Dear Teacher Who Is Trying to Learn Structured Literacy,

I see you.

I see your effort, your questions, your uncertainty, and your commitment. Shifting away from balanced literacy, the approach you’ve trusted, studied, and poured yourself into for years, is not easy. You built your teaching identity on strategies that felt intuitive and compassionate. You watched students light up as they engaged with books and joined reading groups. For so long, this was the way.

So, let’s start here. This is hard.

Changing how you teach reading is not just a professional shift. It can feel deeply personal. You may be grieving the time and energy spent on methods that didn’t serve all students the way you hoped. You may be navigating frustration, guilt, or overwhelm. That’s normal. That’s human.

But I need you to know something important. You are not alone, and you are doing something extraordinary.

You are choosing to learn how the brain actually learns to read. That is a powerful and courageous decision.

Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene reminds us that human brains were not born to read. Reading is not a natural process like speaking. The brain must rewire itself, forming new neural pathways that connect the visual system with language and sound processing regions. That rewiring does not happen through exposure alone. It requires explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, and the structure of language.

This is what structured literacy offers. And this is why it matters so much.

Structured literacy is not just for students with dyslexia, although it is essential for them. It is also effective for many other learners who may otherwise fall through the cracks in a print-rich, meaning-first classroom. Research shows that at least 40 percent of students require explicit, systematic instruction to learn to read proficiently, and many more benefit from it. It strengthens decoding, builds confidence, and gives students tools for accessing complex texts as they grow.

When structured literacy is delivered in Tier 1, more students get what they need right away. That means fewer students will require intervention. That means your colleagues in Tier 2 and Tier 3 can focus more intensively on the children who truly need it. That means families will experience fewer battles, fewer tears, and fewer moments of despair over why their child still cannot read.

Your work matters.

I see you staying after school to learn new routines. I see you trying to figure out decodable texts, syllable types, and phoneme-grapheme mapping. I see you encouraging your teammates and asking better questions in data meetings. I see you noticing that students are actually remembering and applying what you’ve taught.

It is working. And even if you cannot see the full impact yet, a student and their family will experience a better path because of you.

You are not just teaching differently. You are breaking cycles.

You are rewriting a story that, for too long, was filled with failure, confusion, and anxiety for far too many families. You are helping ensure that more children learn to read in the way their brain needs to learn. That is an extraordinary gift.

So keep going. Stay curious. Stay grounded in what the science says and in what you are beginning to see with your own eyes.

I am cheering for you. And I am thankful for you.

With deep respect,
Miss Purcell