Wilson’s dedicated team of Literacy Specialists is united by a shared passion for putting Structured Literacy into practice to advance student outcomes. We sat down with Kerstin Larson to get her take on how we’re helping teachers hit the right note with literacy education in the classroom.
I’m Kerstin Larson and this is my second year at Wilson. I first started teaching in 1993 as a music teacher, so this is a second career for me. I stumbled into my encore career in 2010 when I started doing reading intervention as a paraprofessional in my local elementary school. I wanted to increase the ripple effect of how many students I could help learn to read, so I became certified in the Wilson Reading System®, found a job at Wilson, and have been lucky enough to work here for a couple years now, empowering teachers to help more students succeed.
Coaching is vital. Studies show that side-by-side coaching is the most effective way for teachers to adopt a new program. At Wilson, we provide that hands-on support, working with teachers in their classrooms to ensure they feel confident and empowered to implement Fundations® effectively. By the end of the year, teachers are grateful for the collaboration and the positive impact on their students.
I wasn’t introduced to Fundations until I started working at Wilson, and it’s been transformative. Coming from the intervention side, it’s amazing for me to think about how much more helpful it would’ve been if my schools had Fundations as their Tier 1 program. Without a solid Tier 1 foundation, too many students ended up needing Tier 2 intervention. Fundations builds strong foundational skills and helps target support early, so that only students who truly need additional help move on to Tier 2, or Tier 3 interventions like Wilson Reading System.
Fun in Focus provides ready-made lesson plans tailored to specific student needs, which makes planning Fundations Tier 2 intervention much easier on the instructor. With the Fun in Focus Intervention Kit, educators can simply pull the lesson that aligns with the Unit they’re working on, allowing them to provide immediate, targeted support without the extra prep time. Teachers can easily switch out elements, like specific words, to better address student challenges, but the core of the lesson is already prepared. This efficiency makes it a powerful tool for helping students succeed.
The key to a successful start is understanding the Teacher’s Manual. Once teachers familiarize themselves with the manual and its layout, lesson planning becomes easier. I also recommend accessing the demo videos in the Learning Community. These videos allow teachers to see the activities they’ll be teaching the next day, which helps them feel more confident.
For experienced teachers, a great way to keep skills sharp is to review the Activity Cue Cards while watching the demo videos. This can help identify areas where there’s been a bit of drift, like forgetting to build additional words or skipping over specific parts of an activity, so you’re staying true to the program year after year.
First of all, I understand that teachers are tired of trying program after program that doesn’t work. But I always encourage them: “Give it a year. Teach it with fidelity for one year, and then let’s talk.” Time and time again, after that year, they are singing Fundations’ praises, seeing the difference it makes in their students’ reading skills.
I’ve found that when we’re worried about motivation with our kiddos, it might be a sign we’ve gotten a little bit lax with engagement. It’s important to remember that even if the material feels repetitive to us, it’s brand new to them every day. Keep students engaged by actively involving them in the lessons, giving them opportunities to lead or demonstrate. For example, choose a student to be the model teacher for Drill Sounds/Warm-Up. Getting in front of the classroom never gets old for them; they love to be part of the lesson.
Everything we do in Fundations is based on the science of reading. It’s not a guess. We know what works because 30 years of research have shown us how students best learn to read, and we’ve incorporated this Structured Literacy approach into the classroom.