Reading Road Trip
A practical and time-efficient podcast from the International Dyslexia Association, Ontario
Kate Winn, a classroom teacher from Ontario, interviews a range of academics and teachers about their research and how it translates to the classroom. Kate’s thoughtfully-prepared questions enable her to cover a lot of ground in each episode, and her guests are encouraged to focus on how their research and experience translates into practice. Transcripts are available on the website.
Recommended episodes:
Series 2 Episode 8: Dyslexia Facts, Myths and Strategies with Dr Jack Fletcher
This is a great, short introduction to dyslexia from a leading researcher. Dr Jack Fletcher defines dyslexia, discusses how it is identified, including problems with discrepancy approaches to identification, and then he discusses the best methods of intervention. He also mentions several ‘dyslexia myths’, which are neatly summarised in this paper.
Series 2 Episode 10: Reading Science: What reading teachers really NEED to know with Dr Jennifer Buckingham
This episode is a quickfire tour of many questions that teachers might have about the ‘science of reading’, including the usefulness of teaching syllable types, and whether teaching letter names is helpful. Dr Buckingham’s approach is pragmatic: look at the research and think about what is efficient and practical for teachers to implement.
Series 4 Episode 3: Scaffolding Complex Text with Dr Sarah Lupo
Sarah Lupo is one of the authors of Tackling Tough Texts, and in this episode she discusses how to scaffold adolescents as they face five different reading challenges: dense ideas, knowledge demands, text structure, vocabulary and language, and word reading. The strategies that Dr Lupo suggests are practical, and she describes how she has used them with her own classes.