My guest today is Dr. Leigh Patel who is a transdisciplinary scholar whose research focuses on both the ways schooling delivers inequities and how education can be a tool for liberation. She is the author of Decolonizing Educational Research. We’ll be discussing an essay she published last fall on decolonizing.net. In the second part of the episode…

Today’s guest is the brilliant Zaretta Hammond, author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain. We’ll talk about the science behind her recommended “six core design principles” that she calls “culturally responsive brain rules”. Later, I’m joined by my colleague Jerry Maraia for a continued conversation about practical takeaways. *** To lea…

My guest today is Dr. Leala Holcomb, a researcher of deaf education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who accepted my invitation to teach us all about what true equity and inclusion looks like when supporting deaf children’s language and literacy development. At Dr. Holcomb’s request, I interviewed them in writing via a collaborative onlin…

Hello everyone! So sorry to be away for so long. This mini-episode will give you a quick update on Rite of String, and also points you towards Kevin's side project called SluderMusic. We love you and thank you for all your support. The music in the background of this episode is "No Place Like Home" (Kevin Sluder), available at www.canerivermusic.co…

My guest today is Chris Wenz, researcher and teacher, whose dissertation focused on profiles of adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. We begin our conversation with an understanding of the diverse profiles of autistic individuals, and move into a conversation about considerations for literacy assessment and teaching. In the second part of the…

Karen Harris My guest today is Dr. Karen Harris who joins us to talk about the role of strategy instruction for qualities of good writing such as focus, organization, and detail, as well as strategies for self-regulation. We’ll also discuss a recently-published meta-analysis she coauthored focused on effective professional development for teachers.…

My guest today is Dr. Steve Graham, who has, for over 40 years, studied how writing develops, how to teach it effectively, and how writing can be used to support reading and learning. We'll discuss some of his research around reading and writing reciprocity, and we'll learn about writing instructional practices that have the strongest evidence, as …

Today's guest is none other than THE Dr. P David Pearson. Usually I approach guests with a topic in mind, but because Dr. Pearson had just written on just about every topic there is to write about in the field of literacy education, I asked him what he wanted to discuss. He said: "how to design an ideal literacy block aligned to research." I love t…

My guest today is Dr. H. Richard Milner, author of the recent Reading Research Quarterly article titled “Disrupting Racism and Whiteness in Researching a Science of Reading” and the new book The Race Card. We talk about the importance of drawing from a wide range of types of research in designing our literacy classrooms, the multiple literacies we …

My guest today is Dr. Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, a NYC-based scholar who studies bi and multi-lingual education. She has several papers about reading assessment practices and considerations for students who speak multiple languages. We also discuss reader models such as the Simple View and Active View, and which are more aligned with biliteracy research…

My guests today, Dr. Caitlin Ryan and Dr. Jill Hermann Wilmarth, are co-authors of the professional book Reading the Rainbow as well as many scholarly articles. They will help us think about the whys and hows of LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum and texts in K-8 settings. Later, I am joined by my colleague Gina Dignon to discuss practical takeaways for bo…

My guest today is Dr. Elizabeth Sulzby whose research focus is on early language and literacy development in Pre-Kindergarten. She talks about research studies she did with preschoolers in NYC years ago where teachers do repeated readings of storybooks—even those with complex language and story structure—and study children’s rereadings and retellin…

My guests today are Dr. Haeny Yoon and Dr. Lalitha Vasudevan, researchers who study play in early childhood and adolescence. We talk about the many benefits of play, the role of adults in setting up and facilitating play, and ways that play supports conceptual knowledge development as well as reading and writing skills. Later, I’m joined by colleag…

John Walker and Jan Wasowicz Today’s episode is a double – I have two guests to teach us about a speech to print approach to spelling and phonics instruction. John Walker is the UK-based creator of Sounds-Write. Jan Wasowicz is the US-based creator of Spell Links. We’ll talk about the differences–and benefits–of using a speech to print approach. La…

Today’s guest is Dr. Tim Rasinski. We’ll talk about his newest book, Artfully Teaching the Science of Reading, along with several of his recently published studies that offer ways to support students’ fluency development through the use of poems and Reader’s Theater. This conversation is packed with ideas you’ll be able to use right away. After my …

Today’s guests are Drs. Laura Steacy and Don Compton, researchers who explore and write about the skill Set for Variability. You’ll hear them talk about this new area of research which offers an explanation for how students self-correct pronunciations of words when reading, and may have interesting implications for how we learn to remember spelling…

