Unlock Reading Success Early, Easily and Effectively

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 You're listening to the Re-Shaping Learning Podcast from School Day.

spk_0 We bring you stories from educators and experts about the instructional resources, practices,

spk_0 and movements that are reshaping learning.

spk_0 This episode of the Re-Shaping Learning Podcast from School Day is sponsored by Booker Class,

spk_0 the award-winning digital reading platform designed for young English learners ages 4 to

spk_0 14, with a library of 1200 plus animated books and interactive games, Booker Class supports

spk_0 language development, comprehension, and a love of reading through engaging age-appropriate

spk_0 content.

spk_0 It's certified by the Education Alliance Finling with a 96% rating for pedagogical excellence

spk_0 and has earned international recognition with the guest education award, Ed Tech Breaks

spk_0 through Award, and the British Council's Elton's nomination for Digital Innovation.

spk_0 Booker Class is currently offering a free trial for educators and schools.

spk_0 Find more information at schoolday.com.

spk_0 I taught fifth and sixth grade for a while.

spk_0 I did a lot of tutoring while my kids were little.

spk_0 And then I went back and got my masters in language and literacy at the Ed School.

spk_0 And soon thereafter I worked for a decade at Harvard in a language and literacy research

spk_0 lab.

spk_0 And that work really made clear to me the importance of oral language.

spk_0 Of course, I learned it in my undergrad days, but I just was astounded by the importance

spk_0 of oral language and how sort of under the radar that information flew for most educators

spk_0 and definitely for families.

spk_0 That's Joan Kelly, our first guest today.

spk_0 She's the founder and CEO of a bound parenting, and she's a guest that I am so excited to

spk_0 introduce, because the more I learned from her, the more convinced I became that every

spk_0 educator and every parent needs to hear her message.

spk_0 Joan gives you easy to implement strategies that can be a complete academic and really

spk_0 all around game changer for kids.

spk_0 Kids from any background at any socioeconomic level and especially kiddos with any kind

spk_0 of a learning challenge.

spk_0 The work that we did at Harvard was all based on working with schools, creating rigorous

spk_0 instructional settings for kids around reading development.

spk_0 But what happened was we often went and taught workshops in different areas of the country

spk_0 and worked with school systems and inevitably they asked us why isn't there anything out

spk_0 there for families?

spk_0 How can we help families build oral language?

spk_0 If you think about it, Kristi, if I asked you right now, if you'd go home tonight and

spk_0 improve your language with your family, elevate your language, please, we just don't do

spk_0 that.

spk_0 We have our discourse that we use.

spk_0 It's very cloak-wheel.

spk_0 It's every day language of the playground in the kitchen and the kind of language that

spk_0 we need kids to be exposed to is more complex.

spk_0 It's more academic or a language is super important for all sorts of reasons, but it really,

spk_0 really makes a difference in long-term reading success.

spk_0 Joan realized that there was a lot of talk about the monumental importance of oral language

spk_0 development in academic literacy and research circles, but not near enough practical conversation

spk_0 and application in actual classrooms and even more importantly with families.

spk_0 Because neuroscience research indicates that the pre-emergent reading years all the

spk_0 way back to birth to age five are the most crucial.

spk_0 For me personally in all of my years of teaching at all grade levels, I never received any

spk_0 training nor was there ever an initiative in any of the districts where I worked for

spk_0 building oral language.

spk_0 So I asked Joan to help us all get smarter about this first by defining terms.

spk_0 Most of the words that we use and the kids here are sort of transactional.

spk_0 Pick up your socks, finish your piece, are you ready to leave?

spk_0 Have you taken your shower?

spk_0 That kind of talk is in homes.

spk_0 And we could say that there's more than that because we also say how was your day?

spk_0 But it's very hard, especially in this age of cell phones, to create the kinds of conversations

spk_0 at home that we know build language.

spk_0 But so we rely on other ways to build oral language and that mostly boils down to reading aloud.

spk_0 So if we can read aloud with kids in our homes and in our schools, it gives children an

spk_0 opportunity to hear rich language.

spk_0 And then what we try to teach all the adults in children's lives is to get them to respond

spk_0 to that language.

spk_0 Because it's actually the back and forth servant return talk that makes all the difference.

spk_0 And I do not pretend to be an absolute expert on this work.

