Reading Teachers Lounge

Shannon and Mary explore how to start conversations about sensitive topics surrounding race, inequality, apathetic attitudes and apologism related to books.   They discuss the controversy surrounding Dr. Seuss.  Dr. Seuss is a prolific children’s book author and global icon. And Dr. Seuss has a history of racial baggage that educators should understand when introducing his writing to their students.

Resource Links:

1. It's Time to Talk about Dr. Seuss (Teaching Tolerance)
2. Research on Diversity in Youth Culture - St. Catherine
3. NPR Code Switch episode
4. Dr Seuss Art.com 
5. Should Dr. Seuss be cancelled? Opinion page with links to news stories. 
6. BBC The Surprisingly Radical Politics of Dr. Seuss
7. How Racist Are Dr. Seuss Books?
8. What TO DO: Is the Cat in the Hat Racist? Read Across America Shifts Away From Dr. Seuss and Toward Diverse Books
9. https://www.theconsciouskid.org/ 
10. Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty* (This is an Amazon affiliate link, where we would make a small commission amount on your purchase.)

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Shannon and Mary open the season with a discussion about the importance of books to represent the diversity of our students giving them an opportunity to see themselves in books and opportunities to view other cultures, family structures and values. 

Resource Links:

1. THE Actual Paper that started this discussion 
2. Building a Diverse Book Collection
3. Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Doors
4. Librarian Professor article in the Atlantic
5. We Are Teachers: Mirrors and Windows
6. Teaching Tolerance article
7. Book Harvest article
8. Book List from NPR
9. Windows & Doors eBook and Portfolio Perspective (free activity on TpT)
10.  The Tutu Teacher’s Diverse Book List
11. Combining Teaching Tolerance Standards with Read Alouds

Follow: @diversereads & @thetutututeacher @loveteachbless @weneeddiversebooks
@readlikearockstar @littlesandlit @nouvelle_ela @theapron_education @hereweread
#ownvoices

Specific Book Titles Mentioned: *Amazon affiliate links*

1. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
2. The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
3. I Am Enough by Grace Byers
4. Hair Love by Matthew Cherry and Vashti Harrison
5. Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
6. My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero
7. Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
8. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
9. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
10. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
11. Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
12. Preaching to the Chickens by Jabari Asim
13. She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton 
14. Be Who You Are by Todd Parr

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Shannon and Mary catch up after their Season 2 hiatus to discuss Quarantine Life, Home Learning, and what's next.

RESOURCE LINKS: 

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Are you familiar with the FCRR?    They have done incredible work making free effective research-based literacy activities.    The centers include directions for teachers and all the necessary materials.   They are mostly print and go activities requiring minimal teacher prep! 

In this episode, Shannon and Mary share their favorite FCRR reading center activities.  They give ideas for storage and organization of the materials and ways to scaffold.

RESOURCE LINKS:
(General links are listed first, then below those you will see the links for the specific games mentioned.)

1. FCRR homepage
2. Jill Shook loves FCRR too!

SPECIFIC GAME DIRECT LINKS FOR ACTIVITIES CREATED BY FCRR or SHANNON

1. FCRR: Vowel Picture Sort
2. FCRR: Phoneme Swap
3. FCRR: Vowel Stars
4. FCRR: Multiple Meaning Match
5. FCRR: Medial Phoneme Dominoes
6. FCRR: Speedy Phrases
7. FCRR: Word Web
8. FCRR: Sandpaper Words
9. FCRR: Contraction Bingo
10. FCRR: Root-A-Word
11. FCRR: Synonym and Antonym Connections
12. Shannon's Soccer Goal DIGITAL Vowel Sound Sort on Boom
13. Shannon's Read Around the Shape on Boom

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Shannon and Mary speak with consultant and literacy specialist Allison from Learning at the Primary Pond all about spelling tests and best practices in phonics instruction.




Resource Links:

1. blog post by Alison at Learning At the Primary Pond
2. Literacy website by Alison
3. Blog post about Best Practices in Phonics by Allison
4. Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory
5. Best Practices in Literacy Instruction, Sixth Edition*
6. Words Their Way by Donald Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, & Francine Johnson *
7. Rethinking Phonics: Making the Best Decisions by: Karin Dahl, Patricia Grogan, Lora Lawson, and Patricia Scharer*
8. Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations That Work (The Research-informed Classroom) by Heidi Anne Mesmer & Nell K. Duke *
9. A Fresh Look at Phonics, Grades K-2: Common Causes of Failure & Ingredients for Success by Wiley W. Blevins *
10. Kindergarten scope and sequence from Alison
11. first and second grade scope and sequence from Alison
12. Learning at the Primary Pond FACEBOOK
13. Learning at the Primary Pond INSTAGRAM
14. Learning at the Primary Pond BLOG
15. Learning at the Primary Pond WEBSITE
16. Learning at the Primary Pond PINTEREST
17. Learning at the Primary Pond TpT STORE
18. Learning at the Primary Pond BOOM LEARNING DIGITAL GAMES

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Shannon and Mary discuss another pillar in the Balanced Literacy Series: Shared Reading. Shared reading is interactive reading with teacher guided support. This is essential for helping struggling readers build their fluency and expression as well as explicitly modeling how proficient readers approach text. It can be done in whole group, small group, or with individualized instruction. Sometimes you will see shared reading experiences modeled with big books or books that are projected for the whole class to share.   



