Join Afrika Afeni Mills—a leader at BetterLesson—as she discusses how to integrate students’ schemas to nurture language comprehension in early literacy, discuss the difference between asset- and deficit-based teaching, and highlight the impact “windows and mirrors” have on students’ classroom experiences. Quotes: “A lot of the foundational work starts by making sure that we’re inquisitive about the resources we’re providing students.” “We don’t spend enough time thinking about students’ familie...
Oct 21, 2020•40 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast In our first international episode, join The Reading League CEO and President Maria Murray and La Trobe University Professor of Cognitive Psychology Pamela Snow as they reflect on the long history of the science of reading. They’ll explain the true definition of “the science of reading” and explore why this knowledge has not been translated for the practitioners that need it the most—teachers. Our guests will also discuss the pandemic’s silver lining: the opportunity to reflect on instructional ...
Oct 07, 2020•1 hr•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Join Amplify interns Justin Pita, undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, and Tamara Morris, graduate of Stanford University, as they share their reading journeys. They highlight the major disparities and barriers that affected their academic experiences and reflect on how action must be taken by caregivers and educators to ensure that students across the nation have access to equal opportunities for achievement in literacy so that no student gets left behind. Quotes : “You don’t have t...
Sep 23, 2020•34 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Join Dr. LaTonya Goffney, Superintendent of Schools for Aldine Independent School District in Texas, as she recounts her two-year journey with her team of district educators to adopt a new early literacy curriculum. Hear how they successfully challenged the traditional adoption process, studied the science of teaching reading, analyzed student data and experiences, and developed a district-wide set of beliefs and expectations. Show notes : The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's br...
Sep 09, 2020•43 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Join us in reflecting on Season One and preview what’s in store for an exciting Season Two. In this special episode, we visit the highlights of Season One, with key clips from Emily Hanford, Natalie Wexler, Ernesto Ortiz, David and Meredith Liben, and Shawn Joseph, and other moments that inspired us and changed how we think about literacy. Quotes : “When our first episode launched last year, we had no idea what it might become, only hope that you would find it helpful to grow your knowledge and ...
Aug 26, 2020•21 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Join Dr. Catherine Barnes, CEO of Sudden Impact Solutions and leader of the Black Parents Support Network, as she addresses the shortcomings of the educational system during the pandemic in underserved communities, the need for overcoming parents’ perceptions of judgment by educators, and how educators can foster relationships with parents in order to ensure continuous learning for students during these trying times. Quotes: “We are not coming in to judge parents and we are not expecting them to...
Aug 12, 2020•54 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast Author and University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham discusses the “reading wars” (and mischaracterizations among their factions), the importance of understanding basic science to teach reading, and the variations in implementation of the science of reading in literacy instruction across districts. Quotes: “Reading is central to (virtually) every educator’s concerns.” “Everything touches education." Resources: The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How t...
Jul 29, 2020•41 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast Doug Lemov, author and managing director of Uncommon Schools, discusses the role of technology in the classroom and remote instruction, how educators should reconsider how they approach literacy, and his experience reconstructing a reading curriculum for this next phase of digital learning while holding true to the values of the science of reading. Quotes: "Classrooms are first and foremost cultures and they shape students’ experiences." "Everything is challenging to teach online,...
Jul 15, 2020•46 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Educator, author, and leader Shawn Joseph discusses his work advocating for all students, shedding light on what he calls the silent crisis in literacy instruction. In this episode, you’ll hear about his experience as a former superintendent of several large urban districts and learn how he fostered achievement in all of his students. Quotes: “You have millions of children in the country who have not been given a civil right: the right to read.” Resources: Becoming a Data Champion in 6 Steps by ...
Jul 01, 2020•49 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Multilingual author and expert Elizabeth Jimenez Salinas and host Susan Lambert discuss advocating for underrepresented English Learners (EL), improving dual language instruction, and learned passivity. Elizabeth shares tips for EL students during this time and reinforces the importance of home connection and language development. Quotes: “English learners are put at a serious disadvantage by a school system that doesn’t use their home language.” “It is not just learning to recite rote words–it ...
