For The Love Of Literacy

Bruce
  • 4.3 (11)
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For the Love of Literacy provides podcasts about the exciting advances in literacy instruction, from morphology and orthography (the spelling system), to meaningful sight word memorization, and sentence construction and comprehension. We focus on the often overlooked aspects of literacy and their links to language development.  We tie learning to read, spell and writing to their roots in spoken language. This makes teaching and learning these abilities much easier because literacy learning is driven by language learning. The major components of spoken language plus vocabulary knowledge strongly predicting and largely determining growth in reading, spelling and writing.  Our guests are not just knowledgeable the links between language and language but know how to implement this learning in the classroom.   You will hear from noted researchers including Linnea Ehri, Marcia Henry and Peter Bowers as well as teachers who have developed lessons that engage students and enrich language abilities. Check back weekly to discover more Fulfilling Literacy Lessons and Clarifying conversations. Feel free to reach out to me at Bruce@ReadingShift.com. 

  1. Four Powerful Word, Sentence, Text and Cognitive Routines for Teaching Writing - Meghan Hicks

    4D AGO

    Four Powerful Word, Sentence, Text and Cognitive Routines for Teaching Writing - Meghan Hicks

    Meghan Hicks returns to talk about how teaching structure at the word, sentence, and text levels can help students make sense of the writing process. We often discuss literacy as a system and the importance of students understanding how it works. Meghan explains the broader system and how her students discover that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.  You’ll learn that syntax—how sentences are constructed from words, phrases and clauses—isn’t an abstract language concept. Rather, it is a straightforward way to improve reading comprehension and sentence construction. Meghan explains a simple sentence diagramming method that provides visual representations of sentence structure. Meghan also dives into the cognitive aspects of writing, starting with thinking. Students who can structure their thoughts are better able to structure their sentences. You learn about the four categories of thinking and how they influence students’ writing.   You can contact Meg at ThinkWriteReadCommunity@gmail.com  or visit the Think~Write~Read Community  Bruce Howlett's Seven Layers of Literacy Project - ReadingShift.com

    1h 5m
  2. Respecting the Social, Emotional & Academic Needs of Dyslexic Individuals -- Bonnie Feeney & Jen Petrich

    MAR 2

    Respecting the Social, Emotional & Academic Needs of Dyslexic Individuals -- Bonnie Feeney & Jen Petrich

    Bonnie Feeney, a dyslexic mother and Jen Petrich, her PhD neuroscientist daughter discuss dyslexia from a unique perspective—one of from a journey of personal discovery and the other from studying brain science. Hear how their journeys came together, enriching both their lives.  Learn the difficulties that dyslexics confront within and beyond the classroom. Dyslexics share more than a diagnosis and supporting them requires more than just a reading intervention. They deserve our respect and understanding.  For decades, Bonny experienced biases and judgments that included narrow instruction that didn’t develop her interest in language. Jen became a neuroscientist not to help her mother, but to understand neurodiversity and find methods that support students broadly. Bonny began to listen in on Jen’s tutoring sessions with students and realized that this type of word and sentence inquiry made sense to her.  A note from Jennifer Petrich: I would like to clarify a comment I made on this podcast episode that doesn’t reflect my true beliefs. In recounting someone else’s experience, I used language and framing that I no longer align with, including referring to a good IQ and not being dumb. I believe that measures like IQ do not define a person’s worth or fully capture their abilities, and I’m mindful that words we use—especially casually—can reinforce harmful assumptions. This was an unfiltered moment, and I’m committed to being more thoughtful and aware of my language and biases moving forward. Bruce Howlett’s Seven Layers of Literacy Approach: ReadingShift.com Literacy Dr website: https://www.theliteracydr.com D.O.T.S. course info and registration: https://www.theliteracydr.com/pd/dots Wednesdays with Literacy Dr (free drop-in) info and registration: https://www.theliteracydr.com/drop-in Literacy Dr videos: https://www.theliteracydr.com/videos List of Resources for Further Learning: https://cb29367d-4ec0-40b5-af0b-a46966ed9d5a.filesusr.com/ugd/2c8fa0_47cff29b89e34ae2bcf16d59670de2d7.pdf

