Melissa and Lori Love Literacy

Today we are live with Natalie Wexler, the author of The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to Fix It (LISTENERS - IT’S AVAILABLE TODAY!). The book focuses on the lack of content in the elementary curriculum and its connection to what is commonly known as the achievement gap.Natalie provides a snapshot of research on building knowledge, then tangibly deconstructs the why and how behind the research making explicit connections to education classrooms today. She provides clear steps to take to ‘fix’ the knowledge gap: adopting a content-focused curriculum to build knowledge, and providing teachers and leaders with ongoing professional development and coaching grounded in the curriculum. Pick up her book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System–And How to Fix It. In the meantime, find articles and say hi to Natalie at https://nataliewexler.com/ or on Twitter @natwexler. Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram 

A teacher's perspective on curriculum implementation is invaluable... and today, we have not ONE, but TWO teacher perspectives on Wit and Wisdom year one implementation!  Kyair and Katie are funny, smart, and have incredible learner-mindsets. They discuss the engagement of their students in texts and tasks, how Wit and Wisdom provides equity and opportunity, and their thoughts on teaching with an integrated (not isolated) curricula - a shift in mindset from the way 'school was done' previously. Lookout for some cheesy dad jokes along the way (thanks, Kyair), and so much insight and inspiration from these two incredible educators! Connect with Kyair on Twitter @KyairbConnect with Katie on Twitter @Kstoryscotti TNTP's The Opportunity Mythhttps://opportunitymyth.tntp.org/The Wrong Way to Teach Grammar - Michelle Navarre Clearyhttps://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-wrong-way-to-teach-grammar/284014/Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Melissa was inspired by a quote in Brene Brown's book: Dare to Lead https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/.  Minouche Shafik, Director of the London School of Economics, who said, “In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they’re about brains, but in the future they’ll be about the heart.” Listen to her insightful and relatable take on curriculum with heart. Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

We had the extreme pleasure of interviewing Amy Holbrook & Mandy Polen, literacy leads in Mad River, Ohio. The Mad River district adopted Wit and Wisdom's ELA curriculum two years ago district wide, and three years ago for several pilot schools. Since then, their teachers have been immersed in adaptive change and test scores have soared! They provide tangible strategies and tips for side by side implementation support, share what worked for them, and describe the real process. We can't wait for you to listen in! We reference this article during our podcast: https://ww.greatminds.org/english-madriverschoolsVisit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

TNTP's Kristen McQuillan and Regan Kelly share how important it is to adopt a high-quality curriculum. But... what happens after that? What should be considered as next steps? What's the bridge from adoption to implementation of a new curriculum? What does this mean for teachers? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!!! LOTS of fabulous answers and ideas, grounded in research and experience. EdReportshttps://www.edreports.org/TNTP's Opportunity Myth: https://tntp.org/publications/view/student-experiences/the-opportunity-mythSummary of Learning by the Book: https://cepr.harvard.edu/curriculum-press-releaseLearning by the Book itself (conclusion on page 35):https://cepr.harvard.edu/files/cepr/files/cepr-curriculum-report_learning-by-the-book.pdf Kane and Steiner's reactions:https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/04/02/dont-give-up-on-curriculum-reform-just.htmlEmily Hanford's podcasts:Hard Words: https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/10/hard-words-why-american-kids-arent-being-taught-to-readAt a Loss for Words: https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-readingVisit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