My guest today is Dr. Peng Peng, co-author of a recently-published meta-analysis that examined the role of strategy instruction with struggling readers in grades 3-12. The analysis sought to understand which strategies, and which strategy combinations, are most important to prioritize in a time-crunched intervention setting. Later, I’m joined by my…

My guests today are three authors of a recent article in The Reading Teacher about Maximizing Small Group Instruction: Dr. Kristin Conradi-Smith, Dr. Steve Amendum, and Tammy Williams. They’ll share essential recommendations for forming and conducting effective group lessons for readers. After our conversation, I’m joined by my colleagues Emily Str…

Today my guest is Dr. Margaret McKeown. We’ll start our conversation discussing vocabulary development and explicit vocabulary instruction, including how to choose words for instruction, how to teach words so students understand them deeply, and how to help students build connections between words. Our conversation then shifts to the Questioning th…

Season 2 of To the Classroom begins on September 4, with new episodes every Monday. Check out this season's guests: www.jenniferserravallo.com/podcast Together, we’ll explore a wide range of topics that honors the complexities of what it means to teach literacy to a diverse population of students. We’ll stay rooted in science, but explore practical…

Today I welcome Dr. Gholdy Muhammad. She’ll teach us about the importance of including qualitative research, her studies of the Black Literary Societies of the 1800s, and how that research has inspired her instructional framework which includes identity, skills, knowledge, criticality and joy. In the second half of the episode I’ll be joined by my …

Today’s guest is Dr. Edmund Adjapong, a scholar whose work focuses on engaging youth through culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies centered around embracing Hip Hop culture in the classroom. In the second half of the episode, I’m joined by my colleague Elisha Li, and Eric Royo, elementary educator and founder and director of Hip Hop Build…

Today I welcome Dr Carla España and Dr. Luz Yadira Herrera for a conversation about supporting bilingual and multilingual students in monolingual or dual language classrooms. We discuss culturally and linguistically-affirming and sustaining practices, their advice for choosing texts to use for literacy lessons, and they share examples of some lesso…

Today I welcome Debbie Reese to talk about her scholarship focused on Native representation in children’s literature, her AICL resource, and advice for teachers about selecting texts to use in the classroom. Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Lainie Powell, Angie Forero, and Molly Wood to discuss practical takeaways. ** To learn more about this pod…

Today I welcome Dr. HyeJin Hwang to talk about her recently published study on the bidirectional relationship of knowledge and comprehension in monolingual and multilingual readers. In this conversation we talk about different types of knowledge, ways to support knowledge building, the use of informational and narrative texts in the classroom, and …

Today’s guest is Dr. Tanya Wright whose research and writing focus on vocabulary and knowledge-building, and comprehension. She’ll help us think about how to infuse vocabulary instruction into before, during, and after reading activities to move from passive word learning such as just parroting back a dictionary definition, to active processing whe…

Today’s guest is Dr. Rachael Gabriel. We’ll talk about the newly published book, How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction, which includes chapters she authored and co-authored and which she edited. Specifically, we’ll explore the history of studies relating to teacher quality and instructional materials, and what research shows makes the bi…

Today I welcome Dr. Gabriel DellaVecchia, who has reviewed decades of research about retention to answer the question: on the whole, do third grade retention laws—which are on the books in some form in 27 states in the US – help or harm literacy outcomes? Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Darren Victory and Lea Mercantini Liebowitz to discuss prac…

Today my guest is Dr. Henry May who has studied the popular first grade intervention Reading Recovery. We discuss results of two robust studies he was involved in—one showing strong positive effects in first grade, and another showing students who received the intervention underperformed years later on their third and fourth grade tests. We discuss…

Today’s guest is Dr. Melanie Kuhn, who you may know from her research and teacher professional writing around reading fluency. We’ll talk about what fluency is, how to best assess and teach it, and ways to differentiate instruction in K-5 classrooms. Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Gina Dignon, Macie Kerbs, Lainie Powell, and Lea Mercantini-Leib…

Today’s guest is Dr. Freddy Hiebert. We’ll talk about her newly published book about vocabulary instruction, her work around text complexity and her site textproject.org, how to ensure self-selected reading time is worth the time, and more. Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Macie Kerbs, Rosie Maurantonio, and Lea Leibowitz for a conversation about…

Today my guest is Dr. Peter Afflerbach who researches individual differences in reading development, reading assessment, and comprehension. We’ll talk about the differences between skills and strategies – and why that matters for the classroom, as well as his new book Teaching Readers Not Reading in which he argues that factors such as efficacy, mo…