spk_0 Part of the reason why I got so involved is because of the people I was associated with

spk_0 and the people I learned from when I was at the end school.

spk_0 You know, it's so encouraging what you just said because you gave the simple key that anyone can

spk_0 use to open the store, which is just read, read aloud to your kids.

spk_0 Read in 10 talk.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 And we could go a little bit deeper on the kinds of books to read.

spk_0 And the work that I did with under Noliela Soe, she's now the dean of the Ed

spk_0 School and at Harvard.

spk_0 And she literally is a genius.

spk_0 And I just soaked in everything I could, Christy.

spk_0 And I found that I was pretty good at helping families understand this very data-driven research

spk_0 heavy, jargon heavy work of learning how to read.

spk_0 And part of that is explaining that look, we need kids to be able to have high levels of vocabulary

spk_0 and understanding of academic language, you know, semantics and syntax and all this stuff that you need.

spk_0 But you have to boil that down to some pretty basic sort of tools that families and teachers can use

spk_0 because it's scary. Teachers, I worked with teachers on vocabulary.

spk_0 You know, a lot of teachers don't feel that confident about their own vocabulary knowledge.

spk_0 They don't know which which words should I teach.

spk_0 How many times should I teach them?

spk_0 How should I teach them?

spk_0 There's a lot of sort of ambiguity in teachers' minds when it doesn't have to be that complicated.

spk_0 Those are the exact questions that I just fielded from my entire team of teachers the other day.

spk_0 In terms of vocabulary, and they're still so confused about it.

spk_0 Rightfully so, because Alexa con, you know, the words that we hold in our heads and use

spk_0 are not necessarily the ones that we think about when we're thinking about the books

spk_0 that kids will have to read in the years to come, right?

spk_0 So they need academic language.

spk_0 So, okay, knowing that, how do we teach kids academic language from a very early age?

spk_0 Because they have to accumulate so much knowledge and so many vocabulary words

spk_0 by the time they get to those more complex books.

spk_0 So, for me, it all boils down to making it clear to everyone the importance of these

spk_0 component skills of reading, including oral language, and then getting it simple enough

spk_0 so that families can have fun with it at home and understand that, okay, so maybe my

spk_0 language feels a little basic to me today, which, you know, I feel that way regularly.

spk_0 But if I read my child a rich book and talk to them about the ideas in that book,

spk_0 I'm doing my part.

spk_0 Jones' work at a bound parenting is actually focused on creating a tool to help families

spk_0 implement these strategies in ways that feel authentic and fit right into the flow of daily life.

spk_0 We were lucky to be joined in our conversation by Mary Kate DeSantis.

spk_0 Mary Kate is the founder of Left Side Strong, and she has extensive experience as a clinician

spk_0 in the Neurology Department at Boston Children's Hospital and also as adjunct at Boston College

spk_0 Graduate School of Education.

spk_0 In addition to working in a large urban district as a special educator, reading specialist,

spk_0 and district-wide literacy coach, all of which has shaped her passion for translational research

spk_0 in ensuring all children receive evidence-based instruction.

spk_0 But Mary Kate mostly joins us today as a parent who has started using Jones' tools and strategies

spk_0 with her own children.

spk_0 I worked for over a decade in a large urban district and a variety of roles.

spk_0 I was really looking for a tool, something to connect me with my families,

spk_0 something that was feasible and something that was realistic, and that's when I stumbled upon

spk_0 Jones and her work, and that very immediately drew me to the question of,

spk_0 why isn't there more things out there like this?

spk_0 I think about a very vulnerable population that I worked with for so many years,

spk_0 and as a reading specialist, you guys were talking about certain teachers don't know how to

spk_0 facilitate oral language development.

spk_0 Well, that was me.

spk_0 That was 100% me.

spk_0 I was so focused on getting kids to lift the words off the page that I was not focused on oral

spk_0 language.

spk_0 And decades of the nation's report card will tell us that we're certainly not making the gains

spk_0 in reading, and a big reason for that is because we're not facilitating oral language.

spk_0 We're not getting our kids to engage in academic discourse across content areas.

spk_0 I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old at home.

spk_0 Conversations are always happening.

spk_0 It's chaotic.

spk_0 It's crazy.

