In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, literacy coach (and podcast host in her own right) Amie Burkholder joins us to discuss her new book, Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners. Amie talks through the origins of the book, how she structured it to be really actionable for educators, and what she hopes educators will take away from it. Amie and Susan also discuss some of the biggest recent changes to the Science of Reading movement, the areas Amie most often sees educators struggle when making the switch to research-based literacy instruction, and some tips educators can implement today—including a walkthrough of a classroom activity targeting phonemic awareness.
Show notes:
Quotes:
“Look to those that you trust to guide you.” —Amie Burkholder
“If you try to change everything you're doing, you're not going to do anything well. Pick one area of your literacy block you’re really gonna nail. Once you nail that—add another one.” —Amie Burkholder
“I want [the book] to follow the research, but I want it to be simple enough for teachers to execute, [and] also engaging enough for kids to want to do it.” —Amie Burkholder
Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Amie Burkholder?
07:00 Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading with Young Learners
11:00 Book Structure
12:00 Phonemic awareness classroom activity walkthrough
16:00 Learning while writing the book
17:00 Strategy for getting the most out of conferences
18:00 Favorite conferences
19:00 Biggest changes to the science of reading movement
20:00 Recommendation for people diving into the research for the first time
22:00 Implementation: Biggest struggle for teaching making the shift
24:00 Ideal takeaway from the book
25:00 Closing thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute
