In this episode of the Reading Symphony Podcast, Katie Megrian hosts Whitney Whealdon, a career educator and learning architect. They discuss the critical role of background knowledge in reading comprehension, the development of Louisiana's ELA guidebooks, and the importance of coherent and aligned literacy curricula. Whitney shares insights from her career journey, innovation in curriculum development, and the Wonderwood app, designed to help children build knowledge. They also explore practical ways parents can support their children's literacy development at home. Key takeaways include cultivating curiosity, leveraging interconnected knowledge, and advocating for robust science and social studies instruction.

00:00 Welcome to the Reading Symphony Podcast

00:30 Introducing Whitney Whealdon

01:33 Whitney's Journey in Education

03:23 The Importance of Background Knowledge

08:58 Curriculum Transformation in Louisiana

32:43 Building Knowledge at Home with Wonderwood

43:09 Final Thoughts and Resources

Where to find Whitney:

• Secret Life of Learning Substack: https://whitneywhealdon.substack.com/ 
• Knowledge Builders Club for Families: https://www.facebook.com/groups/knowledgebuildersclub/
• Wonderwood: https://wonderwood.me/en-us/

Additional Resources

• Latent Semantic Analysis
• How book-rich, knowledge-rich curriculum is fueling the Southern Surge  by Karen Vaites
• The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler