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

From Melissa: I love this episode because Nell Duke shares two messages about the Science of Reading that are crucial! 1) That the science is always evolving and will continue to evolve and 2) that the Science of Reading includes comprehension and making meaning of texts!  Listen again or for the first time! Did you know that Scarborough's Rope is 20 years old?! That's why Nell K. Duke u...

Melissa and Lori share more about themselves...  how their undergrad and graduate coursework didn’t prepare them to teach students to read, a bit about their teaching and leadership experiences, and of course, why they started the podcast! Bonus content: They ask and answer Five Things You Love and play Two Truths and a Lie. To read more about Melissa and Lori, check out this article by Voyage Bal...

Today middle school educators from Baltimore City Public Schools join us to discuss their focus on fluency through Continuous Improvement work with fluency using HQC. What is Continuous Improvement? Why is this a useful framework? “Possibly wrong, definitely incomplete”  is a mantra that resonates. The educators share their approach, impact, and outcomes for students. Secondary teachers… this one’...

Kim Lockhart, Canadian French immersion teacher and special educator in Kingston, Ontario, shares how she meets the needs of students in her classroom. As stated in a recent report, Right to Read inquiry report from Ontario Human Rights Commission, Ontario is removing the three cueing system completely from all materials and turning to reading science instead. In this episode, Kim models what an e...

Angie Hanlin, current Superintendent in Wisconsin, led her former school from 13% to 100% reading proficiency. How? Angie shifted the focus from TEACHING to LEARNING.  She worked alongside her school teams with a relentless, laser-like focus on data, asking questions such as: Who is making progress? Who’s not? What are we going to do about it? Radical acceptance of the data helped educators move f...

The authors of Thinking Reading: What Every Secondary Teacher Needs to Know About Reading , James and Dianne Murphy, join Melissa and Lori to discuss secondary struggling readers. Where do secondary educators start with struggling students? Put simply, there are two parts to intervention: learning and practice (for automaticity). Keeping those in mind, target what students need to know, explicitly...

Join Melissa and Lori for their first Book Club episode! In this episode, they discuss the book Thinking Reading: What Every Secondary Teacher Needs to Know About Reading . They focus their discussion on Chapter 4: Helping struggling readers in the secondary classroom , and Chapter 6: What does it take for effective reading intervention at secondary school?   Related Episodes:  Ep. 90: Improving R...

This episode is the first in a series on a really important topic: Assessment. How can we debunk the idea of ‘standards-aligned assessments’? What about ‘standards-aligned report cards’?  Today’s guest teaches us that when we overfocus on the format of an assessment (i.e. the standards), we miss out on what matters most and lose track of the goal (i.e. comprehension). Comprehension is not a single...

In today’s episode we’re joined by two teachers from Skaneateles, NY - Seth and Kelly. Seth is a sixth grade ELA teacher and Kelly is a middle school librarian. They work together to ensure that all students have access to complex texts. With the right support, they believe that all students can engage in grade level tasks. Seth and Kelly share how their collaboration around the knowledge and task...

Episode Description Pentucket Regional School District  transitioned from balanced  literacy programs to teaching and learning with structured literacy and reading science. Coaches and leaders used data to support educators in understanding the purpose of the transition. They unpacked why the materials were different from what they previously used. Key takeaway: You can’t take your old practices w...

In today’s episode, we drop some knowledge with one of our favorite teachers, Heidi Jane. You might recognize her as Droppin Knowledge With Heidi on Instagram or LearningWithHeidi on TikTok ! What’s the difference between sight words and heart words? How does knowing letter sounds help students when they begin decoding? Why did Heidi choose the trademark Literacy and Justice for All? Heidi shares...

This is the time when many districts are engaged in the curriculum adoption process, so we wanted to put this extremely information episode out for listeners who may have missed it. Cory Epler, CAO at Nebraska DOE, speaks about how they encourage the use of EdReports in episode 101.  Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter that follows up with more information about choosing curricula! W...

