Shanahan on Literacy

By Timothy Shanahan

What's Shanahan on Literacy about?

Timothy Shanahan is a renowned expert on the teaching of literacy. This podcast addresses practical issues in teaching students to read and to read better.

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Shanahan on Literacy episodes:

06.22.2024
What about Tracing and Other Multi-Sensory Teaching Approaches?
Many phonics proponents claim that the best way to teach phonics is multi-sensorilly with tracing and similar activities. This podcast reveals what research studies have to say about those claims.
06.09.2024
Choral Reading: Good Idea or Not?
This episode considers the value -- and limitations of using choral reading in the teaching of oral reading fluency.
06.01.2024
Should We Teach with Decodable text?
This "blast from the past" revisits -- revises -- a blog posting from 2018. This podcast explains what the research has to say about teaching with decodable text. The idea of teaching students with decodables is a hot topic in...
05.18.2024
What About Those Reading Textbook Reviews and Ratings?
Recently, several organizations have started evaluating reading programs. These ratings are getting a lot of attention from school districts around the nation, but how good are they and how should they be used? This podcast will explore those issues and...
05.04.2024
Ensuring Success: Pre-Remediation as a Valuable Alternative
Most reading interventions for older students fail. One reason for this is that they tend to focus on raising general reading achievement, instead of putting the major emphasis on helping those students to develop the reading abilities that would allow...
04.20.2024
What Does It Mean to Follow a Program? Issues in Fidelity
These days there is a great deal of interest in controlling classroom reading instruction. One approach to this is to require "fidelity" of program use. What does fidelity mean and will it improve reading achievement? This podcast explores those issues...
04.13.2024
What is the Best Way to Organize a Classroom for Reading Instruction?
This podcast explores how classroom reading instruction is best organized -- whole class or small group? The tendency has been to promote small group instruction over all other considerations -- an approach that is not often very successful. Find out...
04.06.2024
Does Research Support "guided reading"? Practical Advice on Directing Reading
This podcast explores the role that guided reading should play in reading instruction and how best to support students during such reading experiences.
03.23.2024
The Instructional Level Concept Revisited: Teaching With Complex Text
This podcast explores the idea of teaching students to read at their instructional level. It explains why this is not such a good idea beyond beginning readers.
03.16.2024
Knowledge of Literature, that is the Question… Or, Is It?
This podcast explores the role that literature should play in a knowledge-focused curriculum. Too often, these days, literary text is being elbowed aside by informational texts, but literature plays an important role in the development of language. This podcast makes...
03.16.2024
Does Literature Count as Knowledge?
These days there is a big push to emphasize knowledge in reading programs. This has led to welcome increases in emphasis on social studies and science texts in reading. But what about literature? Is there anything to be learned from...
03.02.2024
Can a Program of Professional Development Raise Reading Achievement?
This episode explores the value of professional development for improving reading achievement. Some school districts are investing heavily in very expensive professional development programs in the hopes these will raise reading achievement.
02.17.2024
Small Group Phonics in the Classroom -- Good Idea or Not?
Teachers are often told that differentiation in instruction is important and in reading that tends to mean multiple groups of kids being taught different things. Is that a good idea for phonics? Why or Why not? This episode will answer...
02.10.2024
Grading Students on Individual Standards
School administrators often believe that students can be evaluated on the individual reading comprehension standards and they push teachers to teach and assess these individually. The research suggests that such efforts won't work.
02.03.2024
I Want My Students to Comprehend, Am I Teaching the Wrong Kind of Strategies?
Teachers are often told to teach comprehension strategies, but what if many of the strategies that are recommended only incidentally address comprehension? Learn to distinguish comprehension strategies form study skills.
01.20.2024
Blast from the Past: How Can We Take Advantage of the Reading-Writing Relationship?
This blog entry explores the three ways that teachers can teach their students about the relationships that exist between reading and writing.
01.13.2024
What does brain science have to say about teaching reading? Does It matter?
These days people are claiming that brain science has proven that phonics instruction is the way to go. However, brain science doesn't work that way. This podcast will explore what it is and isn't that brain science can tell us...
01.06.2024
Does the Science of Reading Include Middle School? Phonics in the Upper Grades
A teacher asks about the benefits of phonics in the upper grades and this podcasts provides an exploration of the research on this issue along with practical advice on how best to meet students learning needs in reading.
12.16.2023
Putting Your Underwear on First: Why Instructional Sequence Doesn't Always Matter
This podcast replies to a teacher's question that asks about the proper sequence to teach the alphabet and phonics skills. It explores what research has to say about sequence and whether it matters and provides some specific criteria to consider...
12.09.2023
Literacy Charities 2024
Each year, Shanahanonliteracy.com presents a list of the highest rated literacy charities in the U.S. and Canada. These charities distribute books, make electronic resources available, and support literacy instruction in a variety of ways and to a variety of needy...
12.02.2023
Why Main Idea is Not the Main Idea – Or, How Best to Teach Reading Comprehension
State standards and state tests emphasize the importance of "main idea" in reading instruction. Many schools (and commercial programs) in response to this try to teach main idea by having students read texts and answer main idea questions. However, that...
11.18.2023
Should We Teach Phonics to English Learners?
This podcast explores the research on phonics teaching to English Learners and concludes that such instruction is important. However, ELs are more likely to struggle with language than decoding, so both decoding and language interventions need to be available to...
11.11.2023
Should We Be Teaching Sight Vocabulary?
This podcast considers whether teachers should attempt to teach sight vocabulary, and if so, how is that best accomplished. READ MORE: Shanahan On Literacy Blog
11.04.2023
My state is banning instructional practices... or, how to look like you are teaching effectively even if you are not
This teacher is concerned that her state is discouraging the use of guided reading, leveled readers and informal reading inventories. Tim Shanahan weighs in on the value of those practices in a classroom aimed at implementing the science of reading....
09.30.2023
Are Qualitative Assessment and Student Self-Assessment Useful in Reading Instruction?
This podcast explorews the ins and outs of qualitative assessment in reading and examines the role of student sa=elf assessment and why it may be both lousy evaluation and terrific instruction.
09.23.2023
How to Teach Summarizing, Part I
This Blast from the Past provides specific explanations of how to teach students to summarize text.
09.23.2023
How to Teach Summarizing, Part I
This Blast from the Past provides specific explanations of how to teach students to summarize text.
09.16.2023
How Should We Combine Reading and Writing?
This podcast explores how teachers should organize their classrooms to best teach reading and writing and criticizes some of the more popular approaches to this problem.
09.09.2023
A Big Mistake in Reading Improvement Initiatives – Don’t Make This One
This episode explores the role of principals in the improvement of school reading achievement. These days all of the attention seems to be on literacy coaches, but their success depends heavily on the school principal. This episode explores what the...
08.26.2023
Which Should We Use, Nonsense Word Tests or Word ID Tests?
Educators wonder what is the best way to monitor students' decoding progress. What are the pluses and minuses of using tests that have students reading nonsense words?
08.19.2023
Guided Reading and the Appropriate Level of Text Challenge
The idea of placing students in texts at their instructional level has always tried to provide students with some degree of challenge. The idea has been that kids won't learn from texts the can already read well. But is that...
08.05.2023
Is Digital Text a Good Idea for Reading Instruction?
A teacher asks about the value of digital text for reading instruction. The research says that neither children nor adults read digital text very well, so what role -- if any -- should digital text play in reading instruction? The...
07.22.2023
Knowledge or Comprehension Strategies -- What Should We Teach?
This episode answers a teacher's question about whether he should teach comprehension strategies or focus on student knowledge.
07.15.2023
Reading Stamina -- How Best to Divide Text for Classroom Discussion
This episode explains ways that teachers can enable students to read text successfully for longer.
07.08.2023
Can We Really Teach Prosody and Why Should We Want To?
The idea of teaching text reading fluency is widely accepted, but most of this work tends to focus on accuracy and automaticity. What about prosody or expression? This episode explores the research that explains the importance of prosody in reading...
06.17.2023
What is Linguistic Comprehension in the Simple View of Reading?
The simple view of reading claims that reading comprehension is the product of decoding and linguistic comprehension. But what is linguistic comprehension and what does it matter in the classroom? This episode explores the meaning of linguistic comprehension.
06.11.2023
On Climbing a Mountain: Four Ways NOT to Deal with Complex Text
These days teachers are told to teach reading with complex text. However, while they might have complex text in their classrooms or in their lessons, their approaches may undermine the benefits of complex texts. This episode cautions teachers to avoid...
06.09.2023
On Climbing a Mountain: Four Ways NOT to Deal with Complex Text
State educational standards now require that students be able to read grade level text. However, many teachers take actions that undermine their efforts to teach with complex texts -- actions that reduce learning. This podcast explains four of those unfortunate...

