In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D., founder of The Reading Institute and director of the Advanced Certificates in Reading Science, Brooklyn College. An expert in orthographic mapping, Pace Miles explains why it’s a cognitive process, why that means it can’t be “taught,” and how we can instead leverage an understanding of it to inform instructional practices across reading, writing, and spelling to improve comprehension. Pace Miles outlines what it takes to develop good word-reading habits in emergent readers, and offers step-by-step advice on how to implement quick intervention when needed.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page.
• Connect with Katie Pace Miles:
  • Website: https://www.katiepacemilesphd.com/
  • Instagram: @thereadinginstitutenyc
• Resources:
  • Book: Making Words Stick: A Four-Step Instructional Routine to Power Up Orthographic Mapping
  • Article: ”Phases of Development in Learning to Read and Spell Words” by Linnea C. Ehri
  • Podcast episode: The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/

Quotes:

"You don't teach orthographic mapping, 'cause, again, that's a cognitive process, but you can facilitate support for long-term storage of words." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"Never acquiesce to illiteracy. We all, as a community that supports all readers, have to figure out what instruction needs to be provided and what dosage over what duration of time … and it will happen." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"If you're focused only on phonics and not on spelling, you are going to miss a whole bunch of decoding instruction, word analysis work." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"You don't need a Ph.D. to have that knowledge. That should come in all teacher training. The complexity of the English language—every teacher I've ever met can handle it once we teach it." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
03:00 Introduction: Who is Katie Pace Miles?
04:00 Beginnings as a teacher
07:00 Book: Making Words Stick: A four step instructional routine to power up orthographic mapping
10:00 The motivation behind the book
13:00 Orthographic mapping as a cognitive process
17:00 Can you teach orthographic mapping?
19:00 Research behind the theory of orthographic mapping
24:00 Developing good word reading habits with emergent readers
28:00 Reading-spelling connection
32:00 Rubberband analogy: Developing speaking and reading skills in tandem
34:00 Orthographic mapping can support or impede comprehension
39:00 Intervention
43:00 Activities and strategies from the book
44:00 Final thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Wesley Hoover, a psycholinguist at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the Simple View of Reading and how it can serve as the basis for our understanding of comprehension. Wesley digs into all the complexities of this model—which is only simple at a high level—including the meaning of language comprehension vs. reading comprehension, the impact of word recognition, and using the simple view to identify struggling students. He’ll even address the limitations of the simple view of reading, untangle common misconceptions, and give you tools for assessing the value of any model for reading that you might encounter.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Listen: Science of Reading Essentials: Comprehension
  • Read: The Primacy of Science in Communicating Advances in the Science of Reading
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
• Check out Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast at.amplify.com/bmy

Quotes:

"Language comprehension is unbounded… the knowledge of the world and being able to express the knowledge of the world in language—that's always a key difficulty you work on for your entire life.” —Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

“If you're a teacher thinking about language comprehension, whatever time you devote to helping people understand language, if you can be effective in doing that, you'll never waste a kid's time.” —Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

"To be a reader, you have to be good at two things: word recognition and language comprehension. Both of them are necessary components of reading, but neither one of them is sufficient on its own.”—Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
03:00 Introduction: Wesley Hoover and the simple view of reading
06:00 What is the simple view of reading?
08:00 What is language comprehension?
10:00 What is word recognition?
11:00 Defining reading comprehension
12:00 Dr. Gough’s big A-Ha! Moment
15:00 Reading competency
16:00 Misconceptions of the simple view of reading
21:00 Changing the size of the boxes
23:00 Extension of the simple view
26:00 Using the simple view to identify kids that are struggling
29:00 What the simple view does or does not address
33:00 Navigating models of reading comprehension
35:00 Is the simple view outdated?
38:00 Why is comprehension worth exploring?
41:00 Final advice
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

Podcast host Susan Lambert gives you a first look at Season 10 of Science of Reading: The Podcast. This season will focus on reading comprehension, taking a deep dive into what is ultimately the goal of every classroom: breaking down why comprehension matters and how to achieve it. Get a glimpse into the season’s different angles on comprehension, as well as the expert guests you can look forward to hearing from.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Trailer: Beyond My Years is back for Season 2!