We are thrilled to have Janise Lane, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, share how Baltimore City Schools used research and strategy to drive the high-quality curriculum implementation of Wit and Wisdom for K-8 schools district-wide. City schools drove structures for leaders and teachers by anchoring curriculum focused professional development, led by Wit and Wisdom experts, and taking the approach of learning together. Janise shares replicable strategies, structures, and insider tips... If you are in year one implementation of Wit and Wisdom, this podcast is a must-listen! Resources referenced:Strong Materials in the Hands of Great Teachershttps://learningforward.org/journal/december-2018-volume-39-no-6/strong-materials-in-the-hands-of-great-teachers/Nell Duke - http://www.soe.umich.edu/people/profile/duke_nell/The Opportunity Myth - https://opportunitymyth.tntp.org/The Baseball Studyhttps://www.literacyhow.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Effect-of-Prior-Knowledge-on-Good-and-Poor-Readers-Memory-of-Text.pdfWhy A Structured Phonics Program is Effectivehttps://achievethecore.org/aligned/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Why-a-Structured-Phonics-Program-is-Effective.pdfEd Reports - https://www.edreports.org/Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Join us as we fangirl over Natalie Wexler's articles: The Biggest Education News Story You've Never Heard Of & Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years. We share our thoughts on the explicit connection to Wit & Wisdom curriculum, research, and building knowledge (CCSS Shift 3). https://nataliewexler.com/https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2019/05/12/the-biggest-education-news-story-youve-never-heard-of/#af16b5b60d48https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/-american-students-reading/557915/Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Today Scott Dieter joins us to share the landscape in Lorain, OH pre-high-quality curricula implementation and the steps his district made to prioritize trust and confidence before and during the implementation process. He shares lessons learned from the curriculum pilot as well as pivotal implementation input from teachers involved in the pilot. Most importantly, the Lorain, OH team take a learner mindset stance as they embark on their Wit & Wisdom ELA journey. Scott's TRY mantra rings true for all Wit & Wisdom leaders & teachers! Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Join us as we hear from Brian Kingsley, CAO of Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte, NC. Brian shares his thoughts on how effective reading programs should be designed around evidence-based practices, how adopting a high-quality curricula and centering PD on curricula gives teachers a common purpose, resources to learn more about the science of reading, and advice to leaders who are looking to adopt high quality curricula. He is funny and thoughtful, you'll want to listen to this episode more than once! Contact Brian at: briang.kingsley@cms.k12.nc.us or find him on Twitter @edukingsRead his article, Scaling Literacy Success through Reading Science, at AASA.org. Reading Scores on National Exam Decline in Half the States (NAEP scores)http://my.aasa.org/AASA/Resources/SAMag/2019/Nov19/Kingsley.aspxVisit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

What happens when kids get to high school and are striving readers, struggling to fluently read grade-level text? We discuss the Libens' approach to addressing this issue, as well as share experiences of Baltimore City Schools Secondary Blueprint Literacy Coaches Zachary Jaffe & Tami James. Read Know Better, Do Better by David & Meredith Liben, Chapter 7, to have a deeper understanding of the springboard for our conversation. https://www.learningsciences.com/authors/meredith-liben/know-better-do-better Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Catlin Goodrow, consultant at Evidently Reading, addresses common assumptions teachers and leaders have about high-quality curricula. Why aren't more districts, schools, and teachers using high-quality curricula? We debunk these assumptions in this episode! A central curriculum is boring/irrelevant.Providing a curriculum disrespects teacher expertise.Common Core-aligned curricula are "too rigorous" for our struggling readers.Find Catlin on Twitter @EvidentlyR & keep up with her blog posts here! Visit Tim Shanahan’s blog for more information on so many topics related to this!Follow Karen Vaites on Twitter @karenvaites and www.eduvaites.org. RAND studies show: Only 7% of elementary ELA teachers are regularly using high-quality resources.Teachers spend 12 hours a week finding materials, 99% rely on materials they find or create themselves.Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Pun intended. This episode takes us into the world of Geodes - decodable readers that bridge foundational skills and Wit and Wisdom ELA - through building knowledge and accessible text. Melissa and Lori talk with Lorraine Griffith and Emily Gula, who share the research and insight behind the development of Geodes and how they can be used in classrooms, as well as (and most importantly) why Geodes are market disrupters. We can't wait for Baltimore City students to experience these special texts this year, to connect Wilson Language's Fundations foundational skills to the knowledge-building topics in Wit and Wisdom ELA core instruction. Quite simply, GEODES ROCK! Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Resources:Great MindsThe Reading LeagueNAEP scoresWhy We’re Teaching Reading Comprehension in a Way that Doesn’t Work by Natalie Wexler Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong by Natalie Wexler

