Shannon and Mary catch up on their teaching activities and personal lives during the past school year. They share highlights from the past season and what is coming next in Season 5 and the 2022-2023 school year.

Shannon BettsJune 30, 2022

S4 E 14 Long and Short Vowels

Shannon and Mary share some new understandings they've discovered about the differences between long and short vowels. They chat about how they'll modify some phonics activities for students after discovering these new understandings.

Shannon BettsJune 25, 2022

S4 E 13 Differentiation for Different Readers

Shannon and Mary chat with Nancy Young, the create of the Ladder of Reading and Writing, about differentiated instruction for readers at different levels. [Note: Our podcast has explicit permission from Nancy Young to use her Ladder infographic image and information with our audience.] In this episode we discuss the equitable need for differentiation, in order to "offer children what they need based on where they are." Strategies, examples, and activities are shared for teachers to modify their literacy instruction based on the unique needs of their readers.

Shannon BettsJune 16, 2022

S4 E 12 Just Right Reading Books for Families and Students

Shannon chats with Sarah Rich, CEO of Just Right Reader, about her company that provides decodable readers to students, families, teachers, and schools. Sarah and Shannon talk about how decodable texts are important for the right reading practice for students. Sarah provides details about their mission to make reading fun and for students to learn to read with engaging decodables that are representative of students in America's schools.

Shannon BettsJune 2, 2022

S4 E11 Sound Walls

Shannon and Mary chat with Christina Edmondson (@literacywithmrs.e) about implementing Sound Walls into your literacy classrooms. Christina shares how Sound Walls compare to traditional word walls and provides ideas for using them with students in reading and writing. She describes exactly how to set up your own Sound Wall and start using with your readers.

Shannon BettsMarch 23, 2022

S4 E10 Phonemic Awareness: In the Dark or With Letters?

Shannon and Mary chat about the recent debate in the science of reading community about whether phonemic awareness drills without letters are a worthwhile exercise for readers. They describe activities they've done with struggling readers to build phonemic awareness, and they talk about the use of those activities as a part of Tier 1 reading instruction.

S4 E9 Morphology

Shannon and Mary chat with Emily Conlan from @wordmorphed_ on Instagram about Morphology. Emily shows how and where Morphology fits into structured literacy instruction and the science of reading. Their discussion provides easy ways to strengthen students' word meaning knowledge at different grade and age levels of readers.

S4 E8 New Understandings about Encoding

Shannon describes some new ways she's helping her older elementary students learn how to encode and spell. Mary shares the SOS strategy for Spelling and explains the research about encoding and the brain processing that happens as students make spelling choices.

S4 E7 The Updated Ladder of Reading and Writing

Shannon and Mary discuss the revised Ladder of Reading and Writing that was recently updated by Nancy Young. [Note: Our podcast has explicit permission from Nancy Young to use her Ladder infographic image and information with our audience.] In this episode we compare the updates to the Ladder to its original form and discuss the changes and how they may impact literacy instruction.

S4 E6 The Importance of Storytelling

Shannon and Mary chat with Anna Boldog from Bookr Class about the Importance of Storytelling. They share their own memories and experiences with stories as readers and teachers. And they talk about what research shares about how storytelling impacts language and literacy development. This discussion should prompt your own memories of stories and how they've impacted your life, your instruction, and your readers.

S4 E5 Supporting Reading Teachers

Shannon and Mary chat with LaMonica Williams, Director of Programs for Teaching Matters, about how to support reading teachers and their students through intensive coaching and literacy training.

S4 E4 Scarborough's Reading Rope with Tess Kraft

Shannon chats about the different strands of Scarborough's Reading Rope with Tess Kraft. They talk about all the many different skills that weave together into skilled reading and share ideas about transferring the science of reading into effective literacy instruction.

S4 E3 The Science of Reading with Heidi Martin

Shannon and Mary chat with Heidi Martin about her journey into learning about the Science of Reading. In our Reading Teachers Lounge chat, Heidi shares how she discovered the Science of Reading and the ways she's changed her instruction since learning about structured literacy techniques and practices.

Mary SaghafiSeptember 30, 2021

S4 E2 Phonics Scope and Sequence with Wiley Blevins

Shannon and Mary chat with literacy expert Wiley Blevins about the scope and sequence of phonics instruction. He describes his experience and the research behind the ordering of certain skills and shares practice tips & knowledge about teaching phonics in the classroom. He also details conceptual leaps that occur in readers as they advance their literacy development.

S4 E1 Back to School and Together Again

In their Season 4 opener, Shannon & Mary update listeners on their summer activities and their plans for the upcoming school year and podcast season. They share what they've been reading and learning about lately, which leads to a discussion about differentiating for students at various points on the Reading Ladder.