Seven Languages, One Goal: Addressing My Students' Unique Literacy Needs

I work as a literacy specialist in Madison, WI, supporting about 160 K-8 students. Our students come from 30 countries and we have seven languages represented in the school, creating unique literacy needs. Working with a high number of multilingual learners means that providing a strong phonetic, structured literacy approach in instruction is important. 

Though I have worked in literacy in various capacities since I got my Master’s in the Art of Teaching in 2014, I have never learned the nuts and bolts of the English language the way I did in the Slant System training course. Intensive in nature, the program provided me with the background necessary to understand reading challenges and the prescriptive program to help aid struggling readers. After finishing the initial Slant System program in November 2024, I decided to go on to pursue my add-on reading license. My first course has been on dyslexia and the Slant System training amply prepared me with the foundation for this class.

In my school, I am working to implement the Slant System training with various students I teach in one-on-one and small group settings. I have a first-grade student who I am especially interested in applying the Slant System to; she’s a smart student who struggles with phonemic awareness. If I hadn’t had the training, I believe I would have felt helpless about how to best help her. Getting this training has changed the way I see struggling readers. I can identify the characteristics of a struggling reader much more readily. I also feel I now have a roadmap of how to begin appropriate interventions. 

I feel so fortunate to have received a scholarship from Classmates Literacy to take the Slant System course and highly recommend it to any teacher interested in deepening their professional understanding of how to teach reading and writing. Unlocking the key to providing structured literacy is so empowering. Truly, all teachers should have this course in their toolbelt.