I’m 11 years in teaching elementary and I am STILL learning so much, especially with this amazing podcast! It’s a true gem. Thanks for the tips and tricks and links to resources!

I am grateful for the knowledge I have gained from this podcast. It helps me be a more confident teacher.

I am so thankful I found this podcast. It’s extremely helpful and gives me the information I need with regards to supporting literacy development. I listened to it religiously and I swear it helped me pass the RICA. You will learn so much from this podcast. Thanks Shannon and Mary!

The Hosts Shannon and Mary are down-to-earth, knowledgeable, and interesting people. They share an insatiable hunger for knowledge and are constantly expanding their own professional repertoires. Five seasons in, they are comfortable behind the microphone and with each other. Their interviews with their guests are insightful, and they ask the questions you would want to ask. The Guests They have booked some true literacy rock stars in the past (Wiley Blevins!!!) and continue to feature well-known and respected bloggers, podcasters and creators. The guests are given free range to share their knowledge. Shannon and Mary clearly appreciate and enjoy the time spent in conversation. The Resources For this reason alone you should follow. The internet is a glut of educational resources, some of it brilliant and some of it bunk. Shannon and Mary cull through the sea of garbage and return with only the best. They masterfully curate lists pulled directly from the podcast conversation and anything else they think will be useful. It’s a Shame-Free Zone So what if you’ve never heard of ‘Orthographic Mapping’ until today. Shannon and Mary will never judge you. They are candid about their own professional growth, and they embrace and celebrate yours.

This podcast presents great information. Both hosts seem knowledgable but Mary speaks over Shannon and goes on too long with tangents and personal stories. If you have an amazing guest like Wiley Blevins for example, let the guest speak! We will learn more from Wiley Blevins than from Mary interrupting him with her long winded stories.

I am a third year teacher and have a passion for teaching phonics and reading through multi-sensory approaches. Listening to this podcast has taught me so much and I just started last week!

I am so glad I found this podcast. I just found it recently and I started from the beginning which has been very informative. I appreciate how honest these teachers are about their own learning journey. I have learned a lot and I look forward to learning more.

As a teacher about to begin student teaching, I need all of the direction and confidence I can get. Thank you for helping ALL teachers!

I have been searching for an Early Literacy podcast and have cycled through quite a few. Everything they say rings true and confirms my own observations from being a K teacher for 16 years. I love how they don’t just discuss theory, like many education podcasts, but give practical knowledge. I have implemented many of their strategies the next day in my classroom. What is even more amazing is I emailed them with a curriculum question and they immediately emailed me back with advice! I couldn’t believe it. It shows how much they care for their listeners and for improving the reading of young students everywhere.

Love their passion, but there are sprinklings of outdated information (learning styles, balanced literacy) in several of their podcasts that I have listened to. Not a bad podcast overall!

Just discovered this podcast and these women really know their stuff!

I just started listening to this podcast, so I have not gotten through all of the episodes. But as someone who is entering the reading realm after teaching Middle School ELA for the past several years, I can say I found this podcast to be so helpful and so uplifting. I love how each episode has a specific theme so I could navigate to the ones I knew I really needed to listen to. I will definitely be continuing on with this podcast! It’s a great start to my day as I drive into work 😄

This podcast is exactly what I need. I’ve started homeschooling my preschooler this year and I really wanted to ensure I don’t miss any foundational skills. This podcast has been so informative, easy to follow, clear, and concise. I am much more confident in my scope and sequence now that I found you!

If you want to up your game with new insights and strategies for reading instruction this is an amazing resource. They are very practical and just what I needed to help fill in the gaps for my young readers, especially the ones who struggle. Thank you!

I was excited to start listening to this podcast (I have been a teacher for 12 years in third and kindergarten). I was disappointed in their description of balanced literacy, especially the phonics component. Explicit phonics instruction is a part of balanced literacy. Also, the Teachers College Reading Writing Project (lead by Lucy Calkins) have an entire Phonics Units of Study that teaches phonics in a direct and explicit way (this was completely left out of the podcast). Schools who use the Reading and Writing Units of Study are expected to also teach phonics in an explicit and systematic way.

These girls really know their stuff!

I am a second year elementary teacher who has stumbled into some great math PD and was feeling pretty awesome as a math instructor, but my struggling readers haunt me. I knew I needed to find similar reading PD to help me grow as a reading teacher. I am only about 10 episodes in, but the knowledge I have gained from these two educators thus far is light years beyond where I was. I am no expert yet, but the information they share has shed so much light onto my next steps for my kiddos! Thank you for this podcast. I will definitely continue listening!

I have learned so much from these two educators!! Thank you!

Last spring, I received my reading specialist certification. I am currently a middle school ELL teacher, but am hoping to eventually move into a position as an elementary reading specialist. I had no idea where to start my PD investigations, especially because I don’t have any experience with teaching elementary students. This podcast is exactly what I needed to help launch my investigation. Thank you!!

I am a reading specialist. I like to listen to podcasts and videos about reading and the research that is out there. The intro says that once they started talking reading, they haven’t stopped. If we were neighbors, I’d join you! Thanks for your episodes, sharing, and spreading the word about the importance of phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary. There is so much science and brain research on how to teach reading. People need to know and apply it or lobby for it. Thanks for this podcast!

Fantastic podcast to help you teach phonics! Full of great tips to use with all students, especially this diagnosed with dyslexia.

If you are new to phonics and need a leg up in the current Science of Teaching Reading climate, then this is the podcast for you. Easy to follow discussion and great explanation of phonics make this podcast my new drive time PD!

As a reading specialist I highly recommend this podcast! It validated my thoughts and even taught me new ideas and tricks for reading instruction! Excellent for anyone teaching children to read or working with kids who read.

Hi ladies - I just caught up on season two. I missed you all summer. I find your podcast to be my favorite and I’m always wanting more. As a third grade teacher it can be overwhelming to navigate the needs of my students. Thanks for all your great ideas.

I am the parent of a newly diagnosed dyslexic student who had struggled for the first 2 years of school. I have found this podcast priceless - I have listened voraciously to each episode (even playing some more than once so that I can take notes). I am so thankful for those who have education and experience in this area to help those of us who don’t (yet - this subject has ignited me so thoroughly that I’m returning to college for education in this area). Thank you for your hard work and sharing your time with us!

Thank you for this tremendous podcast! I teach 2nd grade. Our literacy program was “blown up” 2 years ago, with little meaningful support. The BASAL was removed and replaced with Guided Reading, Project Read, Write Tools, and Daily Language Instruction. These were all new programs to me. Just figuring out what to teach week to week has been a huge challenge. The district gave us a list of phonics units to teach in 2nd grade, week by week, but teaching children who don’t know their cvc or cvce words “au” and “aw” has been absurd. Further, I was taught Whole Language as a child, I went to college in the Whole Language era so phonics is like another planet to me. The resources that you include are incredible and eye opening. I have shared them over and over. This podcast has been more helpful than most of the PDs I have had. Our students lack the most basic phonemic awareness, and now their IEPs say they can be serviced by the classroom teacher, title 1, or an intervention specialist. I am in over my head! I am so thankful for the helpful suggestions. Keep the information coming, please!! Thank you again.

Thank you! I just found your podcast! I am getting my Masters in reading and I learning so much from listening to you! Sharing with all my teacher friends!

I absolutely love listening to this podcast on my way to work. They are so informative and really lay out all of the strategies and concepts they talk about. As a new k-5 reading teacher, this podcast is such a great resource and has a plethora of information! Can’t wait to hear more.

I love this podcast! Great resource for reading teachers. Looking forward to more podcasts in the future!