spk_0 Even though I have my background in language and literacy, it's hard to find the time and

spk_0 hard to remember ways to really facilitate language.

spk_0 But we have this amazing reminder that Jones has created through this app that

spk_0 reminds me, especially not to control language, but to really facilitate it.

spk_0 And I think that back and forth contingent language that really sparked some conversations,

spk_0 some curiosity, that really triggers and sparks kids' interest.

spk_0 Because even my four-year-old, how was school today?

spk_0 She'll say, good.

spk_0 One of the things that I love is some of the questions that I've noticed my kids come up with

spk_0 based off of the questions that I ask them from the app.

spk_0 So for example, there was a question about what would you do if you could create your own game?

spk_0 And immediately my four-year-old says, well, can I use the balloon?

spk_0 How many people can play?

spk_0 And I've got my two-year-old coming up with things as well.

spk_0 And hearing her language grow her expressive language.

spk_0 And using some vocabulary words that there's no way she would have started using

spk_0 had I not been intentional about exposing them.

spk_0 We'll hear more about the specifics of the app and all of Mary Kate's success stories,

spk_0 but first we're going to jump back into the pivotal research that was so compelling for Joan and

spk_0 her colleagues.

spk_0 Well, the work in the lab was all about the importance of academic language and academic vocabulary.

spk_0 So for example, there was a study in San Diego of six graders and the cohort they studied

spk_0 was all struggling students. And what they found was that it didn't matter if your background was

spk_0 in Spanish or in English. If you were a struggling student, the problem was much more likely to be

spk_0 a language vocabulary problem than it was to be a decoding problem.

spk_0 I just need to make sure we all caught that. This is imperative to our practice in supporting

spk_0 struggling readers. If you were a struggling student, the problem was much more likely to be a

spk_0 language vocabulary problem than it was to be a decoding problem. So the number one thing that was

spk_0 inhibiting these kids and not allowing them to navigate their way through these complex books,

spk_0 which by the way, texts are hard. Once you get past those early readers, the kind of language

spk_0 that's in text is not at all the language that we speak, right? It's like code switching. It's

spk_0 almost like going from English to Spanish for kids. And so regardless of their background, it was

spk_0 the language piece that was the most important. So that was impeding their ability to understand

spk_0 the text. You read that and you think, wow, so the number one thing for these middle schoolers

spk_0 was not decoding. It really is all about language and knowledge building. So vocabulary is

spk_0 a proxy for knowledge, right? You don't know the word if you don't know the concept. So what we're

spk_0 trying to do is make sure kids have more conceptual understanding of things in any language

spk_0 because they bring that to every book that they read so they can extract more understanding

spk_0 from a text because they bring more to it, both vocabulary and knowledge. So that was a big part

spk_0 of it. Another woman in the lab, Pearlagamas, did all sorts of work on analyzing how teachers spoke

spk_0 in the classroom. So what her the found out was that if you analyze, as she did, the utterances of

spk_0 teachers, both the type of words that they used and the amount of words, what you find is that

spk_0 teachers with more complex language had kids who did better in reading comprehension. And that's

spk_0 because they were sitting all year in a richer language environment. So I was really impressed with

spk_0 that research and lots of other about the importance of knowledge and of vocabulary to children's

spk_0 long-term reading success. And I thought I'm really into reading development and I was not that

spk_0 well-versed in any of this beforehand. Same here. I've been teaching reading literature and English

spk_0 for some or close to 100 years and this is kind of a revelation to me. Consider this an invitation

spk_0 to you, our listeners, to share this episode with colleagues, friends with kids and educational

spk_0 leaders for whom this knowledge can help support kids' academic success. Everyone should know this

spk_0 because you can't fix it later as easily as you can fix a decoding problem, right? These words

spk_0 and language experiences have to accumulate over time. John later qualified the statement,

spk_0 clarifying that you can't fix it easily later compared to the interventions for most kinds of

spk_0 decoding problems. Of course, we don't just give up on readers who haven't been provided with

spk_0 the word-rich background. It's just a much more challenging fix. Oh my gosh, so important.

spk_0 And such a reminder about not dumbing down. Because we always lean into this idea that we need to

spk_0 simplify our dumb down. Right. And really, if kids only hear simple language, they'll only have

spk_0 simple language, right? Really need, and especially with our English language learners,

spk_0 like we have to remember, they have a lot that they could chew on if we gave it to them.

