We are honored to talk with two early grade veteran teachers from Vista Peak Exploratory in Aurora, CO. Vista Peak is in Year 4 of Great Minds’ Wit & Wisdom ELA, Geodes, and Wilson Language Fundations… the trifecta! April Evans, grade 1, and Danielle Hunter, grade 3, discuss the transition from piecemeal, low quality curricula materials to high quality materials that focus on building both skills and knowledge. They share how their materials support engagement and excitement in creating a classroom community of learners. What does the literacy block look like in grades 1 and 3? How are knowledge and skills aligned through grade bands? Listen to find out.
Decodable Readers Protocol from Student Achievement Partners
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In today’s episode, we talk with a teacher and interventionist from Blount County, TN, Erin Metz. She provides an in depth walkthrough of her district’s K-2 instructional block time. She’ll share her strategic approach to working with students and teachers during small group instructional time - modeling how to use this time to reinforce accuracy, automaticity, build vocabulary and knowledge in order to solidify comprehension, and more.
Resources
- Erin Metz Small Group Time YouTube Video
- Beverly Tyner’s Lesson Plans
- Great Minds Wit & Wisdom ELA and Geodes
- Wilson Language Fundations
- Heggerty Phonemic Awareness
- ILA Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
LISTEN AGAIN | FROM JULY 31, 2019
Today we are live with Natalie Wexler, the author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to Fix It (LISTENERS - IT’S AVAILABLE TODAY!). The book focuses on the lack of content in the elementary curriculum and its connection to what is commonly known as the achievement gap.
Natalie provides a snapshot of research on building knowledge, then tangibly deconstructs the why and how behind the research making explicit connections to education classrooms today. She provides clear steps to take to ‘fix’ the knowledge gap: adopting a content-focused curriculum to build knowledge, and providing teachers and leaders with ongoing professional development and coaching grounded in the curriculum.
Pick up her book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to Fix It. In the meantime, find articles and say hi to Natalie at https://nataliewexler.com/ or on Twitter @natwexler.
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In today’s episode, we discuss knowledge as a critical component of reading comprehension. We hear from author and professor Daniel Willingham, who shares research on the important role knowledge plays in comprehension. We also talk with Executive Director of Knowledge Matters Campaign, Barbara Davidson, who highlights strong curricula and resources related to knowledge-building ELA.
Resources
- Knowledge Matters Campaign website
- Knowledge Matters Campaign Twitter handle
- Books by Daniel Willingham
- Reading Rockets Q&A with Daniel Willingham
- Daniel Willingham Social Media
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Ep. 115: Kindergarten TEAM Reaches (nearly) 100% Success Using Evidence-Based Practices
Kristin Poppens IS BACK! In this episode, she shares the power of teacher teamwork and collaboration. Her Kindergarten teammates and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) join her to explain how they use evidence-based practices to reach 100% success for Every Single Student. All means all!
For resources mentioned in this episode: https://greatminds.org/literacy-lovers-newsletter-3
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Ep. 113: Reading is Rocket Science with Louisa Moats
Why is teaching reading so important? Melissa and Lori have a conversation with Louisa Moats grounded in this article: Teaching Reading is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. Moats asserts that 95% of students can learn to read when taught to do so using evidence-based practices. In this episode, listen as we discuss and define the term science of reading, while connecting decades of research and theory to classroom practice.
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Ep. 108: From 13% to 100% Literacy Proficiency with School Leader Angie Hanlin
Angie Hanlin, current Superintendent in Wisconsin, led her former school from 13% to 100% reading proficiency. How? Angie shifted the focus from TEACHING to LEARNING. She worked alongside her school teams with a relentless, laser-like focus on data, asking questions such as: Who is making progress? Who’s not? What are we going to do about it? Radical acceptance of the data helped educators move forward and put aside blame and shame. Key takeaway: All means ALL!