Jun 17, 2020•1 hr•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Join Mary Clayman, Director of the District of Columbia Reading Clinic, and host Susan Lambert, as Mary shares her experience founding one of the first graduate clinical practicums sponsored by a public school system and discusses how it has influenced the training of DCPS teachers and the success of students in early literacy by using the science of reading. Quotes: "Like Louisa Moats said, ‘Teaching reading is rocket science,’ it takes a long time to learn all about the English language.”...
Jun 03, 2020•40 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Jacquey Barber, director of design & development at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, examines her research on the symbiotic relationship between literacy and science and what educators should be looking for in high-quality, literacy-rich science curricula. Q uotes: “Literacy is a domain in search of content; science is a domain in need of communication.” “Develop opportunities for students to learn to read, write, and talk like scientists do.” Resources: UCLA CRESST The Knowledge Gap:...
May 20, 2020•45 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast David and Meredith Liben, nationally recognized reading experts and authors of Know Better, Do Better , discuss their need to find evidence-based solutions, the importance of knowledge and skills instruction, and how to tackle unfinished learning in schools. Quotes: "Teaching reading in the early grades can be intellectually meaningful and fun." “Students all deserve access. It’s up to us to figure out what that access looks like for EVERY student.” Show Notes: Podcast Discussion Guide...
May 06, 2020•46 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Laurence Holt, language acquisition expert and author of the Learning to Read primers, joins host Susan Lambert to discuss the simple view of reading, how the brain rewires itself to learn how to read, and the importance of background knowledge in language comprehension. Quotes: “Learning how to read is such a pivotal moment in all of K-12.” “Decoding and language comprehension need to come together in order to become an expert reader.” Resources: Learning to Read: Primer Part One Learning to Re...
Apr 22, 2020•38 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Larry Berger, CEO of Amplify, discusses the use of innovation and technology to inform teaching and learning, his new initiative called Wide Open School, and how we can step back and let this be a time of joy and creativity for kids––letting them discover a love of reading. Quotes: “Make this a time of exploration and openness." “There is a moment for necessity and necessity brings innovation.” Show notes: Wide Open School Free remote learning resources from Amplify Amplify website Want to ...
Apr 10, 2020•48 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert, author and founder of the Text Project, shares insights from her research on vocabulary, the etymology of the English language, and the importance of teaching morphology to enable kids to make connections. Quotes: “Vocabulary is the base of building knowledge.” “Vocabulary represents your knowledge and knowledge is what determines your level of comprehension.” Show notes: The Text project Teaching Words and How They Work by Freddy Hiebert Twitter LinkedIn...
Apr 07, 2020•43 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Jared Myracle, Chief Academic Officer of the Jackson-Madison County School System in Tennessee, shares his district’s experience in adopting the science of reading and navigating the change management process. He stresses the importance of high-quality instructional materials and implementation fidelity. Quotes: “Don’t be satisfied with where you are. Where could you be if every student was guaranteed this type of education?” “Imagine what your results could be if you did ensure that all student...
Apr 01, 2020•39 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast David Steiner, Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, and Susan examine how school closures are impacting learning across the nation, how districts are responding to the rapidly-changing environment, and why maximizing our educational reach via technology should be a priority. Quotes: “This is a wake-up call to districts to really see that this digital inequality cannot persist.” “Don’t make the ideal the enemy of the possible.” Resour...
Mar 25, 2020•31 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Ernesto Ortiz, principal at an elementary school in Pennsylvania, discusses how to understand when materials are meaningfully “research-based,” how his school made the shift to the science of reading, and how he is supporting his students with remote learning resources to continue their literacy development at home. Quotes: “We need to be more informed than influenced so that we can look at things with a critical eye.” “As leaders, we need to remain calm and steadfast so we can navigate througho...
Mar 25, 2020•38 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve been thinking a lot about you -- and our hearts go out to you during this confusing and uncertain time. Helping our students continue to learn in this unusual and unsettling situation is not easy. And here at the Science of Reading podcast, we want to do what we can to support you where we can. Resources Science of Reading: The Podcast Science of Reading: The Facebook Community...
