Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® | Science of Reading for Teachers

Jared Myracle shares the process and focus on curriculum adoption and implementation during his time as CAO of Jackson-Madison County Schools, where he learned that "people want better, but they don't like different." He unpacks his latest post, Reading Assessments Need an Upgrade, to dissect how and why curriculum should drive assessment (not vice versa), what we can all learn from LA DOE, and the power of 'warm' reads. And, be sure to listen for his advice about virtual learning as students return, or transition to, instruction this fall. Jared is currently consulting on high-quality curriculum implementation.

Read Jared's latest post here (Reading Assessments Need an Upgrade)
Connect with Jared on Twitter @JaredMyracle
Listen to Jared's new podcast, Edspective

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Kristen Wynn (MDE State Literacy Director, K-12), Jill Webb Hoda (MDE Assistant State Literacy Coordinator, K-3), & Jessica Crosby-Pitchamootoo (Elementary Curriculum Lead Division 1, Jackson Public Schools), join Melissa & Lori to share the larger context of literacy in Mississippi, as well as why they decided to focus on high quality instructional materials - and HOW they did it!

They outline the path they took to adopt Wit & Wisdom ELA, from the moment they knew they needed a HQC through adoption and implementation in Jackson Public Schools, the state's largest urban district.

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Melissa has a conversation with Dr. Molly Ness, an associate professor in childhood  education at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education about how to help parents support their students with reading at home, how to instill a love of reading, and the real challenges that face us all as parents right now!

Learn more from Molly on her podcast: End Book Deserts Podcast or on her website: www.drmollyness.com

Resources: 

• Read Aloud 15 Minutes 
• The Enchanted Hour by Megan Cox Gurdon 
• Storyline Online 
• Look for Molly's upcoming article in Parents Magazine

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Vik wants to know... What's NOT going well with HQC implementation? Vik is the Humanities Product Director at Great Minds, and talks a bit about the history of educational products - giving us insight into the historical, social, and economic contexts to understand where educational products have been and where they are going, especially considering our 'new' normal.

He shares about the exciting product that Great Minds is launching this August: in Sync - so students and teachers can learn and teach anywhere! He shares it's not just a product, it's a practice and a solution. His words ring true for all of us at this historical moment in time:  We are at a unique intersection in curriculum reform and platform options. Right now, building products that are specific to ELA, that work for teachers and students, and that drive equity is of the utmost importance.

How is SEL embedded into high quality curricula? Hear from an expert: Chi Kim, CEO at Pure Edge, Inc.

Chi shares what this looks, sounds, and feels like... intentional conversations around information gleaned from texts (have you heard the phrase 'mirrors & windows?'), strategies and resources to support student agency and action, and how we as educators can purposefully embed SEL best practices that build relationships and grow content understanding. Most importantly, she underscores the importance of knowing and understanding your content and your students... because CONTEXT MATTERS. You're going to love this episode! 

CASEL Framework

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

We had the opportunity to talk (again!) with Natalie Wexler about tips for effective remote learning (read her full article located here), the current intersection of students' virtual learning and strategy-focused instruction (due to lack of knowledge-based, high quality curricula) and how parents are noticing! How can we teach strategies in context while building knowledge? Listen to find out!

More recently, Wexler wrote a piece titled How Reading Instruction Oppresses Black and Brown Children, located here. She ends with this quote: "If people truly understood the needless damage being done by our schools every day, they would be out in the streets demanding change." Natalie, we hear you, and WE ARE! We are shouting from the rooftops... or more accurately, shouting from the podcast apps! :)

American Educator magazine released an excerpt of The Knowledge Gap - find it here! 

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Listen as second grader Presley shares 'knowledge nuggets' about her virtual learning experience with Knowledge on the Go by Great Minds. In only seven short weeks of using a knowledge-based curriculum vs. isolated standards/strategy-based approaches, she is using strategies to access content in context effectively - and speaking and writing to share what she's learned. Her sweet voice shares that she loves learning 'facts' about what she reads while accessing grade level texts and tasks! 

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Melissa and Lori chatted with Mark Feiring, the Executive Director of the Maryland Book Bank, to hear how the organization is supporting the community during this time. He shared some fabulous ideas - building partnerships with other community organizations such as The Baltimore Hunger Projects as well as community schools - and thinking outside of the box to get books into kids' and families' hands during this time is critical. So far, the Maryland Book Bank team has sent over 25,600 books to 8,174 children in the first month of quarantine here in Maryland. Kudos, Mark and team! 

Check out the Maryland Book Bank here!
Follow Melissa and Lori Love Literacy here!
And, our friend Molly Ness replicates the MD Book Bank on a smaller scale in NY! Check out her podcast, End Book Deserts here! 

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

• Twitter
• Instagram
• Facebook

Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

Rachel Stack, CAO of Humanities at Great Minds, talks all things Knowledge on the Go, Great Minds' free, virtual, knowledge-building lessons led by teachers to support students, teachers, districts, and families in this time of quarantine. We discuss the role of knowledge-building in our new virtual learning world, and share successes - both big and small - to highlight the power of knowledge.

To access Knowledge on the Go: Greatminds.org  --> Knowledge on the Go
7 Tips to Help Make Remote Learning More Effective
Advancing Our Students' Language and Literacy

Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/

Connect with Melissa & Lori:

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Today is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].

We talked with the fabulously candid Tim Shanahan about his recent blog post Prior Knowledge, or He Isn't Going to Pick on the Baseball Study that garnered much attention. Should we teach reading strategies? How important is building knowledge? What are reading skills vs. strategies? How frequent should strategy instruction occur in concert with knowledge building? He also weighs in on the current crisis to share his thoughts on how families and educators can best serve students at home.

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Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at [email protected].