Nebraska Dept of Education CAO, Cory Epler, joins us today to share why and how Nebraska transitioned to reading science with HQM. In the course of eight years, the state formed a partnership with EdReports and The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), built transparency of HQM in Local Education Agencies (LEAs), and provided guidance around high quality materials . These key actions cre...

The axis of rating trauma is frequent and repetitive. Over time, the chronic trauma wears down kids who can’t read. This has devastating effects. In our official 100th episode, Dr. Steven Dyskstra discusses Trauma and Reading . He explains the connection between not being taught to read using evidence-based practices and the subsequent, unnecessary trauma this causes in children’s lives. Stepping...

Brett Tingley shares how to harness parent energy and expertise to address the legal and moral responsibility of school districts to teach children how to read using science. Our Dyslexic Children tells the story of a group of parents who took on the system, and won. The nonprofit group shares a Strategic Roadmap that’s a practical and actionable guide for educators and parents looking to improve...

Last Friday, we talked about FLUENCY with a couple great guests, Lindsay Kemeny and Lorraine Griffith. If you haven't listened to our episode with Tim Rasinski from last summer, give it a listen to add to your knowledge about fluency! From Original Show Notes: In this episode, reading and fluency expert Tim Rasinski tells us all about effective fluency instruction! How does repeated reading b...

How can regular fluency practice lead to fluent readers? In today’s episode, educators Lorraine Griffith and Lindsay Kemeny discuss the impact of fluency in their classrooms. Fluency is a bridge: It connects word recognition with comprehension. We dive into whole and small group fluency instruction with simple strategies and more.  Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter.  Follow us! Fac...

In this episode, we chat with our friends at UnboundEd about Going GLEAM. Lacey Robinson and Andrea Hancock share the GLEAM process - grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful   - and ways that educators can feel empowered to lead from their seat.  Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter.  Follow us! Facebook and join our Facebook Group for resources, community, and Live Chats Fri...

We’ve been asked about spelling and the connection to reading science more times than we can count. Today, we talk with expert J. Richard Gentry ,  author of Brain Words and blog contributor to Psychology Today: Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers (An Expert Guide for Parents). He tells us all about spelling and how it connects to our speech and language system. Moreover, he supplies teachers w...

Is your district in the process of choosing a new literacy curriculum? Or have you recently gone through the process? Adopting new curriculum is a huge change and involves shifting mindsets at all levels.   In today’s episode, we talk with two district leaders and learners doing exciting work with evidence-based, high quality instructional materials (HQIM). Join us in our conversation with Jean Wy...

Today we talk with Faith Borkowsky about her book, “ If only I would have known… “ What I wish the Pediatrician, the Preschool Teacher, and the Librarian would have told me about Language, Literacy, and Dyslexia . This accessible book explains the science of reading in simple terms. Check out Ifonlybooks.com for free resources such as a book discussion guide.  Visit our website and subscribe to ou...

Tre Hadrick, father, guidance counselor, reading science advocate, and book club leader, joins us on the pod today. You might know him as Mr. Lit on Twitter or Instagram , where he advocates for literacy and justice for all. Tre’s book club, Lit Champs (Dad’s Literacy Book Club ), gained attention when he posted a video discussing this book - If only I had known … by Faith Borkowsky . We connected...

Hi Literacy Lovers! This week we wanted to offer you all a chance to listen to one of our favorite episodes from when we just started the podcast. The absolutely incredible and inspirational Emily Hanford drops a TON of information in this episode, so it's worth another listen if it's been a while. We hope you get as much from our conversation with her as we did! We will back next Friday...

We’re joined by two dedicated early grade teachers from Vista Peak Exploratory in Aurora, CO—April Evans (Grade 1) and Danielle Hunter (Grade 3). They share their journey toward more effective literacy instruction and discuss how intentional teaching practices build student engagement, knowledge, and community. Hear what literacy looks like in grades 1 and 3 and how educators align learning across...

David Liben joins us again to discuss how to improve reading for older students. How can teachers help older students with unfinished literacy learning? How can teachers address foundational skills and fluency for older readers? Are decodables appropriate for older students? What is the role of independent reading? What is a volume of reading? Where does knowledge building fit? Listen and learn ab...