What's Shanahan on Literacy about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Shanahan on Literacy episodes:

What about Tracing and Other Multi-Sensory Teaching Approaches?

Choral Reading: Good Idea or Not?

Should We Teach with Decodable text?

What About Those Reading Textbook Reviews and Ratings?

Ensuring Success: Pre-Remediation as a Valuable Alternative

What Does It Mean to Follow a Program? Issues in Fidelity

What is the Best Way to Organize a Classroom for Reading Instruction?

Does Research Support "guided reading"? Practical Advice on Directing Reading

The Instructional Level Concept Revisited: Teaching With Complex Text

Knowledge of Literature, that is the Question… Or, Is It?

Does Literature Count as Knowledge?

Can a Program of Professional Development Raise Reading Achievement?

Small Group Phonics in the Classroom -- Good Idea or Not?

Grading Students on Individual Standards

I Want My Students to Comprehend, Am I Teaching the Wrong Kind of Strategies?

Blast from the Past: How Can We Take Advantage of the Reading-Writing Relationship?

What does brain science have to say about teaching reading? Does It matter?

Does the Science of Reading Include Middle School? Phonics in the Upper Grades

Putting Your Underwear on First: Why Instructional Sequence Doesn't Always Matter

Literacy Charities 2024

Why Main Idea is Not the Main Idea – Or, How Best to Teach Reading Comprehension

Should We Teach Phonics to English Learners?

Should We Be Teaching Sight Vocabulary?

My state is banning instructional practices... or, how to look like you are teaching effectively even if you are not

Are Qualitative Assessment and Student Self-Assessment Useful in Reading Instruction?

How to Teach Summarizing, Part I

How to Teach Summarizing, Part I

How Should We Combine Reading and Writing?

A Big Mistake in Reading Improvement Initiatives – Don’t Make This One

Which Should We Use, Nonsense Word Tests or Word ID Tests?

Guided Reading and the Appropriate Level of Text Challenge

Is Digital Text a Good Idea for Reading Instruction?

Knowledge or Comprehension Strategies -- What Should We Teach?

Reading Stamina -- How Best to Divide Text for Classroom Discussion

Can We Really Teach Prosody and Why Should We Want To?

What is Linguistic Comprehension in the Simple View of Reading?

On Climbing a Mountain: Four Ways NOT to Deal with Complex Text

On Climbing a Mountain: Four Ways NOT to Deal with Complex Text

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