extensive knowledge, learning, or culture

3. versed in literature

4. knowledgeable or capable (in a specified field)

economically literate, computer-literate

it’s a pet peeve of mine, just like some people correct you’re vs your or their vs there vs they’re.

there are people genuinely fighting me in the replies. one even said the post itself “defeats the purpose of whimsy” and i had to tell them you can be both *whimsical* and literate. another one commented that language isn’t real and to just say whatever you want….. is this really what we’ve come to as a society? are we that anti intellectual? or has chatgpt fired your brains that much? the literacy rates alone here in the US among teens and young adults is CRAZY, then you have genuine corn balls online telling people to not correct their grammar. i’m sorry? since when has being stupid become so normalized?

And I feel weirdly bad about that number. When I was in middle school, I could clear six books in a month or less. Those books were at or above my reading level. Now at 21, I’m easily sucked into my phone, I’m burnt out, I’m exhausted, and I’m BUSY. I am also facing chronic pain, brain fog, and fatigue. I read slower now. Being hard on myself for that only makes me want to read less and less because I’m not doing it the “right way” (Aka the way I did in middle school).

But I shouldn’t feel bad about reading “only six books.”

A recent survey showed that 41% of Americans read NO books in 2025 and a further 27% read 1-4 books. The graph is pictured below.

By reading just six books, I have read more than the majority of Americans in under half the year’s time.

If you’re seeing this post and feeling bad about reading slower than you used to—or maybe you could never read fast at all—you don’t have to. The literacy crisis in America is real. But even reading a few books this year is actively fighting back! Read as many as you can. Even just ONE is better than most people.

A link to the survey, if you want to know more!

https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/53804-most-americans-didnt-read-many-books-in-2025

Monday Momentum: Protect the Progress

There’s a shared frustration many educators are carrying right now— not because students can’t learn, but because what’s learned isn’t always sustained.

When reading doesn’t continue beyond the classroom, progress slows… and over time, it fades.

Research—from Hermann Ebbinghaus to modern learning science—has long shown that without consistent practice, new learning is easily lost. With it, it lasts.

This isn’t about fault. It’s about alignment.

What happens at school matters. What happens at home reinforces it.

Even something as simple as 30 minutes of daily reading— a familiar book, a favorite story— can strengthen understanding in ways that carry forward.

Not more pressure. Just consistency.