This week, Kate welcomes fellow podcaster Anna Geiger from The Measured Mom. As two teachers who have shifted from balanced literacy to structured literacy, this episode is filled with candid discussion as Kate and Anna highlight the biggest surprises they encountered along the way!

Anna is the CEO of The Measured Mom, host of Triple R Teaching, and the author of the soon-to-be released book, Reach All Readers: Using the Science of Reading to Transform Your Literacy Instruction.

Show Notes:

Season 3 of Reading Road Trip kicks off with a candid conversation between literacy greats: Dr. Anita Archer and Dr. Sonia Cabell.

Anita and Sonia recorded this episode at the 2024 Literacy & Learning Conference. Their conversation is both thoughtful and lighthearted - we hope you will enjoy!

Show Notes:

Sonia is a co-author of the new book Strive-for-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy

Anita is a co-author of the legendary text Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching

All About Words: Increasing Vocabulary in the Common Core Classroom by Tanya Wright and Susan Neuman is a book both Sonia and Anita discussed

Anita mentioned the research on Direct Instruction. This is summarized in the book All Students Can Succeed: A Half Century of Research on the Effectiveness of Direct Instruction

Kate brought up a document Anita wrote on scaffolding reading comprehension

Check out Kate's new home office setup - complete with a set of Archerisms!

Buckle up - Reading Road Trip is back for a third season!

Join classroom teacher Kate Winn for a jam-packed season featuring fabulous guests. From researchers and authors to educators and advocates, they're all sharing practical ideas that can be implemented now in your class, school, board or district!

Season 2 of Reading Road Trip closes out with a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Buckingham. Kate and Jennifer dig into reading science - what do teachers really need to know? From syllable types to comprehension strategies, linguistic terms to cognitive science, this episode distinguishes between what is a "need to know" and what is "nice to know." 

Dr. Jennifer Buckingham is the director of strategy and senior research fellow at MultiLit, and is the founder and director of the Five from Five Literacy Project.

Show Notes:

In this week's episode, Kate chats with Dr. Steve Graham about all things writing. Dr. Graham highlights the importance of handwriting and spelling, and unpacks evidence-based strategy instruction to build strong writers.

Show Notes: 

Kate chats with Dr. Jack Fletcher this week, unpacking all things dyslexia: Risk factors and prevention, dyslexia vs dysteachia, instructional tips, wait-to-fail, and dyslexia myths and misconceptions.

Show Notes:

Learn more about some of the articles Jack mentioned:

Kate chats with Clara Fiorentini this week. Tune in to explore novels in the classroom: how class novel studies fit into structured literacy, how complex text can be scaffolded, using "read-alikes" to choose texts, and avoiding the perils of "extractitis" - don't miss this thoughtful conversation about chapter books!

Clara is the president of the Literacy Association of Ireland and a lecturer in initial teacher education at Marino Institute of Education. She is wrapping up her Ph.D. research on current trends in Irish preschool literacy practice. Catch Clara at her blog, on Instagram, and on Twitter.

Show Notes:

This week Kate talks to Kristin Conradi Smith, Tammy Williams, and Ellen Frackelton about research-based comprehension strategies for the classroom, including considerations for text selection and preparation, common pitfalls to avoid and “use it tomorrow” ideas. Bottom line: no more strategy of the week!

Show Notes:

In this week's episode, Kate welcomes Kareem Weaver for a candid conversation about the role of literacy in equity, and some myths and misconceptions as strive for the goal of literacy for all.

Kareem Weaver is a co-founder and executive director of FULCRUM and is also the Oakland NAACP's Second Vice President and Chair of its Education Committee. Kareem's advocacy is featured in the film The Right to Read. Mr. Weaver was an award-winning teacher and administrator. He has undergraduate degrees from Morehouse College and a Master's in Clinical Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Weaver believes in the potential of all students, the brotherhood of man, and the importance of service above self.

This week, Kate chats with Dr. Deb Glaser about the second edition of Next STEPS for Literacy Instruction, co-authored with Dr. Susan Smartt. Kate and Deb unpack how to use valid and reliable assessments to shape effective literacy instructions, particularly through the Next STEPS framework: Set-up, Teach, Engage, Practice, and Show You Know.

Deb's knowledge and experience in structured literacy is both broad and deep: she is the author of the Reading Teacher's Top Ten Tools online course, Morpheme Magic, and Morphemes for Little Ones.

Show Notes:

The second edition of Next STEPS for Literacy Instruction is now available! ONlit.org has created a slide deck in both English and French to support schools, districts and boards to use this excellent text for a book study.

Small group instruction is a powerful tool to support stronger literacy outcomes. Deb mentioned the research of Dr. Barbara Foorman and Dr. Joe Torgesen - read more here.

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