Pamela Snow

My previous account (@PamelaSnow2) was hacked so please disregard that handle and join me here 🌻

My prediction? The data will head south and the people responsible for the policy settings will already have headed for the hills, so there will be no accountability. This is another unethical poorly designed education experiment.

These blunders are inexcusable. A school I was working with once had a prep (reception) “classroom” located in a walkway - by design 🤦🏻‍♀️. The teacher coped for less than a term and then got her handyman dad to come in over the weekend and build a partition wall. “Illegal” and only partially effective, but the original layout was a bad joke.

@dylanwiliam @PCSnow1604 +1, I can relate. The school I worked at was renovated got a computer lab with a glass pyramid roof. It looked impressive at first but it turned into a greenhouse. It got so hot that the computers overheated & eventually broke down. The pyramid room changed into SpecEd instead…

Thank goodness we don't design hospitals with the low level of regard for end users displayed in school design.

"Discovery" works for kids from knowledge-rich, vocabulary-rich families -- but leaves others lost and frustrated. It's not "equity." It's unfair. tinyurl.com/y63bmh2h @C_Hendrick @robkhenderson @PCSnow1604 @rpondiscio @MrZachG @rickhess99 @DTWillingham @0Beanie05923291

@solfatariat That might be more about the design of health systems than the design of hospitals.....

@PCSnow1604 I think the prevalence of ambulance ramping in basically all states of Australia signifies that the design of hospitals is worthy of criticism.

We're moving into #NAPLAN reporting season and many parents are going to be told their child "needs additional support". Whether or not that is (a) forthcoming and (b) effective will be highly variable. Here's what I wrote about the "needs additional support" grouping last year: pamelasnow.blogspot.com/2025/07/naplan…

I enjoy the thought-provoking writing of GK Chesterton and in 2021 wrote a piece about “Chesterton’s Fence” as applied to reading instruction, after being introduced to this concept by @stephenfry in a podcast. Pretty sure it still applies in 2026. pamelasnow.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-sc…

Why can't some children read after even 11 years of formal education? Some will argue deprivation, lack of intelligence, poor motivation, & presumed disabilities. In this podcast, we show how those beliefs don’t hold water & that teaching is the solution. @ThinkReadTweet

I love this quote from Doug Lemov. Doing things that matter is going to involve stress. Instead of trying to eliminate it, help students develop a better mindset about it. 🎧 Full episode below. @Doug_Lemov #ChalkandTalk #Education

This @DTWillingham video, "Teaching Content is Teaching Reading," is now more than 15 years old. It has aged well and pairs nicely with the thread from @oliviajune82 youtube.com/watch?v=RiP-ij…

Episode 4 of "Inside the Reading Gap" is called Hope. Reading problems are solvable, and in this episode we explain what it takes to do that, and that we can achieve far more than is usually thought possible. Thank you to @ReadEasyUK for sharing their adult learner success stories.

I see a LOT of debate about the Alpha Schools decision to put kids on devices two hours a day. Yet very little debate about the decision of most US schools to run with more than 2 hrs as the norm. From a 2021 EdWeek survey:

Evidence-based literacy instruction doesn't end once students can decode. My latest piece explores why adolescent literacy deserves its own conversation. Huge thanks to @The74, my @KnowledgeMatrs colleagues, and the many educators, researchers, and leaders advancing this work.

@warmMagnet @IBeconteacher @3dancingfeet So what would be your evidence-based advice to parents and teachers when a child is experiencing reading and/or writing difficulties?

@PCSnow1604 @IBeconteacher @3dancingfeet I cited 2 papers that establish working memory activity in the whole brain requires hand-offs between hemispheres. It's the way we work. No kidding, we really have 2 brains that are quite independent but learn with practice to communicate fluently and get things done very well.

I’m blocked by @3dancingfeet b/c of previous efforts to set the record straight on some of her posts so cannot reply to this directly (shared with me by a PG student). It’s important that current and future teachers know that this idea is not supported by empirical evidence. It’s also unfortunately sometimes promoted by OTs. @speechwoman and I address it in @EBPRoadmap

@warmMagnet @IBeconteacher @3dancingfeet But what do midline crossing activities have to do with improving reading and writing ability? That was the original claim. If there is evidence to this effect I think many here would be keen to see it.

@PCSnow1604 @IBeconteacher @3dancingfeet Line-crossing is real, a developmental reality. Crossed laterality is junk science. I think you've been discussing something other than the content of Rachael's original post. And that can happen. :)

@Scott_teach @rastokke @3dancingfeet I am not at all surprised on either count.

@PCSnow1604 @rastokke @3dancingfeet Also got blocked (which is of course her right) by her after a ‘discussion’ where I was told that using ‘effective’ to describe behaviour management was neoliberal.

Cross-midline programs are built on the (empirically unsupported) belief that poor reading results from inadequate hemispheric integration or "crossed laterality", so children need to establish better left-right integration, which (it is argued) leads to better reading. I am not aware of any evidence to support this claim but am always happy to look at papers I may have missed.

@PCSnow1604 @IBeconteacher @3dancingfeet Crossed laterality is something altogether different.

I have no issues with gross motor activities being used to improve gross motor skills, but claims that such activities contribute to improved reading and writing outcomes are not backed by empirical evidence. What improves reading and writing skills is ……… 🥁 🥁🥁 …..targeted support on reading and writing.

@carefulvoter @PCSnow1604 @C_Hendrick @3dancingfeet Interesting. PMP seems to still be in use in some Primary Schools, but I believe they are aware it will not assist children in their reading development. I’m happy to be corrected on this assumption however.

Actually this is not a reasonable inference from published evidence, e.g., Ferrero, M., West, G., & Vadillo, M. A. (2017). Is crossed laterality associated with academic achievement and intelligence? A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 12(8), e0183618. These authors reviewed 26 studies involving more than 3,500 children. They concluded: - there is no reliable relationship between crossed laterality and academic achievement - there is no reliable relationship with reading performance - larger, better-quality studies consistently found null results; and - there is no empirical basis for interventions intended to “correct” laterality or improve learning through laterality exercises.

@IBeconteacher @PCSnow1604 @3dancingfeet Good question. Attributions of causality always require an inference. But seeing as mid-line crossing is how we function (cf papers), and given that we know the proficiency/fluency of mid-line crossing is acquired, it’s reasonable to infer that early exercise is supportive.

Inside the Reading Gap: we hear from John Walker, Christopher Such, Kathy Rastle, Pamela Snow, as well as intervention specialists & headteachers, prison experts, parents, teachers & pupils - & adult learners. We look at the literacy crisis, the impact & the solutions (sound on to listen ⬇️ 🎧)