Shanahan on Literacy

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.

Last refreshed: July 8th, 2025 at 7:13 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

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 level of challenge really beneficial?

Aug 19, 2023•8 min•Season 2023Ep. 23

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 answer might surprise you.

Aug 05, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 22

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.

Jul 22, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 21

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.

Jul 15, 2023•16 min•Season 2023Ep. 20

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 development and examines the most effective ways to teach it.

Jul 08, 2023•16 min•Season 2023Ep. 19

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.

Jun 17, 2023•17 min•Season 2023Ep. 18

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 four of these common errors.

Jun 11, 2023•9 min•Season 2023Ep. 17

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