The Adolescent Literacy Podcast

Happy Summer!

We're off this week, but Melanie pops in to say hello and give a quick book recommendation. Hope everyone is getting a moment to rest and recharge! See you next week.

Episode 9: Rethinking School Design for Today’s Learners

"Schools were not built to optimize learning." This week, Michael Horn, creator of podcast and Substack The Future of Education, joins us to unpack what it would take to rethink education for the students actually sitting in classrooms today. From mastery-based learning to the false binary around small group instruction, Michael and Louise dig into what it would really take to rebuild a system around how kids actually learn — starting with the most foundational skill of all: reading. Resources: https://michaelbhorn.substack.com/

Episode 8: Leading Adolescent Literacy Improvement

What does a student's day actually feel like when everything around them is disconnected? Different teachers, different routines, different language, different expectations — class after class after class. For older striving readers already carrying years of compounding gaps, that disconnection isn't just frustrating… it's a barrier. This week, we're joined by Kate Crist, founder of Education 4500 and member of the steering committee for the Project for Adolescent Literacy. In this episode, Kate and Louise discuss concrete strategies to transform literacy instruction for middle and high school students. We dig into: * What coherence really means for secondary literacy * How to connect intervention with core instruction so the two are actually working together * What disciplinary literacy looks like across every content area * What it means to graduate every student literate * School culture vs. structure – and which to prioritize to see real change Resources: Education 4500 [https://www.education4500.com/], IES Practice Guide [https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/29] for grades 4-9, Project for Adolescent Literacy [https://seekcommonground.org/pal] (PAL)

Episode 7: Reclaiming Screen Time

What if the time students are already spending on screens isn't the enemy of literacy — but the opportunity? This week, we sit down with Julia Rivard, founder of Shoelace Learning, to talk about what it really looks like to leverage technology in order to prioritize engagement for older striving readers. In this episode, we get into: * the relationship between fun and rigor * why turning away from technology means turning away from students * how gamification can produce authentic engagement and real learning outcomes at the same time * the Olympics?! Resources: https://dreamscape.shoelacegaming.com/ [https://dreamscape.shoelacegaming.com/]

Episode 6: It Takes a School

Literacy improvement can't rest on the shoulders of a single teacher. So what does it actually look like to make secondary literacy a shared responsibility across an entire school or district? This week, Emily Russin from the HILL for Literacy joins us to dig into what a truly collaborative approach to adolescent literacy looks like — from the classroom to the district level. Emily takes us through concrete ideas about how to leverage structures that already exist within schools and districts to make literacy a shared, continuous experience. Like any good teacher can, Emily helps us use what we already have to build something transformational.  We talk about: * How to create a Literacy Action Plan * The social-emotional nuances that deeply inform working with middle and high school students * Concrete ideas and strategies district leaders can use to transform secondary literacy through collaboration Resources for this episode: * HILL for Literacy professional learning: https://hillforliteracy.org/ * Adolescent Literacy Vision Paper [https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65faf373ed0c9233adb715bb/6a032395a62b0a2789e40e50_Storyshares%20Adolescent%20Literacy%20Vision%20Paper%202026.pdf] by Storyshares