Today’s guest is Daniel Willingham, author of the new book Outsmart Your Brain. I’m so excited for you to hear us talk about how we as teachers can help students to become successful, independent learners through supporting their focus, planning and goal setting; purposefully take notes from listening or reading; and how to help them best tackle an…

Today I welcome Dr. Maryanne Wolf for a conversation about the incredible reading brain: what happens in neural circuitry when we are reading words accurately, the many different ways to read, and her important thoughts on how to cultivate true reading engagement in children—and in ourselves. Later, I’m joined by my colleagues Gina Dignon, Molly Wo…

Today’s guest is Dr. Kelly Cartwright. We’ll talk about her invaluable work around executive skills, and the ways that these important skills undergird reading engagement and comprehension. We’ll also discuss her 2021 paper with Dr. Nell Duke titled “The Science of Reading Progresses” about The Active View of Reading framework, which incorporates c…

An introduction to the new podcast for literacy teachers and leaders by Jennifer Serravallo. Listen in as she interviews today’s leading researchers and has post-interview conversations with colleagues about practical takeaways. Support the showOleh Jennifer Serravallo

In this episode, we speak with Geoff Golden about his decision to explore employment opportunities outside of teaching and look back on his time as an educator.

Most of us spend our days educating young people on how to play string instruments. But, what about those that teach US how to teach those students? Dr. Elizabeth Whitehead Chappell, the current string education professor at the University of North Texas, sits down to talk with us about how she got into the profession, how to get others into the pr…

When you are in charge of your own program, there is often flexibility in developing your own curriculum. Alongside the typical expectations in what you teach are many opportunities to expand the musical styles your students are exposed to. Anna Macias talks to us about her background and how she's incorporated her personal interests into creating …

As the summer comes to a close, many of us are starting to plan and map out our brand new school year. How we set up our day-to-day teaching environment can greatly affect our outcomes of success. Rebecca Farrar, a director from Plano, TX, sits down with us to discuss the various ways in which she organizes her orchestra program to maximize student…

Based on the Giving Bach model created by Richard Meyer, Downing Gives Bach is a full-inclusion curriculum developed for both general education students and those enrolled in special education classes at Downing Middle School in Flower Mound, TX. The orchestra director Bethany Hardwick and special education department head Jennifer Rodgers sit down…

Growing and maintaining a program does not always come easy. We often have to find new ways to be vocal about what our program needs, and even more so, how to get specific audiences to listen and understand. Christopher Hanson, a director in the San Marcos area, talks to us about advocating for a program, including communication tactics when workin…

While a majority of us do our teaching in the classroom setting, there are also many educators who have utilized their skill set on a different path leading groups around the community. In this episode, Jordan Randall Smith, a conductor in the Baltimore area, talks about working with church groups, non-major college orchestras, and developing speci…

We work with string instruments day in and day out. We know how to change the strings and maybe even how to replace a fine tuner, but beyond that, we often send our instruments to the repair shop when something breaks or needs an adjustment. Cody Sisk, a luthier in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, talks us through several of the most common string instr…

Beyond the music-making process, we get to know and understand our students a lot more than most other teachers. This is because we often teach these students for multiple years and our efforts to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with them is necessary to be able to work together in harmony. In this episode, Julie Blackstock sits down …

As teachers, we put in countless hours for our programs to be successful, but we also often find numerous leadership roles to help serve our professional community and support our colleagues. In this episode, we talk to Brian Coatney, an orchestra director from Plano, TX, to discuss the various leadership opportunities and what they entail. He also…

Many of us have taken on the task of growing a small program, but fewer have been challenged to build a brand new program from scratch. In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Deborah Perkins, a retired teacher from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, to talk about building programs from ground up, planning international music trips, and also her time running…

We all dedicate time and effort in the hope that students will keep our shared love of music into adulthood. While we have an impact on the students we see in the classroom, what are some other ways to go beyond and involve the greater community? Last month, Jen Drake was in the Dallas area to clinic a Region Orchestra and found some time to talk w…

At some point in our careers, we are likely to be presented with opportunities to offer guidance to other professionals. Whether we’re working with brand new teachers or seasoned educators, we want to find the right approach in fostering growth through the process. In this episode, we sit down with Charlotte Moellering to discuss the various roles …

Longevity in our profession is a challenge that often goes unmet due to long hours and immense pressure. We recently sat down with Mary Havenstrite, a veteran teacher from Plano, TX, to talk about how she has navigated a career that can push many of us to our limits. She shares the joy she finds in daily tasks and talks us through planning meaningf…