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PODCAST

The Reading Instruction Show

Dr. Andy Johnson

The Reading Instruction Show is a podcast about reading instruction (and other things) with a little bit of attitude. There is plenty here to inform and entertain all. And, by the way, I"m not trying to sell any books. I don"t have any curriculum or programs to market. I don"t accept speaking fees. And, I don"t ever want to be a consultant.

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All Episodes

14:20

Selective Umbrage: Emily Hanford is an Alexa App

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/08/17

In a recent show, I referred to Emily Hanford as the Alexa App of reading instruction. This was a metaphor, a common literary device in which one makes a comparison without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. It creates an image. When we say America is a melting pot, we don’t literally mean there’s a big pot bubbling somewhere. Metaphors create images and communicate things that lists of words cannot. Recently, somebody took great umbrage of my use of metaphor. This was selective umbrage. If you

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12:34

Show Me "The Research'

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/08/12

If somebody makes the claim that research says something, one has an obligation to have read a research article at least once in their life. And if somebody says, “Show me the research,” that person should know what research is and how to read and interpret it.

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12:39

Legitimate Professional Development for Reading Teachers

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/08/05

Legitimate professional development for teachers is necessary. I used the term ‘legitimate’ to exclude programs and services that are profit-based. These are usually little more than infomercials disguised as professional development. Here, there is no check and balance. There is no blind peer review of the information provided. Only the information that supports their product or service is presented. Information that does not is not. The best example of this is LETRS professional development

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12:05

Toadys, Transaction, and Reading Instruction

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/07/09

Toadys sometimes call themselves “consultants”. They promote methods and say things that just happen to coincide with the products and services being sold by Big Publishing. Quite a coincidence, yes? Right and wrong are not determined based on what’s right and wrong; rather, by what will sell.

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17:53

The Ideology of Reading

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/07/08

Despite having the word “science” in their title, the proposals put forth by the SoR are not grounded in science at all, but in pseudo-science, I-think-isms, and anecdotal evidence. In fact, they are promoting an ideology. Real science. Real science puts forth conclusions and recommendations based on a wide body of research. Real science uses systematic methods to collect and analyze data. Real science draws conclusions only from data collected. And real science uses blind peer review for an

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9:53

Forward to the Past: Writer Over to People

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/06/19

One of the reasons why the Science of Reading people have been so successful is that they’ve been writing to the people over there. They’ve used stories and radio documentaries that sound very much like the way people talk. They’ve enabled the people over there to see and hear real people while our quiet very reasoned third-person voice has been ignored

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38:16

Conversation with Daphne Russell

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/06/18

This is a conversation with another master teacher, Daphne Russell

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21:26

Reading Wars and the Education Science Reform Act of...

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/06/13

There never was a reading war. A war assumes there are two armies meeting on a field of battle. This didn’t happen. But there was a reading coup. There was a hostile takeover of the field of literacy instruction by profiteers who saw public education as their own private ATM machine. This group of profiteers is part of the educational industrial complex which includes Cambium-Lexia Learning, Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, Hough Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Voyager Sopris

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18:02

Cognitive Science and Reading

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/06/11

Neuroscience is a study of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, and neurons (NIH, 2025). The neuroscience of reading looks at how the brain functions during reading using imaging techniques to detect blood flow and electrical energy (Gotlieb, et al., 2022). Cognitive science is based on the word ‘cognition’ which means thinking. Cognitive science looks at human thinking (Robinson-Riegler & Robinson-Riegler, 2012). One studies the physical brain as it thinks and the other

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13:38

Orthographic Mapping: Weak or Robust Theory?

