Freddy Hiebert

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.