In this crossover episode Susan Lambert joins host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross from sister podcast, Beyond My Years. Together, the trio dive into the idea that all educators contribute to—and thus must invest in—student literacy development, regardless of the content they teach. Throughout the conversation, they discuss how all teachers are literacy teachers, offer four simple tips for developing academic language in any classroom, and explore why Susan still doesn't feel like a "seasoned educator" despite over 30 years in education. Finally, Ana and Eric discuss what they learned and Eric shares his top three takeaways from Susan.

Show notes:

• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://at.amplify.com/bmy
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with:
  • Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
  • Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/
  • Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Resources:
  • Science of Reading: A New Teacher’s Guide
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope
  • The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education

Quotes:

“Reading and writing and understanding language is not just an English language arts teacher's responsibility. It's the responsibility of every educator to communicate their discipline and the words and the concepts from their discipline to their students.” —Susan Lambert

“[The Science of Reading movement] is not being led by one person or another person. … I'm part of a greater community, and to know that I play a certain role or part in that community actually gives me a lot of inspiration on days when it's really, really hard.” —Susan Lambert

“Any teacher in a classroom, no matter what content area they teach, is teaching something about language.” —Susan Lambert

“The more that we can sharpen our tools and our skillset to be those teachers of literacy, the faster we're going to see improvements in learning in our classrooms. They're not two separate things.” —Eric Cross

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, literacy coach (and podcast host in her own right) Amie Burkholder joins us to discuss her new book, Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners. Amie talks through the origins of the book, how she structured it to be really actionable for educators, and what she hopes educators will take away from it. Amie and Susan also discuss some of the biggest recent changes to the Science of Reading movement, the areas Amie most often sees educators struggle when making the switch to research-based literacy instruction, and some tips educators can implement today—including a walkthrough of a classroom activity targeting phonemic awareness.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with Amie:
  • Instagram: @literacy.edventures
  • Listen to Amie’s podcast: Route2Reading
• Resources:
  • Book: Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners
  • Download the Science of Reading: A New Teacher's Guide today!
    amplify.com/sorguide
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/

Quotes:

“Look to those that you trust to guide you.” —Amie Burkholder

“If you try to change everything you're doing, you're not going to do anything well. Pick one area of your literacy block you’re really gonna nail. Once you nail that—add another one.” —Amie Burkholder

“I want [the book] to follow the research, but I want it to be simple enough for teachers to execute, [and] also engaging enough for kids to want to do it.” —Amie Burkholder

Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Amie Burkholder?
07:00 Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading with Young Learners
11:00 Book Structure
12:00 Phonemic awareness classroom activity walkthrough
16:00 Learning while writing the book
17:00 Strategy for getting the most out of conferences
18:00 Favorite conferences
19:00 Biggest changes to the science of reading movement
20:00 Recommendation for people diving into the research for the first time
22:00 Implementation: Biggest struggle for teaching making the shift
24:00 Ideal takeaway from the book
25:00 Closing thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, top literacy scholar Tim Shanahan, Ph.D., returns to discuss his new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It. During his conversation with Susan Lambert, he outlines what existing research says about leveled reading—and why it’s not effective. He also shares how the misuse of theory can lead to ineffectual conclusions, makes a case for the efficacy of more explicit instruction, and provides a few simple tweaks teachers can make to classroom instruction that can make a big difference for their students.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new companion professional learning page.
• Resources:
  • Book: Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

“This notion of trying to match kids to books and get everybody to their right level is, at the very least, wasteful. It's not benefiting kids.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

“We're spending an awful lot of time doing a lot of work that is not only not paying off, but it's probably holding a lot of kids back.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

“Maybe we should be having kids read some of these texts more than once. Maybe we should be doing some of our fluency work, not after we did the comprehension work, but ahead of time.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Tim Shanahan?
03:00 Most proud of as a researcher
05:00 Most proud of in education policy work
06:00 First book: Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives
07:00 Motivation to write: Addressing instructional levels
14:00 Relevance of misuse of theory
17:00 Leveled instruction isn’t effective
21:00 Self-reflections in the writing process
22:00 Parallels to verbal learning
24:00 What can teachers do?
26:00 Fluency and reading things twice
32:00 Grade level teaching opens opportunities
33:00 The future of literacy development
39:00 What is happening in American schools?
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this special Essentials episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes to distill reading comprehension insights from experts Hugh Catts, Ph.D.; Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.; and Reid Smith, Ph.D. Listeners will walk away from this episode with a foundational introduction to the complexities of reading comprehension, and gain an understanding of topics such as reframing comprehension as an outcome rather than a skill, choosing the right texts and asking the right questions, cultivating long term memory and knowledge recall, and understanding the real purpose of reading.

