Melissa & Lori Love Literacy ® | Science of Reading for Teachers

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.

Episode 253
In this episode, we talk with Marianne Rice about key findings from a Tennessee report examining how well early literacy materials align with research on phonemic awareness and early reading instruction. Marianne walks us through five essential practices that can help teachers make the most of their instructional time: 
focusing on phoneme-level work
using articulatory gestures
connecting phonemic awareness to print
being mindful of instructional time
prioritizing blending and segmenting.
Throughout the conversation, Marianne shares practical ways teachers can evaluate and adjust their current curriculum without starting from scratch. 
The big takeaway: small instructional shifts, especially connecting sounds to print and focusing on blending and segmenting, can have a big impact on helping students become strong readers and spellers.
Resources
 Kindergarten and First-Grade HQIM Alignment with Research on Code-Focused Instruction: Tennessee Early Literacy Report (referenced in the episode)
5 Focus Areas for Phonemic Awareness (printable)
44 Phonemes (video): Learn how to pronounce the 44 phonemes in the English alphabet (from Rollins Center for Language and Literacy)
Word Chains for Decoding and Encoding Practice: An overview on how to make and use word chains to teach decoding and encoding (from UFLI) 
What Works Clearinghouse Guide: Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
Phonemic Awareness: A Meta-Analysis for Planning (need ILA access)  

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 252
What actually happens when students encounter a complex text?
In this episode, we’re joined by Luke Morin to discuss his article "Wading Into the Deep End: What Reading Actually Requires When the Text Gets Hard." Luke shares a powerful classroom moment where students applied reading strategies before tackling a tough text and still couldn’t make sense of a single sentence. That experience led him to rethink what it really means to teach reading.
In this conversation, we explore:
Why using strategies doesn’t guarantee understanding
How text complexity is shaped by the interaction between text, reader, and task
What collective close reading looks like in practice
How to provide “lily pad” supports without rescuing students
Luke challenges the idea that comprehension can be reduced to checklists or isolated skills. Instead, he offers a vision of instruction that prepares students to wade into deep water with support, intention, and growing independence.

RESOURCES
"Wading Into the Deep End: What Reading Actually Requires When the Text Gets Hard" by Luke Morin
"A Lily Pad, in Practice" (Collective Close Reading Sample)
"Why Mastery Doesn't Matter" by Luke Morin 
"The Surprising Power of the Humble Worksheet" by Luke Morin
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 139
As we continue our focus on comprehension this month, we’re revisiting one of our most essential conversations.
In this episode, we explore a foundational truth about reading: comprehension depends on knowledge.
We’re joined by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham, who explains why background knowledge is one of the strongest drivers of reading comprehension and why strategies alone can’t compensate for gaps in knowledge.
We also talk with Barbara Davidson, Executive Director of the Knowledge Matters Campaign, about the role strong, knowledge-building curriculum plays in helping students access complex text.
Whether this is your first listen or a return, this episode remains foundational.
Resources
Knowledge Matters Campaign website 
Books by Daniel Willingham
Reading Rockets Q&A with Daniel Willingham
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 251
One of the most consistent findings in reading research is this: how much you know determines how far you can go as a reader.
In this episode, we’re joined by Kelly Gallagher, author of To Read Stuff, You Have to Know Stuff, to explore why knowledge is central to comprehension and what that means for classroom instruction.
Kelly helps us rethink the long-standing emphasis on isolated reading strategies and instead focus on building knowledge at multiple levels: word, sentence, passage, article, and book.
Kelly offers clear examples and practical thinking that will help you reflect on how knowledge is built over time and how we can design instruction that goes deeper, not just wider.
RESOURCES
To Read Stuff, You Have To Know Stuff by Kelly Gallagher
Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week 
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.