We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)What is Phonemic Awareness? It’s one component of your literacy instruction. Phonemic awareness means understanding that spoken words are made of individual sounds called phonemes. We want students to be able to isolate, blend, segment, and more. Can it be ‘done in the dark’? Or should we teach phonemic awareness with print? Listen and learn as we explore this important question (and more) in today’s episode. ResourcesThey Say You Can Do Phonemic Awareness Instruction “In the Dark”, But Should You? A Critical Evaluation of the Trend Toward Advanced Phonemic Awareness Training Ep. 142: Structured Literacy in Small Group TimeChoosing and Using Decodable Texts by Wiley BlevinsPhonemic Awareness vs. Phonics Heggerty What are Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness? Heggerty Free Sample Lessons HeggertyConnect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)Why is teaching reading so important? Melissa and Lori have a conversation with Louisa Moats grounded in this article: Teaching Reading is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. Moats asserts that 95% of students can learn to read when taught to do so using evidence-based practices. In this episode, listen as we discuss and define the term science of reading, while connecting decades of research and theory to classroom practice.   We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)In this episode, we’ll discuss an approach to teaching foundational skills known as speech to print. The speech to print approach consists of 4 concepts with consistent logic: Letters spell sounds (alphabetic principle) Sounds can be represented by one or more letters Sounds can be spelled different waysSpellings can be pronounced in different ways What is the difference between speech to print and a traditional print to speech approach? What does the speech to print approach look like in practice? What does the research say about this approach?  ResourcesTriple R Teaching Podcast related episodes:Print to speech vs Speech to print: What’s the difference?How to add speech to print elements to your phonics instruction Reading SimplifiedPhonicBooks Evidence Based Literacy Instruction (EBLI)Phonics: Speech to Print vs Print to Speech WebinarThe Seidenberg and McClelland (1989) model of visual word recognitionInternational Dyslexia Association Fact Sheet on Phoneme Awareness The Latest Research (And Debate) on Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Instruction by Susan Brady Speech to Print or Print to Speech: What's the difference?  blog, by Tami Reis-Frankfort, Phonic Books We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)Dr. Sonia Cabell, Associate Professor at Florida State University, shares the importance of both oral language and content knowledge instruction. Why? Oral language skills underlie our ability to comprehend text. At the same time, the knowledge we bring to a text is THE key determinant on how much we understand that text. This episode speaks to the entirety of the reading rope!  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)Robert Pondiscio, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), asserts that reading comprehension is NOT a skill. Yes, good readers use reading skills and strategies to make meaning. But good readers also have a robust knowledge base.  There is strong evidence to support knowledge building ELA curriculum, but we continue to wonder about what knowledge, whose knowledge, and how much? ResourcesRecht & Leslie Baseball Study  Wanted: A Science of Reading Comprehension movement | The Thomas B. Fordham InstituteReading comprehension is not a “skill” | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute Why doesn’t increasing knowledge improve reading achievement? Tim Shanahan Ep. 124 Innovative Assessment with the Louisiana Assessment Team Melissa and Lori Love Literacy podcastCultural Literacy by E.D. HirschWhat Reading Does for the Mind Cunningham and Stanovich Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)In this episode, researcher Hugh Catts discusses his pivotal piece titled Rethinking How to Promote Reading Comprehension | American Federation of Teachers. He asserts, “Reading comprehension is thinking with a book in your hand.” There are three factors that impact reading comprehension: the reader, the text, and the activity (task or purpose). He talks with Melissa and Lori about the role knowledge plays in reading comprehension, the interaction of the knowledge the text demands vs. the knowledge a student brings to a task, and the implications of knowledge in instruction and assessment.Resources Rethinking How to Promote Reading Comprehension | American Federation of Teachers Language and Reading Research Consortium Study Listening strategies in the L2 classroom: more practice, less studyConnect with us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter. Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)Pamela Snow, professor at Latrobe University in Australia, discusses the arguments that keep surfacing when educators are resistant to move away from balanced literacy. You might have heard a few: Systematic phonics teaching is just for Tier 2.The goal of balanced literacy is for children to love reading. Explicit teaching kills the love of reading. Give them time, they’ll catch on or catch up. Teachers should choose what they think is best. Pam’s blog post, Balanced Literacy Bingo, debunks each idea listed above and more. ResourcesThe Snow Report Blog and Balanced Literacy BingoA School Leader’s Sliding Doors Moment by Sue Knight Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher Podcast and Blog La Trobe University’s Short Courses: Introduction, Intermediate, Secondary and Masters in LinguisticsConnect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)In this episode, Melissa and Lori have a candid discussion about change with Kareem Weaver, co-founder of FULCRUM Oakland: Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate. FULCRUM’s goal is to ensure that every Oakland child is an 'on-time' reader provided with full LITERACY: a fundamental civil right, a powerful protection from the school to prison pipeline, and the cornerstone for a life of choice and fulfillment. In this episode, Kareem discusses the change he is fighting for and the elements he believes are necessary to make it happen. Related EpisodesEp. 19: Getting at the Root of the School to Prison Pipeline with NCTQ President, Kate Walsh Ep. 82: [CLEAN] Minneapolis Public School Parents: Accepting Nothing Less Than Evidence-Based Reading in Schools Ep. 100: Trauma and Reading with Dr. Steven Dykstra ResourcesFULCRUM Oakland: Full and Complete Reading is a Universal MandateConnect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori!  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)We want the shift to reading science to be permanent, not perceived as another ‘educational pendulum swing.’ To do this, it’s necessary to recognize what worked and  didn’t work within balanced literacy. Today’s guests, UnboundEd’s Lacey Robinson and The Right to Read Project’s Margaret Goldberg, both shifted from teaching using balanced literacy (specifically Lucy Calkins’ Workshop Model, also known as Units of Study) to structured literacy and became powerful literacy advocates in the process. ResourcesSold a Story podcast and other APM Reports by Emily HanfordThe Right to Read Project UnboundEdSeeing the Good in Balanced Literacy... and Moving On by Margaret GoldbergThe Truth About Reading Film website (and trailer)Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum.  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

We would love to hear from you! Send us a message (if you'd like a reply, email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org)The article Placing Text at the Center of the Standards-Aligned ELA Classroom is a must-read before or after listening to this podcast!  Meredith Liben and Sue Pimentel share the true intentions of the CCSS vs. the way they are currently interpreted. They also provide observations about how the Standards play out in classrooms and schools - within HQIM and what happens in absence of HQIM! We ask the gals some tough questions: What does this mean for assessment, especially "data-driven" instruction?What are better ways to assess and track student progress? They are hilarious and smart, and so very relatable. This one is a MUST listen!Read the article that prompted this conversation:Placing Text at the Center of the Standards-Aligned ELA ClassroomVisit our website and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.