Mar 18, 2020•5 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Susan and Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, chat about combining neuroscience with education. How does neuroscience help us understand the changes going on in the brain of a child learning to read? Why do some children struggle so profoundly? He shares his research into focusing the student’s attention on letters and sounds versus on the word as a whole. Quotes: “Teachers play a huge role in shaping brain development for reading.” “This...
Mar 18, 2020•47 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Jasmine Lane, a high school English teacher, discusses what teachers need to do to push education forward for all students. She also shares how education has changed her life, how her students have been impacted by their early literacy teachers, and how high schoolers fill in the gaps for things they missed early on. Quotes: “The science of reading–every child deserves to be able to read.” Resources: Jasmine's Blog Blog: Project Forever Free Podcast discussion guide Want to discuss the epis...
Mar 04, 2020•35 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Nancy Nelson, Research Assistant Professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, discusses myths and misconceptions around RTI, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and universal screening in reading instruction. Quotes: “Relying on data allows us to engage in a systematic process to implement systems to meet the needs of all kids.” Resources: DIBELS® at the University of Oregon Want to discuss the episode? Join our Facebook group Science of Reading: The Comm...
Feb 19, 2020•46 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Carolyn Strom, Professor of Early Childhood Literacy and Innovation at NYU, discuss her research and interviews with pre-school teachers and how students learn to read, her view on the science of reading and the cognitive science behind it all. She shares her insights on the importance of neuroscience, culturally responsive teaching and dives into Linnea Ehri’s four phases of learning how to read. Quotes: “Our brains are not wired to read…we have to do a neurological backflip to teach our brains...
Feb 05, 2020•54 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Literacy expert and author Tim Shanahan discusses his views on teaching reading in middle school as an extension of evidence-based early literacy practices. What are some of the challenges and what should reading instruction include? Tim and host Susan Lambert dive into boosting comprehension, how the English language is always changing, and how to structure reading instruction across content areas such as history, science, and math so students are equipped to comprehend those texts as well. Quo...
Jan 22, 2020•35 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast What is the missing link in reading comprehension? Anne Lucas, former curriculum director and current product manager of Amplify Reading, discusses the multifaceted nature of comprehension, why it’s so difficult to teach, a teacher's powerful "eureka! moment," and the specific sentence-level skills which, if practiced, improve overall comprehension. Quotes: “The more tools we give to kids to grapple with texts and concepts, the better they’ll be able to do it.” “Background knowled...
Jan 08, 2020•31 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Emily Lutrick, a PreK-5 Curriculum and Dyslexia Coordinator with almost 20 years of experience in education, examines the facts and fictional myths of dyslexia, how early is too early to screen for dyslexia, and how to identify the signs and risk factors. Susan and Emily discuss how dyslexia relates to the science of reading and what educators and parents can do to help students after school. Quotes: “You’ve got to arm yourself with good, strong, core curriculum. Make sure you’re informed in wha...
Dec 24, 2019•40 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Lois Letchford, author of Reversed: A Memoir , shares personal accounts of her son’s struggles with learning how to read as well as her own in school with dyslexia. After being told by a teacher that her son was “the worst child [she’s] ever seen in [her] 25 years of teaching,” she persisted with endless patience to help her son and began writing poems to pique his interest in reading. What is he doing now? Was she successful? Quote: “Believe in your child, believe they are capable of anything--...
Dec 11, 2019•42 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Susan and Tim Rasinski, author of The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers , discuss his work at the reading clinic at Kent State University, the aspects of good fluency instruction, what constitutes fluency, and how reading speed is correlated to word recognition and automaticity. He stresses the importance of fluency and finding ways to be artful while teaching reading. Quotes: “Fluency is the bridge and we can’t ignore it.” “Speed is the consequence of automaticity–...
Nov 26, 2019•42 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Susan sits down with education reporter and host of the Education Post podcast, Emily Hanford, examines the big takeaways from her experience on reporting on dyslexia, patterns that emerged from her investigating, the science of reading and why schools don’t align with it more, the theory of how reading works, and the evolution of balanced literacy, phonics instruction and whole language. Quotes: “We have to be teaching kids how the written language works to help them become good readers.” “Fami...
Nov 13, 2019•40 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 
