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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