spk_0 And that's what we always want for kids. We want them to be grappling with ideas and thinking and

spk_0 wondering and not just stuck in the simple. We try to impress upon families and teachers

spk_0 that you don't have to say your blocks fell down. You could say the blocks collapsed.

spk_0 And then over time, you could say, look, this chair collapses. How is the chair collapsing,

spk_0 a collapsible chair similar to the blocks collapsing when you build it up? How are those words

spk_0 to say? And you don't have to know the answer. It's just the grappling with words and getting kids

spk_0 to get excited about word learning and feel like word learners. Because kids who learn are more

spk_0 excited and word conscious are more likely to learn more words. And kids who learn more words

spk_0 are likely to be better readers. So that's what we're trying to do.

spk_0 The solutions that you are creating or that you've created are for both teachers and families.

spk_0 And Mary Kate, you're both here a teacher and a parent who is endeavoring to really incorporate

spk_0 more oral language development. How do you do this in the course of daily routines?

spk_0 I can imagine the average parent listening is like, wait, what? There's one more thing now

spk_0 that I'm supposed to be doing for my kid. How do you incorporate this into your daily routine in a

spk_0 way that feels natural and not weird and times always a factor? But this is something in which

spk_0 I have put as part of my day in the sense of, okay, we're going to be in the car for the next 10

spk_0 minutes. I'm going to open the app before I press the pedal and I ask the kids the question

spk_0 or we talk, you know, I press play and hear a new vocabulary word. I mean, it's that simple

spk_0 in thinking about ways to incorporate it as we're sitting down for dinner as we're on the way to

spk_0 a birthday party waiting in line at the store. I mean, there's all these different ways to make

spk_0 those small moments really meaningful. The goal is to do two things for families. It's both to

spk_0 help them support oral language and vocabulary knowledge and content knowledge in the everyday,

spk_0 like Mary Kate was just explaining. But it's also to get them to understand enough about

spk_0 reading development to prioritize the right thing because what you were saying is correct.

spk_0 Families are totally in the dark about what it takes to read well. Learning heroes did a study

spk_0 that said nine out of 10 families or somewhere between 90 and 93 percent over the last few years

spk_0 have believed that their children read at or above grade level. We know how many kids, according to

spk_0 NAPE scores, 30 between 30 and 34 percent of kids read proficiently, right? So we have all these

spk_0 families walking around believing their children are good readers. And often what happens

spk_0 to the kids who are struggling is that this fantasy land that we're all living in means that

spk_0 the families don't know they're struggling and don't ask the right questions or get enough

spk_0 urgency around solving the problem so that they work with teachers or they dismiss teachers

spk_0 thoughts that their child isn't reading as well for one reason or another. And I'm not

spk_0 maligning teachers or maligning parents. It's just that we all want things to work out, right? We

spk_0 unfortunately families are in the dark about learning to read. So that I think of as something

spk_0 that's really dangerous. I think that unless we know enough about learning to read, we're not going

spk_0 to be motivated to do the kinds of things that are going to set up kids up to read well. But it's

spk_0 too important to leave to chance. Kids need to have a lot of language and rich language in their

spk_0 lives. And so our goal as families should be to make certain that happens. What we want families

spk_0 to understand is prioritize the things that have to accumulate over time that schools can't do on their own.

spk_0 Today's sponsor, Booker Class, shares Joan and Mary Kate's mission for giving every student

spk_0 everything they need to be strong, successful readers who not only love books but who love learning.

spk_0 Booker Class is one of the most effective tools for supporting English language learners to read.

spk_0 This is Dr. Durkha Horvat, CEO and co-founder of Booker Class. And we are so proud to sponsor this

spk_0 episode. At Booker Class we believe that reading opens doors to endless possibilities. That's why we've

spk_0 created an interactive digital reading platform that brings stories to life and makes reading

spk_0 exciting for every student. With animated books, interactive exercises and personalized learning,

spk_0 we have educator inspire a lifelong love of reading. You can find Booker Class at schoolday.com

spk_0 as part of the school day collection for a built-in zero-trust data exchange. Learn more about Booker

spk_0 Class and school day through the links in the episode notes.