Show notes:

• Access the listening guide—and other free, high-quality resources—at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Quotes:

“This Essentials episode does not answer everything about comprehension. All we're doing here is building a foundation, understanding that comprehension isn't a skill, it's complex.” —Susan Lambert

“ For the most part, if we're paying attention, if we can read words efficiently and know what they mean and have background knowledge, it yields comprehension.” —Sharon Vaughn

“ Some people say that the purpose of reading is comprehension. It's not the purpose of reading. The purpose of reading is whatever you're comprehending for.” —Hugh Catts

“[There’s] a strong literature base that tells us that one of the differences between poor readers and strong readers is their ability to notice when there are inconsistencies in the text, and have strategies that they can employ to resolve those inconsistencies.” —Reid Smith

Episode Timestamps*
01:00 What are “Science of Reading: Essentials” episodes
02:00 Introduction to comprehension
05:00 Defining comprehension
07:00 Reading comprehension as an outcome
09:00 The purpose of reading with Hugh Catts
11:00 Comprehension vs foundational reading skills
17:00 The importance of text and asking the right questions with Sharon Vaughn
20:00 Discussion on leveled reading
26:00 Background knowledge with Reid Smith
28:00 Long term memory and knowledge recall
31:00 Final thoughts, tips, & encouragement
34:00 Key takeaways from Susan
36:00 Season 10 preview
39:00 Coming up next: Tim Shanahan
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this rewind episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, we revisit a Season 1 conversation between host Susan Lambert and Anne Lucas, former curriculum director and current Associate Vice President of Product, Literacy Suite Initiatives & Supplementals at Amplify on the complexities of reading comprehension.Together they dive into the complex nature of comprehension and why it’s so difficult to teach.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Read: Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill
  • Read: The missing link in comprehension white paper
  • Listen: Science of Reading Essentials: Writing
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
• Find our more information – and register – for our Science of Reading Summer Learning Series: https://amplify.com/sorsummerlearning

Quotes:

“We often think about comprehension as a product, or something that happens after kids read, but … the ability for a student to build a model or a network of ideas or a picture in their mind happens while they're reading.” —Anne Lucas

“You know, you don't have to completely change your curriculum; you don't have to completely change the way you're teaching.” —Anne Lucas

“Comprehension is making sense and meaning while you read, so you have the ability to discuss, analyze, and form an opinion about something after you read it.” —Anne Lucas

Episode timestamps*
03:00 Introduction: Who is Anne Lucas?
07:00 Defining comprehension
09:00 The missing link in comprehension
10:00 Comprehension micro skills vs decoding
14:00 End goal vs. process
16:00 Current research
18:00 Significance of “small” words
20:00 Targeting micro skills in the classroom
22:00 Comprehension skills vs strategies
27:00 Teacher response to learning about micro skills
29:00 Background knowledge
31:00 Final takeaways on comprehension
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert welcomes back researcher and author Daniel Willingham, Ph.D., to discuss reading comprehension. With only so much instruction time in the day and research supporting both comprehension strategies and knowledge building, it can be tough to know what to prioritize in the classroom. Daniel holds nothing back in outlining exactly where educators should focus their time. Together, he and Susan explore the limitations of comprehension strategies, the place for critical thinking skills in relationship to knowledge, and recognizing when messaging around knowledge has gone too far.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Read: Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival, multiple authors
  • Read: Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham
  • Read: The Reading Mind, Daniel Willingham
  • Listen: The basic science in reading instruction, with Daniel Willingham
  • Listen: Background knowledge, with Susan Neuman
  • Listen: ​​Research, comprehension, and content-rich literacy instruction: Sonia Cabell
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

