Welcome to Episode 21 of the teaching literacy podcast!   I am very excited for today’s guest Today Dr. Pamela Snow joins us to talk about a new framework she’s developed called SOLAR- Science of Language and Reading. 

Our discussion outlines the important relationship between reading and language. Dr. Snow is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology and head of the newly-developed Science of Language and Reading Lab at La Trobe University in Melbourne Australia.  We discuss her new paper, SOLAR: the Science of Language and Reading published in the Journal of Child Language Teaching and Therapy. We discuss the the role of language and reading, the ground, foundation, walls, and roof of her language house framework, and how language can be supported in the classroom.  I should point out that her paper is open source, which means you can view it for free.  I highly recommend you check it out, it’s very well written and I think it’s as accessible to a teacher audience as it is to other researchers. Once the show is over, stick around for my two cents on the conversation.

A few items of business:

First, you may have noticed a slightly different show opener today. This year I am transitioning into a new role as an instructional coach. It’ an exciting change for me-  I’m very excited for the opportunity to devote my heart mind and soul to thinking about  good instruction. It’s been hard leaving my classroom, but I think it will be a good change

On a related note, I am also entering the home stretch with my doctoral program at USU. All that is between me and a fancy piece of paper is my dissertation. I chugged at full steam with it over the summer, and am hoping to finish up next spring.  I’m really excited about my topic and I hope the outcome will be valuable for literacy teachers.

I only mention these two things because I need to talk about episode timing. Throughout the show I’ve aimed to release 2 episodes a month, which more or less has been the case. Between settling into a new position, being a little bit more than knee deep in a dissertation, and a worldwide pandemic, I’m going to ease up  just a little on the schedule.  Instead of twice a month, I’m planning on three episodes every two months. I’m certainly not abandoning the show, indeed I’m more excited about what’s going on with the show than ever, but I think my sanity calls for a tap on the brakes. If I can produce more I will, and there may be a few supplemental episodes that I release solo, but that is the plan until I have that fancy piece of paper in hand.

Access to Dr. Snow’s paper on SOLAR:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265659020947817

Link to Dr. Snow’s Blog, The Snow Report

http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com/

Follow Dr. Snow on Twitter

@pamelasnow2

Reference:

Snow, P. C. (2020). SOLAR: The Science of Language and Reading. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659020947817