Welcome to my new blog.

My name is Mark, and I serve NYC schools.

I’ve been blogging for some time over on Schools & Ecosystems, but my main focus these days is on language and literacy, rather than on the physical and social-ecological environments of schools. Plus, my writing has just totally petered out, so I felt the need for a renewed focus.

A short while ago, I discovered a whole world of research and knowledge on reading that kind of blew my mind. I knew there was stuff I didn’t know about early reading instruction, but it turned out that all those things I didn’t know about early reading instruction also meant that I didn’t know a whole lot of other things about upper grade literacy instruction, either. And boy, I sure wish I knew these things when I was in a self-contained classroom when I first began teaching.

Turns out, there’s a whole lot of other teachers and administrators who don’t know this stuff either.

So I’ve been since working to rectify my lack of knowledge, while also working to communicate and share that knowledge to the field.

My hope is that this blog will help me better ruminate on and communicate the things I’m learning as I dig deeper into the research and practices that support academic language and literacy development. My specific focus is on emerging multilingual and bilingual children, in addition to children with dialects that are too often looked down upon, as well as on children who have learning disabilities. My firm belief is that if we can improve instruction for these children, we will improve instruction for all children.

I would be honored if you join me here on this quest to learn more about literacy and language.