Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Podcast

Text Reformulation with Drs. Michael DiCicco and Eileen Shanahan

In today’s episode host Matt Sroka chats with Drs. Michael DiCicco and Eileen Shannaon about a literacy strategy that can help students to become better readers and better writers. The strategy is called text reformulation. This conversation centers around their article for JAAL titled: Dr. Seuss, police reports, and lamb recipes: Examining text reformulation as a literacy strategy. 

Dr. Eileen Shanahan is an associate professor at Northern Kentucky University. She began her career as an eighth-grade language arts teacher and then served as a middle school curriculum and literacy coordinator. Her interests include writing and grammar instruction, discourse and teacher learning, and teaching English from a social justice perspective.

Dr. Michael DiCicco is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Northern Kentucky University. A former middle school teacher. Dr. DiCicco has been an educator for 16 years. His research focuses on literacy teacher preparation and development and middle level literacy. 

Resource:

Dr. Seuss, police reports, and lamb recipes: Examining text reformulation as a literacy strategy

Reading Intervention for Adolescent Readers with Dr. Margaret Opatz and Sara Kocherhans

How can secondary educators support adolescent readers to become strong readers of complex texts? In today's episode, Matt Sroka talks with Dr. Margaret Opatz and Sara Kocherhans about their work investigating multicomponent reading intervention in order to improve adolescents reading achievement. This conversation stems from their article “Using a supplemental, multicomponent reading intervention to increase adolescent readers' achievement”. 

Margaret Opatz, Ph.D., is a Reading Research Scientist at Capti, an edtech company, where she leads literacy initiatives. Margaret is a former K-12 teacher, reading interventionist, and Equity Coach. She specializes in foundational reading skills, covering the developmental stages of both young and adolescent readers, as well as effective teaching methods and strategies for addressing reading difficulties. Margaret is dedicated to advancing reading interventions and assessments to support learners of all backgrounds. 

Sarah Kocherhans is a PhD student in the Literacy, Language, and Learning program at the University of Utah. She works as a reading interventionist at the University of Utah Reading Clinic, where she researches and implements reading interventions for elementary and secondary students. Sarah's background is in the elementary classroom as a 3rd-grade teacher, where she first discovered her passion for remediating reading difficulties in developing readers. Through her work, she is dedicated to improving reading instruction for students of all ages.

Resource:

“Using a supplemental, multicomponent reading intervention to increase adolescent readers' achievement”. 

Vocabulary and High-Stakes Testing with Beverley Jennings 

In today's episode, Matt Sroka chats with Beverely Jennings about high-stakes testing? How much should our instruction be geared towards preparing students for high-stakes testing? How do we know if what we’re teaching and what we are having students read is preparing them for high-stakes tests? What if preparing students for a high-stakes test is at odds with our goals and objectives for the class? Matt and Beverely explore these questions as they talk the article “A Corpus Study of English Language Exam Texts: Vocabulary Difficulty and the Impact on Students' Wider Reading (or Should Students be Reading More Texts by Dead White Men?)” by Beverley Jennings, Daisy Powell, Sylvia Jaworska, and Holly Joseph.

Beverley Jennings is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Education at the University of Reading in England. Her research is on adolescent reading comprehension, with particular focus on assessment and vocabulary. She has also been an English teacher in secondary (high) schools in England for 20 years. 

Resources:

A Corpus Study of English Language Exam Texts: Vocabulary Difficulty and the Impact on Students' Wider Reading (or Should Students be Reading More Texts by Dead White Men?)

Digital Literacies Framework with Drs. Katrina Tour and Ed Creely

In today's episode, Matt Sroka talks with Katrina Tour and Ed Creely about a framework they developed with colleagues for teaching Digital literacies to adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds. This framework is interesting and important in its own right, but their work also offers valuable tools and guidance for literacy teachers and scholars across various fields.. In our conversation we discuss the four key principles that guide their framework (Authentic Learning Contexts, Problem-Based Learning, Strength-Based Approach, and Multiple Dimensional Practices). And how each of these principles were or were not enacted by teachers in this study. This conversation stems from their article in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy  titled:  “Investigating the efficacy of the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide for adult EAL settings” by Ekaterina Tour, Edwin Creely, Peter Waterhouse, and Michael Henderson. 

