Research shows that students are best taught with challenging texts -- texts that in the past would have been deemed "frustration level" and eschewed for instruction. Teaching with grade level texts ensures that students will reach the levels of literacy needed for full participation in society. Teaching with grade levels texts makes sense, but what do we do with students who already can read grade level or higher texts? This podcasts provides some suggestions.
Jul 13, 2024•9 min•Season 2024Ep. 19
Many school districts are considering going to a 4-day school week. This would help solve their problem in getting substitutes, reduce lunch program costs, and make many of their employees happy. But what will it do to reading achievement? This podcast explores the research on instructional time and 4-day school weeks.
Jun 29, 2024•6 min•Season 2024Ep. 18
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.
Jun 22, 2024•10 min•Season 2024Ep. 17
This episode considers the value -- and limitations of using choral reading in the teaching of oral reading fluency.
Jun 09, 2024•9 min•Season 2024Ep. 16
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 reading education these days. Find out what research has to say about these materials and what they contribute to learning to read -- if anything. You might be surprised at what the "science of reading" has to say about this practice.
Jun 01, 2024•12 min•Season 2024Ep. 15
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 provide some recommendations.
May 18, 2024•22 min•Season 2023Ep. 14
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 them to succeed. Think pre-remediation rather than remediation.
May 04, 2024•9 min•Season 2024Ep. 13
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 and suggests ways that programs can be used and adjusted for maximum success.
Apr 20, 2024•14 min•Season 2024Ep. 12
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 why.
Apr 13, 2024•11 min•Season 2024Ep. 11
This podcast explores the role that guided reading should play in reading instruction and how best to support students during such reading experiences.
Apr 06, 2024•16 min•Season 2024Ep. 10
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.
Mar 23, 2024•11 min•Season 2024Ep. 9
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 stories and poems that would count as knowledge in this new regime? This podcast will explore that issue and provide some guidance to teachers on the matter.
Mar 16, 2024•8 min•Season 2024Ep. 8
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.
Mar 02, 2024•10 min•Season 2024Ep. 7
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 those questions.
Feb 17, 2024•10 min•Season 2024Ep. 6
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.
Feb 10, 2024•7 min•Season 2024Ep. 5
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.
Feb 03, 2024•18 min•Season 2024Ep. 4
This blog entry explores the three ways that teachers can teach their students about the relationships that exist between reading and writing.
Jan 20, 2024•14 min•Season 2024Ep. 3
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 about reading instruction -- and what a safer bet would be to getting things right.
Jan 13, 2024•12 min•Season 2024Ep. 2
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.
Jan 06, 2024•17 min•Season 2024Ep. 1
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 in selecting or constructing curricula. You can read a transcription of this podcast and reader comments here: Shanahan on Literacy Blog....
Dec 16, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 27
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 children. The list is useful in that it encourages giving to the best of the national/international literacy charities, shows the range of resources avalable, and reveals some possibilities for your schools.
Dec 09, 2023•15 min•Season 2023Ep. 26
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 neither improves students' ability to answer such questions or reading comprehension. This podcast explains why and provides practical advice about what kinds of teaching students should receive concerning the main idea. Listen to this podcast an...
Dec 02, 2023•14 min•Season 2023Ep. 25
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 all children. READ MORE: Shanahan On Literacy Blog...
Nov 18, 2023•9 min•Season 2023Ep. 24
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...
Nov 11, 2023•16 min•Season 2023Ep. 23
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. READ MORE: Shanahan On Literacy Blog
Nov 04, 2023•16 min•Season 2023Ep. 24
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.
Sep 30, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 23
This Blast from the Past provides specific explanations of how to teach students to summarize text.
Sep 23, 2023•15 min•Season 2023Ep. 24
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.
Sep 16, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 23
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 research has to say about principals and reading.
Sep 09, 2023•12 min•Season 2023Ep. 25
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?
Aug 26, 2023•10 min•Season 2023Ep. 24
