In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast, I had the pleasure and honor to interview Dr. Louisa Moats. She pioneered the science of reading and is the leading authority on the planet on how to teach students to read. It was not only my honor and pleasure to interview her, I was able to connect Louisa with three of our educators, Stephanie Kieffer, Amy Quillen, Morgan Siefke, and our primary principal, Kendra VanDoren, to learn about Louisa’s work and how we can improve literacy at our district. Our teachers got to ask Louisa questions! Our teachers and principal are part of the interview. Amazing.
Dr. Moats has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. After a first job as a neuropsychology technician, she became a teacher of students with learning and reading difficulties, earning her Master’s degree at Peabody College of Vanderbilt. Later, after realizing how little she understood about teaching reading, she earned a doctorate in Reading and Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Moats spent the next fifteen years in private practice as a licensed psychologist in Vermont, specializing in evaluation and consultation with individuals of all ages and walks of life who experienced reading, writing, and language difficulties. At that time, she trained psychology interns in the Dartmouth Medical School Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Moats spent one year as the resident expert for the California Reading Initiative; four years as site director of the NICHD Early Interventions Project in Washington, DC; and ten years as research advisor and consultant with Sopris Learning, obtaining two Small Business Innovation Research grants from the NICHD.
Dr. Moats is most well known for her research and writing about the need for improvements in teacher education. Her more recent publications have focused on helping teachers understand the language basis for reading and writing. They include LETRS Professional Development (Voyager Sopris), LANGUAGE! Live blended literacy intervention (Voyager Sopris), and Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers (Brookes Publishing), as well as a series of articles and books for the International Dyslexia Association.
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LaVonna Roth from episode 149, Ignite Your S.H.I.N.E. would like to invite you to join her on a webinar where she will be sharing the Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid as a New Consultant! Two are scheduled for this Wednesday, noon and 8 PM Eastern. If you cannot attend Live, register here and a replay will be sent your way. Of course, Live is WAY more fun for all involved! Join her on any of the webinars to learn more! She’s super excited to share her mistakes and successes with you. Are you in? Register here and see you soon!
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Weston Kieschnick is a lifelong educator with more than fourteen years of experience designing, developing, and delivering leadership training and professional development to teachers and school leaders around the globe. He is the author of the best selling book, Bold School: Old School Wisdom + New School Innovation = Blended Learning that Works, co-author of The Learning Transformation: A Guide to Blended Learning for Administrators and the creator and host of 
Dr. Matthew X. Joseph has collected incredible insights on how best to support teaching and learning, and his work has led to nationally published articles and opportunities to speak at multiple state and national events. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his twenty-five years in the field, with experiences such as being the director of digital learning and innovation, an elementary school principal, a classroom teacher, and a district professional development specialist. Matt currently serves as the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He earned a master’s degree in special education and administration and has his Ed.D. in educational leadership from Boston College. Matt holds licenses in teaching, school administration, and MA superintendent.
Jakob was one of the leading forces behind FlowFactory, Denmarks’ first High School that was 100% based on Challenge Based Learning and cross-curricula, Real World projects, together with both local and international corporations and organizations (like LEGO Education, SamLabs and Danfoss). His mission is to inspire us to reinvent education … to dare to think differently about learning and to aim higher and to see new creative possibilities for learning that are based on future trends instead of historical traditions.
Dr. Monica Burns is a Curriculum and EdTech Consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator and Founder of ClassTechTips.com. Monica was part of her school’s leadership team and was a vocal advocate for bringing one-to-one technology into her classroom. As a classroom teacher, Monica used iPads to create an engaging, differentiated learning experience to meet the unique needs of her students. Realizing the power of digital tools in the classroom, Monica started ClassTechTips.com to provide a resource for educators.
Educators are my favorite species. They not only work incredibly hard all hours of the day to make an impact in the lives of those they teach, they are also constantly working to improve themselves as well.
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