Science of Reading: The Podcast

Latest Episodes:

S3-10. Deconstructing the Rope: Language structures with Kate Cain May 19, 2021

Show notes

Join Kate Cain, professor of language and literacy at Lancaster University, as she unwinds language structures, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Kate explores language structures in the simple view of reading and explains its connections across reading comprehension in literacy development. She also highlights the reciprocal relationship between books and conversation and underscores the importance of reading aloud to children from a young age to develop their vocabulary and semantics.

Quotes:

“Simply knowing the individual word meanings and the word order alone is not going to be sufficient to have accurate sentence comprehension.”

“The language of books is different from the language of conversation.”

References:

Professor Kate Cain’s Publications Site
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S3-09. Deconstructing the Rope: Vocabulary with Nancy Hennessy May 05, 2021

Show notes

Join Nancy Hennessy, past president of the International Dyslexia Association, as she unwinds vocabulary, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Nancy defines the role of vocabulary and elaborates on the nuanced structures of comprehension in literacy instruction. She also highlights how to explicitly teach vocabulary to students through her research-backed, four-pronged approach.

Quotes:

"Every one of the strands of the rope is important. If any strand frays, then reading is in jeopardy. "

"Vocabulary instruction is really getting our students interested in words as the building blocks of our language."

Resources:

The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text by Nancy Hennessy

Daniel Willingham–Science & Education
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S3-08. Deconstructing the Rope: Language comprehension with Sonia Cabell Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

Join Sonia Cabell, assistant professor at the School of Teacher Education at Florida State University, in the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series as she unwinds language comprehension, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Sonia explains the true definition of language comprehension in relation to the simple view of reading and highlights the role of parents and educators in the use of advanced language models in literacy development. She also reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers and families and discusses how it has highlighted the importance of education today.

Quotes:

“Young children are very smart. They know a great deal more than we give them credit for and they can do a lot more than we understand.”

“Parents are childrens’ first teachers and so, to really embrace parents in childrens’ learning process is really critical.”

Show Notes:

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S3-07. A Defining Movement: The Reading League on the Science of Reading, with Maria Murray Apr 07, 2021

Show notes

In this special episode, Dr. Maria Murray, President and CEO of The Reading League, analyzes the intricacies of literacy instruction and shares common misconceptions that educators have about the science of reading. She explains why The Science of Reading: A Defining Movement coalition was founded: the belief of clear understandings of what the science of reading is and what it is not to promote the proper use of instructional practices aligned with the findings from the science of reading.

Quotes:

“What systems do we need to change and strengthen to ensure that everyone is successful?”

“Nothing creates excitement more than success.”

Show notes:

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Episode timestamps*
03:00 Introduction: Who is Maria Murray?
04:00 Seeing the impact of effective reading programs
09:00 The birth of The Reading League
13:00 The Reading League's growth and mission
17:00 The Science of Reading: Going beyond the “buzz word”
31:00 Science of Reading as an education system issue
33:00 Defining the Science of Reading
35:00 The Importance of a common definition
43:00 Science of Reading as a social justice issue
50:00 Introducing The Reading League's TV Show
01:00:00 Conclusion and call to action
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

S3-06. Deconstructing the Rope: Background knowledge with Susan Neuman Mar 24, 2021

Show notes

Join Susan Neuman, Professor of Childhood and Literacy Education at the Steinhardt School at New York University, as she unwinds background knowledge, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the sixth episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Susan explains the important link between background knowledge and reading comprehension in the science of reading and shares about her five research-based principles to build knowledge networks in literacy instruction. She also highlights the connection between speech and reading and previews her upcoming studies on the role of cross-media connections in children’s learning.

Quotes:

“What you’re helping children do is create a mosaic; putting all those ideas together in a knowledge network. If you don’t do it explicitly, many children cannot do it on their own.”
“We’ve got to start early. We’ve got to start immediately and know that children are eager to learn and use the content to engage them.”

