S2 E7: Novels in the Elementary Class: Best Practices with Clara Maria Fiorentini

Kate chats with Clara Fiorentini this week. Tune in to explore novels in the classroom: how class novel studies fit into structured literacy, how complex text can be scaffolded, using "read-alikes" to choose texts, and avoiding the perils of "extractitis" - don't miss this thoughtful conversation about chapter books!

Clara is the president of the Literacy Association of Ireland and a lecturer in initial teacher education at Marino Institute of Education. She is wrapping up her Ph.D. research on current trends in Irish preschool literacy practice. Catch Clara at her blog, on Instagram, and on Twitter.

Show Notes:

• Clara talks about the Matthew effect, an influential paper from Dr. Keith Stanovich that highlights that with early reading, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Take a look at the open-access paper here.
• Dr. Tim Shanahan has several blogs about the importance of using complex text in reading instruction.
• Clara mentions Reading for Pleasure from the Open University - see more here.
• The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction, an article by Nell Duke, Alessandra Ward and David Pearson, can be found here.
• Learn more about book tastings on Clara's blog.