Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® The Power of Text Sets with Freddy Hiebert
Jul 11, 2025
Freddy Hiebert, founder of Text Project and expert in reading instruction, discusses the power of text selection in shaping students' reading identities. She emphasizes the importance of decoding and vocabulary thresholds, as well as the thoughtful design of decodable texts to enhance comprehension. Freddy introduces concepts like polysemy and semantic mapping, advocating for a diverse 'text diet' to pull from multiple contexts. She also explores AI's role in generating engaging reading materials, aiming to enrich vocabulary instruction across varying grade levels.
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Text Shapes Reading Practice And Identity
- The text a child reads defines the practice and their self-view as a reader.
- Freddy Hiebert argues text choice is central to reading instruction and student identity.
Match Decodables To Taught Patterns
- Match decodable texts to taught letter–sound correspondences rather than arbitrary levels.
- Ensure decodables repeat key patterns and words enough for learning rather than only showing varied exemplars.
Learning German Shows Need For Repetition
- Freddy describes learning German during the pandemic to illustrate word learning limits.
- She stresses that repeated encounters with words help confirm hypotheses and build confidence.