    53 min
  3. Co-Creating a Community of Sentence Scholars - Rebecca Marsh & Meghan Hicks

    FEB 15

    Co-Creating a Community of Sentence Scholars - Rebecca Marsh & Meghan Hicks

    “Just thinking about grammar and syntax raises my anxiety.” Whether you share that reaction or you just feel shaky on some aspects of writing and sentence structure, you aren’t alone. Such a complex topic is not mastered in a one-and-done class. Yet it takes intellectual courage to become a student again and not to give up, especially when we are already acknowledged experts in our professions. In these days of mandated curricula, it isn’t easy to step out of the paradigm that currently dictates how education unfolds; but these two educators, Rebecca and Meghan, have found that it is still possible to create a community of true scholarship with your students—whether youths or adults. Meghan Hicks talks about “The Boy’s Writing Group” where her teenage students uncover the power of written communications and self-expression.  The Boys learn to review and revise their sentences as a group, discovering how writing gives them a voice to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Unlocking the power of sentences enriches students and teachers’ lives This is particularly important in the age of limited interest in book reading, mindless Internet scrolling, social media and AI.   You can contact Meg at ThinkWriteReadCommunity@gmail.com or visit the Think~Write~Read Community  You can contact Rebecca at editforclarity@gmail.com.

    1h 1m
  4. Spelling-Meaning Connections for Memory and Comprehension - Kimberly Murphy with Peter Bowers

    JAN 18

    Spelling-Meaning Connections for Memory and Comprehension - Kimberly Murphy with Peter Bowers

    “Spell what you mean, not just what you hear,” is researcher and speech pathologist Kim Murphy’s advice to students. While spelling instruction often focuses on pronunciation, spelling-meaning instruction makes so much more sense to students and their teachers. Graphemes (letter patterns) and morphemes, the meaningful core of every written word, spell words in predictable and consistent ways, even as their pronunciation shifts.   Joined by Peter Bowers, creator of Structured Word Inquiry, Kim shows that yes, English spelling is complex, but it doesn’t have to be confusing. In fact, students enjoy learning spelling-meaning connections, as they make sense and are easier to memorize and recall accurately when writing.  Kim and Pete also explain why spelling lists pale in comparison to morphological word sums and matrices, which organize the spelling of words around a common base. As a bonus, Kim shows how spelling-meaning connections benefit reading comprehension.  Bruce@ReadingShift.com ReadingShift.com  Kim Murphy: Contact Kim at The Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center in Richmond, VA.  Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.827687 Free access link https://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/perfettilab/pubpdfs/WordKnowledge.pdf This article describes the Reading Systems Framework, in which the lexicon, or word knowledge, is a central connection point between word identification with reading comprehension. Aligned with the Lexical Quality Hypothesis (Perfetti, 2007; Perfetti & Hart, 2002), the lexicon is seen as a ‘pressure point’ in the reading system. Murphy, K.A., & Justice, L.M. (2019). Lexical-level predictors of reading comprehension in third grade: Is spelling a unique contributor? American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(4), 1597-1610. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_AJSLP-18-0299  Free access link https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=cdse_pubs This study examines the contributions of lexical-level skills to reading comprehension, and whether spelling adds anything unique to the prediction of reading comprehension. Spelling was scored using binary (correct-incorrect) and non-binary (partially correct) methods. Results showed that spelling uniquely predicted reading comprehension, above and beyond the contribution of word recognition and vocabulary combined when scored using Correct Letter Sequences. This highlights the importance of including assessment of spelling skills when evaluating children for reading comprehension difficulties. Murphy, K.A., & Diehm, E.A. (2020). Collecting words: A clinical example of a morphology-focused orthographic intervention. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(3), 544-560.  https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-19-00050 This paper describes a morphology-focused orthography intervention for children with word-level reading and spelling difficulties, using Structured Word Inquiry. Results comparing pre- and post-test scores showed that children improved in reading and/or spelling, and that their largest gains were in spelling affixes correctly. The study supports the use of interventions that integrate morphology with orthography and phonology to improve children’s literacy skills.

    1h 8m
  5. Language Enriching Literacy Ideas for DLD - Kathleen Love and Beth C. Gunshor

    12/30/2025

    Language Enriching Literacy Ideas for DLD - Kathleen Love and Beth C. Gunshor

    Language issues are a surprisingly common source of reading, spelling and writing difficulties. Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is impacting students in your classrooms and offices. Listen to Speech-Language Pathologists Kathleen Love and Beth Coppoc Gunshor as they share about observing, supporting and teaching students with language challenges, including DLD. They provide practical methods that boost oral and written language abilities using word and sentence activities rooted in meaning. Find out the importance of showing students how words are built from meaningful parts (morphemes), as well as how to unravel complex sentences so they make sense. Walk away with a better understanding of how to support the language needs of students.  Bio description & links Kathleen’s newsletter shares her latest musings about literacy, provides access to a ton of free curated resources, and alerts people to community events. More information about her course for literacy interventionists, Using Morphology in Literacy Intervention, can be found here. She also shares regularly and freely at Instagram and on Facebook, and her website is raincityreading.com. There you’ll also find her morphology merchandise shop with shirts and wall calendars! Beth can be reached through her website, and also found on Instagram or Facebook. She has t-shirts and stickers for sale that are related to Structured Word Inquiry.

    1h 14m
  6. Fostering Fascination With Words & Sentences - Mary Beth Steven, Lisa Barnett, Skot Caldwell

    10/30/2025

    Fostering Fascination With Words & Sentences - Mary Beth Steven, Lisa Barnett, Skot Caldwell

    Three experienced teachers show how to get even your most resistant students to become fascinated by words and sentences. They explain how to turn memory-draining spelling homework into an activity that enriches vocabulary, sight word mapping and provides a deep understanding of how words are constructed. If morphology and the English spelling system doesn't make sense to you and your students, they will by the end of the podcast.  Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how structured word inquiry, a method developed  by Peter Bowers, gets students deeply involved in investigations of a word's spelling, meaning and history. They describe how students with reading and behavior problems become fascinated by word investigations that significantly boosts their reading, spelling and comprehension abilities.  Too many reading methods don't emphasize the importance of sentence writing and comprehension, which limits their students literacy abilities. Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how sentence investigations excite students as much as word inquiry. Understanding how sentences are composed of phrases reveals its meaning. Drawing students' attention to the relationships between words and phrases significantly boost comprehension--and interest, too. Skot Caldwell worked for more than 25 years in “high needs” public schools in Kingston, Ontario. After annually reinventing his “spelling” program and having found nothing really effective, he met Pete Bowers and joined him on a learning journey through Real Spelling and the development of Structured Word Inquiry. His students became “Word Scientists” happily investigating language.  https://smallhumansthinkbig.wordpress.com/category/word-inquiry/ skotcaldwell@hotmail.com  Lisa Barnett is a literacy-focused educator with over 30 years of experience in general and special education.  She is the founder and director of Empower Learning Center where she tutors privately, consults, and trains educators worldwide in English orthography. She is the author of Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry. There is a wonderful For the love of Literacy Podcast about this very practical book.  Links to Lisa & Katie’s book, SWI resources, dyslexia resources, blog about SWI & more. Lisa offers a few workshops, too.             LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/empowerlc             Website:  https://www.seethebeautyindyslexia.com/elc.html            Blog:        https://barnettsbuzzingblog.edublogs.org/            Email:      EmpowerLC.lisa@gmail.com  Mary Beth Steven is a retired teacher whose teaching took a dramatic turn once she discovered Structured Word Inquiry. Mary Beth offers two online classes, Bringing Structured Word Inquiry into the Classroom and Getting a Grip on Grammar. Information can be found in the tabs at her blog, Mrs. Steven’s Classroom Blog (https://mbsteven.edublogs.org/ ).  She sells interactive books  for teaching grammar, SWI and a book of dramatic scripts to enhance teaching grammar and morphology in the classroom! Mary Beth YouTube Channel with over 200 videos demonstrating what SWI and grammar teaching . (https://www.youtube.com/@MaryBethSteven)

    1 hr
  7. Building a Strong Foundation for Structured Literacy Teaching - Sue Hegland & Liisa Freure

    10/18/2025

    Building a Strong Foundation for Structured Literacy Teaching - Sue Hegland & Liisa Freure

