Reading Deeply: Fuelling the Brain

In the seventh and final episode of Reading Deeply: Fueling the Brain, Tanya Vincze, Lead for Learning and Teaching at DSB1, is joined by instructional coach Kate Rosenthal to explore the powerful connection between writing and comprehension. Entitled "Writing to Learn and Comprehend: Strengthening Understanding Through Writing," this episode delves into the idea that writing and reading must co-exist in the classroom to support deep thinking and learning. Tanya and Kate discuss how to structure the writing portion of the literacy block into three key components: handwriting fluency, sentence and paragraph instruction, and genre and content-based writing. They highlight evidence-based practices and useful resources—from handwriting routines inspired by Dr. Steve Graham, to juicy sentence work, to explicit paragraph and genre instruction—all designed to help students develop as confident writers and thinkers. This episode reinforces the importance of giving students daily opportunities to write meaningfully about what they read and learn, ultimately strengthening both comprehension and communication skills.

Close reading is a powerful strategy that encourages students to slow down, engage deeply with a text, and extract as much meaning as possible through multiple readings. In this episode of Reading Deeply: Fueling the Brain, hosts Tanya Vincze, a lead for Learning and Teaching, and Erin, an instructional coach, explore the nuances of close reading and how it connects to comprehension-focused read-alouds. Tanya and Erin highlight the importance of structuring lessons using a three-read approach and share a teacher-friendly reference document designed to streamline planning.

In this episode of Reading Deeply: Fueling the Brain, hosts Tanya Vincze and Shannon Sayeau are joined by special guest Una Malcolm, the president of IDA Ontario and Project Lead of ONlit, to explore the power of asking the right questions and centering the text in reading instruction. Drawing from Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension by David and Meredith Liben, they discuss why isolating comprehension strategies isn’t effective and how to engage students in meaningful text-based discussions. The episode also introduces practical strategies for planning read-alouds, selecting rich texts, and fostering curiosity, all while ensuring students actively build meaning as they read.

The latest episode of Reading Deeply: Fueling the Brain dives into Chapters 4 and 5 of Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension by David and Meredith Liben, exploring the intricacies of reading comprehension and the foundational skills needed to support it. Hosted by Tanya Vincze, with insights from instructional coach Amanda Steele and guest expert Kim Lockhart, the episode unpacks Walter Kintsch’s mental model of comprehension, emphasizing the surface level, text base, and situation model. The discussion highlights practical strategies for teaching text structures, connectives, and anaphora, supported by insights from Teaching Skills for Complex Text by Heidi Anne E. Mesmer. The episode also emphasizes the importance of balancing texts aligned with students' lived experiences with those that challenge them to infer and build new knowledge. Kim Lockhart shares her expertise on the Science of Reading and the shift toward embedding targeted strategies into teaching practices. This episode sets the stage for next month’s deep dive into text-based questioning, close reading, and the role of writing in comprehension.

The third episode of Reading Deeply: Fueling the Brain focuses on the critical role of morphology and etymology in supporting student comprehension. Building on the insights from Chapter 3 of Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension by Meredith and David Liben, Erin Little and Kate Rosenthal explore how understanding morphemes and word origins can help students recognize the logical structure of the English language. The episode highlights practical strategies for teaching these concepts to enhance vocabulary and reading comprehension. Special guest Peter Bowers joins the discussion, offering expert insights and real-world applications of morphological and etymological instruction in the classroom.

The November edition of Fueling Your Brain will delve into the second chapter of Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension. Hosts Tanya Vincze and Sarah Presseault, joined by guest teachers Jennifer Simpson, will discuss ways to spark students' curiosity about words—a powerful approach to building deep word knowledge. This episode will explore practical strategies to inspire word wonder, helping students develop vocabulary skills that strengthen comprehension and enrich their learning experiences.

In this October edition of Fueling Your Brain, we explore how building background knowledge enhances reading comprehension. Join host Tanya Vincze and Kate Rosenthal as they sit down with Andrew Wray, a high-support teacher at Golden Avenue Public School, and Kerry Stack a grade 2/3 teacher from Iroquois Falls Public School. Together, they discuss practical strategies for cultivating rich, knowledge-based learning environments, setting the stage for students to become confident, insightful readers.