Resources:

Book: "Giving Our Children a Fighting Chance" by Susan Neuman. More books in the link.
Article: Developing Low-Income Children's Vocabulary and Content Knowledge through a Shared Book Reading Program by Susan Neuman and Tanya Kaefer

Article: The information book flood: Is additional exposure enough to support early literacy development? by Susan Neuman
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S3-05. Deconstructing the Rope: Sight recognition with Dr. Bruce McCandliss Mar 10, 2021

Show notes

Join Dr. Bruce McCandliss, Professor at the Graduate School of Education of Stanford University, as he unwinds sight recognition, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the fifth episode of our series, Bruce explains the role of sight and word recognition in the science of reading and highlights the importance of the rapid integration of print, speech, and meaning. He also encourages listeners to be cognizant of the ever-changing, technological learning environment while nurturing young readers and writers.

Quotes:

“You’re continually developing the system of word recognition. It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. It’s continually being refined; it becomes more and more automatic.“

“Word recognition is the ability to see a written word and then in your mind link it very precisely to how that word is spoken and what that word might mean.”

Resources:

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S3-04. Plain Talk: Making the Shift to the Science of Reading in Your District Feb 24, 2021

Show notes

Join leading experts Natalie Wexler, Ernesto Ortiz, Dr. Carolyn Strom, and Susan Lambert for a podcast on making the shift to the science of reading. In this special episode, they discuss how educators can implement the science of reading through an incremental change on all levels, from a classroom to entire districts. Sharing their research and both professional and personal experiences, the panelists share the leadership knowledge, training, and curriculum advice you’ve been looking for.

Quotes:
”We need to show how research can translate to practice–making it accessible to teachers and deeply connect it to their local reality.” –Dr. Carolyn Strom, Professor of Early Childhood Literacy and Innovation at NYU

“My advice for building leaders: you have the next bigger impact on students after teachers. It’s never too late to start and it’s okay to not know everything.” –Ernesto Ortiz, Principal at McDonald Elementary School, PA
Show notes:
Plain Talk about Literacy and Learning Conference
Ernesto's blog: Decoding Leadership
Carolyn Strom NYU Bio
Natalie's books:
The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it
The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade
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S3-03. Deconstructing the Rope: Decoding with Louisa Moats Feb 10, 2021

Show notes

Join Dr. Louisa Moats, President of Moats Associates Consulting, as she unwinds decoding, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the third episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Louisa highlights the significance of decoding in the science of reading and discusses the value of becoming students of our own language. She also mentions the reciprocal relationship between decoding and encoding and why both are essential to provide effective phonics instruction to children in the classroom.

Quotes:

“We need to be students of our own language so that when we accept the responsibility of teaching kids how it works, we’re very comfortable.”

“We have much more insight into how kids learn any language-based academic skill, not only from neuroscience but also cognitive, developmental, linguistic, and educational intervention research.”
Want to discuss the episode? Join our Facebook group Science of Reading: The Community.
Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Louisa Moats?
07:00 The Importance of teaching teachers
09:00 Changes in literacy education over the years
17:00 Decoding and encoding in reading
22:00 The complexity of the English language
26:00 Systematic and explicit instruction
37:00 Spelling in relationship with the reading process
43:00 The role of decodable texts
46:00 Final thoughts and key takeaways
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

S3-02. Deconstructing the Rope: Word recognition with Alice Wiggins Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

Join Alice Wiggins, vice president of instructional design and products at UnboundEd, in the second episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series as she unwinds word recognition, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Alice also highlights the importance of explicit phonics instruction and urges listeners to advocate for an aligned curriculum to bring forth a systematic approach to reading for all students.

Quotes:

“By explicitly teaching sound spellings, we’re strengthening students’ abilities to read so they can learn more.”

“For equity’s sake, we want to teach reading in a way that we cast the widest net possible and support the most students possible.”

Resources:

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S3-01. Deconstructing the Rope: An Introduction with Dr. Jane Oakhill Jan 13, 2021

Show notes

Dive into our first episode as Dr. Jane Oakhill, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex, gives a high-level overview of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. She also emphasizes the importance of inferencing in comprehension, why the Simple View of Reading is still relevant almost 40 years later, and how each element of the rope comes together to deconstruct the complexity of reading.

Quotes:

“We’re often quite surprised at what children don’t understand and we make a lot of assumptions about things we find utterly trivial.”

“It’s not just having knowledge that’s important, but also being able to activate that knowledge when appropriate.”

Resources:

Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill
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