Related Episodes
- Ep. 98: Improving Student Reading Growth in Months with Fluency Instruction and Practice
- Ep. 62: Effective Fluency Instruction with Tim Rasinski
- Ep. 63: Kindergarten Teacher Reaches 100% Success Using Evidence-Based Practices
- Ep. 103: From Workshop Model to Reading Science in Pentucket
Resources
- Instructional strategies for 7 early literacy pillars by Patti Montgomery, Schools Cubed
- Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Grades K-12: Maximizing Skill, Will, and Thrill
- How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research by The Wallace Foundation
- The Reading Brain by the Center for Reading and Language Research, including Maryanne Wolf
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Ep. 117: The Writing Revolution with Authors Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler
The Writing Revolution authors, Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler, share a 'revolutionary' approach to writing. The best part: It begins at the sentence level AND content knowledge drives the rigor. Moreover, there is an overlap in reading, writing, and critical thinking.
What are the principles of The Writing Revolution? There are six:
- Students need explicit instruction in writing, beginning in the early elementary grades.
- Sentences are the building blocks of all writing.
- When embedded in the content of the curriculum, writing instruction is a powerful teaching tool.
- The content of the curriculum drives the rigor of the writing activities.
- Grammar is best taught in the context of student writing.
- The two most important phases of the writing process are planning and revising.
Resources
- The Writing Revolution, Not for Profit
- The Writing Revolution, The Atlantic, October 2012
- Writing and cognitive load theory, Natalie Wexler
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Ep. 120: Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills with Julia Lindsey
Talking with Dr. Julia Lindsey is like popping into the classroom next door to chat with your best teacher friend after school. On this podcast, Julia shares what evidence says that young readers need to know to help them decode words efficiently. We discuss foundational reading skills, starting with oral language and print concepts through multisyllabic word reading. Instructional swaps take this conversation to the classroom where Julia tells us what to swap to improve instruction. Efficient and effective instruction is critical when teaching decoding.
Resources
Reading Above the Fray by Dr. Julia B. Lindsey
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Today we’ll be sharing what you can expect for 2023!
We’re so excited to have created such an incredible community of educators who want to learn more about reading and writing. We really mean this. There are so many of you listening out there… around the world. Thank you for listening and learning with us!
What will stay the same in 2023?
We will continue to keep our podcast discussions about the science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality materials.
What will change in 2023?
During the summer, we will share weekly episodes and bonus content, host a book club, and podcast discussion groups. There will also be opportunities for you to advocate within your education community. During the winter, spring, and fall, you can expect mostly biweekly episodes. Be sure to lookout for bonus content, too!
In today's episode, we share our favorite episodes from 2022, including:
- Ep. 128: Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher with Missy Purcell
- Ep 100: Trauma and Reading with Dr. Steven Dykstra
- Ep. 108: From 13% to 100% Literacy Proficiency with School Leader Angie Hanlin
- Ep. 112: Kareem Weaver on Levers for Literacy Change
- Ep. 113: Reading is Rocket Science with Louisa Moats
- Ep. 116: Sonia Cabell on the Importance of Content-Rich ELA Instruction
We love creating this podcast and learning together with you, our Literacy Lovers community. We can’t wait to keep learning together in 2023.
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Shaheer Mustafa, President and CEO of Hopewell Inc, and Amy Schneider, vice president, program impact and strategy at HopeWell. They will share more about a program called RISE (Readiness, Inquiry, Scholarship, Education) that builds early literacy skills and more for children in foster care.
Resources
- To make a donation to HopeWell, Inc., click here.
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Deidra Mayberry, Executive Director of the nonprofit, Reading to New Heights, which brings attention to adult literacy as a critical issue in our society. Growing up, she was a struggling reader. This led her to establish her nonprofit which supports building literacy skills in adults. Deidra's story is sure to resonate with your literacy loving heart.
Resources
- To make a donation to Reading to New Heights, click here.
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In today's Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Steven Shadel, Director of Great Minds Virtual School. He tells us about effective virtual learning experiences and how those experiences look very much like a typical in-person school experience. In both settings with high quality materials, educators can engage students in active learning. Students are thinking and doing. All teachers take part in knowledge-building professional learning. ALL educators can bring knowledge to life! Knowledge belongs to everyone.
Resources
- +Article and video from teacher voice & admin perspective - Steven to share with us (Steven, Nancy Z.)
- Great Minds Virtual School
- Great Minds Virtual Instagram
- Great Minds Virtual Blog
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In this episode, we talk with a team of educators who made Eureka Math Squared decodable, readable, and accessible for all students. As students access math, their deficits in reading can get in the way. Eureka Math Squared helps students have equity in math to engage in grade level work and feel empowered. All students deserve to be able to do math without limitations.