Resource Links:

1. Reading Rockets: Shared Reading
2. Medium Shared Reading with Small Groups of Struggling Readers
3. Reading Rockets PDF of Shared Reading
4. Fountas & Pinnell Blog post about Shared Reading
5. Reading A-Z Shared Reading
6. What is Shared Reading and why is it so important? Blog post
7. Read aloud, Shared reading, Guided Reading: What’s the difference? Blog post
8. What is shared reading and how does it compare to close reading and other types of reading?
9. NEWSELA
10. Mary recommends: *Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension: A Guide for Educators by Kelly B. Cartwright*

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Shannon and Mary talk about the recent discussions in the news and educational circles related to the reading wars. Additionally, based on listener questions, they recommend some resources for teachers who want to implement more structured literacy into their classroom practices.


Resource Links:

1. Emily Hanford APM Reports Educate Podcast New Salvos in the Battles over Reading Instruction 
2. Emily Hanford APM Reports How a Flawed Idea is Teaching Millions of Kids to be Poor Readers
3. Lucy Calkins' response: No One Gets to Own the Term "The Science of Reading"
4. Need to practice Phonics instruction?   *Speech to Print Workbook by Louisa Cook Moats and Bruce Rosow *
5. Shannon recommends *Phonics A to Z by Wiley Blevins*
6. Shannon recommends *Teaching Phonics & Word Study in the Intermediate Grades by Wiley Blevins*
7. Free webinars IDA Upper Midwest Branch
8. IDA PDF Structured Literacy: Effective Instruction for Students with Dyslexia and Related Reading Difficulties
9. Comprehensive List of Programs based on Structured Literacy 
10. Mary recommends Equipped for Reading Success by David Kilpatrick
11. our Encoding episode (Season 1, episode 22):  Encoding First, Decoding Second

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Mary describes the differences between Balanced Literacy vs. Structured Literacy.

We have been doing a series on Balanced Literacy which might confuse some of our listeners. RTL wants to bring best practices to our conversations. If you, like us, believe that a strong phonics practice is essential, you will want to help your school transition to using a stronger structured literacy approach to word study.  In this episode, we will be discussing ways to effectively bring stronger phonics instruction to your schools' teaching practices.




Resource Links:

1. Nancy Young Infographic, IDA 
2. NHSD Components of Balanced LIteracy
3. IDA definition of Structured Literacy
4. Iowa Reading Research Center article An Explanation of Structured Literacy, and a Comparison to Balanced Literacy
5. Emily Gibbons blog post: How to Help Your School With the Transition to a Structured Literacy Approach
6. Balanced Literacy article k12 Reader
7. Lucy Calkins' Response to "phonics-centric"

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Shannon and Mary continue the conversation about balanced literacy elements by discussing supporting students' independent reading in the classroom and at home.   They share ideas about goal setting, making time for reading, reading conferences, and helping students develop literacy preferences.

 "Teaching children to read and providing them with something worthwhile to read is not a job for the faint of heart in this world. But I'll keep at it, and I won't be alone. You'll come too. We're fortunate, you know. Too many people in this world spend their lives doing work that doesn't matter in the great scheme of things, but bringing children and books together does matter. And we get to do it."
                    ~Katherine Patterson



Resource Links:
NOTE: As an Amazon Associate program, we earn a small amount from your qualifying purchases. We'd appreciate if you would use our links to help support the podcast.*

1. A Teachers Guide to Reading Conferences by Jennifer Servallo*
2. Conferring with Readers book*
3. Conferring: The Keystone of Readers Workshop*
4. Accelerated Reader
5. Accelerated Reader Certification Levels
6. The Value of Independent Reading
7. Reading Logs
8. Laura Candler Free Literacy Printables
9. Fountas and Pinnell: What is Independent Reading?
10. Cult of Pedagogy:How to Stop Killing the Love of Reading

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Shannon and Mary share their tips and tricks for one of the most enjoyable experiences of reading with young readers: Read Aloud! We share professional resources, essential tips for working with struggling readers, and how parents can make reading aloud at a home a treasured time for any type of reader.


Resource Links:
NOTE: As an Amazon Associate program, we earn a small amount from your qualifying purchases. We'd appreciate if you would use our links to help support the podcast.*

1. The Art of Teaching Reading by Lucy Calkins*
2. The Book Whisperer Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller*
3. Example of Youtube read-aloud
4. Raising Readers Free Course from Read Everyday Blog by Jansen Bradshaw
5. Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease*
6. How to Get your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell*
7. How to Help a Child with Dyslexia with Home Reading from The Literacy Nest
8. Accommodations for Dyslexia by Susan Barton
9. The Reading Zone by Nancie Atwell*
10. Beyond Leveled Books by Franki Sibberson and Karen Syzmusiak and Lisa Koch*
11. Plot Mountain Youtube clip

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