What is United Way all about? What's the goal? What are you guys, what's the purpose?

Well, we want to obviously improve the community, the impact.

So I am in charge of impact councils.

And by that we mean, what is the impact that our nonprofits are making on their clients in Norman? I mean, that's what we focus on when we allocate funds to those agencies.

And last year it was one point, oh, I'm gonna get this wrong.

$1.15 million or something over a million.

Yes, yes.

That's inflation for you right there.

They need to remember what they've been taught because it's a waste of everyone's time if they have to be retaught.

So thinking reading is based on empirical research.

And one of the pillars is Engelmann's direct instruction.

And we use Engelmann's 70-90 rule, which is 70 to 90% of material in a lesson is material that's already been covered and it's practice material.

We correct every mistake.

That might sound very harsh, but we're coaching them out of bad habits.

It's actually much easier to teach people the correct way right from the beginning than it is to actually retrain somebody and getting them to unlearn bad habits.

An important part of that is commitment to the child and letting them know that they matter.

So you then start a new game, which is, I don't know, getting some attention and mucking around.

Well, not all children act out.

A lot do.

But you also get some children who... are so fearful of being asked to read that they try to blend into the background and be as quiet as a mouse and, you know, please don't ask me any questions.

And I remember a girl, a year nine girl, and she was so shy.

Her sister would answer questions on her behalf, so she didn't have to ask questions.

But what was actually amazing was She made so much progress in her reading and what that did to her confidence.

One of the most

And then one day, I had an exchange on social media with someone who told me a very different story.

Well, if a child can speak, they can learn to read.

It's only a tiny proportion of children who can't learn, and those children wouldn't be in a mainstream school.

So

in my second year of teaching, I had these two boys who were, they weren't failing at reading, but they weren't making as much progress as I would have liked.

And I went to one of my colleagues to talk to her about it.

And she said to me, Diane, you just have to accept you will always have children who will fail.

And I was actually quite shocked by that.