“Your brain is really good at only bringing out the information from long-term memory that is relevant for the context. All of that's happening outside of awareness.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“When reading is really humming, when it's really working well, it's like visual perception. You're just enjoying the view and you're oblivious to all of the cognitive machinery in the background that's letting you see.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“Expecting that knowledge-rich curriculum is going to solve all problems… that's [not] what a reading program is. No, a reading program is multifaceted and needs to have lots of components.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“Knowledge accrues slowly and it's going to take a while. You need to be patient.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
2:00 Introduction: Who is Daniel Willingham?
05:00 Knowledge and reading comprehension
08:00 What it takes to be comfortable reading
10:00 Academic or disciplinary knowledge
11:00 Comprehension strategies
20:00 Applications of knowledge that can be difficult to appreciate
25:00 Inferences can be automatic
26:00 Taking the “knowledge is important” message too far
31:00 Critical thinking and knowledge building
32:00 How to decide what knowledge is important to teach
36:00 Book: Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking
39:00 Final thoughts and advice
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D. He’s a teacher, instructional coach, and author of the recent book Harnessing the Science of Learning: Success Stories to Help Kickstart Your School Improvement. Emphasizing the science of learning as an ever-growing resource for updating instruction practices, he provides a comprehensive look at how knowledge powers learning, how to identify knowledge-rich curricula, how cognitive load affects learning, and how to understand several common learning misconceptions.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.:
  • Website: nathanielswain.com
• Resources:
  • Book: Harnessing the Science of Learning
  • Think Forward Educators
  • Deans for Impact
  • Listen: Chalk Dust
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/

Quotes:

“The greatest thing about the science of learning is that it's never really gonna be finished. Much like the science of reading, it's constantly being updated and it's something that we should be constantly turning to.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

“When we have knowledge at our fingertips—or in this case, in our synapses—ready to be used, we can overcome all these limitations that cognitive load theory talks about.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

“We're kidding ourselves a little bit if we think that we can replace that rich content knowledge with generic skills and generic competencies.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Nathaniel Swain?
03:00 Science of learning book
11:00 Knowledge powers all learning
15:00 Addressing common learning myths
18:00 Knowledge retrieval
21:00 Misconception: Productive struggle
22:00 Misconception: “Preparing students for the 21st century”
26:00 Enriching schema
29:00 Background knowledge and confirmation bias
30:00 Knowledge rich curriculum
32:00 Knowledge that is manageable and achievable
37:00 Skills AND knowledge
44:00 Chalk Dust podcast
45:00 Final thoughts and advice
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this special Science of Reading Essentials episode, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes of the podcast to give you everything you need to know about science-based writing instruction. Experts include Steve Graham, Ed.D.; Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D.; Natalie Wexler; and Judith Hochman, Ed.D. Listeners will walk away from this episode with a solid foundation for creating a classroom of confident and capable writers, and gain a better understanding of the connection between reading and writing, the role of handwriting and spelling, the power of sentences, and the importance of applying cognitive load theory to writing.

Show notes:

• Resources
  • Access the listening guide—and other free, high-quality resources—at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Quotes:

“This is not learned by osmosis. And it's not learned by vague feedback, like, ‘make it better’ or ‘add more details.’ You've got to be very granular.” —Judith Hochman, Ed.D.

"What we see with exceptional teachers is they have their kids write." —Steve Graham, Ed.D.

“The Science of Reading encapsulates decades of research about both reading and writing—because if writing was never invented, we would not have to teach kids how to read.” —Susan Lambert

Episode timestamps*
02:00 The importance of writing
05:00 Mental models: Understand reading and writing, with Young-Suk Grace Kim
10:00 Handwriting and spelling, with Steve Graham
16:00 The power of sentences, with Judith Hochman
21:00 3 ways of thinking about the reading and writing connection, with Steve Graham
21:00 Shared knowledge
23:00 Rhetorical relations
25:00 Functional approach
26:00 Learning science and cognitive load theory, with Natalie Wexler
30:00 Final thoughts, tips, and encouragement
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute