Words Change Worlds

"When teaching grade one I noticed how language — specifically learning to read and write — empowered students. This idea has captivated me since. Join me in my quest to change the world through words."
-Karen Filewych

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Literacy Instruction Matters

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This practical, comprehensive overview of literacy instruction equips teachers with the tools, understanding, and confidence to meet the literacy needs of students.

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What people are saying

After reading Karen's book, Literacy Leadership Matters, I really appreciated her insights and was inspired to action her advice that literacy learning can be fostered outside the classroom in non-evaluative ways. I launched a Writer's Craft club in the fall and, with two other teacher leaders, opening it up to bi-monthly sessions for K-8 students. By January, we had around 50 students writing for the fun of it using mediums that included stories, animation, poems, song lyrics, picture books, and the contents of the soccer card that a student imagined seeing about himself in his future. Some students wrote independently, and some collaborated across classes and grade levels. We were building a literacy culture beyond curriculum and grades. Karen's work is always practical and powerful, and this was one of those "look-for” moments to help leaders observe and support classroom practice.

Noa Daniel, classroom teacher, writer, and speaker

Thank you for the wonderful month of learning and inspiration. We have loved having you in our school and the "buzz" around writing among staff and students has been exciting!

Kendall Monti
Learning Coach, Landing Trail School

Karen, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, experience, and most importantly your passion with us. It is contagious in the most positive way - the chatter and excitement with our staff is palpable and we are looking forward to continuing to learn with you.

Rebecca Martini Assistant Principal

Karen’s passion for literacy easily comes across in her lessons to the children. I have been a classroom teacher for 25 years, and I was very impressed with how my students were genuinely engaged in lessons that were tailored specifically to activities we were working on in our class. I look forward to welcoming Karen and her expertise into my class again!

Warren Letchford Edmonton Teacher

Expectations for our provincial-wide annual event are always high and Karen Filewych did not fail to deliver! Attendee feedback was off the charts for Karen. Her knowledge of the topic, connecting to our province’s ELA curriculum, organization, ease to work with and ability to connect with a ‘virtual’ audience were exceptional. Karen’s presentation was bursting with unique ideas, and real-life examples linking her own experiences as an educator and writer resonated with her audience. Teachers left energized and eager to use what they learned with their students. We hope to work again with Karen one day soon!

Jackie Parsons 2021 MTS PD Day Chair
Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg

This week on the Words Change Worlds blog

“How do you spell?”

Posted on September 27, 2026 by Karen Filewych

If you’re an elementary teacher, you’ve heard these words MANY times!

Our default answer is often, “Sound it out.” And while this works much of the time, it doesn’t always lead to conventional spelling.

Think about the student spelling of these words: adid, jumpt, picd. Guess what? They did sound them out: these spellings are phonetically correct! And yet, they are not the conventional spellings: added, jumped, picked.

So… what do we do about? The next time you hear “How do you spell?” consider your answer carefully. Rather than simply saying “sound it out,” think about the word they are asking you to spell. If it is a word they can sound out, great. If not, consider using the language of morphology: “What is the base of that word? …and what is the suffix?”

The more we demonstrate breaking a word into morphemes during modelled/shared writing, the more likely our students will do the same when they are writing. So yes, they do need to sound out some words or word parts–some students will still need to sound out jump–but then knowing the suffix -ed will avoid the t at the end of the word, leading to conventional spelling.

Morphological awareness is sure to turn jumpt into jumped!

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