Two Writing Teachers Podcast

In our second Writing Roundtable episode, renowned literacy expert Lester L. Laminack joins us to discuss his Ferris wheel of education concept, providing a fresh perspective on educational trends. Lester examines the current state of writing instruction, investigating how recent developments influence students' writing experiences and skills. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the evolving landscape of writing pedagogy as Lester addresses the promising advancements and potential challenges facing educators. 

GO DEEPER:

• Read Lester's original "Ferris Wheel" piece on The Robb Review

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Lester Laminack, Professor Emeritus, Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina is a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States and abroad. He is the author of over 25 books for teachers and children. His academic publications include Climb Inside a Poem (Heinemann) Cracking Open the Author’s Craft (Scholastic), Bullying Hurts: Teaching Kindness Through Read Aloud and Guided Conversations (Heinemann), The Writing Teacher’s Troubleshooting Guide(Heinemann), Writers ARE Readers: Flipping Reading Strategies into Writing Instruction (Heinemann), Reading to Make a Difference(Heinemann), The Ultimate Read Aloud Guide 2nd Edition (Scholastic) and The Ultimate Read Aloud Collection Fiction and Nonfiction (Scholastic), Critical Comprehension: Lessons for Guiding Students to Deeper Meaning (Corwin). 

Lester is also the author of several children’s books including: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor’s Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Teacakes, Jake’s 100th Day of School, Snow Day!, Three Hens and a Peacock  (2012 Children’s Choice K-2 Book of the Year Award), and The King of Bees all published by Peachtree Publishers. His most recent book for children is Three Hens, a Peacock, and the Enormous Egg.  His most recent book, A Cat Like That was released in January 2025.

Lester is available for professional development and school author visits. You can contact him via his website, and follow him on Facebook.

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Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Fun test prep may seem like an oxymoron, but in this tip for tomorrow, Melanie shares a few ways you can bring movement, collaboration, and agency into getting students ready to take assessments. 

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Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

In this episode, Stacey interviews Melanie about her upcoming book (co-authored with Maggie Beattie Roberts), tentatively titled THE WRITING BRAIN: FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS OF WRITTEN EXPRESSION. The book emphasizes developing foundational writing skills through research- and evidence-based instructional methods. We discuss the five guiding principles featured in the book: Cognitive Load Theory, Neurological Response to Learning, The Zone of Proximal Development, Universal Design for Learning, and the Gradual Release Model. Melanie explains how their book helps teachers identify and address individual students' writing challenges. She also shares insights about the collaborative writing process with Maggie. 

GO DEEPER:

• Cognitive Load Theory: Sweller, J. Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning. Cogn. Sci. 1988, 12, 257–285. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
• Zone of Proximal Development - Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
• Gradual Release Theory- Pearson, P. D., & Gallagher, M. C. (1983). The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8(3), 317-344.

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Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

There is a lot of research about spelling and how students learn to spell words, and there are important connections between how students spell and how they learn to read. In this episode, Melanie shares a few changes she's made as she works with students who ask how to spell words. 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• How Words Cast Their Spell
• Rebecca Treiman

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Welcome to The Writing Roundtable, where we explore writing topics with guest authors. In this inaugural episode, Stacey discusses poetry’s significance in elementary education with poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, who describes poetry as "offerings of beautiful words by beautiful people that I don't know." Amy shares the benefits of poetry and strategies for educators, including daily readings, group writing activities, and showcasing student work. She also reflects on her journey as a children's poet, offering tips for those interested in publication. This discussion provides insights for teachers looking to enhance learning through poetry. 

ABOUT THIS WEEK'S GUEST:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is a children's author, poet, and writing teacher celebrated for her contributions to children's literature and poetry education. She has contributed to many anthologies and authored several children's books, including Forest Has a Song, The Sound of Kindness, With My Hands: Poems About Making Things, and Read! Read! Read! Additionally, she teaches teachers about writing and is the author of Poems Are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres. 

Find Amy online at The Poem Farm and Sharing Our Notebooks.

GO DEEPER:

• Highlights Foundation
• One Simple Ritual, All Year Long (CCIRA) 
• SCBWI
• "Something Told the Wild Geese" (Recording) by Rachel Field, sung by the Von Trapp children 

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Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Explore the transformative power of process logs in writing instruction. Stacey reveals how process logs provide accountability, track progress, and offer authentic glimpses into the writing process. Discover how sharing these logs can make writing instruction more transparent and supportive for students. Whether you're a writer or educator, this episode offers practical strategies for using process logs to deepen your understanding of the writing craft.

GO DEEPER: Explore Two Writing Teachers' blog posts about process logs.

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Shawnda Fukano, a literacy coach and contributing writer to TWTBlog, chats with Stacey to expand on her blog post about oracy and its importance for multilingual learners. The discussion covers various aspects of oracy development, including success stories, challenges, and practical classroom implementation strategies. Shawnda shares her experiences balancing vocabulary and language structure instruction, using mentor texts, and incorporating active listening skills. The episode also delves into hands-on strategies for integrating oracy into daily classroom activities and effective methods for assessing students' oracy skills.

Shawnda Fukano is a primary literacy coach at a dual-language school in the Highline School District in Seattle, Washington. She supports teachers and students in developing biliteracy in both English and Spanish. With a passion for educating multilingual learners since 2004, Shawnda has taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade newcomers and served as the Dual Language Coordinator. She has also taught English to adult refugees from Burma. Shawnda is a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language and OCDE Project GLAD® Trainer. She lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and twin daughters. She writes slices of her life as a mom and teacher at ShawndaStories.

Go Deeper:

• Building Bigger Vocabularies Through Books
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
• Chants for Writing: Support Routines, Conventions, and Craft
• More about Isabel L. Beck
• Oracy: What & How
• Read more posts about working with multilingual learners and on translanguaging on Two Writing Teachers. 
• Strategies for Working with Multilingual Learners episode
• Vocabulary Games

Thanks to our affiliate, Zencastr! Use our special link (https://zen.ai/mqsr2kHXSP2YaA1nAh2EpHl-bWR9QNvFyAQlDC3CiEk) to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan. 

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Motor skills are fundamental for written expression. In this Tip for Tomorrow, Melanie shares some strategies for building and leveraging large and small motor skills. 

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

In this episode, Melanie talks with Two Writing Teachers co-authors, Leah Thomas and Lainie Levin, about their presentation from NCTE 2025. The presentation and discussion focus on important research supporting fundamental writing instruction practices.

Go Deeper:
Check out the Build Your Expertise Blog Series on TWTBlog.

Thanks to our affiliate, Zencastr! Use our special link (https://zen.ai/mqsr2kHXSP2YaA1nAh2EpHl-bWR9QNvFyAQlDC3CiEk) to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan. 

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.

Stacey explores how sticky notes enhance writing workshops through three key uses: spelling assistance, sentence revisions, and personalized mini-charts. These practical ways promote student independence and offer non-intrusive feedback for customized learning, positively impacting writing skills. With these easy-to-implement ideas, you can make a positive difference in your students' writing!

GO DEEPER:

• Something Do-Able to Try: The Editing Minute
• Step Up Interactive Writing (…And Sneak In More Spelling, Vocabulary, and Grammar)
• Sticky Notes, Arrows, and Margins, Oh My!
• Toolkit Resources for Writing Instruction
• Writing on Students’ Work in Progress: Resetting Our Workshop Practices

Send us Fan Mail

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave us ratings/reviews on your favorite listening platform.

You may contact us directly if you want us to consult with your school district. 

• Melanie Meehan: [email protected] 
• Stacey Shubitz: [email protected]

Email us at [email protected] for affiliate or sponsorship opportunities.

For more about teaching writing, head to the Two Writing Teachers blog.