The Literacy View

Value: Differentiating phonics instruction can feel overwhelming, especially when students have a wide range of needs. In this episode, Wiley Blevins shares practical guidance for using small-group instruction to provide targeted support while maintaining access to grade-level learning. Listeners will gain research-informed insights and classroom-ready ideas for making phonics instruction more res...

Ep.169 Value This episode will challenge the way you think about engagement, rigor, and student learning. Zaretta Hammond shares practical, research-backed insights on how to create classrooms where students are doing the real cognitive work instead of passively participating. You’ll walk away with actionable ideas to strengthen thinking, discussion, productive struggle, and equity in instruction....

Ep.168 Value In this episode of The Literacy View, we have an amazing conversation with Assistant Superintendent Lynn Gaffney about why so many school initiatives fail and what actually leads to meaningful, lasting change. We dig into the realities of implementation, initiative overload, leadership decisions, and what schools need to stop doing if they want improvement efforts to truly stick. Prom...

Ep.167-What Actually Works In Schools The Literacy View live from researchED. VALUE: In this episode with Jim Heal, we call out the truth most schools avoid. We are not failing because teachers are not working hard. We are failing because we keep chasing everything instead of committing to what actually works. Jim breaks down mental models, worked examples, and the science of learning in a way tha...

 Join Us This Saturday Live In NYC!💜 🚨 WE’RE GOING LIVE RESEARCHED NYC 2026 🚨 No fluff. No boring PD. Just real conversations that actually matter. Join us live 👇 🎤 Lynn Gaffney 9:00 AM Making It Stick: Why School Initiatives Fail and What Actually Works 👉 https://www.youtube.com/live/4ismP8GCM3w?si=KXJZrHHlOaAeZPiQ 🧠 Zaretta Hammond 11:30 AM If Students Aren’t Doing the Thinking, They Aren...

Ep.165 Send us Fan Mail Sponsor-The Literacy View-Contact FaithandJudy@theliteracyview.com Partner With The Literacy View-Contact-FaithandJudy@theliteracyview.com Support the show Donate to support the show so it stays real, research-aligned, and independent.💜 https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=88DP4YMVETHFQ 🚨 Partner with The Literacy View No BS All Impact🫵   Coaching, PD, Retreat...

NEVER BEFORE‼️ The Controversial Four!  Ep.164 1) SoR gone wrong  ⚠️$$$$$$ 🤔 Article: https://hechingerreport.org/new-york-ten-million-reading-instruction/?fbclid=IwdGRleARTu3JleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeqbWxaS5IvvzlW4XxIdG4RN3kgnT7cDuSDppB69uyRhEscHxSzV6xlJ8Um3E_aem_2PbKgzuF_DYLzkAMMolz4g 2) LETRS  Article: https://epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/article/view/8621?fbclid=IwdGRle...

Ep.163 VALUE 🔥 This episode is about the power of strong foundations and why they matter in every subject. We break down how the science of learning applies across literacy, math, science, and social studies so you can make smarter instructional decisions every single day. You will walk away knowing exactly what to prioritize, how to spot gaps early, and how to build knowledge and skills that act...

Ep.162 VALUE 🔥 What if we have been thinking about small group instruction all wrong? In this episode, Nell Duke brings the real talk on what actually matters in literacy instruction right now. We dig into the role of knowledge building, why science and social studies cannot keep getting pushed aside, and what it really means to use small group reading instruction wisely. This is not surface-leve...

Ep.161 🔥 Value If you are questioning whether screens are helping or hurting your students or your own kids, this episode gives you clarity. We break down what screens may be doing to attention, language, and learning, and what actually matters in real classrooms and homes. You will walk away with concrete things to think about, discuss, and watch for. 🔥 Promise This episode will challenge you t...

Ep.160 Does Teacher Talk Really Matter? What the Evidence Shows with Dr. Yan Jiang In this episode of The Literacy View, we sit down with Dr. Yan Jiang, Postdoctoral Scholar at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood and coauthor of a major meta analysis published in Review of Educational Research. Her study analyzes more than one hundred studies examining the relationship between teachers’ languag...

Value In this episode with Reid Lyon, we go straight to the source of the modern reading research movement. You hear firsthand what the research actually revealed about how children learn to read, where implementation has gone wrong, and why misunderstanding the science continues to create confusion in classrooms. This is not secondhand interpretation. It is direct insight into the evidence, the h...