spk_0 What Joan and her team at a bound parenting have created is an app that helps families both understand

spk_0 their child's reading progress and facilitates easy to integrate activities that target the key

spk_0 benchmarks and build the skills their child needs. The way we do it is we have this check-in

spk_0 that's 25 questions. So we ask families to take this check-in twice a year right before the conference

spk_0 and one week before the conference they share the results with the teacher. Then the teacher

spk_0 gets those results, sees what the family's thinking, and when the conference starts,

spk_0 they're on more equal footing around a child's reading skills. Now of course the parent doesn't know

spk_0 everything the teacher knows from the assessments that have been given, but they begin to understand

spk_0 a little bit about what the key benchmarks are and how their child should be progressing.

spk_0 And then meanwhile they can use the daily questions on the app to do this drip-drip-drip-drip

spk_0 of scale building. The discussion questions are thematic and open-ended, designed to stimulate

spk_0 discussion rather than a quiz with right and wrong answers. Here are some examples of what

spk_0 kinds of questions are on the app. So for the what's cooking theme, two-week theme, have you ever

spk_0 seen a head of lettuce or a head of garlic? Why do you think people use that body part to describe

spk_0 those foods? Or when a food is spicy we say it's hot even if it just came out of refrigerator.

spk_0 Why do you think that is? We ask two questions a day. One of the questions has to do with an

spk_0 academic word. So the word during what's cooking was method. When making cookies would you rather

spk_0 use the drop cookie method and just put small balls of cookie dough on a pan or make the kind of dough

spk_0 that can be rolled and cut with cookie cutters? Why? Remember that a method is just a way of doing

spk_0 something. So we use one academic word per week and we ask families to ask seven different times

spk_0 some question about that word. They have it right in front of them. They don't have to think about it.

spk_0 They just ask it and then the conversation is not okay begins with an AM. What's the definition?

spk_0 Any of that thing that feels like teaching? It's really a conversation that could be natural

spk_0 to your kitchen if you would thought of it yourself. So I'm thinking a couple things. First of all

spk_0 the words that you're using in calling academic language. Are these tier two words? I mean where do

spk_0 these words come from? How are they considered? Okay so in 2000, April Cox had devised a list of

spk_0 words that is actually from a cache of college textbooks, the most commonly used words.

spk_0 But a lot of those words are actually words that we can teach to very young children.

spk_0 So I gave the example before of collapse. We can talk about, we wouldn't talk about the stock

spk_0 market collapsing, but we would talk about bricks and blocks collapsing or a chair collapsing. And

spk_0 that what happens is that slowly over time they build conceptual understanding of collapse. We

spk_0 use the word identify. And even with a three-year-old, if you regularly use that word, they begin to

spk_0 understand it. And it amazes families. So we have families asking kids to identify what's in a

spk_0 bag and it's a fork, say. By the way, it feels or and so what happens is kids get excited about having

spk_0 the conversation or grappling with a word and over time that repetition gives them enough

spk_0 exposures to start to learn it. Which makes sense because that's how kids learn all language.

spk_0 Yeah, it's none of this is rocket science. Let me just tell you. Why would any language be

spk_0 inaccessible to them when we know the way that language is learned? Exactly. So what we're trying to do

spk_0 is make vocabulary teaching more accessible. And it's the change of classroom culture too, where we

spk_0 should all be comfortable saying, wow, I don't know, let's find out. Let's find out together. I'm not

spk_0 supposed to be the one who knows all the stuff. I'm just here to guide the learning. Exactly. And

spk_0 that's part of what's hard for some families about the questions because they don't know the

spk_0 answers. But they're all ended questions. You don't have to know the answer. No, it's just the

spk_0 throwing it back and forth that matters. Well, and it generates a natural curiosity, which is

spk_0 always something that I've struggled with as both a teacher and a parent because it's really one

spk_0 of the most valuable characteristics and qualities I think you can have as a human being. And I've

spk_0 always wondered, is there a way to teach curiosity to help generate curiosity within a human being

spk_0 if they're not a naturally curious person? And this feels like a way to do that because it's all

spk_0 just questions. It's all just, hey, let's think about this thing. Is there an answer to why we call

spk_0 spicy food hot, regardless of the temperature? No, but let's talk about an interesting thing and

spk_0 think about it. Let's wonder together. Wondered together. So we talk a lot about that. Like,

spk_0 are your kids wondering and thinking beyond their capacity? Because that's what it is you're trying

spk_0 to do. We do a two-week unit on community and we say, what would happen if you were walking down

spk_0 the street and every house was painted a different color? How would you feel if you were walking

spk_0 down the street and a picture of the person living inside was really large on the front door?

