In this episode, Savannah Campbell, a K-5 reading specialist, shares practical spelling tips for teachers. She emphasizes the importance of having students say the sounds or syllables as they spell, as it helps develop sound-symbol correspondence. Savannah also recommends interleaving, which involves practicing both new and old spelling skills to ensure mastery. Savannah also discusses the use of dictation, word chains and sound boxes for spelling instruction. Additionally, she advises...

 Pam Kastner discusses the connection between spelling and reading. She emphasizes that teaching spelling is teaching reading, as spelling is a higher linguistic skill that requires complete and accurate recall and memory for words. Spelling helps students understand the internal structure of words and improves their reading abilities. She suggests using instructional routines that integrate phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to teach spelling...

From 3/4/2022 We’ve been asked about spelling and the connection to reading science more times than we can count. Today, we talk with expert J. Richard Gentry,  author of Brain Words and blog contributor to Psychology Today: Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers (An Expert Guide for Parents). He tells us all about spelling and how it connects to our speech and language system. Moreover, he supplies teachers with practical, meaningful, science of reading-aligned strategies to teach...

In this episode, Jessica Farmer shares tips for teaching heart words. She explains the importance of blending and introduces the concept of continuous blending. Jessica defines heart words as high-frequency words with irregular or temporarily irregular spellings. She emphasizes the need to follow a scope and sequence and provides a routine for introducing new heart words. Jessica also discusses the process of orthographic mapping and suggests engaging activities for teaching heart words. She...

Julie VanLier and Dr. Svetlana Cvetkovic discuss their experiences and successes teaching phonics.  They both highlight the importance of a speech-to-print approach and the impact it has had on their students' reading and spelling abilities. The conversation also delves into the principles of speech to print and the scope and sequence of instruction.  They emphasize the importance of interleaving, where concepts are revisited over time. The integration of phonics into all aspects of reading...

From August 12, 2022 Talking with Dr. Julia Lindsey is like popping into the classroom next door to chat with your best teacher friend after school. On this podcast, Julia shares what evidence says that young readers need to know to help them decode words efficiently. We discuss foundational reading skills, starting with oral language and print concepts through multisyllabic word reading. Instructional swaps take this conversation to the classroom where Julia tells us what to swap to improve...

 Yvette Manns discusses the schwa and its importance. She shares insights from her book, The Not So Lazy Schwa, and explains how it helps children understand the schwa sound. Yvette also tells all about National Schwa Day, a holiday she created to celebrate language and literacy in schools. She provides suggestions for celebrating the day and highlights the resources available in the National Schwa Day toolkit.  Takeaways The schwa is a neutral unstressed sound that is the most common sound...

Danielle Colenbrander and Katie Pace-Miles discuss orthographic mapping, irregular word instruction, and the different terms used to describe high frequency and irregular words. They translate research about the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching irregular words. They also discuss the role of morphology - how understanding morphemes can help students decode and understand words.  Takeaways Irregular words exist on a spectrum, ranging from completely regular to highly...

Denise Eide, author of Uncovering the Logic of English, helps us understand the logic of English! It actually makes a lot of sense... and can help your students learn to read and spell.  Takeaways English spelling and decoding can be logical and systematic when taught with complete phonics rules.All words in English are decodable when the rules are understood.Incomplete knowledge of rules can lead to misconceptions and difficulties in reading and spelling.Teaching phonics rules explicitly and...

In this episode, teacher Christina Winter, better known as Mrs. Winters Bliss on Instagram, talks about the practical application of sound walls in the classroom. She provides her top 3 tips and shares how sound walls can be used in instruction. She also provides ideas for how students can interact with sound walls, such as through dictation, chants, and games.  Takeaways Sound walls can be used during direct instruction to introduce new phonemes and provide a reference for students. Students...

Sound wall expert Mary Dahlgren explains how sound walls differ from word walls, why it's important to teach all 44 speech sounds, and how sound walls can help students make sense of English. She shares evidence to support the use of sound walls in your classroom and gives practical advice for implementation.  Takeaways Sound walls are an instructional tool to help students see and understand the 44 speech sounds of the English language.Sound walls provide a visual representation of the...

Spencer Russell, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher and the founder of Toddlers Can Read, shares his motivation for teaching reading and emphasizes the importance of simplifying the teaching process. He provides practical tips for starting with letter sounds and engaging children in fun learning activities. Spencer also discusses the importance of assessing understanding and offers guidance on where to start when teaching letter sounds. Listeners can find Spencer on social media at...