Ep.158 Value: In this Valentine’s Pop-Up LIVE, we share the quotes that made us think, pause, and remember why this work matters. You’ll hear powerful moments from episodes across the year, honest reflections from our community, and the conversations that define The Literacy View. Promise: You will leave re-energized and grounded in your purpose, reminded that this literacy work is bigger than tre...

Ep.157 Value A clear explanation of Linguistic Phonics and how this approach teaches reading through the direct connection between spoken sounds and written spellings. You’ll see how focusing on a small set of sounds and spellings at a time, and using them repeatedly in reading and spelling, helps learning stick. Promise You’ll leave knowing exactly how this approach works in practice and how to u...

EP.156🌶️  Value : This episode breaks down the article everyone’s talking about and asks the hard question it raises: If synthetic phonics has been mandated for years, why haven’t outcomes for struggling readers changed? We talk directly with Dominic Wyse about the research, the data, and what gets lost when literacy policy becomes rigid instead of responsive. Promise : You’ll leave with a clearer...

Ep. 155 We had a surprise guest: Mark Seidenberg! 🙌🏻 💜 Value & Promise In this episode, educators are invited into a research conversation that is still unfolding. You’ll hear Mark Seidenberg discuss his latest article while educators engage in real time with questions, reactions, and pushback. This episode offers • A window into how researchers think aloud as ideas are examined, questioned...

Ep. 154 Value Cuts through the curriculum noise by explaining why so many debates miss what actually drives reading comprehension. Clarifies how curriculum, instruction, strategies, and prior knowledge interact so educators can think more clearly about what really supports understanding. Promise Listeners will leave with sharper language to explain what’s broken in common curriculum conversations,...

Value Sloppy literacy language is everywhere and it is costing teachers clarity, confidence, and credibility. When words lose their meaning, instruction suffers. Promise This Breaking News episode gets brutally clear. You will leave knowing exactly what Science of Reading, Structured Literacy, phonics, curriculum, and program actually mean so you can cut through the noise, shut down misinformation...

Episode: 152 Structured Literacy vs. Balanced Literacy: What the Research Really Says (The Verdict You Can’t Miss) Research : https://share.google/Xz1J9wiFEjrOo8O8i Nathaniel Hansford Bio: https://share.google/pbTnMqtKGOwSvdg8k Kathryn Garforth Bio: https://share.google/RaPZEL2bXHRZXjTEG Value This episode delivers the research backed justification for a structured literacy approach. If you have e...

Ep:151-What If We've Been Teaching Spelling All Wrong? VALUE Spelling isn’t a side dish. It’s one of the most powerful drivers of reading and writing success. In this episode, researchers Brennan Chandler and Jessica Toste break open decades of data and show how real spelling instruction builds orthographic mapping, boosts decoding and encoding, and transforms writing for all students. If you...

Episode 150 PROMISE : This episode gives you easy, evidence-aligned ways to make reading exciting  even for kids who say they hate it. VALUE: You’ll learn how a simple gamified approach, Student Detectives, boosts motivation, stamina, and engagement without fancy tech or complicated prep. 🔍  What We Cover How “detective-style” reading transforms reluctant readers What the research (2020–2024) act...

Episode 149 🎧 What This Breaking News Episode Delivers Dr. Timothy Shanahan joins us to bring absolute clarity to one of the most misunderstood topics in literacy. Educators get a clear explanation of what background knowledge truly is and what it is not. You will learn how to separate fact from fiction and understand what the research actually supports without jargon or confusion. By the end of...

Episode-148 In this episode, we unpack the myth, separate inspiration from evidence, and explain why phonics, though imperfect, remains the most equitable and effective foundation for teaching all children to read, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this episode, we unpack the myth, separate inspiration from evidence, and explain why phonics, though imperfect, remains the most equ...

Episode 147 Hey No BS Besties 💜 October was Dyslexia Awareness Month and we went LIVE for a special interactive taping of The Literacy View. This conversation gets to the heart of what matters most — truth, clarity, and every child’s right to learn to read. 🧩  Evaluating for Dyslexia in the Schools Can your school psychologist evaluate your child for dyslexia? Many families are told to seek priv...

🔥 Episode 146 ConCon™  Controversial Conversations in Literacy™ Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Unmissable. Unafraid. Real teachers take on the hottest literacy debates from the Science of Reading and phonics to comprehension, instruction, and teacher PD. Authentic talk that bridges research and real classrooms. 🎙️ Watch and listen to The Literacy View — the bold education podcast where truth meets tea...