Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® | Science of Reading for Teachers

Nancy Blair, co-founder of AIM Academy and a former nurse anesthetist turned parent advocate, and Pat Roberts, educator and education entrepreneur, share how their daughters’ dyslexia diagnoses sparked a research-based school. They discuss early warning signs, oral language, vocabulary, screening, researcher-teacher partnerships, AIM’s free symposium, integrated literacy, and building lasting schoolwide change.

Dr. Steven Dykstra, a Milwaukee psychologist and science-of-reading advocate, explores how persistent reading failure can become chronic trauma. He discusses children’s survival strategies, resistance to evidence-based instruction, diagnostic humility, and the need to update professional knowledge. He also examines assessment, explicit teaching, and the quiet, life-changing power of teachers.

Caitlin Lucas, a kindergarten teacher with backgrounds in speech pathology and sign language, shares practical phonics routines teachers can use right away. Explore movement, partner talk, articulation, sound detective games, vowel signs, whiteboard word work, tricky words, and decodable text. Discover ways to make sounds visible, keep students actively participating, and turn foundational literacy practice into engaging classroom routines.

Julia Lindsey, literacy researcher, author, and educator, discusses research-based routines for building decoding skills. They explore foundational skills, phonemic awareness, Elkonin boxes, decodable texts, multisyllabic words, and fluency. The conversation also examines how efficient instruction can make room for read-alouds, writing, and joyful independent reading.

Wiley Blevins, literacy author and phonics expert, shares practical ways to differentiate instruction without sacrificing grade-level access. Explore flexible whole-group routines, targeted small-group practice, tiered blending and dictation, high-frequency word work, and gradual release with decodable texts. The conversation also highlights supporting transfer into connected text and extending learning through writing.

Brennan Chandler, a literacy researcher and educator focused on evidence-based spelling and structured literacy, shares a stack of short, research-backed spelling routines. He walks through sound-to-pattern-to-sentence routines, quick phonemic warm-ups, guided encoding, irregular word strategies, gamified cumulative review, and ways to transfer spelling into authentic writing.

Richard Gentry, author and literacy researcher known for Brain Words, explains how spelling links to speech and reading development. He outlines a five-step pretest and five spelling phases. Practical classroom activities, red flags for early intervention, and guidance on choosing research-based spelling instruction are discussed in short, actionable segments.

Episode 258In this episode, we sit down with literacy researcher Brennan Chandler to talk about the science of spelling instruction and why spelling deserves a much bigger role in science of reading conversations. Brennan explains how spelling supports stronger writing, more precise word knowledge, and better reading outcomes.We discuss why spelling should be taught explicitly rather than left to chance, why patterns matter more than memorized rules, and how phonology, orthography, and morphology all work together when students learn to spell. Brennan also shares why morphology belongs in the early grades, how retrieval practice strengthens spelling knowledge, and why traditional Friday spelling tests often fail to lead to lasting learning.This conversation is full of practical insights for teachers who want to move beyond isolated spelling activities and toward instruction that truly supports literacy development.And this is just part one. Brennan will be back in our next episode focused entirely on practical spelling routines teachers can use right away in the classroom.Brennan mentioned his TAP model of spelling instruction (Teach, Practice, Apply) in this episode. He's built six routines that put it into practice, called Spell Squad. Each one comes with scripting and a timer so you can teach it straight from the screen. Free teaching scripts and printables are on his site: Spell SquadResourcesFree teaching scripts and printables are on Brennan's site: Spell Squad"Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization.""How Spelling Supports Reading" by Louisa MoatsThis resource from Logic of English shares several high-utility spelling patterns and generalizations that may feel more useful and transferable than the long lists of spelling “rules” many of us learned in school.Follow Brennan ChandlerLooking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

In this bonus episode, we're bringing you research right from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) conference, one of the biggest gatherings of reading researchers in the world. We break down the key takeaways, emerging trends, and standout research that caught our attention, and talk about what it all means for your classroom. If you want to know where the science of reading is headed next, this one's for you.Resources MentionedWords as Tools (coming soon)Reading Ready + Reading Go How To Plan for Differentiated Instruction (ACCESS Reading) Anderson & Strong (2026)Jake Downs is the host of the Teaching Literacy Podcast (it's a M&L favorite!)Clarence Greene's British and American Word Families (BAWF) Database: https://cgg-projects.github.io/BAWF_V2/Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Rebecca Kockler, executive director of Reading Reimagined and former Louisiana assistant superintendent, focuses on decoding, morphology, and older-student literacy. She unpacks the Decoding Threshold and why many students stall after early gains. Conversation covers multisyllabic decoding around fourth grade, the tie between morphology, vocabulary, and spelling, fluency as application, assessment for older readers, and classroom strategies to keep decoding instruction going.