Reading Science and Teaching Literacy to English Learners: Conceptual and Practical Implications

Join us for this interesting conversation with our guest Literacy Expert Susan Ebbers who will share the research and strategies surrounding learning to read.

Ebbers will illustrate how research supports the entwining of phonology, orthography, morphology, and vocabulary when teaching children to read, and to read more capably and with greater comprehension; and how this type of multidimensional approach is even more effective when integrated within the context of phrases, sentences, passages, and stories. Ebbers will also discuss the role self-efficacy plays in nurturing a motivation to read despite difficulties.

She will share ways to help students build skills systematically while also building confidence as well as strategies to:

• Reinforce basic decoding and “sight word” recognition 
• Reinforce phonics, including polysyllabic decoding, in context 
• Develop vocabulary and basic morphological awareness  
• Engage interest and boost self-efficacy within the context of reading

We hope you will join us for this important conversation.

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• Integrating Language Components: Examples from Power Readers®

Join us for this lively and informative discussion between two literacy powerhouses. Dr. Claude Goldenberg, a bilingual literacy expert and author, and Dr. Louisa Moats, author of Speech to Print, Spellography, and creator of LANGUAGE! Live® and LETRS®, as they explore the universals for teaching children to read in any language. What does reading science tell us about how students learn to read in a language other than their own? Is there a science of reading instruction that is applicable across language contexts?

Our experts will discuss the relationship between oral and written language learning and the implications of this relationship for teaching students with varied language backgrounds. They will also explore the common debates still being resolved within the EL teaching community and how to ensure the best literacy learning for every child—regardless of their native language.

Our guests will discuss:

• Universal principles and guidelines for teaching children to read and write in any language
• Some fundamental ideas and practices about teaching ELs that any teacher should know
• The role of oral language comprehension and use when learning to read and write in a second language
• Chronic gaps between white, black, and Hispanic students in the U.S., and evidence to support doing more to help students who are not achieving.

Join this robust discussion about the key features of the Structured Literacy approach proven to work for students with dyslexia. Listeners will learn useful strategies and classroom tips with an emphasis on mastery learning and student outcomes.

Our expert will discuss:

1. What is taught in the Structured Literacy approach
2. How the Structured Literacy approach is taught
3. Why Structured Literacy is proven for students with literacy challenges
4. The difference between Structured Literacy and typical literacy practices
5. Strategies and activities for the classroom

For people who have seen the documentary The Right to Read, you’ve heard of Kareem Weaver because his work is featured in the film produced by LaVar Burton. Weaver is an Oakland-based activist with the NAACP, and as an experienced educator his mission is to create a world where all children can read.

Join us for this inspiring conversation as we talk with Weaver about dyslexia, the science of reading, and what American schools need to do to help all students read at grade level. Our discussion will cover why literacy gaps are especially pronounced among certain students, the need for early diagnosis of dyslexia, and what educational changes Weaver continually fights for in his quest to help all students learn to read. Weaver brings unique insight to this discussion from a parent’s perspective because his daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia as an older student, and as an educator who knows literacy is a right every person is entitled to.

When John Hattie’s original Visible Learning® book was published in 2008, it instantly became a sensation. Recently, this revolutionary educator returned to his groundbreaking work and published a new edition. The research underlying Hattie’s book is now informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses (more than double that of the original), drawn from more than 130,000 studies, and has involved more than 400 million students from around the world.

If you’ve read the book, you know this is more than just a new edition. This book is a sequel that highlights the major story, taking in the big picture to reflect on the implementation in schools of Visible Learning, how it has been understood—and at times misunderstood—and what future directions research should take.

Join us as we talk with Hattie about the need for education to move beyond claiming what works to what works best by asking crucial questions like: Why is the current grammar of schooling so embedded in so many classrooms, and can we improve it? Why is the learning curve for teachers after the first few years so flat? How can we develop teacher mindframes to focus more on learning and listening? How can we incorporate research evidence as part of the discussions within schools?

During the podcast, we will discuss these topics:

• What Hattie means by visible learning
• Three ways of making learning visible: student voice, student artifacts, test scores, and how the teacher interprets that information, and decides where to go next with a student’s learning
• The importance of play in early learning
• The need for intentional alignment of learning and teaching strategies
• The evidence base and reactions to Visible Learning
• The Visible Learning model
• The influence of home, students, teachers, classrooms, schools, learning, and curriculum on achievement
• The impact of technology

If you’re in education either as a researcher, teacher, student, school leader, teacher trainer, or policy maker, this episode is for you!

Today’s educators are teaching the most linguistically diverse student population in United States history. To ensure educational equity for English learners, teachers must be skillfully equipped with instructional practices rooted in the science of reading.

The “science of reading” refers to a vast body of multi-disciplinary research that provides a rationale for what must be taught to ensure that almost all students can learn to read. However, do all reading science practices apply equally when teaching English learners?
Our podcast guests have championed using the science of reading with the English learner as a top priority in everything they do.

Drs. Cardenas-Hagan and Fierro will discuss the opportunities and the challenges educators encounter when teaching reading to English learners. They’ll explore:

• The importance of structured language teaching, for all kids, but especially English learners
• The need for teachers of English to understand how language works, which allows instructors to better scaffold the instruction for English learners
• The specifics of that scaffolding of instruction, and tips on what educators can and should do to help English learners achieve reading success
• Specifics of teaching reading, including assessment and MTSS, through the lens of the English learner
• Why it’s critical that classroom instruction includes pedagogy and approaches that take into consideration the anthology of bilingualism—a pedagogy that reflects the understanding of how two languages interact.
• The need to preserve heritage languages and cultures, while providing encouraging biliteracy or multiliteracy skills for all students
• Resources and guidance available from The U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), which provides national leadership to help ensure that English Learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and achieve academic success.

What happens after a formative literacy assessment? How can educators translate the results into targeted interventions and improved reading outcomes? This applicable and informative presentation from Dr. Susan Smartt, a respected literacy expert, helps educators make sense of what to do after the assessment and how to best use the valuable data gleaned from those assessments to inform intervention—and move all students toward literacy success.

To help educators address the challenging literacy needs of their diverse learners, our discussion will cover appropriate approaches to intervention and how to determine what approach is best based on assessment results.

Dr. Smartt will explore:

• Dyslexia and other reading challenges, and best practices for the right intervention at the right time
• Explicit instruction and Structured Literacy, and the reasoning behind these instructional approaches
• Designing Tier II and Tier III small-group instruction and monitoring student progress
• The importance of integrating five essential components of reading during instruction
• Ways to effectively target the specific "trouble spots" literacy assessments have identified
• How to take the guesswork out of intervention and transform struggling students into skillful readers

The “science of reading” refers to a vast body of multidisciplinary research providing a rationale for what must be taught to ensure almost all students can learn to read. Our podcast guests have championed this movement and supported organizations such as the International Dyslexia Association®, The Reading League, Decoding Dyslexia, The National Council on Teacher Quality, and The American Federation of Teachers who are advancing awareness of reading science.

But is this movement enough to develop more effective literacy instruction? Join us as our guests discuss why it may not be, unless teaching practices themselves receive more attention.

The “what” or content of reading instruction is often characterized with reference to the “five pillars” or “five components” that were each addressed by The National Reading Panel Report of 2000. Most state standards and policy guidelines name these essential components of instruction: phoneme awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Often added to the list are oral language, spelling, and writing. The content-related issue now being debated concerns the interrelationships of these components, their relative emphasis—for whom and at what point in reading development—and what level of content mastery to expect. We know the impact of curriculum content is diluted without systematic, explicit, cumulative teaching of the lessons.

Our experts will discuss:

• How policy and practice guidelines about the science of reading often mention the importance of “systematic, explicit” instruction. Yet, the “how” of teaching seems to be getting short shrift in comparison to the emphasis on the “what.”
• Why the right reading content must be married to best teaching practices of the “direct instruction” variety
• The importance of structured language teaching, especially for students who are struggling, with an emphasis on language
• Why developing expertise in lesson delivery and evaluation is a long-term but very rewarding undertaking which will transform the “science of reading” into “success for all”

The public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI late last year has captivated, if not terrified, certain sectors of public education. A simple interactive screen allows users to create a range of “authentic looking” documents. ChatGPT essays are either free or fractional in cost.

Some have called ChatGPT the “calculator moment” for writing assignments. Is there a similar, potential effect in math? Should we be welcoming or fearful of this technology?

This podcast will explore programs like ChatGPT and what they mean for mathematics instruction. We’ll discuss other current technologies used in math education today, and reflect on potential, near-term improvements and how upgrades like the “intelligence assistant” now being developed by Microsoft using ChatGPT might be used in math classrooms. 

Dr. Woodward will discuss:

• How simple uses of technology today can add value to mathematics instruction and how it helps with assessment, instructional decision-making, and accountability
• How assessment information can be synthesized across a classroom of students to help teachers make critical instructional decisions about grouping
• How to use technology to assist teachers and save time
• Key issues of concern for systems like ChatGPT, including that they do not rank or evaluate the quality of the information captured from the web, and ways to confront those issues
• Ways to use ChatGPT to solve math problems, improve instruction and student engagement, and the program’s limitations and benefits

We hope you’ll join us!

Join this fascinating conversation that surrounds storytelling—an age-old oral tradition—and how it can be used to improve reading and writing in the classroom.

Our guest, Antonio Sacre, a professional storyteller, children’s book author, and educator, will discuss the simple technique of storytelling and how teachers and specialists can use it to help unlock the writer in every student and get them excited about reading. 

Listeners will find this podcast inspiring, captivating, and immediately applicable to classroom instruction. Sacre will discuss the science behind why and how storytelling works to support reading, how to share a good story, and the types of stories that motivate students to want to read and write more.

We hope you’ll join us as our internationally renowned expert leaves you with stories to tell, the capability to share stories more effectively, and keys to teaching them to students across the curriculum.

You’ll learn:

• Tips about making read-a-louds come to life and the research that supports storytelling, with a focus on ELLs
• Five secrets to effective storytelling—and how those secrets help build literacy skills in students
• How personal storytelling builds empathy and student connection
• Ways to augment multicultural literacy