    Would you like to: understand how the English spelling system, or orthography, can be taught in so it makes sense to students and teachers, alike? integrate morphemes, the meaningful core of every word, into your reading, spelling and vocabulary instruction? Alternatives to memory and attention demanding practices like sight word spelling, syllable types, and spelling rules? In this episode, Sue Scibetta Hegland, author of Beneath the Surface of Words, chats with Liisa Freure—founder of Fundamental Learning and an elementary, ESL, and special education teacher—about the fascinating, complex, yet logical system behind English spelling. Both passionate advocates for Structured Literacy, Sue and Liisa talk about why teaching spelling can be even more challenging than teaching reading, and how understanding the spelling system can strengthen literacy for all students. Using engaging examples, they show how exploring the structures and interconnected meanings of words can capture students’ interest, improve comprehension, and help them become confident readers and writers. Sue Hegland: Website: Learning About Spelling -Spelling Always Makes Sense Beneath the Surface of Words - The Book  Amazon (US) Kendore Learning (U.S.) Amazon (Canada) Select Educational Supplies  (Australia) Silver Eye (Australia)  Liisa Freure – Fundamental Learning Sue Scibetta Hegland began her career doing research and instructional design, but that changed in 2003, when she learned that one of her children is dyslexic. Trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach to literacy instruction, she has been studying and teaching about often overlooked aspects of the English orthographic system since 2014. Sue is a former school board member, serves as Editor-in-Chief for IDA’s Fact Sheet publications, and is the founder of the website LearningAboutSpelling.com. Sue is the author of the book Beneath the Surface of Words: What English Spelling Reveals and Why It Matters. Liisa Freure is the founder of Fundamental Learning, an organization dedicated to teaching the structure of the English language clearly and meaningfully. She has taught Kindergarten through Grade 8, ESL, and Special Education. Holding a Master’s in Education, Liisa has extensive experience in professional development, curriculum design, and provincial assessments. She trained with the Orton-Gillingham Academy, where she became an Accredited Training Fellow.  Liisa has held leadership roles with the International Dyslexia Association Ontario Branch, including serving two terms as President, and currently serves on the IDA’s Fact Sheet Editorial Board. Her&a

    1h 9m
  8. A School Year Rich in Words - Ann Whiting & Lyn Anderson

    09/30/2025

    A School Year Rich in Words - Ann Whiting & Lyn Anderson

    A wonderful plan for teachers, starting with five-year-old students on up to secondary school, to create a community of students who love exploring language, starting with the written and spoken word. Based on Ann Whiting and Lyn Anderson's beautiful books, A Field Guide to Words and A Year in Words. Children learn how the English spelling system, or orthography, works and how it is the foundation of reading, spelling and writing. Children learn to explore the three components of the spelling system, morphology (meaning), phonology (pronunciation) and etymology (history). They learn to build morphological matrices using word sums (con + struct + ion) as well as how to analyze the graphemes (letter or letters) that write morphemes. Handwriting instruction is woven into writing lessons.  Language lessons are integrated into other areas with a strong emphasis on the words and concepts needed to understand science. Hearing how they weave the cycle , for example, across the curriculum will inspire you.  Lyn Anderson and Ann Whiting  BeyondtheWord International Consultancy Caught in the Spell of Words

    1h 2m
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4.3
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

For the Love of Literacy provides podcasts about the exciting advances in literacy instruction, from morphology and orthography (the spelling system), to meaningful sight word memorization, and sentence construction and comprehension. We focus on the often overlooked aspects of literacy and their links to language development.  We tie learning to read, spell and writing to their roots in spoken language. This makes teaching and learning these abilities much easier because literacy learning is driven by language learning. The major components of spoken language plus vocabulary knowledge strongly predicting and largely determining growth in reading, spelling and writing.  Our guests are not just knowledgeable the links between language and language but know how to implement this learning in the classroom.   You will hear from noted researchers including Linnea Ehri, Marcia Henry and Peter Bowers as well as teachers who have developed lessons that engage students and enrich language abilities. Check back weekly to discover more Fulfilling Literacy Lessons and Clarifying conversations. Feel free to reach out to me at Bruce@ReadingShift.com. 

Information

  • Creator
    Bruce
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 For The Love Of Literacy
  • Show Website
    For The Love Of Literacy

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