Reading Road Trip

Join Dr. Sarah Lupo, an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at James Madison University, as she delves into enhancing adolescent literacy across subjects. She identifies five key challenges in understanding complex texts and offers research-backed strategies for scaffolding instruction. Dr. Lupo emphasizes the importance of connecting literacy to students' identities and communities while navigating text complexity. Discover practical tools, like double entry journals and collaborative reading techniques, to elevate comprehension in every classroom.

This week, Kate Winn welcomes Irish educator and researcher Dr. Jen O’Sullivan to explore how young children develop the ability to make inferences and how educators can explicitly support this essential skill. From playful, practical strategies to research-backed insights, this episode is packed with ideas to bring inferencing to life in the early years. Mentioned in the Episode: The Game by Henry Charles Ten Bears and Shoshannah Greene RAND Reading Study Group (2002) Oakhill and Cain (2012) study on inference and comprehension Tighe and Schatschneider (2014) study on predictors of reading comprehension Hall et al. (2019) study on inference instruction with English language learners Jen O’Sullivan’s Substack  

In this lively discussion, Dr. Leslie Laud, Director of thinkSRSD, shares her extensive experience in transforming writing instruction across U.S. classrooms. She dives into the adaptable thinkSRSD model, which enhances literacy from kindergarten to high school, while also easing teacher workloads. Dr. Laud highlights the model's effectiveness in fostering student engagement and ownership of learning. Listen in for insightful anecdotes and strategies that not only improve writing skills but also resonate beautifully with Canadian curricula.

Buckle up - Reading Road Trip is back for a fourth season! Join classroom teacher Kate Winn for a jam-packed season featuring fabulous guests. From researchers and authors to educators and practitioners, they're all sharing practical ideas that can be implemented now in your class, school, board or district!

Join Kate and Una as they candidly chat about the journey of reading! They candidly discuss the hurdles they face in literacy discussions online and the importance of credible info. Explore the balance between innovative teaching and real evidence-based practices. Discover how library resources empower educators and the unique programs available for ongoing development. Plus, get a sneak peek of thrilling plans for the next season as they share their own reading experiences and foster community engagement!

Season 3 wraps up with a jam-packed episode featuring Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden. Kate and Amanda have a wide-ranging conversation about the science of learning and human behaviour - how do children learn new things? From the instructional hierarchy to incremental rehearsal, don't miss this fabulous episode!   Show Notes: Curious about Amanda's insights into Kindergarten math instruction? Take a peek at the links she shared: Skills for screening, by grade level and time of year Kindergarten classwide intervention for making a quantity with numbers to 10: Paired partner practice Independent practice Teacher-directed whole-class error correction Tier 2 intervention - guided practice for finding a missing number

This week Kate is joined by Dr. Amanda Nickerson for a candid conversation about supporting gifted and highly advanced readers. Don't miss this episode that highlights the value of advanced decoding and spelling instruction for skilled readers!  

Dr. Andrea Fraser joins Kate to chat about her systems change journey: first in a board central team role, shifting her district's literacy instruction to structured literacy, and then preparing preservice teachers to teach with a structured literacy approach. Tune in to hear her insights on bridging the gap between research and practice at the district level and in higher education! The Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction is a low-cost, asynchronous online course offered by IDA Ontario. Students in Canadian education, EA, or SLP programs, as well as educators working in First Nation schools, can receive free access here. IDA Ontario partners with Dyslexia Canada to develop ONlit.org, a free website designed to support educators with the revised Ontario Language curriculum. Don't miss the most recent resource - a free embedded picture mnemonic set!

Kate welcomes Dr. Marc Joanisse for a discussion about the neurobiology of dyslexia and other comorbid disorders, including ADHD and DLD.  Dr Marc Joanisse is a professor at the University of Western Ontario in the Department of Psychology and the Western Institute for Neuroscience. His research examines the cognitive and brain basis of reading dyslexia and developmental language disability in children, as well as typical reading and language and development. His research team at the Language Reading and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab uses a multimodal approach, including eye tracking, EEG and MRI. His research in dyslexia focuses on better understanding the links between poor reading and spoken language and phonology, and the comorbidities of dyslexia with other kinds of learning disorders like DLD and ADHD. Stay up to date on research and upcoming studies from Marc's lab:Language, Reading and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab Facebook page and website

Curious about evidence-based instruction for older readers? This week, Kate welcomes Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer to discuss strategies for helping older readers decode big words and tackle complex texts, focusing on syntactic features like connectives and anaphora to improve text comprehension. Heidi Anne is the author of several great books, including Big Words for Young Readers: Teaching Kids in Grades K to 5 to Decode - and Understand - Words with Multiple Syllables and Morphemes, and Teaching Skills for Complex Text: Deepening Close Reading in the Classroom. Kate and Heidi Anne also discussed a new article, Time in Text: Differentiating Instruction for Intermediate Students Struggling with Word Recognition. Find Heidi Anne on twitter at @haemesmer.