Today's guest is none other than THE Dr. P David Pearson. Usually I approach guests with a topic in mind, but because Dr. Pearson had just written on just about every topic there is to write about in the field of literacy education, I asked him what he wanted to discuss. He said: "how to design an ideal literacy block aligned to research." I love the topic and I hope you will too. As always, I'm joined by colleagues in the second half of the episode today. It's Gina Dignon and Macie Kerbs to talk about practical takeaways for the classroom. It's a long episode, but worth every minute.

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Click to read a full transcript of this episode, and learn more about the show, and Jennifer Serravallo. 

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P. David Pearson is an emeritus faculty member in the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as Dean from 2001-2010. His current research focuses on literacy history and policy. He also holds an appointment as a Professor of the Graduate School and is the Evelyn Lois Corey Emeritus Chair in Instructional Science.

Prior to coming to Berkeley in 2001, he served as the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Education in the College of Education at Michigan State and as Co-Director of the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement. Even earlier, he was Dean of the College of Education, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Reading, and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois.  His initial professorial appointment was at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis from 1969-1978.

He has been active in professional organizations, serving ILA and  NCTE in many capacities (including the IRA Board of Directors and currently Chair of the Research Panel), both the NRC and NCRE as President, and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education as a member of the Board.  

Awards include the 1989 Oscar Causey Award for outstanding contributions to reading research from the NRC and the 1990 William S.Gray Citation of Merit. for his contributions to theory, research, and practice from the IRA. In 2004, he received the Alan Purves Award from NCTE for the Research in Teaching Englisharticle most likely to influence practice, and in 2005, the Albert J. Harris Award from IRA for scholarship on reading difficulties.  In 2006, the University of Minnesota honored him with the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest non-academic award given at the University, for his contributions to educational research and practice. In 2010, he received the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award.  In 2003, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education (NAE) and in 2009 to membership as a Fellow of the AERA.  In 2012, the Literacy Research Association (formerly the NRC) created the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award to honor scholarship that impacts literacy practice. 

His 300+ books, articles and chapters, written with over 300 co-authors, appear in a range of outlets for a wide range of audiences—teachers, scholars, and policy makers.

Professor Pearson received his B.A. in History from the UCBerkeley, after which he taught elementary school in California and went on to complete his Ph.D. in Reading Education at the U of Minnesota.  He completed post-doctoral study at the U of Texas, Austin and Stanford University. 

Special thanks to Alex Van Rose for audio editing this episode. 

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