In this conversation, Becky Pallone and Michael Hart discuss how their phonemic awareness instruction  has evolved over time. They emphasize the importance of blending and segmenting as key skills in phonemic awareness and highlight the benefits of incorporating letters in phonemic awareness instruction. They will also provide practical tips for you!  Takeaways Incorporating letters in phonemic awareness can strengthen letter-sound correspondence.Teachers should prioritize blending and...

Melissa and Lori just returned from the Plain Talk About Literacy & Learning Conference in New Orleans and they will share their takeaways with YOU! Attendees called in while at the conference to share aha moments and key takeaways. You won't want to miss this one! 2024 Plain Talk Conference Presenters Podcast Episodes We Mentioned Episode 44:  Elevating the Education Profession with The Right to Read ProjectEpisode 116:  Sonia Cabell on the Importance of Content-Rich ELA...

Matt Burns discusses the importance of phonemic awareness in reading instruction. Phonemic awareness is an outcome of skilled reading, not a precursor, and it has a reciprocal relationship with reading. Matt also emphasizes the need to focus on decoding skills in second, third, and fourth grade, rather than solely on phonemic awareness. Matt provides practical takeaways for teachers and recommends additional resources for learning about phonemic awareness. Takeaways Phonemic awareness is an...

Shayne Piasta discusses best practices for teaching alphabet knowledge. She tells us what the research suggests about teaching  letter names and sounds, why teaching a letter of the week may not be the most effective approach, and an order to teach letters. The best part? She shares concrete ideas and strategies for classroom practice.  Takeaways Teach both letter names and sounds simultaneously.Consider the acrophonic principle, where the letter name gives clues to its sound.Avoid teaching...

Summary In this episode, the hosts discuss the RAND Model, a heuristic for thinking about reading comprehension. The model was developed in the late 1990s by the RAND Corporation in response to a need for more research on comprehension. The model considers three main components: the reader, the text, and the purpose or activity of reading. It emphasizes the active role of the reader in constructing meaning from the text and highlights the importance of text complexity, coherence, genre, and...

Summary In this episode, Hugh Catts discusses two popular reading models: the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough's Reading Rope. The Simple View of Reading highlights the importance of word recognition and language comprehension in reading comprehension. It emphasizes that if a child struggles in one area, it will affect their overall reading comprehension. Scarborough's Reading Rope provides a more detailed breakdown of the components involved in reading, including background knowledge,...

Summary In this episode, the hosts discuss the five pillars from the National Reading Panel and their history. They explore the confusion that can arise from viewing these pillars as a model of how reading works. The role of fluency and the importance of differentiating instruction for the five pillars are also discussed. The conversation concludes with a reevaluation of the five pillars and a key takeaway to look beyond them. The next episodes will cover three other reading...

FROM MARCH 10, 2023 Today we’ll be talking to a team of authors about a recent article they published on small group instruction, titled Maximizing Small-Group Reading Instruction. We ask and answer important questions about small group instructional time: What is the appeal of small group reading instruction? Why has it been popular? What does the research say? What do we need to know about effective small-group reading instruction? What are some best practices?  Resources Maximizing...

Why shouldn’t we level students?  Professor and researcher Kristin Conradi-Smith from episode 143 says, “We lack research for differentiation by text levels.There's simply no support for it.”  Teaching with a leveled reading, sometimes known as guided reading, approach isn’t the most effective way to teach or learn to read.  Instead, we can  Support students’ access to complex texts through scaffolds and building knowledge using language comprehension. Use students' prior knowledge and match...

FROM FEBRUARY 24, 2023 In today’s episode, we discuss the structure and content of the literacy block. How can we teach using structured literacy in small groups? Kinder teacher Casey Jergens and author Natalie Wexler join us to connect theory and practice. Casey previously taught using a guided (leveled) reading approach with lots of small group time. In recent years, he’s switched to focus on Tier 1 instruction aligned to structured literacy, which supports access for all...

What does the research say about small group reading instruction? Resources Episode 142: Structured Literacy in Small Group TimeEpisode 143: Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction Maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction (Conradi-Smith, Amendum, Williams, 2022)Differentiated Literacy Instruction: Boondoggle or Best Practice? (Puzio, Colby, Nichols, 2020)Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Tier 2 Type Reading Interventions in Grades K-3 (Wanzek, et. al, 2016)  Connect with us Facebook and...

FROM JULY 7, 2023 Today we talk about fluency and assessment with Jan Hasbrouck. She shares tips and tricks for how to to best assess and teach fluency. She also debunks frequent fluency misunderstandings and explains the scientific evidence that underlies the Hasbrouck-Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Chart.   Note: During the podcast, we mentioned we would link Jan’s previous studies on ORF. But… we want to make sure the most recent information (Fluency Norms Chart 2017 Update) is the one that...