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

Julie VanLier and Dr. Svetlana Cvetkovic discuss their experiences and successes teaching phonics.  They both highlight the importance of a speech-to-print approach and the impact it has had on their students' reading and spelling abilities. The conversation also delves into the principles of speech to print and the scope and sequence of instruction.  They emphasize the importance of interlea...

From August 12, 2022 Talking with Dr. Julia Lindsey is like popping into the classroom next door to chat with your best teacher friend after school. On this podcast, Julia shares what evidence says that young readers need to know to help them decode words efficiently. We discuss foundational reading skills, starting with oral language and print concepts through multisyllabic word reading. Instruct...

 Yvette Manns discusses the schwa and its importance. She shares insights from her book, The Not So Lazy Schwa , and explains how it helps children understand the schwa sound. Yvette also tells all about National Schwa Day, a holiday she created to celebrate language and literacy in schools. She provides suggestions for celebrating the day and highlights the resources available in the National Sch...

Danielle Colenbrander and Katie Pace-Miles discuss orthographic mapping, irregular word instruction, and the different terms used to describe high frequency and irregular words. They translate research about the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching irregular words. They also discuss the role of morphology - how understanding morphemes can help students decode and understand words.  Ta...

Denise Eide, author of Uncovering the Logic of English , helps us understand the logic of English! It actually makes a lot of sense... and can help your students learn to read and spell.  Takeaways English spelling and decoding can be logical and systematic when taught with complete phonics rules. All words in English are decodable when the rules are understood. Incomplete knowledge of rules can l...

In this episode, teacher Christina Winter, better known as Mrs. Winters Bliss on Instagram, talks about the practical application of sound walls in the classroom. She provides her top 3 tips and shares how sound walls can be used in instruction. She also provides ideas for how students can interact with sound walls, such as through dictation, chants, and games.  Takeaways Sound walls can be used d...

Sound wall expert Mary Dahlgren explains how sound walls differ from word walls, why it's important to teach all 44 speech sounds, and how sound walls can help students make sense of English. She shares evidence to support the use of sound walls in your classroom and gives practical advice for implementation.  Takeaways Sound walls are an instructional tool to help students see and understand...

Spencer Russell, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher and the founder of Toddlers Can Read, shares his motivation for teaching reading and emphasizes the importance of simplifying the teaching process. He provides practical tips for starting with letter sounds and engaging children in fun learning activities. Spencer also discusses the importance of assessing understanding and offers guid...

In this conversation, Becky Pallone and Michael Hart discuss how their phonemic awareness instruction  has evolved over time. They emphasize the importance of blending and segmenting as key skills in phonemic awareness and highlight the benefits of incorporating letters in phonemic awareness instruction. They will also provide practical tips for you!  Takeaways Incorporating letters in phonemic aw...

Melissa and Lori just returned from the Plain Talk About Literacy & Learning Conference in New Orleans and they will share their takeaways with YOU! Attendees called in while at the conference to share aha moments and key takeaways. You won't want to miss this one! 2024 Plain Talk Conference Presenters Podcast Episodes We Mentioned Episode 44:  Elevating the Education Profession with The...

Matt Burns discusses the importance of phonemic awareness in reading instruction. Phonemic awareness is an outcome of skilled reading, not a precursor, and it has a reciprocal relationship with reading. Matt also emphasizes the need to focus on decoding skills in second, third, and fourth grade, rather than solely on phonemic awareness. Matt provides practical takeaways for teachers and recommends...

Shayne Piasta discusses best practices for teaching alphabet knowledge. She tells us what the research suggests about teaching  letter names and sounds, why teaching a letter of the week may not be the most effective approach, and an order to teach letters. The best part? She shares concrete ideas and strategies for classroom practice.  Takeaways Teach both letter names and sounds simultaneously....

Summary In this episode, the hosts discuss the RAND Model, a heuristic for thinking about reading comprehension. The model was developed in the late 1990s by the RAND Corporation in response to a need for more research on comprehension. The model considers three main components: the reader, the text, and the purpose or activity of reading. It emphasizes the active role of the reader in constructin...

Summary In this episode, Hugh Catts discusses two popular reading models: the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough's Reading Rope. The Simple View of Reading highlights the importance of word recognition and language comprehension in reading comprehension. It emphasizes that if a child struggles in one area, it will affect their overall reading comprehension. Scarborough's Reading Rope...

Summary In this episode, the hosts discuss the five pillars from the National Reading Panel and their history. They explore the confusion that can arise from viewing these pillars as a model of how reading works. The role of fluency and the importance of differentiating instruction for the five pillars are also discussed. The conversation concludes with a reevaluation of the five pillars and a key...

FROM MARCH 10, 2023 Today we’ll be talking to a team of authors about a recent article they published on small group instruction, titled Maximizing Small-Group Reading Instruction. We ask and answer important questions about small group instructional time: What is the appeal of small group reading instruction? Why has it been popular? What does the research say? What do we need to know about effec...

Why shouldn’t we level students?  Professor and researcher Kristin Conradi-Smith from episode 143 says, “We lack research for differentiation by text levels. There's simply no support for it.”  Teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes known as guided reading, approach isn’t the most effective way to teach or learn to read.  Instead, we can  Support students’ access to complex texts through...

FROM FEBRUARY 24, 2023 In today’s episode, we discuss the structure and content of the literacy block. How can we teach using structured literacy in small groups? Kinder teacher Casey Jergens and author Natalie Wexler join us to connect theory and practice. Casey previously taught using a guided (leveled) reading approach with lots of small group time. In recent years, he’s switched to focus on Ti...

What does the research say about small group reading instruction? Resources Episode 142: Structured Literacy in Small Group Time Episode 143: Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction  Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction (Conradi-Smith, Amendum, Williams, 2022) Differentiated Literacy Instruction: Boondoggle or Best Practice? (Puzio, Colby, Nichols, 2020) Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Ti...

FROM JULY 7, 2023 Today we talk about fluency and assessment with Jan Hasbrouck. She shares tips and tricks for how to to best assess and teach fluency. She also debunks frequent fluency misunderstandings and explains the scientific evidence that underlies the Hasbrouck-Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Chart .   Note : During the podcast, we mentioned we would link Jan’s previous studies on ORF. But… w...

Is your district adopting a new English language arts/literacy curriculum? Have you wondered how to tell if an ELA curriculum is “knowledge-building?” Today we’ll be talking to Barbara Davidson and Sue Pimentel about a new curriculum review tool from Knowledge Matters which can be a helpful guide when navigating the curriculum adoption process.  Resources Knowledge Matters Campaign Curriculum Revi...

FROM JULY 14, 2023 What if you could unlock the secrets to fluency instruction in literacy, and transform your students into confident and skilled readers? Join us as we delve into this crucial topic with Nathaniel Swain, Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University in Australia, who shares his expertise on the three components of fluency: speed, accuracy, and prosody. Let's explore together how ba...

Funds of Knowledge are the skills and knowledge gained by daily routines and practices, as well as cultural and historical interactions. It’s the social and cultural “stuff” that students know through personal experiences.   Background knowledge is the amount of information or knowledge someone has on a topic. Both funds of knowledge and background knowledge give us connection points for learning,...

FROM AUGUST 4, 2023 What if the key to unlocking your students' reading comprehension could be found through a deeper understanding of the intricate processes at work in their minds? Prepare to have your teaching world transformed as we journey with reading comprehension expert and acclaimed author, Nancy Hennessy. Together, we’ll map out the cognitive and linguistic processes that underpin c...

Are You Adopting a New ELA Curriculum? Where Do You Start? One place to start your curriculum adoption journey is EdReports . It’s not the ONLY place by any means, but it is a helpful jumping off point. EdReports asks educator-led review teams to use specific criteria to tell if a curricula meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations. They review ELA, math, and science curricula and prov...