Dr Katrina Tour is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Her research focuses on the digital literacies of children and adults from refugee and migrant backgrounds. It investigates the ways in which these groups use digital technologies in English as an Additional Language (EAL) for life, learning and employment, and explores how these experiences can be used to enhance educational policies and pedagogies for digital literacies in EAL/TESOL settings

Dr Edwin Creely is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. He is a strong contributor to international conferences and is widely published. His research interests include digital literacies and pedagogies, computers in education, creativity, critical thinking, literacies across the years, and artificial intelligence and language learning. He has also developed a strong interest in adult learning and especially involving adults from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Also, as mentioned in the opening, the latest Literacy Insights is now available: Guiding and Assessing Student Writing

Resources:

“Investigating the efficacy of the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide for adult EAL settings”

AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide 

AMEP Digital Literacies: Teaching Resources 

Designing Text Use for Science Teachers with Drs. Cynthia Greenleaf, Kathleen Hinchman, and Willard Brown

In today's episode, Matt Sroka talks with Drs. Cynthia Greenleaf, Kathleen Hinchman, and Willard Brown about using and selecting texts in Science classrooms. They discuss why teachers should go beyond just teaching the textbook, and how teachers can find authentic, engaging, and appropriately challenging multimodal texts for their classrooms. They also discuss how teachers can go about teaching these multimodal texts to their students, so they can be accessible for all students. This conversation centers on their article: Science teachers designing text use for equitable Next Generation Science instruction.

Cynthia Greenleaf, Senior Research Scientist (emerita) in Literacy at WestEd, is a passionate advocate for high-quality literacy education for all. Dr. Greenleaf leads collaborative, design-based research supporting the ongoing development of Reading Apprenticeship and its inquiry-based professional learning model and contributes to national and international efforts to advance academic and disciplinary literacies. Her work to design, develop, and bring Reading Apprenticeship to scale has improved teaching and learning for hundreds of thousands of secondary and college students and their teachers, nationally and internationally. A member of the Reading Hall of Fame and recipient of several awards and honors, Dr. Greenleaf received her doctorate in language and literacy education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kathleen A. Hinchman, PhD., is a literacy education Professor Emeritus at Syracuse University. She has taught, coached, and conducted research in elementary, secondary, adult literacy, and literacy teacher education settings. She has published numerous articles, chapters, and texts and served on local, state, and national literacy-related boards of directors. Her participation in this science and literacy collaborative design study stemmed from her lifelong interest in studying approaches that optimize disciplinary teachers’ support of students’ literacies. She can be reached at [email protected].

Willard Brown is STEM instructional coach for Envision Schools. Dr. Brown leverages his passion for literacy to support learning outcomes in STEM education and support the Envision Schools vision for pro-Black education. Previously, Willard worked at WestEd providing Reading Apprenticeship professional development and researching disciplinary literacy and science instruction. Earlier, he taught high school science in the Oakland Public Schools. His classes appear in multiple publications and instructional videos. Willard holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Resources:

Science teachers designing text use for equitable Next Generation Science instruction.

https://readingapprenticeship.org/resources/

Scroll down to select from a list of resource types linking to classroom resources, classroom videos, and curriculum. Open source curriculum units developed during this project are housed on this website, along with instructional support for teachers, videos of classroom instruction, and resources for school teams. 

Adult and Digital Literacy with Dr. Jennifer Kobrin

In today's episode, Matt Sroka talks with Dr. Jennifer Kobrin about adult and digital literacies. They cover topics from critical media literacy to navigating digital platforms, exploring how past experiences and identities influence our interactions, and discussing ways to have agency in this digital landscape. 

This conversation centers on Dr. Kobrin’s article, Identity, positioning, and platforms: A case study of an older job seeker in a community technology center. 

Dr. Jennifer D’haem Kobrin is an Assistant Professor of Adult and Continuing Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. She received an Ed.D. in Literacy Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2023. Prior to this, Dr. Kobrin also worked for decades as a practitioner in education and in adult education, most recently as Director of Digital Inclusion at the Office of Adult Education, City of Philadelphia. She is passionate about bridging theory and research with practice, especially as it pertains to adults’ learning and literacy practices in the digital world.

Resources:

Identity, positioning, and platforms: A case study of an older job seeker in a community technology center. 