Learning from Liz Manolis' great mind (see what we did there?) on successful structures for implementation of Wit and Wisdom curriculum including the Spotlight Schools Visit Program to support leadership coaching, trends on implementation successes and challenges, and preparing for mindset shifts to trust the process. Liz-isms & Quotes: "Go slow to go fast." "Go back to go forward." "The Content Stages framework provides the skeleton, the structure needed for coherency K-8."Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Melissa and Lori dive into K-8 texts to highlight salty summer reads to get set for next school year! We share the why behind our choice for each summer read text choice and make recommendations for field trips and experiences connected to texts to further build background knowledge for students. Join us as you prep for summer - RSVP those books at the library NOW! Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Kate Walsh, President, of National Council on Teacher Quality, joins us today to discuss her recent article, Getting at the root of the school to prison pipeline. She shares details about her visit to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and how that inspired her to write this article. A focus of NCTQ is whether or not the programs that prepare elementary teachers are making sure those aspiring teachers learn the science of reading. Teacher preparation programs play a key role in ensuring teachers enter the classroom knowing how to best teach children to read. Kate contests that with our current achievement gaps, promoting the science of reading is a clear equity issue. After her visit to the Legacy Museum, Kate wonders, “Is the reason Americans tolerate unnecessarily high rates of kids who never learn how to read yet another manifestation of institutionalized racism?” Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Join us as we talk with Angelique Jessup, Program Director & Ruth Farfel, Program Associate, at Campaign for Grade Level Reading in Baltimore, MD. Find out how grade level reading has collaborated with City Schools to support high-quality curricula implementation and how they engage and support families with building knowledge on curricular topics. Follow Grade Level Reading on Instagram @bemorereadmore. Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

In this episode, Karen Vaites and Janise Lane unpack a recent visit to see Wit & Wisdom's high quality curricula in action Baltimore City Public Schools. After the visit, Karen posted this blog. It's a must-read! Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Melissa and Lori begin the conversation around equity and access with Bree-L Ukoha, a Blueprint Literacy Coach in Baltimore City Schools. Bree-L shares stories from the field and how adopting Wit and Wisdom curriculum was a step in the right direction of leveling the equity playing field for Baltimore students. Unbound Ed - 5 charges: https://blog.unbounded.org/reflecting-on-the-5-charges/Adopt aligned curriculum Attend to language of standardsTalk about race systematically Examine bias and its role in our work and learning Commit to adaptive change within the shiftsUnbound Ed Bias Toolkithttps://blog.unbounded.org/bias-toolkit/TNTP - Opportunity Myth: https://tntp.org/assets/documents/TNTP_The-Opportunity-Myth_Web.pdf Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

Rachel Stack, CAO of Humanities at Great Minds, talks all things Knowledge on the Go, Great Minds' free, virtual, knowledge-building lessons led by teachers to support students, teachers, districts, and families in this time of quarantine. We discuss the role of knowledge-building in our new virtual learning world, and share successes - both big and small - to highlight the power of knowledge. To access Knowledge on the Go: Greatminds.org  --> Knowledge on the Go7 Tips to Help Make Remote Learning More EffectiveAdvancing Our Students' Language and Literacy Visit OUR WEBSITE to subscribe to our newsletter and podcast! https://www.literacypodcast.com/Connect with Melissa & Lori:TwitterInstagramFacebookToday is a great day to start your own podcast... If you’re thinking about it, we say GO FOR IT! We love Buzzsprout for so many reasons, but especially because it’s easy to use and their customer service rocks! Use our Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift card. 

We talked with the fabulously candid Tim Shanahan about his recent blog post Prior Knowledge, or He Isn't Going to Pick on the Baseball Study that garnered much attention. Should we teach reading strategies? How important is building knowledge? What are reading skills vs. strategies? How frequent should strategy instruction occur in concert with knowledge building? He also weighs in on the current crisis to share his thoughts on how families and educators can best serve students at home. Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us!Facebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram