Author and University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham discusses the “reading wars” (and mischaracterizations among their factions), the importance of understanding basic science to teach reading, and the variations in implementation of the science of reading in literacy instruction across districts.

Quotes:

“Reading is central to (virtually) every educator’s concerns.”

“Everything touches education.

 Resources:

• The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads
• When Can You Trust the Experts?
• Blog: What Will Your Children Tell their Grandchildren About the Pandemic?
• Website: www.danielwillingham.com
• Twitter: @DTWillingham
• Facebook: DTWillingham

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Doug Lemov, author and managing director of Uncommon Schools, discusses the role of technology in the classroom and remote instruction, how educators should reconsider how they approach literacy, and his experience reconstructing a reading curriculum for this next phase of digital learning while holding true to the values of the science of reading.

Quotes:

"Classrooms are first and foremost cultures and they shape students’ experiences."

"Everything is challenging to teach online, but reading is the most challenging."

Resources:

• Teaching the art of listening in the age of me, me, me
• Doug’s blog: Teaching Like a Champion
• Forgetting how to read
• Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College
• Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better
• Reading Reconsidered: A Practical Guide to Rigorous Literacy Instruction
• Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf

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Educator, author, and leader Shawn Joseph, shares his passion for social justice and discusses his work advocating for equity in education, shedding light on what he calls the “silent crisis” in literacy instruction. In this episode, you’ll hear about his experience as a former superintendent of several large urban districts and learn how he fostered achievement in all of his students.

Quotes:

“You have millions of children in the country who have not been given a civil right: the right to read.”

“If we don’t speak up and speak out, the inequities will continue.”

Resources:

Becoming a Data Champion in 6 Steps by Shawn Joseph

A research paper written by Shawn, titled School District Grow Your Own Principal Preparation Programs: Effective Elements and Implications for Graduate Schools of Education

A podcast discussion guide to share with your colleagues

Shawn’s book, The Principal's Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year 

Shawn's website

Nashville Unchained

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Multilingual author and expert Elizabeth Jimenez Salinas and host Susan Lambert discuss advocating for underrepresented English Learners (EL), improving dual language instruction, and learned passivity. Elizabeth shares tips for EL students during this time and reinforces the importance of home connection and language development.

Quotes:

“English learners are put at a serious disadvantage by a school system that doesn’t use their home language.”

“It is not just learning to recite rote words–it is comprehending and using the home language for parents.”

Resources:

Eradicating Learned Passivity: Preventing ELs from Becoming Long Term English Learners

Ten behavioral skills that interpreters need to know

Reparable HarmStudents train as interpreters, with benefits for all involved

Multicultural Author Project

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Join Mary Clayman, Director of the District of Columbia Reading Clinic, and host Susan Lambert, as Mary shares her experience founding one of the first graduate clinical practicums sponsored by a public school system and discusses how it has influenced the training of DCPS teachers and the success of students in early literacy by using the science of reading.

Pull quotes:

"Like Louisa Moats said, ‘Teaching reading is rocket science,’ it takes a long time to learn all about the English language.”

“We’re committed to quality training for more teachers.”

Show notes:

D.C. Reading Clinic

Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able To Do by Louisa C. Moats 

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Jacquey Barber, director of design & development at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, examines her research on the symbiotic relationship between literacy and science and what educators should be looking for in high-quality, literacy-rich science curricula.

Quotes: 

“Literacy is a domain in search of content; science is a domain in need of communication.”

“Develop opportunities for students to learn to read, write, and talk like scientists do.”

Resources:

UCLA CRESST

The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—and How to Fix It by Natalie Wexler

No More Science Kits or Texts in Isolation by Jacqueline Barber and Gina Cervetti. 

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David and Meredith Liben, nationally recognized reading experts and authors of Know Better, Do Better, discussing their need to find evidence-based solutions to meet their students' needs; the transition from ‘whole language’ to the science of reading, and how to tackle unfinished learning in schools.