spk_0 How would it fit? You know, it's things like that. I really want to make sure that is really

spk_0 understood here is the ultimate goal that we know is we want to get our kids reading comprehension.

spk_0 Right. We want them to be understand what it is that they're reading and this is that other part of

spk_0 the puzzle. This is the language comprehension part that we need that village to take on. One of the

spk_0 words this week was system, one of vocabulary words. And so I'm talking about a system of a way

spk_0 of organizing things, right? According to plan and talking about different examples.

spk_0 And it was, I want to say it was later last night I go into my daughter's room and she's got her

spk_0 stuffed animals in all these different compartments in her room. And like, oh my goodness, Eva, you've

spk_0 got stuff all over the place. She goes, no, no, it's a system. So they start here and then they go

spk_0 here and then when they're done in this little bed, then they go into the drawer. So she was,

spk_0 you know, moving her animals and what she believed was a systematic way and she was able to apply it.

spk_0 Right. And so I think that that in itself is that thinking that she did after we had a

spk_0 conversation, continued on her own. That exposure piece is just, I mean, it's just so valuable.

spk_0 Essential. It's what's missing. I mean, and we're seeing that in our test results. I'm seeing

spk_0 that in the district that I work with. We're thinking that we had all these readers who really

spk_0 would qualify for intervention. But that's not what their scores were telling us. There's

spk_0 scores were telling us they just have the vocabulary and the background knowledge to understand.

spk_0 It wasn't that they couldn't say the words. They just couldn't bring meaning.

spk_0 Right. And you know, what is our long-term goal? Our long-term goal is to make sure kids can

spk_0 read words fluently, right? Because it's that automaticity that you need. So that you're not worried

spk_0 about reading the words and thinking about writing the words. In fact, you have a lot of space in

spk_0 your head to be figuring out what the meaning of the passage is that you're reading, right? So

spk_0 we have to get kids to be automatic word readers, right? That's what makes them want to read.

spk_0 And if they read because they're automatic learners and it feels good and it's easy,

spk_0 then they read more. And that exposes them to more and more complexity overall, right? So that's

spk_0 the way we want it to work. We've had a problem with not teaching kids the code. And that has finally

spk_0 thanks to Emily Hanford and a lot of other like researchers is being addressed in a lot of schools.

spk_0 But with the bound, what I wanted to do was make certain families had enough information

spk_0 to be able to make sure of that, right? But the other thing we have to do is accumulate

spk_0 vocabulary and knowledge over time. And I didn't see that happening

spk_0 beyond the school day in any kind of a systematic way. Thank you for using the word system.

spk_0 So we have to give them simple, realistic, easy things to do that feel more like play than work.

spk_0 And in the app, I think you have some of the features you have are like the word up

spk_0 and the talk on. Can you talk about those features a little bit?

spk_0 So the things that are the abound daily features are talking on in word up. They get a talk on

spk_0 question every day at various age and grade levels. And then everyone gets the same word up,

spk_0 which is an academic vocabulary word. That's the same word for a week. So this week the word is

spk_0 system. I explained the word was method. I talked about the word identify like these are from the

spk_0 Avocaux ed academic word list. And while they're from college textbooks, there's a lot of those are

spk_0 reasonable words that we could expose children to. I feel like I have this enormous

spk_0 responsibility to parents to make sure that they are alert enough to know if a child is struggling.

spk_0 And to be able to do their part in a way that feels good. And I think talking and reading to kids

spk_0 is what it's all about. But a lot of families aren't that comfortable knowing what to read,

spk_0 how to read. We also the other feature that we have is called book out. And that gives families two

spk_0 books a week recommended for an age group around the same theme. Because what we're trying to do,

spk_0 of course, is build up knowledge of the theme and expose kids to the language of text. It's all about

spk_0 talking and reading and getting families to better understand reading development. They don't

spk_0 have to teach their kids to read. In fact, I don't want it to feel like you're teaching your child to

spk_0 read. I just want you to be having great conversations about interesting things that get your kids

spk_0 thinking just like Mary Kate said beyond that conversation. Mary Kate, do your kids love it?

