Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® | Science of Reading for Teachers
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy® is a science of reading podcast for teachers who want to understand how reading really works and what that means for classroom instruction. Each month, we explore key topics in the science of reading and literacy instruction through thoughtful conversations with researchers, authors, and classroom teachers who are putting reading research into practice.
Melissa & Lori are your classroom-next-door teacher friends turned podcasters, learning alongside you and asking the same questions teachers everywhere are asking: What does the research say about reading? What does strong literacy instruction actually look like in real classrooms? And how can teachers apply the science of reading in ways that make sense for their students?
Through conversations with leading literacy experts and educators from classrooms across the globe, Melissa & Lori help bridge the gap between reading research and day-to-day teaching. Whether you are a classroom teacher, literacy coach, interventionist, or school leader, you’ll find clear explanations of science of reading concepts and practical insights for your classroom, school, or district.
Topics across the podcast align to science of reading research, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing, and spelling, along with broader conversations about reading development, multi-tiered systems of support, and supporting struggling readers.
If you care about strong reading instruction, evidence-based literacy practices, and helping every student become a successful reader, you’re in the right place.
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® | Science of Reading for Teachers
Episode 176: Quick Q&A: Why Shouldn’t We Level Students and What Should We Do Instead?
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Why shouldn’t we level students?
Professor and researcher Kristin Conradi-Smith from episode 143 says, “We lack research for differentiation by text levels.There's simply no support for it.” Teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes known as guided reading, approach isn’t the most effective way to teach or learn to read.
Instead, we can
- Support students’ access to complex texts through scaffolds and building knowledge using language comprehension.
- Use students' prior knowledge and match that knowledge to text topic demands.
- Read text sets - a group of texts on the same topic - to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary.
- Practice and model oral reading fluency, rearead, and use comprehension strategies.
Resources
- Episode 143: Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction
- Matt Burns F&P BAS and LLI Research
- Matt Burns Leveling Students: Why we do it, why we shouldn’t, and what we should do instead
- Tim Shanahan Should We Teach at Reading Level?
- Tim Shanahan blogs What does the Easter bunny have in common with the independent reading level?
- Tim Shanahan presentation Science of Reading Levels
- Dr. Kristen Schrauben Science of Reading What I Should Have Learned in College Private Facebook Group Presentation Giving Up F&P
We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.
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Hi teacher friend. This is Lori from Melissa and Lori Love Literacy. Today I'm going to answer the question why shouldn't we level students and what should we do instead? So why shouldn't we level students? We'll keep this response short and sweet.
Speaker 1Professor and researcher Kristin Conradie-Smith from Episode 143 says we lack research for differentiation by text levels. There's simply no support for it. This topic came up in our top episode of 2023, number 143, maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction. The authors of an article about how to maximize small group instructional time explain that teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes also known as a guided reading approach, isn't the most effective way to teach or learn to read. There's an abundance of evidence that supports this idea and there are lots of links in the show notes for you to explore. In a presentation titled Science of Reading Levels, also linked to the show notes, tim Shanahan explains that no studies have found instructional level placements to be beneficial in grades 2 through 9. Older students preferred more challenging texts, though they do need more help with these. Studies either found no benefits to instructional level placement or that instructional level placement hindered learning.
Speaker 1So what can we do? We can support students access to complex texts through scaffold and building knowledge using language comprehension, for example. Familiarize students with print and genre features, teach complex syntax and vocabulary and teach text organization. Use students prior knowledge and match that knowledge to text topic demands. That's a great way to connect. We can also do this through the use of text sets a group of texts about a topic to build students knowledge and vocabulary, practice and model oral reading, fluency, rereading and using comprehension strategies. These are helpful tools as well.
Speaker 1Hopefully this helped to shed some light and insight on what to do instead of leveling students. Remember for more information, check out all of the notes and resources in our show notes. We can't wait to keep learning with you. Thanks for listening. Literacy Lovers, to stay connected with us, sign up for our email list at literacypodcastcom. Just a quick reminder that the views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests of the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast are not necessarily the opinions of Great Minds PBC or its employees. We appreciate you so much and we're so glad you're here to learn with us.