Reading Road Trip

Curious about evidence-based instruction for older readers? This week, Kate welcomes Dr. Heidi Anne Mesmer to discuss strategies for helping older readers decode big words and tackle complex texts, focusing on syntactic features like connectives and anaphora to improve text comprehension. Heidi Anne is the author of several great books, including Big Words for Young Readers: Teaching Kids in Grades K to 5 to Decode - and Understand - Words with Multiple Syllables and Morphemes, and Teaching Skills for Complex Text: Deepening Close Reading in the Classroom. Kate and Heidi Anne also discussed a new article, Time in Text: Differentiating Instruction for Intermediate Students Struggling with Word Recognition. Find Heidi Anne on twitter at @haemesmer.

Season 3 wraps up with a jam-packed episode featuring Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden. Kate and Amanda have a wide-ranging conversation about the science of learning and human behaviour - how do children learn new things? From the instructional hierarchy to incremental rehearsal, don't miss this fabulous episode!   Show Notes: Curious about Amanda's insights into Kindergarten math instruction? Take a peek at the links she shared: Skills for screening, by grade level and time of year Kindergarten classwide intervention for making a quantity with numbers to 10: Paired partner practice Independent practice Teacher-directed whole-class error correction Tier 2 intervention - guided practice for finding a missing number

This week Kate is joined by Dr. Amanda Nickerson for a candid conversation about supporting gifted and highly advanced readers. Don't miss this episode that highlights the value of advanced decoding and spelling instruction for skilled readers!  

Dr. Andrea Fraser joins Kate to chat about her systems change journey: first in a board central team role, shifting her district's literacy instruction to structured literacy, and then preparing preservice teachers to teach with a structured literacy approach. Tune in to hear her insights on bridging the gap between research and practice at the district level and in higher education! The Basics of Decoding and Spelling Instruction is a low-cost, asynchronous online course offered by IDA Ontario. Students in Canadian education, EA, or SLP programs, as well as educators working in First Nation schools, can receive free access here. IDA Ontario partners with Dyslexia Canada to develop ONlit.org, a free website designed to support educators with the revised Ontario Language curriculum. Don't miss the most recent resource - a free embedded picture mnemonic set!

Kate welcomes Dr. Marc Joanisse for a discussion about the neurobiology of dyslexia and other comorbid disorders, including ADHD and DLD.  Dr Marc Joanisse is a professor at the University of Western Ontario in the Department of Psychology and the Western Institute for Neuroscience. His research examines the cognitive and brain basis of reading dyslexia and developmental language disability in children, as well as typical reading and language and development. His research team at the Language Reading and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab uses a multimodal approach, including eye tracking, EEG and MRI. His research in dyslexia focuses on better understanding the links between poor reading and spoken language and phonology, and the comorbidities of dyslexia with other kinds of learning disorders like DLD and ADHD. Stay up to date on research and upcoming studies from Marc's lab:Language, Reading and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab Facebook page and website

Dr. Claude Goldenberg joins us this week. Don't miss this engaging conversation about reading instruction for multilingual students - and keep listening to the end to learn about Claude's real-life road trips inspired by a John Steinbeck book! Claude is the Nomelini and Olivier professor of education emeritus at Stanford University. A native of Argentina, his areas of research and publication centred on promoting academic achievement among language minority students, particularly those from Spanish-speaking backgrounds. In the episode, Claude mentioned his work on the National Literacy Panel, an article in Reading Research Quarterly, and his own road trip adventures inspired by John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley: April to May 2023 September to October 2021 May to June 2019 October 2018

Kate welcomes Meredith and David Liben for a candid conversation on reading comprehension. The Libens walk through effective instruction to help students understand what they read - from close reading to structured journals, they share practical tips to support comprehension! The Libens are the authors of Know Better Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read, and the newly released Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension: Fueling the Reading Brain With Knowledge, Vocabulary, and Rich Language. Kate mentions the Matthew effect, a phenomenon coined by Dr. Keith Stanovich where good readers enjoy reading, read more, and develop stronger reading skills. Struggling readers avoid reading, making the gap between skilled and weak readers widen over time. Access this influential paper here. The Read Aloud Project, mentioned by David, is a repository of lesson plans for rich read alouds of complex books.