spk_0 Yeah. I mean, it's become part of the routine of the word of the day and mummy, what's the question

spk_0 today? That's really become part of our routine. And this is what they're asking for. Like I said,

spk_0 as much as the background that I have, it's still the end of the day. I'm exhausted. I can't think of

spk_0 something to engage my kids in. But this tool is there. It's not another thing where it's telling

spk_0 parents you have to do this. It's giving parents what it is that you can do.

spk_0 When you have a adult who will give you their full attention and talk to you and look

spk_0 at you in the eye and talk back and forth, that's what's meaningful to kids from the earliest days.

spk_0 Right? That's and we need more language in our homes and more conversation and kids are

spk_0 gratified by it. Now, I'm not going to suggest that it's easy for families to take up all the time

spk_0 because it's something a little bit stilted about asking a question that you don't really know

spk_0 anything about. But once families do it, they get in the habit of doing it. And that habit

spk_0 breeds some kind of excitement about words and language and just interest in word learning.

spk_0 So I'm curious. So so many of our families are second language English is a second language for them.

spk_0 Are there adaptations within the app to help support English language learners?

spk_0 Yes. So we have the app in Spanish and English because what we want families to do is use the language

spk_0 they're most comfortable in with, sorry, to have conversations. Because for the same reason

spk_0 that we tend to oversimplify to young kids, we also constantly oversimplify to English language learners.

spk_0 I think you're not going to get it, right? So what we want is for them to hear as much

spk_0 rich language as possible the way you hear rich languages by talking to a native speaker. So we

spk_0 we really do try to get families to understand that talking in your native language with your

spk_0 child is the most important thing to do. The other thing that we have is a way for families who are

spk_0 low literacy to adjust or just busy to just tap and hear the word read aloud.

spk_0 Is the momentum coming from the schools? Tell me how it works. Yeah, schools pay $500

spk_0 and with that $500 they get access for every member of their community. All the teachers, all the

spk_0 staff, all the families, grandparents. We don't care. Our mission is to get more people to understand

spk_0 their role in how our child learns to read and to create rich language environments. So we give

spk_0 for $500 that. But we also train the teachers and train the parents. So it's very, very inexpensive,

spk_0 of course, by design. Okay. Because we really are on a mission. I just wanted to add with this check-in

spk_0 or checklist that Joan described, it really allows parents to be part of the process of understanding

spk_0 their kiddos profile. Right. So some of the questions around is your kid meeting X, Y and Z,

spk_0 milestone and they're very light, easy questions and maybe takes three minutes to go through.

spk_0 It gets parents thinking and more aware so that things that happen are being noticed at home can

spk_0 be shared with the school and things that are happening at school or shared with the family.

spk_0 It really creates that dynamic of partnership. Family and school partnership is often

spk_0 not prioritized. And this is a really simple way to make it clear that no where partners in this.

spk_0 We have to do this together to make to make improvement. I can imagine it would be so empowering

spk_0 to parents because we all want to do right by our kids. And now here's somebody telling us how to do

spk_0 it and giving us the tools. We interviewed a lot of parents. That's how we came to what we're doing.

spk_0 So what if there's a parent who wants to have access but their school is not using the app?

spk_0 They can buy it on the app store or a Google Play for $20 a year.

spk_0 Okay. So their whole family. Yeah. So good. So good.

spk_0 All right. So let me just give a little bit of an overview for our listeners.

spk_0 There's a check-in that you would use typically twice a year in preparation for your

spk_0 parent teacher conference. Where do the week talk on questions? There are book recommendations

spk_0 for different age levels. What are the other features that we don't know about yet?

spk_0 Well, the book recommendations, which is what we call book out, we give two questions you could

spk_0 ask about the book and two words within the book that you can talk about. And that's a set up

spk_0 like dialogic reading. And it just gives parents a better understanding for the kinds of questions

spk_0 to ask because parents ask a lot of their teachers. What do I do when I'm reading? How do I read

spk_0 in a way that's going to do the most for my child? We're trying to simplify. But there are,

spk_0 there's a benefit to seeing the kinds of open-ended questions that really are good for kids.

