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

Ep. 115: Kindergarten TEAM Reaches (nearly) 100% Success Using Evidence-Based Practices Kristin Poppens IS BACK! In this episode, she shares the power of teacher teamwork and collaboration.  Her Kindergarten teammates and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) join her to explain how they use evidence-based practices to reach 100% success for Every Single Student. All means all!    For resources mentio...

Ep. 113: Reading is Rocket Science with Louisa Moats 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...

Ep. 108: From 13% to 100% Literacy Proficiency with School Leader Angie Hanlin 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...

Ep. 117: The Writing Revolution with Authors Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler The Writing Revolution authors, Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler, share a 'revolutionary' approach to writing. The best part: It begins at the sentence level AND content knowledge drives the rigor.  Moreover, there is an overlap in reading, writing, and critical thinking. What are the principles of The Writin...

Ep. 120: Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills with Julia Lindsey 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 a...

Today we’ll be sharing what you can expect for 2023!  We’re so excited to have created such an incredible community of educators who want to learn more about reading and writing. We really mean this. There are so many of you listening out there… around the world. Thank you for listening and learning with us!  What will stay the same in 2023?  We will continue to keep our podcast discussions about...

In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Shaheer Mustafa, President and CEO of Hopewell Inc, and Amy Schneider, vice president, program impact and strategy at HopeWell . They will share more about a program called RISE (Readiness, Inquiry, Scholarship, Education) that builds early literacy skills and more for children in foster care. Resources To make a donation to HopeWell, Inc., click h...

In today’s Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Deidra Mayberry, Executive Director of the nonprofit, Reading to New Heights , which brings attention to adult literacy as a critical issue in our society. Growing up, she was a struggling reader. This led her to establish her nonprofit which supports building literacy skills in adults.  Deidra's story is sure to resonate with your literacy lo...

In today's Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Steven Shadel, Director of Great Minds Virtual School. He tells us about effective virtual learning experiences and how those experiences look very much like a typical in-person school experience. In both settings with high quality materials, educators can engage students in active learning. Students are thinking and doing. All teachers take p...

In this episode, we talk with a team of educators who made Eureka Math Squared decodable, readable, and accessible for all students. As students access math, their deficits in reading can get in the way. Eureka Math Squared helps students have equity in math to engage in grade level work and feel empowered. All students deserve to be able to do math without limitations.  Resources Eureka Math Squa...

In this episode, we talk with first grade teacher, April Evans, about how she uses Tier 1 foundational skills assessment data to make decisions about small group time, such as how students are grouped, what happens during small group instruction, and why all students have access to readable, knowledge building texts. She discusses structures and routines that support accuracy, fluency, and compreh...

Pun intended. This episode takes us into the world of Geodes - decodable readers that bridge foundational skills and Wit and Wisdom ELA - through building knowledge and accessible text. Melissa and Lori talk with Lorraine Griffith and Emily Gula, who share the research and insight behind the development of Geodes and how they can be used in classrooms, as well as (and most importantly) why Geodes...

Primary Teachers: This one’s for YOU! Today we talk with educator, author, and business-owner Elise Lovejoy about decodable texts. What makes texts decodable? What makes quality decodable texts? What’s the purpose of decodable texts? How can we use decodable texts in the classroom? Listen and learn as we discuss all things decodable texts. Resources Express Readers Decodable Books   Blood pressure...

Researcher Heidi Anne Mesmer joins the podcast to discuss the research on decodable text and dos and don'ts for classroom practice. Thinking about decodability as a meter from most to least decodable to the reader is important. A child who reads a text by sounding out and decoding words will experience a milestone of childhood: the feeling of reading. This also supports orthographic mapping....

DJ Bolger, a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Maryland College Park, joins the podcast today. DJ helps us understand the dyslexia brain a bit better, shares how dyslexia is so much more than “one” thing, and provides helpful analogies and ideas for application. He defines dyslexia, discussing the brain, and making connections to reading science.   Resources International...

Trauma impacts every facet of our being. Today we’ll hear from educator and author, Dr. Melissa Sadin. As part of our Dyslexia Awareness month series, Dr. Sadin will share her personal story about how trauma and reading affected her family. Trauma can get in the way of the brain learning to read but we can help our students through intentional instructional practices.  Resources These resources fr...

As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen again to Dr. Steven Dykstra discuss the devastating effects on students who have not received the instruction they need to be successful readers.    April 1, 2022 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. S...

In celebration of Emily Hanford's new documentary series, Sold a Story , listen again to Emily Hanford here!   Today Emily Hanford joins Melissa and Lori to define the Science of Reading, addressing the current misinterpretation of the term and what it really means. She shares thoughts on teacher prep programs and where teachers get knowledge about what or how to teach, contemplates why teach...

In this episode, we talk with Sydney Bassard, a clinical speech language pathologist, also known as The Listening SLP . Inspired by her brother’s experience with dyslexia, she became a speech language pathologist and began advocating within her community so educators and parents can be informed and actualize reading science into practice. Sydney defines the role of the speech language pathologist...

In this episode, we talk with former balanced literacy teacher and parent, Missy Purcell. She authored a blog post titled Dear Balanced Literacy Teacher . Missy writes, “ According to Nancy Young’s ladder of reading, roughly 10-15% of kids can figure out reading out with this type of instruction, but my child, who would later be diagnosed with dyslexia, would never be able to become a proficient r...

As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen to a previous episode with parent and advocate Brett Tingley.  March 25, 2022 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....

As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen to a previous episode with parent and advocate Katie Hickerson.  September 24, 2021 “I just thought kids learned how to read… and my daughter didn’t. She could identify 4 letters by the end of kindergarten .” Katie Hickerson's daughter, Cora, went from a joyous little one to a child with lots of big feelings after starting school, saying...

As part of our Dyslexia Awareness Month series, listen to a previous episode with parent and advocate Liz Hembling.  November 24, 2020 Liz Hembling's daughter, Mia, attended a public elementary school. Liz noticed early on that she struggled terribly learning to read. In second grade, the school placed Mia in a remedial reading group, without communicating this to Liz. When Liz expressed her...

Today we have a special episode featuring four parents from all over the United States. One thing they have in common is that they have children with dyslexia. They are courageously sharing their stories as reading science advocates working for systemic change.   Resources Dyslexia-specific Resources: International Dyslexia Association  The Dyslexia Initiative These resources from the Internationa...

Dr. J. Richard Gentry , Dyslexia Expert and the “Guru of Spelling,” joins us on the podcast today to discuss dyslexia. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability, neurobiological in origin. It’s the #1 reading disability that manifests itself in a continuum. People with dyslexia have difficulty in accurate fluent reading,  spelling, and decoding abilities. Dr. Gentry shares his personal story of o...