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/06/06

In this podcast, I try to make sense of orthographic mapping, a term invented by Linnea Ehri and introduced in Chapter 15 (Ehri, 2014). We’ll start with her definition: “Orthographic mapping occurs when, in the course of reading specific words, readers form connections between written unit, either single graphemes or larger spelling patterns, and spoken units, either phonemes, syllables, or morphemes. These connections are retained in memory along with meanings and enable readers to recognize

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10:20

Everybody Uses Direct Instruction For Reading

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/05/24

The term “direct and explicit instruction” is often used to sell products or to persuade state legislators to make bad decisions. But everybody already uses direct instruction in some form. It's not the 'what' of direct instruction that is in question; it's the 'how' and 'how much' of direct instruction. T

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10:25

Research to Support the Three-Cueing Systems

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/05/18

Our big human brains have evolved to become very efficient predicting machines (Hawkins, 2004). They are constantly accessing multiple data sources in order to give us a sense of what will happen next. Most of this is done at levels below our conscious awareness. For example, baseball players are able to run to the right spot to catch balls in the outfield because they can predict where it’s going to come down. Their big human brains instantly process a variety of information related to the

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17:33

Orton-Gillingham: Behind the Pretty Words

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/05/06

The problem with Orton-Gillingham and similar for-profit products (Lindamood, Wilson Language Training, Barton System, etc.) is that they try to reduce teaching to an algorithm. An algorithm is a formula for solving problems in which you follow a step-by-step set of procedures (with fidelity) to achieve a specific outcome. In other words, by correctly following a prescribed set of steps in the specified order, you will be led to a predefined solution. Algorithms are useful in mathematics and

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13:58

Defining the Science of Reading

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/04/29

When somebody askes you, “What’s the Science of Reading?” what do you say? Is it a process? Is it a set of strategies? An approach or method? A reading program? A group or organization? In this chapter, I will attempt to define the Science of Reading. And notice that I’m using capital letters. This enables us to differentiate between a science of reading as one of several sciences of reading and the Science of Reading as a proper noun or title,The Science of Reading seems to refer to a

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19:07

What Elephants Can Teach Us About Reading Instruction

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/04/10

The really big point is this: It’s the semantic connections that are most important, not orthographic, graphemic, or phonemic connections. When you encounter the words ‘elephant’ you don’t connect with short /e/ words. You don’t activate words containing the /ant/ letter pattern or words with silent ‘ph’ blends. You connect with elephant things, regardless of the letter sounds or patterns.Just hearing the word ‘elephant’ brought some of the elephant things in your elephant schemata to

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19:07

What Elephants Can Teach Us About Reading Instruction

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/04/10

The really big point is this: It’s the semantic connections that are most important, not orthographic, graphemic, or phonemic connections. When you encounter the words ‘elephant’ you don’t connect with short /e/ words. You don’t activate words containing the /ant/ letter pattern or words with silent ‘ph’ blends. You connect with elephant things, regardless of the letter sounds or patterns.Just hearing the word ‘elephant’ brought some of the elephant things in your elephant schemata to

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16:18

The 3 Q-ing Systems: What it Isn't and Is

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/03/29

1. It’s not a strategy to teach students.2. It’s not a pedagogical strategy that teachers use.3. It doesn’t exclude phonics instruction.4. It doesn’t encourage children to use picture clues to figure out words.5. It’s not an approach to teaching reading.6. It’s not a method of “decoding” printed text.7. It’s not a “staple of early reading instruction”.8. It’s not whole language9. It doesn’t exclude explicit and systematic instruction.

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14:52

Metaphysicial Perspectives

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/03/24

In his book, Global Mind Change (1989), Willis Harman describes three views of reality which he calls metaphysical perspectives. Metaphysical here refers to ontology or the question of the origins of the universe and the nature of reality. These perspectives are materialistic monism, dualism, and transcendental monism.

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9:37

Belief Systems and Mental Sets

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/03/24

Why do we sometimes believe the unbelievable? Why is it our views are sometimes data-resistant? We like to think that reality determines our beliefs; however, at higher levels of belief systems, our beliefs determine reality. It's just the way of things.

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23:10

Being and Becoming Responsible Consumers of...

The Reading Instruction Show ·

2025/03/07

There’s a difference between (a) reading research related to reading instruction and (b) reading what others have said about research related to reading instruction. It’s important to know the difference. When you read research articles, you get to evaluate the methodology and interpret that data. When you read what somebody else has written about research, you must trust that their evaluation is fair, and their interpretation of the data is accurate. You are reliant on the relative clarity of

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