spk_0 We also have a GAB bag, which is you can just, there's just random questions if you just, or I don't

spk_0 know, trying to kill some time waiting for the boss or something, just a lot of questions that you

spk_0 ask kids. We have libraries of books. The idea is, I'm a parent. I really care about making

spk_0 sure my child reads well. And I don't really know exactly what to do at home. So what should I do?

spk_0 And we say you should know a little bit about what it takes to read well. And that's what our

spk_0 check-in helps with. You should be able to support ongoing language-rich conversation at home

spk_0 about books and ideas. And that's what our two questions today and the book out of the week

spk_0 do for parents. Okay. And you said there was training for both teachers and parents. Is there

spk_0 what's the learning curve like? Is there because as you're describing it, it sounds pretty straightforward.

spk_0 If I had this app, I'm pretty sure I can figure out how to use it. What is the training and how

spk_0 necessary is that? Well, I just, I think that every person who walks down a hallway in a school,

spk_0 so there's some way related to that community, right? Should know what it takes to read well

spk_0 and what their role is. So you have a different role if you're a teacher than if you're a parent.

spk_0 You have a different role if you're a parent and you're a bus driver or a lunch lady, right? But

spk_0 they all could contribute. So in order to do that, we need to have everybody understand the basics

spk_0 of what it takes to read well. And so we talk about the three buckets of skills kids need.

spk_0 And where they use, where they learn those skills and then, you know, who's in charge of teaching

spk_0 those skills. Okay. So decoding or language, we call it letters and sounds. Okay. Vocabulary and

spk_0 knowledge in the third one is a non literacy based bucket. It's awareness and regulation because

spk_0 those SEL social emotional learning skills are so important to long-term reading success. Okay. Yeah.

spk_0 Learning success in general, I would say. Yes. And I think for administrators across the country

spk_0 who are making decisions about curriculum and those that are really committed to this science

spk_0 of reading movement, you know, if you really are oral language has to be the foundation.

spk_0 It has to be part of the puzzle along with those letters and sounds and teaching our kids how to

spk_0 read. You can't really say, you know, yeah, or a district that's aligned to the science without

spk_0 really focusing on that component. And to add to that, we also know it can't happen within the

spk_0 short amount of time that kids are actually in school. We can do a lot in school for content

spk_0 knowledge, vocabulary building, but we really need families to read well and elevate the sort of

spk_0 language environment that children are in. Okay. So if I'm understanding right, the training is a lot

spk_0 of the foundational theoretical underpinnings of why this is important and how to use the app.

spk_0 And how to use it. Okay. This is something in which parents can be so involved in their kids

spk_0 learning and academic progress. And what is truly a really small moment or moments parents are,

spk_0 the caregivers are the number one teacher in a child's life. And so this really is just so

spk_0 feasible and so sustainable. It's really a win-win. I want families to know that a child's reading

spk_0 success isn't a given, right? That you can do even if you spend as much money as a lot of people

spk_0 are spending to send their kids to private school. You don't know for sure that your child is going

spk_0 to become a successful reader. And it feels really bad to find out late, right? It feels bad. So why

spk_0 not know all along a something about what a child should learn to read and then be able to help

spk_0 the best you can. For those of you listening who would like to access the Abound Parenting app

spk_0 individually or those who want to consider it for or propose it to your school or district,

spk_0 it can be found in Google Play and the App Store. You can access it through the links in the

spk_0 episode notes or you can reach out directly to aboundparenting.com. And to build reading skills

spk_0 even further, particularly for second language learners, check out today's sponsor Booker Class.

spk_0 Law Ye Chan, the executive director of the Susbari School says Booker Class drives and encourages

spk_0 children to love reading and it is its most special quality. The combination of visual, audio,

spk_0 and interactive engagement without sacrificing the importance of reading is what makes Booker Class

spk_0 a winning product. Thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you found this episode helpful.

spk_0 And if so, please take a moment to like, comment, follow and share. And if you have a topic or

spk_0 resource you'd like to share with our listeners, feel free to reach out to us at our website

spk_0 schoolday.com or in the comments. We hope you'll join us again for our next episode of the

spk_0 Re-shaping Learning Podcast from School Day.

Unlock Reading Success Early, Easily and Effectively

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