Resources
- Eureka Math Squared Overview
- Eureka Math Squared Webinar on Math Readability
- Eureka Math Squared Whitepaper Improving Readability in Math Without Compromising Rigor
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In this episode, we talk with first grade teacher, April Evans, about how she uses Tier 1 foundational skills assessment data to make decisions about small group time, such as how students are grouped, what happens during small group instruction, and why all students have access to readable, knowledge building texts. She discusses structures and routines that support accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Both decodable and readable, knowledge building texts have a purpose and place in her classroom.
Resources
- Geodes readable, knowledge building texts
- Decodable Reader Protocol from Achieve the Core
- To Help Students Read and Write, Shower Some Love on the Sentence by Natalie Wexler
- The Writing Revolution by Dr. Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler
- Vocabulary Strategy: Concept Mapping
- Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast Episode 92
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Pun intended. This episode takes us into the world of Geodes - decodable readers that bridge foundational skills and Wit and Wisdom ELA - through building knowledge and accessible text. Melissa and Lori talk with Lorraine Griffith and Emily Gula, who share the research and insight behind the development of Geodes and how they can be used in classrooms, as well as (and most importantly) why Geodes are market disrupters. We can't wait for Baltimore City students to experience these special texts this year, to connect Wilson Language's Fundations foundational skills to the knowledge-building topics in Wit and Wisdom ELA core instruction. Quite simply, GEODES ROCK!
Primary Teachers: This one’s for YOU! Today we talk with educator, author, and business-owner Elise Lovejoy about decodable texts. What makes texts decodable? What makes quality decodable texts? What’s the purpose of decodable texts? How can we use decodable texts in the classroom? Listen and learn as we discuss all things decodable texts.
Resources
- Express Readers Decodable Books
- Blood pressure and heart rate changes in children when they read aloud in school
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Researcher Heidi Anne Mesmer joins the podcast to discuss the research on decodable text and dos and don'ts for classroom practice. Thinking about decodability as a meter from most to least decodable to the reader is important. A child who reads a text by sounding out and decoding words will experience a milestone of childhood: the feeling of reading. This also supports orthographic mapping.
Resources
- Decodable Text: A Review of What We Know, Heidi Anne Mesmer
- TextProject.org
- Key Knowledge to Support Phonological Awareness and Phonics Instruction, Piasta and Hudson
- Choosing and Using Decodable Texts, Wiley Blevins
- Reading Above the Fray, Julia Lindsey
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
DJ Bolger, a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Maryland College Park, joins the podcast today. DJ helps us understand the dyslexia brain a bit better, shares how dyslexia is so much more than “one” thing, and provides helpful analogies and ideas for application. He defines dyslexia, discussing the brain, and making connections to reading science.
Resources
- International Dyslexia Association Dyslexia Awareness Month social media resources and more
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
Trauma impacts every facet of our being. Today we’ll hear from educator and author, Dr. Melissa Sadin. As part of our Dyslexia Awareness month series, Dr. Sadin will share her personal story about how trauma and reading affected her family. Trauma can get in the way of the brain learning to read but we can help our students through intentional instructional practices.
Resources
- These resources from the International Dyslexia Association are helpful to spread the word on social media about October as Dyslexia Awareness Month!
- Developmental Trauma Disorder
- ACES STUDY
- The Trauma Foundation
- Carol Dweck Growth Mindset
- Bessel van der Kolk, MD
- The Attachment and Trauma Network
- TNTP’s The Opportunity Myth
In celebration of Emily Hanford's new documentary series, Sold a Story, listen again to Emily Hanford here!
Today Emily Hanford joins Melissa and Lori to define the Science of Reading, addressing the current misinterpretation of the term and what it really means. She shares thoughts on teacher prep programs and where teachers get knowledge about what or how to teach, contemplates why teacher prep programs are not preparing teachers to teach kids how to read, and how curriculum plays a role in helping teachers who do not know the science of reading.
Resources
- Sold a Story by American Public Media
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen again to Dr. Steven Dykstra discuss the devastating effects on students who have not received the instruction they need to be successful readers.
April 1, 2022
The axis of rating trauma is frequent and repetitive. Over time, the chronic trauma wears down kids who can’t read. This has devastating effects. In our official 100th episode, Dr. Steven Dyskstra discusses Trauma and Reading. He explains the connection between not being taught to read using evidence-based practices and the subsequent, unnecessary trauma this causes in children’s lives. Stepping away from science-based approaches creates issues for kids that don’t need to be there. This is a pervasive problem happening everywhere.
Dr. Steven Dykstra is a psychologist, advocate, and troublemaker in the reading world. He has worked with the most severely traumatized and mentally ill children for more than 25 years. His passion for reading comes from the recognition that the thousands of children he has served often pay the highest price for our failures and mistakes.
In this episode, we talk with Sydney Bassard, a clinical speech language pathologist, also known as The Listening SLP. Inspired by her brother’s experience with dyslexia, she became a speech language pathologist and began advocating within her community so educators and parents can be informed and actualize reading science into practice. Sydney defines the role of the speech language pathologist in the community and in the school to help us better connect language and literacy.
Resources
- The Listening SLP
- Developmental Speech Sound Milestones
- These resources from the International Dyslexia Association are helpful to spread the word on social media about October as Dyslexia Awareness Month!
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
In this episode, we talk with former balanced literacy teacher and parent, Missy Purcell. She authored a blog post titled Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher.
Missy writes, “According to Nancy Young’s ladder of reading, roughly 10-15% of kids can figure out reading out with this type of instruction, but my child, who would later be diagnosed with dyslexia, would never be able to become a proficient reader with any version of balanced literacy. He, according to Young, like 85% of students, benefit from or need systematic explicit instruction that follows a scope and sequence with fidelity to become proficient readers and writers.”
We want to normalize the idea that most kids CAN learn how to read with structured literacy instruction.
Resources
- Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher
- Looking for Heroes: One Boy, One Year, 100 Letters 2nd Edition
- These resources from the International Dyslexia Association are helpful to spread the word on social media about October as Dyslexia Awareness Month!
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Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.
As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen to a previous episode with parent and advocate Brett Tingley.
March 25, 2022
Brett Tingley shares how to harness parent energy and expertise to address the legal and moral responsibility of school districts to teach children how to read using science. Our Dyslexic Children tells the story of a group of parents who took on the system, and won. The nonprofit group shares a Strategic Roadmap that’s a practical and actionable guide for educators and parents looking to improve reading instruction in their communities.
[Listen Again] Ep 92: Talking About the Literacy Block with Two Early Elementary Teachers
56:03
Ep. 140: K-2 Literacy Block Deep Dive
54:52
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[Listen Again] Episode 10: Noticing The #KnowledgeGap with Natalie Wexler
50:32
Ep. 139: Knowledge and Comprehension with Daniel Willingham and Barbara Davidson
1:00:51
2022 COUNTDOWN: #1
1:28:49
2022 COUNTDOWN: #2
1:09:05
2022 COUNTDOWN: #3
1:15:12
2022 COUNTDOWN: #4
56:54
2022 COUNTDOWN: #5
1:10:55
Melissa and Lori Love 2022: End of Year Wrap Up
11:15
Ep. 138: A RISE-ing Cause for Hope
35:11
Ep. 137: Tackling the Tough Issue of Adult Illiteracy
30:53
Ep. 136: An Inside Look at Virtual School
35:51
Ep. 135: Decodable Text Series: Math Readability
45:24
Ep. 134: Decodable Text Series: Small Group Instructional Time
48:59
[Listen Again] Ep. 9: Geodes Rock
1:06:48
Ep. 133: Decodable Text Series: Quality Decodable Texts
52:25
Ep. 132: Decodable Text Series: The Research on Decodable Text
51:24
Ep. 131: Dyslexia, The Brain, and Reading Science with Neuroscientist and Professor, DJ Bolger
43:59
Ep. 130: Teachers' Guide to Trauma
1:02:47
[Listen Again] Ep. 23: Emily Hanford Epically Defines the Science of Reading
1:03:52
[Listen Again] Ep. 100: Trauma and Reading with Dr. Steven Dykstra
1:16:12
Ep. 129: A Speech Language Pathologist's View on Reading Science
50:29
Ep. 128: Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher with Missy Purcell
55:33
[Listen Again] Ep. 99: An Important Discussion about Reading with Our Dyslexic Children's President, Brett Tingley
54:16