Join us this week for a chat with parent educator Maya Payne Smart. Kate and Maya walk through clear, actionable steps to empower parents to support their child's language and literacy development. Maya is the author of Reading for Our Lives: A Literacy Action Plan from Birth to Six. It is excellent - well-researched, clear, and parent-friendly - and even a great read for teachers, too! Eager to learn more? Maya's website is a treasure trove of resources for parents and educators. From book recommendations to tips to build language and literacy, don't miss it. Maya recommended the picture books The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read and An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster's Spelling Revolution.

This week, Kate welcomes fellow podcaster Anna Geiger from The Measured Mom. As two teachers who have shifted from balanced literacy to structured literacy, this episode is filled with candid discussion as Kate and Anna highlight the biggest surprises they encountered along the way! Anna is the CEO of The Measured Mom, host of Triple R Teaching, and the author of the soon-to-be released book, Reach All Readers: Using the Science of Reading to Transform Your Literacy Instruction. Show Notes: Emily Hanford's reporting, including her article At a Loss for Words, was key to Anna's structured literacy journey. Catch Emily's season 2 episode of Reading Road Trip, too! Dr. Mark Seidenberg's book, Language at the Speed of Sight, provides comprehensive insight into how students learn to read, challenging instructional practices that aren't aligned with this research Ready for the tables to be turned? Anna interviewed Kate on Triple R Teaching with an episode focusing on structured literacy in kindergarten

Season 3 of Reading Road Trip kicks off with a candid conversation between literacy greats: Dr. Anita Archer and Dr. Sonia Cabell. Anita and Sonia recorded this episode at the 2024 Literacy & Learning Conference. Their conversation is both thoughtful and lighthearted - we hope you will enjoy!   Show Notes: Sonia is a co-author of the new book Strive-for-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy Anita is a co-author of the legendary text Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching All About Words: Increasing Vocabulary in the Common Core Classroom by Tanya Wright and Susan Neuman is a book both Sonia and Anita discussed Anita mentioned the research on Direct Instruction. This is summarized in the book All Students Can Succeed: A Half Century of Research on the Effectiveness of Direct Instruction Kate brought up a document Anita wrote on scaffolding reading comprehension Check out Kate's new home office setup - complete with a set of Archerisms!  

Buckle up - Reading Road Trip is back for a third season! Join classroom teacher Kate Winn for a jam-packed season featuring fabulous guests. From researchers and authors to educators and advocates, they're all sharing practical ideas that can be implemented now in your class, school, board or district!

Season 2 of Reading Road Trip closes out with a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Buckingham. Kate and Jennifer dig into reading science - what do teachers really need to know? From syllable types to comprehension strategies, linguistic terms to cognitive science, this episode distinguishes between what is a "need to know" and what is "nice to know."    Dr. Jennifer Buckingham is the director of strategy and senior research fellow at MultiLit, and is the founder and director of the Five from Five Literacy Project.   Show Notes: Jennifer's research report, Need to Know or Nice to Know, explores many of the topics discussed in the episode Kate also mentioned Jennifer's blog Don't Discard Comprehension Strategies Jennifer brought up Dr. Daniel Willingham's blog, Can Children be Taught to Comprehend What They Read?  

In this week's episode, Kate chats with Dr. Steve Graham about all things writing. Dr. Graham highlights the importance of handwriting and spelling, and unpacks evidence-based strategy instruction to build strong writers.   Show Notes:  Steve is an author and editor of many books, including Best Practices in Writing Instruction and Writing Better Steve and his co-author Dolores Perin explore many of the evidence-based strategies discussed in this episode in Writing Next, a meta-analysis on effective writing instruction Learn more about Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) at thinkSRSD, or with the books Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students or Building Comprehension in Adolescents

Kate chats with Dr. Jack Fletcher this week, unpacking all things dyslexia: Risk factors and prevention, dyslexia vs dysteachia, instructional tips, wait-to-fail, and dyslexia myths and misconceptions.   Show Notes: Learn more about some of the articles Jack mentioned: The importance of early reading intervention (Lovett et al., 2017) Problems with dyslexia identification models (Scientific American) Helping children with significant reading problems (Vaughn & Fletcher, 2023) Identifying and teaching students with significant reading problems - including 18 common misunderstandings of dyslexia (Vaughn & Fletcher, 2020-2021) The role of instruction in learning to read: Preventing reading failure in at-risk children (Foorman et al., 1998) The Good Behaviour Game  Anxiety and reading (Grills-Taquechel et al., 2012)

Kate chats with Clara Fiorentini this week. Tune in to explore novels in the classroom: how class novel studies fit into structured literacy, how complex text can be scaffolded, using "read-alikes" to choose texts, and avoiding the perils of "extractitis" - don't miss this thoughtful conversation about chapter books! Clara is the president of the Literacy Association of Ireland and a lecturer in initial teacher education at Marino Institute of Education. She is wrapping up her Ph.D. research on current trends in Irish preschool literacy practice. Catch Clara at her blog, on Instagram, and on Twitter.   Show Notes: Clara talks about the Matthew effect, an influential paper from Dr. Keith Stanovich that highlights that with early reading, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Take a look at the open-access paper here. Dr. Tim Shanahan has several blogs about the importance of using complex text in reading instruction. Clara mentions Reading for Pleasure from the Open University - see more here. The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction, an article by Nell Duke, Alessandra Ward and David Pearson, can be found here. Learn more about book tastings on Clara's blog.

This week Kate talks to Kristin Conradi Smith, Tammy Williams, and Ellen Frackelton about research-based comprehension strategies for the classroom, including considerations for text selection and preparation, common pitfalls to avoid and “use it tomorrow” ideas. Bottom line: no more strategy of the week!   Show Notes: Kristin, Ellen and Tammy co-wrote the open-access article "No More Strategy of the Week": Considerations for Connecting Comprehension Instruction Back to the Book. Find it here. In this PaTTAN webinar, Hugh Catts discusses the multidimensional nature of reading comprehension sharing how educators need to frame reading comprehension and provide meaningful instruction. Dr. Catts also wrote this article for American Educator, Rethinking How to Promote Reading Comprehension Kristin mentions this video from Reading Rockets, where Dr. Sharon Walpole walks through comprehension as building meaning and not finding the correct answer Bookworms is a free set of instructional resources mentioned in the episode Ellen brings up this blog post by Dr. Tim Shanahan, where he highlights that "reading comprehension should be taught with texts that are worth reading, texts from which we want students to gain knowledge."

In this week's episode, Kate welcomes Kareem Weaver for a candid conversation about the role of literacy in equity, and some myths and misconceptions as strive for the goal of literacy for all.   Kareem Weaver is a co-founder and executive director of FULCRUM and is also the Oakland NAACP's Second Vice President and Chair of its Education Committee. Kareem's advocacy is featured in the film The Right to Read. Mr. Weaver was an award-winning teacher and administrator. He has undergraduate degrees from Morehouse College and a Master's in Clinical Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Weaver believes in the potential of all students, the brotherhood of man, and the importance of service above self.

