The Double Challenge of Training Teachers in Word Mapping

"Assume your audience knows nothing. Also assume your audience knows everything."

That is the double challenge of professional development in literacy, especially when training teachers in word mapping.

As a teacher trainer I am often speaking to someone who might feel completely lost. I am also speaking to someone who already knows a great deal, or believes they do.

Both must be served with clarity, rigour and respect.

Assume They Know Nothing

Take them by the hand.

Build the case step by step.Explain the jargon.Set the context.Unpack the logic. Show them how we got here and why this matters now.

We must make word mapping clear and practical for someone who feels unsure, untrained or overwhelmed. Strip it back to what really matters: graphemes, phonemes, and how the brain maps them to store words permanently.

I do struggle not to overcomplicate. I am learning to walk it through, slowly and precisely, handing them the code to unlock reading for every child in their class.

Assume They Know Everything

Now flip the frame.

I also have to assume I am presenting to someone who has been teaching phonics for years. They know the terminology. They have done the training. They have read the research. They are confident in what they do.

Some think they think they know how to map every word. They may face some dissonance if they feel their expertise is being challenged.

My job is to support this discomfort and anticipate the question before it comes. Make the explanation watertight. Reveal connections they have not seen. Push it deeper than expected.

Make the case for word mapping outside of phonics lessons so complete, so logical and so grounded in practice that there is nowhere left to hide. This is not just training. It is professional reset.

One Room, Many Realities

In any training session, I will have both kinds of teacher in the room. Some lost. Some experienced. Some who know they do not know. Some who think they do.

I am not just passing on strategies, and showing them how to use the tools. I am often correcting misconceptions that may have been embedded for years. My mission is to rewire professional confidence, by showing how to see every word clearly, and how to teach children to do the same.

This is why word mapping training must be clean, coherent and cognitively aligned. Not full of abstract theory. Not program jargon. Just the code. And how to show it. Hands-on learning.

Respect Their Intelligence. Teach the Code.

This is not about dumbing down. It is about lifting the fog. Just as I want them to approach children who struggle to understand the code even with daily explicit phonics instruction.

When teachers can see and explain the structure of words with precision and confidence, everything changes. It is not about teaching rules or tricks. It is about showing how written English actually works.

That is why the concept of Word Mapping Mastery® as the self-teaching route towards orthographic mapping exists. That is why MyWordz® was built. To support the teacher who does not know where to start, and challenge the one who thinks they have already arrived.

For others who are training phonics teachers, never underestimate the responsibility.

Serve both ends of the knowledge spectrum. Deliver clarity. Expect rigour. And always respect the professional in front of you by knowing your subject inside out. The tech will help, when you face orthographic interference - we all do:-) Miss Emma Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN Giving All Brains Access to the Full Code of English "When Phonics Doesn't Click, Just Click!"

Can you read a paragraph in speech sounds (phonemes)? When the text is Code Mapped, it becomes easier for all — especially teachers overcoming orthographic interference, and children who struggle to map words with only synthetic phonics instruction.

Try the Sound Pic (grapheme) Mapper here: https://www.wordmappingtool.com/code-mapping