Disciplinary Literacy With Dr. Thomas DeVere Wolsey 

In today’s episode Matt Sroka chats with Dr. Thomas DeVere Wolsey about disciplinary literacy. They discuss what disciplinary literacy is and how it can be applied in today’s classrooms. They also explore some perceived limitations of disciplinary literacy and how educators should react to those limitations. Their conversation stems from the article Intersections of Literacy and Teaching With the Disciplines and Professions: We Asked Some Experts by Thomas DeVere Wolsey, Diane Lapp, Maria C. Grant, and Ibrahim M. Karkouti. 

Thomas DeVere Wolsey, EdD, teaches graduate courses in research and literacy. He leads professional development for teachers in Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, China, on the Hopi Reservation and throughout the United States, among other places. He is the author or co-author of 12 books for teachers and teacher educators with two more in development. Dr. Wolsey has developed training materials for the California Department of Education, TextProject, San Diego State University, and North County (San Diego) Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program. His specialties include exploring intersections of literacy and technology, middle grades and secondary literacy practices, teacher preparation, and green school design. 

Resources

Intersections of Literacy and Teaching With the Disciplines and Professions: We Asked Some Experts

Do you struggle to teach your students to be better writers in your classroom? Do you find yourself giving general feedback and a letter grade, but not having a clear understanding if the students are really improving in their writing? In this episode, I chat with Dr. Sarah Beck about using “dialogic writing assessments” to help students become better writers. This conversation centers on Dr. Beck’s article Scaffolding Students’ Writing Processes Through Dialogic Assessment.

Dr. Sarah Beck is a teacher educator and literacy researcher on the faculty at New York University. In addition to an article and book chapter on dialogic assessment in Social Studies classrooms with Andrew O. del Calvo, her publications include  A Think Aloud Approach to Writing Assessment (2018) Teachers College Press, an analysis, with Amanda Godley, of features of exemplary college application essays.  

Related Article:

Beck, S. W., Jones, K., Storm, S., & Smith, H. (2020). Scaffolding students’ writing processes through dialogic assessment. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 63(6), 651-660.

Other Resources:

Beck, S. & del Calvo, A. (2023) Using dialogic writing assessment to support historical literacy. Literacy, 57,1, 61-71. 10.1111/lit.12309 del Calvo, A. O. & Beck, S. (2023). 

del Calvo, A. O., & Beck, S. W. (2023). Dialogic Writing Assessment in the History Classroom. In Assessing Disciplinary Writing in Both Research and Practice (pp. 227-251). IGI Global.

Reynolds, D. (2017). Interactional scaffolding for reading comprehension: A systematic review. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 66(1), 135-156.

Sports Culture and Literacy with Dr. Luke Rodesiler

How do we as educators go about connecting our academic work in ways that are challenging, relevant, engaging, and meaningful to our students? One way to achieve this is by tapping into students’ (and our culture at large) love of sports. In this episode, I chat with Dr. Luke Rodesiler about his article, “Controversies, Rivalries, and Representation: Sports Culture as a Site for Research and Inquiry”.

Luke Rodesiler, a former high school English teacher, works as an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Purdue University Fort Wayne. His research interests include the role popular cultural texts play in literacy teaching and learning, non-traditional forms of teacher professional development, and English education. He is a co-editor (with Alan Brown) of Developing Contemporary Literacies through Sports (NCTE, 2016), the author of Bringing Sports Culture to the English Classroom (Teachers College Press, 2022), and a co-author (with Mark A. Lewis and Alan Brown) of Reading the World through Sports and Young Adult Literature (NCTE, forthcoming in 2024).

Related Article:

Rodesiler, L. (2021). Controversies, rivalries, and representation: sports culture as a site for research and inquiry. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 65(1), 55-63.

Other Resources:

Rodesiler, L. (2022). Bringing Sports Culture to the English Classroom: An Interest-Driven Approach to Literacy Instruction. Teachers College Press.

Connective Literacies with Dr. Jocelyn Washburn and Dr. Suzanne Myers

As technology becomes more and more interwoven into educational spaces, how do we as educators utilize digital tools in ways that are effective and beneficial for ourselves and for our students? In this episode I talk with Dr. Jocelyn Washburn and Dr. Suzy Myers about the term “connective literacies” in their article titled “Adolescents' perspectives about their digital and connective literacies”

In this episode we explore what are connective literacies and what is the Connective Literacies Framework. We investigate what we can learn from adolescents and their experiences and perceptions toward technology use in the classroom. And we close by discussing how educators can help students navigate these connective and digital literacies in the classroom. 

Resources:

 “Adolescents' perspectives about their digital and connective literacies”

Literacy Insights