Episode 264

Grading a stack of student writing and not sure where to start? This episode is for you.

Adrea Truckenmiller is a researcher and professor whose work on writing assessment has shaped how schools support struggling writers. In this episode, she shares insights from her research on five key components of writing that can transform instruction and improve student outcomes.

Adrea and her team spent years studying writing development. They built a protocol that pinpoints five components with the biggest influence on how students grow as writers: text structure, vocabulary and word complexity, spelling and word accuracy, sentence accuracy, and typing fluency.

You'll walk away from this episode with practical ways to assess student writing, give actionable feedback, and know exactly what to teach next.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The five components that matter most for writing development
• Why sentence accuracy, not complexity, had the biggest impact on outcomes, even through eighth grade
• Simple ways to figure out what a student needs next when their writing is all over the place
• How to make writing assessment feel less overwhelming and more actionable

This conversation is based on Adrea's article, Analysis of Student Informational Writing to Personalize Writing Instruction

Resources

• TREE Printable Resource
• The Writing Architect: https://atruck.msu.domains/writing-architect/
• The Early Writing Project
• Typing Practice (free)
• IES Practice Guide Writing Elementary
• IES Practice Guide Writing Secondary
• Lori’s Favorite Transition Words Reference Sheet (aka Connectives)
• A Path to Better Writing with Steve Graham (podcast)
• Evidence-Based Writing Instruction for Young Learners with Karen Harris & Young Suk Kim (podcast)
• The Writing Revolution Tools

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 193 from May 10, 2024

In this conversation, Stephanie Stollar discusses the implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). MTSS is a framework for school improvement that helps to provide support for students with various needs. The MTSS framework focuses on using data to identify barriers to student performance and making plans to eliminate those barriers. Stollar explains that word recognition skills are more discreet and sequential, while language comprehension skills are more unconstrained and complex. Stephanie recommends that special education resources should be blended with general education resources from the beginning, and students should receive intensive support as soon as it is needed, without having to go through a series of interventions and assessments. She also emphasizes the importance of evidence-aligned instruction and the need for team-based decision-making in the MTSS model.

Takeaways

• MTSS is a framework for school improvement that helps teachers provide support for students with various needs
• The tiers in MTSS are prevention of reading failure, with tier one being primary prevention for all students, tier two providing extra support for students at higher risk, and tier three offering intensive and individualized support for struggling readers
• Differentiate tier one instruction and provide targeted instruction based on screening and diagnostic data
• Assessments in MTSS include screening assessments to identify students at risk, diagnostic assessments to determine specific instructional needs, and progress monitoring assessments to track student progress.
• Blend special education resources with general education resources from the beginning and provide intensive support as soon as it is needed.
• Focus on evidence-aligned instruction and team-based decision-making in the MTSS model.

Resources

• Stephanie's Reading Science Academy
• Stephanie's MTSS Course
• Watch Stephanie discuss...
  • the importance of using universal screening data to reflect the effectiveness of Tier 1 instruction and design core instruction
  • the elements in a coordinated, comprehensive assessment system
  • why you should teach word recognition and language comprehension at the same time

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 263

In this episode, we sit down with Stephanie Stollar and Kate Winn to talk about their book, Reading Assessment Done Right, and why more assessment data hasn't necessarily meant better outcomes for students. Stephanie and Kate explain how matching one strong, evidence-based tool to each purpose, screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring, and outcomes, can simplify a system without losing anything that matters.

We discuss why running records may be costing schools more time than they're worth, how a screener works like a thermometer to flag risk rather than diagnose it, and why oral reading fluency can serve as a reliable stand-in for comprehension in the early grades. Stephanie and Kate also talk through how to use screening data to have honest, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about tier one instruction at the classroom, grade, and school level.

This conversation offers a clear way to think about assessment: not as a compliance task, but as information that should change what happens in the classroom.

Resources

• Reading Assessment Done Right book study materials
• Hear more from Kate on the Reading Road Trip podcast and meet her on Instagram
• Learn with Stephanie at Stephanie Stollar Consulting
• Enter to win a free copy of Reading Assessment Done Right

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 207 from Oct 11 2024

Imagine facing not only the struggles of growing up in a challenging environment, but also battling a learning difference that went undiagnosed for years.

Hear the inspiring story of Ameer Baraka as he discusses his book: Undiagnosed: The Ugly Side of Dyslexia.

Ameer will discuss:

• How he grew up in New Orleans, facing unimaginable obstacles
• His experiences with being misunderstood and how it impacted his life
• How he transformed his life by reclaiming his education while incarcerated
• How he is now dedicated to helping others recognize their potential

By the end of this episode, you'll see how Ameer’s journey not only sheds light on the challenges of dyslexia but also highlights the incredible strength it takes to overcome adversity.

Want to Learn More?

• Undiagnosed: The Ugly Side of Dyslexia by Ameer Baraka

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 262

In this episode, we sit down with Nancy Blair and Pat Roberts, co-founders of AIM Academy and the AIM Institute for Learning & Research, to talk about how a school built on research came to be. Nancy and Pat share the story of meeting as parents of newly diagnosed daughters, and how that friendship grew into a non-profit school and a research institute that is celebrating its 20th year.

We discuss the early warning signs of dyslexia that too many families are told to wait out, why oral language and vocabulary deserve attention well before kindergarten, and how AIM's classrooms shifted over the years toward a fully integrated literacy model. Nancy and Pat also talk about AIM's ongoing partnership with literacy researchers, their free annual research symposium, and a forthcoming book meant to help any school or teacher follow a similar path.

This conversation is a fitting way to open Dyslexia Awareness Month, and a reminder of how much faster research and classroom practice can move when they move together.

Resources

• Learn more about AIM Academy and see their list of dyslexia warning signs and red flags
• Learn more about AIM's March Research to Practice Symposium:The Impact of Language on Reading and Writing. Registration is open for this free event!
• AIM is hosting, as part of our Road to Symposium events, a free Dyslexia Awareness Month webinar on Wednesday, October 21 with Dr. Shelly Gray and Dr. RJ Risueno who created a Dyslexia and DLD Screener Questionnaire for pediatricians.
• "Understanding Dyslexia: How Early Intervention Can Change Lives"
• Podcast Episode: "The Relationship Between Phonics and Language Comprehension" with Tiffany Hogan
• Podcast Episode:"Building Fluency with POSSUM" with Maryanne Wolf and Melissa Orkin

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 100 from April 1, 2022

Over time, the chronic trauma of not being successful with reading wears down many students. It has devastating effects. In our official 100th episode, Dr. Steven Dykstra discusses trauma and reading. He explains the connection between not being taught to read using evidence-based practices and the subsequent, unnecessary trauma this causes in children’s lives. This is a pervasive problem happening everywhere.

Dr. Steven Dykstra is a psychologist, advocate, and troublemaker in the reading world. His passion for reading comes from the recognition that the thousands of children he has served often pay the highest price for our failures and mistakes.

Resources:

• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• NAEP Report Card: Reading
• Teaching Reading is Rocket Science by Louisa Moats

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Episode 261

In this episode, Caitlin Lucas shares innovative routines for kindergarten literacy instruction, emphasizing consistency and active participation to build foundational skills. Caitlin also uses sign language as part of her routines and shares easy ways teachers can use it too.

Resources

• Maximizing Instructional Time Through Routines and Rehearsal

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

In this episode, we talk with Julia Lindsey about her book, Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills. Julia shares why decoding is one of the most important skills we can help students develop and how research-based instructional routines can make that learning more efficient, effective, and joyful.

Together, we explore the foundational skills that support decoding, the role of purposeful practice, and how consistent routines help students know what to expect as they build confidence with sounds, words, and increasingly complex texts.

Decoding isn't the end goal of reading! It's the gateway. When students develop strong decoding skills, they gain the independence needed to tackle new words, access meaning, and fully engage with reading.

Whether you're a classroom teacher, literacy coach, interventionist, or school leader, this conversation is packed with practical, research-based ideas you can put into practice right away.

Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.

Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.