This week, Kate chats with Dr. Deb Glaser about the second edition of Next STEPS for Literacy Instruction, co-authored with Dr. Susan Smartt. Kate and Deb unpack how to use valid and reliable assessments to shape effective literacy instructions, particularly through the Next STEPS framework: Set-up, Teach, Engage, Practice, and Show You Know. Deb's knowledge and experience in structured literacy is both broad and deep: she is the author of the Reading Teacher's Top Ten Tools online course, Morpheme Magic, and Morphemes for Little Ones.   Show Notes: The second edition of Next STEPS for Literacy Instruction is now available! ONlit.org has created a slide deck in both English and French to support schools, districts and boards to use this excellent text for a book study. Small group instruction is a powerful tool to support stronger literacy outcomes. Deb mentioned the research of Dr. Barbara Foorman and Dr. Joe Torgesen - read more here.   IDA Ontario is a registered charity, and we depend on your donations to support our programs, including Reading Road Trip. Please consider donating to support this work. 

Kate welcomes Catherine Shawana, a member of Wiikwemkoong unceded territory, for a candid discussion about her First Nation school's journey from balanced literacy to structured literacy, as well as a broader conversation about First Nations education. Catherine's passions are rooted in the foundation of building Anishnawbek identity and establishing a connection to Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being. She believes this strength-based identity work is necessary for all students to develop a positive sense of identity and to understand. We all have a community of stories waiting to be told and heard.   Show Notes: Catherine mentioned that the Right to Read report contains not only recommendations for improving practice in Ontario, but also a historical context of First Nations, Métis and Inuit experiences. Read more here.    Throughout the episode, Catherine referenced several past IDA Ontario webinars and workshops: Kareem Weaver joined IDA Ontario's Right to Read Symposium, discussing barriers to educational equity Kate, along with Nellie Caruso and Leigh Fettes, unpacked universal screening in their classrooms in the Becoming a Literacy Leader series Dr. Stephanie Stollar joined IDA Ontario for a day-long workshop on the foundations of MTSS All past recordings of webinars and workshops can be found on our YouTube channel!   Catherine "binge listened" to the Amplify Science of Reading podcast, hosted by Susan Lambert.   Kate mentioned Dr. Rudine Sims Bishops' metaphor of 'mirrors, windows and sliding doors' - see the paper where she originally coined the phrase, as well as a more recent video of her discussing diversity in books and the authors who write them   IDA Ontario is a registered charity, and we depend on your donations to support our programs, including Reading Road Trip. Please consider donating to support this work. 

This week, Kate is joined by Nancy Chapel Eberhardt to discuss all things syntax. A key element of language comprehension, equipping students with an understanding of syntax is key to supporting strong reading and writing skills! Take a listen to learn more about how syntax develops and how to best teach this domain of language.   Nancy Chapel Eberhardt is the coauthor of Sortegories 3.0, a web-based app designed to provide practice for essential early literacy skills. She serves as a member of the International Dyslexia Association's Perspectives on Language and Literacy editorial board and is a board member of the Reading League Connecticut chapter.   Show Notes: Nancy is a wealth of knowledge! Here are links to the fantastic resources she mentions in this episode: Sortegories 3.0 Literacy How: Syntax Knowledge to Practice course and book, co-authored with Dr. Margie Gillis Cheryl Scott article: A Case for the Sentence in Reading Comprehension Oakhill, Cain & Elbro book: Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension Coh-Metrix, a tool that analyzes text through measuring word frequency, sentence length, cohesion, and syntactic complexity Hochman & Wexler book: The Writing Revolution Saddler book: Teacher's Guide to Effective Sentence Writing Jennings & Haynes book: From Talking to Writing The cohesion circle Nancy mentions is described in this article from Perspectives on Language & Literacy by Haynes, Smith and Laud Melinda Hinch, SLP from Greater Essex County DSB, has aligned the teaching materials from the Syntax Project to the Ontario B3 Language Conventions continuum. PELI (Preschool Early Literacy Indicators) screening assessment CFOL (Comprehension, Fluency & Oral Language) diagnostic assessment Hennessy book: The Reading Comprehension Blueprint Coming January 2024: