Amplify Education
13 November 2024
In this episode, Susan Lambert chats with ReadWorks Chief Academic Officer Susanne Nobles, Ph.D., to explore her organization’s mission of making high-quality texts free and accessible to all. Together, they discuss ReadWorks’ Article-A-Day program, which offers articles to build students’ knowledge and vocabulary while supporting teachers with resources that promote topical coherence. Susanne shares insights into why text quality matters, including that kids know when text isn’t worth their time and attention. She also details how ReadWorks ensures the quality of their materials, describes the Spanish-English texts they’ve introduced to support multilingual/English learners, and offers advice for listeners thinking about text quality and cohesion. Show notes: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannenobles/. ReadWorks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readworks/?hl=enQuotes: “I have a fear that too much decoding practice can become ‘Why am I reading?’ We lose the ultimate point of why all of us read, which is to learn and to gain meaning.” —Susanne Nobles “Kids know when a text is worth their time.” —Susanne Nobles “We want to put a great book in a kid's hands and have them get excited about reading and therefore get good at reading. And it really goes the other way. And so it's once you build that ability to read, then that excitement comes with reading.” —Susanne Nobles Episode timestamps 02:00 Introduction: Who is Susanne Nobles? 04:00 Overview of ReadWorks 10:00 Article-A-Day Program 12:00 Importance of Topical Coherence 13:00 Why knowledge is important to reading 16:00 Introduction to Decodables 19:00 Text Quality and Evaluation 24:00 Supporting Multilingual Learners 29:00 Audio and Accessibility 33:00 Final Thoughts and Conclusion *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute
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