Episodes

  • Do Middle and High School Students Need Fluency Instruction and What Counts as Instruction?
    Oct 26 2024

    This podcast responds to a teacher's question concerning the need to teach older students to read fluently. It explains why fluency matters at those levels and why fewer and fewer students require fluency instruction each year.

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    6 mins
  • How Can I Teach with Books that are Two Years Above Student Reading Levels?
    Oct 12 2024

    These days teachers are being encouraged to teach with complex or challenging text. This often means teaching students to read (or to learn science or social studies) from grade level texts far above students' reading levels. In the past teachers were taught to change books so students could work at their reading level. This podcast explains how that can be made to work.

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    11 mins
  • The Role of Letter Names in Learning to Read is Still Curious
    Sep 28 2024

    The ability to identify the letters is one of the best predictors of later reading ability. That makes it a valuable tool for helping to identify which children are likely to struggle with reading. But why is that? This podcast explores what is known about the role of letter names in the learning to read. (This podcast includes a misinterpretation of a study by Byrne and Fielding-Barnsley. I assumed that when they introduced letters into their PA intervention that they named the letters. I was incorrect in that assumption as Christopher Such pointed out on my website and in social media. That means that there is no evidence that teaching letter names improves reading achievement (though including plastic letters in PA instruction was positive). There is also no evidence that students are benefited by not teaching letter names or that it is better to only introduce sounds for letters than for names. That means I still side with theories that argue for spending a small amount of time teaching letters, but unlike what is incorrectly claimed in this podcast there is still NO direct evidence supporting that belief. This note was added on September 30, 2024).

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    9 mins
  • Isn’t Independent Reading a Research-Based Practice?
    Sep 21 2024

    It makes sense that giving students lots of time at school to read independently, right? This podcast explores that idea and reveals why it isn't the way to go.

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    16 mins
  • When Sisyphus was in First Grade or One Minute Reading Homework
    Sep 14 2024

    This podcast explores a parent's homework complaint. Her first grader is to do a 1-minute read each evening, and parents are to time it and calculate words correct per minute. Is this a good idea or something more nefarious? Tune in and find out.

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    8 mins
  • Seatwork that Makes Sense for Reading
    Aug 31 2024

    Usually reading seatwork is work aimed at keeping kids busy rather than teaching them. This podcast suggests some ways to make seatwork a plus rather than a minus when it comes to reading achievement.

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    16 mins
  • The Science of Reading Versus the Art of Teaching Reading
    Aug 24 2024

    With all of the emphasis these days on a "science of reading," is there any place for the idea of an "art of teaching?" This presentation explains the role that these two sources of success play and how they may work together.

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    13 mins
  • Print-to-Speech or Speech-to-Print? That Is the Question.
    Aug 17 2024

    There are arguments in reading circles about the best way to teach phonics -- should the focus be on decoding from print to speech (like someone sounding out a word) or from speech to print (like someone trying to spell). This podcast will explore the evidence on both sides.

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    12 mins