Quotes:

"Teaching reading in the early grades can be intellectually meaningful and fun."

“Students all deserve access. It’s up to us to figure out what that access looks like for EVERY student.”

Show Notes:

Podcast Discussion Guide

Know Better, Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read

The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and how to Fix it

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Laurence Holt, language acquisition expert and author of the Learning to Read primers, joins host Susan Lambert to discuss the simple view of reading, how the brain rewires itself to learn how to read, and the importance of background knowledge in language comprehension.

Quotes: 

“Learning how to read is such a pivotal moment in all of K-12.”

“Decoding and language comprehension need to come together in order to become an expert reader.”

Resources:

Learning to Read: Primer Part One

Learning to Read Primer: Part Two

Podcast discussion guide

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Larry Berger, CEO of Amplify, discusses the use of innovation and technology to inform teaching and learning, his new initiative called Wide Open School, and how we can step back and let this be a time of joy and creativity for kids––letting them discover a love of reading. 

Quotes: 

“Make this a time of exploration and openness."

“There is a moment for necessity and necessity brings innovation.”

Show notes:

Wide Open School 

Free remote learning resources from Amplify

Amplify website

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Dr. Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert, author and founder of the Text Project, shares insights from her research on vocabulary, the etymology of the English language, and the importance of teaching morphology to enable kids to make connections. 

Quotes: 

“Vocabulary is the base of building knowledge.”

“Vocabulary represents your knowledge and knowledge is what determines your level of comprehension.”

Show notes:

The Text project

Teaching Words and How They Work by Freddy Hiebert

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

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Jared Myracle, Chief Academic Officer of the Jackson-Madison County School System in Tennessee, shares his district’s experience in adopting the science of reading and navigating the change management process. He stresses the importance of high-quality instructional materials and implementation fidelity.

Quotes: 

“Don’t be satisfied with where you are. Where could you be if every student was guaranteed this type of education?”

“Imagine what your results could be if you did ensure that all students were able to experience systematic phonics instruction and opportunities to build background knowledge throughout their K-12 years.”

Resources:

The Hidden Mistake School Leaders Should Avoid This Year by Jared Myracle

The Urgency I Feel Around Instruction – and Why I Look to Curriculum by Jared Myracle

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Ernesto Ortiz, principal at an elementary school in Pennsylvania, discusses how to understand when materials are meaningfully “research-based,” how his school made the shift to the science of reading, and how he is supporting his students with remote learning resources to continue their literacy development at home.

Quotes: 

“We need to be more informed than influenced so that we can look at things with a critical eye.”

“As leaders, we need to remain calm and steadfast so we can navigate throughout these unprecedented times.”

Resources:

Hard Words by Emily Hanford

Equipped for Reading Success by David A. Kilpatrick

The Simple View of Reading

Scarborough’s Reading Rope

The Reading League

Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers by Louisa Cook Moats, Ed.D.

Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It by Mark Seidenberg

Ernesto's blog: Decoding Leadership

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Susan and David Steiner, Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, examine how school closures are impacting learning across the nation, how districts are responding to the rapidly-changing environment, and why maximizing our educational reach via technology should be a priority.

Quotes: 

“This is a wake-up call to districts to really see that this digital inequality cannot persist.”

“Don’t make the ideal the enemy of the possible.” 

Resources:

USDOE Fact Sheet March 20, 2020

Report: The Problem with Finding the Main Idea by David Steiner

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We’ve been thinking a lot about you -- and our hearts go out to you during this confusing and uncertain time. Helping our students continue to learn in this unusual and unsettling situation is not easy.  And here at the Science of Reading podcast, we want to do what we can to support you where we can.

Resources

Science of Reading: The Podcast

Science of Reading: The Facebook Community

Susan and Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, chat about combining neuroscience with education. How does neuroscience help us understand the changes going on in the brain of a child learning to read? Why do some children struggle so profoundly? He shares his research into focusing the student’s attention on letters and sounds versus on the word as a whole.

Quotes: 

“Teachers play a huge role in shaping brain development for reading.”

“This is where education and neuroscience are coming together to create a dialogue in the space of how we support children.”

Resources:

Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Isabel Beck

Where Is Educational Neuroscience? by John T. Bruer, PhD

2019 Education Trends by Carrie Gajowski, MA

Minds, Brains, and Learning: Understanding the Psychological and Educational Relevance of Neuroscientific Research by James P. Byrnes

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Jasmine Lane, a high school English teacher, discusses the importance of equity and education and the disconnect between how teachers feel and what they need to do to push education forward for all students, regardless of their background. She also shares how education has changed her life, how her students have been impacted by their early literacy teachers, and how high schoolers fill in the gaps for things they missed early on.

Quotes:

“The science of reading–that’s my push for equity because every child deserves to be able to read.”

 “We want all kids to succeed. If that’s not equity, I don’t know what is.”

Resources:

Jasmine's Blog
Blog: Project Forever Free

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Dr. Nancy Nelson, Research Assistant Professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of  Oregon, discusses myths and misconceptions around  RTI, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and universal screening in reading instruction.

Quotes:

"Dyslexia is not a black and white condition—it also exists on a continuum."

“Relying on data allows us to engage in a systematic process to implement systems to meet the needs of all kids.”

Resources: 

DIBELs at the University of Oregon 

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Carolyn Strom, Professor of Early Childhood Literacy and Innovation at NYU, discuss her research and interviews with pre-school teachers and how students learn to read, her view on the science of reading and the cognitive science behind it all. She shares her insights on the importance of neuroscience, culturally responsive teaching and dives into Linnea Ehri’s four phases of learning how to read.

Quotes:

“Our brains are not wired to read…we have to do a neurological backflip to teach our brains to read."

“You can’t think about a tree without thinking of its environment the same way you should not be thinking about a kid’s reading development without thinking of their environment.” 

Resources:

Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read by Stanislas Dehaene

Carolyn Strom NYU Bio

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Literacy expert and author Tim Shanahan discusses his views on teaching reading in middle school as an extension of evidence-based early literacy practices. What are some of the challenges and what should reading instruction include? Tim and host Susan Lambert dive into boosting comprehension, how the English language is always changing, and how to structure reading instruction across content areas such as history, science, and math so students are equipped to comprehend those texts as well.

Quotes:

“It is absolutely essential in any comprehension lesson that the kids come away with knowledge.”

“Not dealing with vocabulary early on is like leaving ticking time bomb for later.”

Resources:

Shanahan on Literacy website and blog posts

Podcast: A conversation with Tim Rasinski 

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What is the missing link in reading comprehension? Anne Lucas, former curriculum director and current product manager of Amplify Reading, discusses the multifaceted nature of comprehension, why it’s so difficult to teach, a teacher's powerful "eureka! moment," and the specific sentence-level skills which, if practiced, improve overall comprehension. 

Quotes:
“The more tools we give to kids to grapple with texts and concepts, the better they’ll be able to do it.”

“Background knowledge is incredibly important and is something that we need to integrate into instruction and curriculum.”

Resources:

Comprehension Microskills Classroom Activity

The Missing Link in Comprehension White Paper

Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill

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Emily Lutrick, a PreK-5 Curriculum and Dyslexia Coordinator with almost 20 years of experience in education, examines the facts and fictional myths of dyslexia, how early is too early to screen for dyslexia, and how to identify the signs and risk factors. Susan and Emily discuss how dyslexia relates to the science of reading and what educators and parents can do to help students after school.

Quotes:

“You’ve got to arm yourself with good, strong, core curriculum. Make sure you’re informed in what it means to teach in a structured literacy environment. [These] go hand in hand with the science of reading.”

“Be intentional about identifying what that risk factor is. What is it that’s causing that breakdown?”

Resources:

Twitter @drlutrick 

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Summary: Lois Letchford, author of Reversed: A Memoir, shares personal accounts of her son’s struggles with learning how to read as well as her own in school with dyslexia. After being told by a teacher that her son was “the worst child [she’s] ever seen in [her] 25 years of teaching,” she persisted with endless patience to help her son and began writing poems to pique his interest in reading. What is he doing now? Was she successful?

Quote:

“Believe in your child, believe they are capable of anything--and tell them that.”

Resources:

Reversed: A Memoir by Lois Letchford

Poetry for kids by Lois Letchford

Website with articles and blog: https://www.loisletchford.com/

Twitter: @LetchfordLois

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Susan and Tim Rasinski, author of The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers, discuss his work at the reading clinic at Kent State University, the aspects of good fluency instruction, what constitutes fluency, and how reading speed is correlated to word recognition and automaticity. He stresses the importance of fluency and finding ways to be artful while teaching reading.

Quotes:

“Fluency is the bridge and we can’t ignore it.”

“Speed is the consequence of automaticity–automaticity is not the consequence of speed.”

Resources:

The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers by Tim Rasinski

Why Reading Should be Hot! by Tim Rasinski

Email: trasinsk@kent.edu

Website with articles and blog: timrasinski.com

Twitter: @trasinski1

Kent State Reading Clinic

Additional resources:

Fluency: The Neglected Reading Goal by Richard Allington

After Decoding: What? by Carol Chomsky

The Method of Repeated Readings by Dr. S. Jay Samuels

Jean Chall's Stages of Reading Development

Tim Shanahan interview on The Science of Reading

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Susan sits down with education reporter and host of the Education Post podcast, Emily Hanford, examines the big takeaways from her experience on reporting on dyslexia, patterns that emerged from her investigating, the science of reading and why schools don’t align with it more, the theory of how reading works, and the evolution of balanced literacy, phonics instruction and whole language.

Quotes:

“We have to be teaching kids how the written language works to help them become good readers.”

“Family income and poverty affect educational opportunities and outcomes.”

Resources: 

'Hard Words' Education Post Podcast

At a Loss for Words: How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers article by Emily Hanford

What to do if your child's school isn't teaching reading right? article by Emily Hanford

Additional resources: 

NAEP Reading Scores

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Robert shares what inspired him to embark upon his esteemed career path and how we must acknowledge and address that children come to school from different places and backgrounds along their language trajectory in our schools. Susan and Robert discuss the latest in education reform, the knowledge gap, how it is only going to get larger as kids move through grades, the limited time we have to correct it, and how to start doing so.

Quotes:

“Language is heavily dependent upon readers making correct inferences about context, and that’s background knowledge.”

“Language is a series of inference-making, that’s all knowledge-dependent. And if we’re not operating from the same base of knowledge, it all breaks down.”

Resources: 

Robert Pondiscio's book:

How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice

Robert Pondiscio's articles:

How to improve literacy after elementary school

The lost children of Hirsch: Will a fresh argument for content-rich curricula make a difference?

Additional resources: 

"How knowledge helps", an article by Daniel Willingham

Is Teaching an Art or a Science? video by Daniel Willingham

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What's broken in our education system? Natalie joins Susan for a provocative talk about her latest book, The Knowledge Gap, and how a knowledge-based curriculum can bring equity into the classroom, and students' futures.

Quotes

“Kids actually love to learn stuff. They love to feel like they’re experts. It does wonders for their self-esteem.” - Wexler

“Once teachers try it and can see what can happen…they’re going to say ‘I’m never going back to what I was doing before.” - Wexler

Resources

Natalie Wexler’s books:

The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade

Natalie Wexler’s articles:

“Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong: The Case for Teaching Kids Stuff” (The Atlantic, August 2019)

“Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years” (The Atlantic, April 2018)

Additional resources:

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham’s education blog

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Welcome to Science of Reading: The Podcast! We bring educators the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. We believe equity in education begins with reading science.