Episode 258

In this episode, we sit down with literacy researcher Brennan Chandler to talk about the science of spelling instruction and why spelling deserves a much bigger role in science of reading conversations. Brennan explains how spelling supports stronger writing, more precise word knowledge, and better reading outcomes.

We discuss why spelling should be taught explicitly rather than left to chance, why patterns matter more than memorized rules, and how phonology, orthography, and morphology all work together when students learn to spell. Brennan also shares why morphology belongs in the early grades, how retrieval practice strengthens spelling knowledge, and why traditional Friday spelling tests often fail to lead to lasting learning.

This conversation is full of practical insights for teachers who want to move beyond isolated spelling activities and toward instruction that truly supports literacy development.

And this is just part one. Brennan will be back in our next episode focused entirely on practical spelling routines teachers can use right away in the classroom.

Brennan mentioned his TAP model of spelling instruction (Teach, Practice, Apply) in this episode. He's built six routines that put it into practice, called Spell Squad. Each one comes with scripting and a timer so you can teach it straight from the screen. Free teaching scripts and printables are on his site: Spell Squad

Resources

• Free teaching scripts and printables are on Brennan's site: Spell Squad
• "Spelling Is an Integral Part of Learning the Language, Not a Matter of Memorization."
• "How Spelling Supports Reading" by Louisa Moats
• This resource from Logic of English shares several high-utility spelling patterns and generalizations that may feel more useful and transferable than the long lists of spelling “rules” many of us learned in school.
• Follow Brennan Chandler

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 bonus episode, we're bringing you research right from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) conference, one of the biggest gatherings of reading researchers in the world. We break down the key takeaways, emerging trends, and standout research that caught our attention, and talk about what it all means for your classroom. If you want to know where the science of reading is headed next, this one's for you.

Resources Mentioned

• Words as Tools (coming soon)
• Reading Ready + Reading Go
• How To Plan for Differentiated Instruction (ACCESS Reading)
• Anderson & Strong (2026)
• Jake Downs is the host of the Teaching Literacy Podcast (it's a M&L favorite!)

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 257

Why do so many students appear to thrive in early literacy, only to stall by middle school?

In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Kockler to unpack what literacy data from Louisiana revealed about a common but often misunderstood pattern: strong early reading results followed by flat or declining comprehension growth in later grades.

At the center of the conversation is the concept of the Decoding Threshold: the point at which students can read words accurately and automatically enough to access grade-level text and grow in comprehension.

Rebecca explains:

• What happens when students never fully cross that threshold
• Why decoding instruction must continue through middle school
• How multisyllabic decoding becomes a critical turning point around fourth grade
• The powerful connection between morphology, vocabulary, and spelling
• Why fluency is the first true step of application
• How reader identity influences students’ willingness to grapple with challenging text
• What effective assessment actually looks like for older readers

You’ll walk away with practical strategies to support multisyllabic decoding, vocabulary and spelling development, integrated fluency practice, & tier 1 instruction that adapts to increasing language complexity.

If you’ve ever wondered why students who “learned to read” struggle later — this conversation will reshape how you think about literacy instruction in elementary and middle school.

Resources

• Resources for Educators
• Why "Learn to Read, Read to Learn" Fails Older Readers - And How To Fix It
• Action Guide for Educators
• ROAR
• Standards & Instructional Practices
• We Never Stop Learning to Read by Chase Young (blog)

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 256

Faith Howard shares practical strategies for improving literacy skills in middle and high school students, focusing on decoding multisyllabic words, spelling routines, and fluency practices. This episode offers actionable insights for educators aiming to enhance reading comprehension and word attack skills.

Resources

• Encoding & Decoding with Word Pyramids Blog
• I Was Doing Fluency Wrong - Until I Made It About Knowledge Blog
• Teachers Teach Teachers | Science of Reading YouTube Channel Video
• Read Like Us Podcast Episode with Jake Downs & Chase Young
• Tight Ten Article
• Literacy Lab with Faith Facebook Page

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.

If you’ve ever wondered how to help your students decode longer words, this episode is for you! We’re joined by literacy researcher and professor Devin Kearns to talk all about teaching multisyllabic words.

Many phonics programs focus on single-syllable words, but what happens when students hit big words and get stuck? Devin unpacks the research behind why that happens and what we can do instead. We talk about:

• flexible decoding strategies,
• when and how to teach syllables and morphemes,
• and what “set for variability” really looks like in the classroom (spoiler: it’s not guessing!).

You’ll walk away with practical, research-backed ideas to help your students read longer words with confidence.

Devin M. Kearns, Ph.D., is the Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy at NC State, where he studies early reading and collaborates with experts in psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience to explore the brain basis of reading.

RESOURCES

• Helping Students With Dyslexia Read Long Words: Using Syllables and Morphemes by Devin M. Kearns and Victoria M. Whaley
• Following the Rules in an Unruly WritingSystem: The Cognitive Science ofLearning to Read Englishby Devin M. Kearns and Matthew J. Cooper Borkenhagen
• Syllable Division: New Data that Can Inform Intervention by Joanne Marttila Pierson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
• On Eating Elephants and Teaching Syllabication by Tim Shanahan

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

Connect with us! Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

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 255

Experts Don Compton & Laura Steacy explore the complexities of multisyllabic word reading and the decoding challenges older readers encounter, especially those with dyslexia. They discuss how readers navigate complex words using different decoding strategies, the role of morphology and “set for variability” in reading development, and how tools like the DELP database help predict word difficulty. The episode offers practical insights into supporting literacy development and improving instruction for struggling readers.

Resources

• D-ELP Tool
• FCRR Student Center Activities

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 254

In this episode, we sit down with kindergarten teacher Anjanette McNeely to take a close look at one powerful instructional routine: word chaining.

Anjanette walks us through exactly what word chaining looks like in her classroom, from the materials she uses to the language she says, and explains why this routine is such an effective way to build both phonemic awareness and phonics at the same time.

We also explore how word chaining supports orthographic mapping, why connecting sounds to print matters, and how small instructional shifts, like continuous blending and interleaving, can have a big impact on student learning.

Whether you're new to word chaining or looking to refine your practice, this episode offers practical ideas you can try right away.

Resources

• Word Chaining: An Efficient and Effective Alternative to Oral Phonemic Awareness by Anjanette McNeely: Blog post about word chaining and a video of Anjanette's classroom in action
• Word Chaining: A Simple Routine for Reading and Spelling (printable) You can see a picture of Anjanette's word chaining tray here
• Word Chains for Decoding and Encoding Practice: An overview on how to make and use word chains to teach decoding and encoding (from UFLI)
• 44 Phonemes (video): Learn how to pronounce the 44 phonemes in the English alphabet (from Rollins Center for Language and Literacy)

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.

We’re revisiting this episode with Matt Burns because it offers one of the clearest explanations of phonemic awareness and how it fits into reading instruction.

In this conversation, Matt helps unpack what the research actually says and what that means for what we prioritize in the classroom. He explains why phonemic awareness is not a standalone precursor to reading, but develops alongside it, and why decoding should take center stage as students move into the upper elementary grades.

If you’ve ever felt unsure about how phonemic awareness fits into your instruction, or what to focus on as students progress, this episode brings clarity and practical direction.

Resources

• Phonemic Awareness, Research, Misconceptions, and Fads with Dr. Matt Burns
• They Say You Can Do Phonemic Awareness Instruction “In the Dark”, But Should You? A Critical Evaluation of the Trend Toward Advanced Phonemic Awareness Training
• RIP to Advanced Phonemic Awareness | Shanahan on Literacy
• Phonemic Awareness with Letters YouTube video, Matt Burns
• Matt Burns YouTube Channel
• National Reading Panel Report
• Elkonin Boxes, Reading Rockets
• Florida Center for Reading Research
• UFLI Foundations
• Ep. 159: Back to School: Science of Reading or Snake Oil with Holly Lane
• Road to the Code, Book
• IES Practice Guides
• Empirical Analysis of Drill Ratio Research: Refining the Instructional Level for Drill Tasks, Matt Burns (meta-analysis)

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.