Episode 1: Why Reading Feels So Hard (and Why It Doesn’t Have to)

Welcome to the first episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast. I’m your host, Katie Megrian—educator, literacy leader, and mom to two very different readers.

In this episode, I break down the current state of reading in the U.S., why so many children struggle, and the hopeful truth that at least 95% of kids can learn to read with the right instruction. You’ll learn why reading isn’t natural, how it actually develops in the brain, and why all parts of reading—phonics, vocabulary, knowledge, and comprehension—must work together.

New episodes drop every Wednesday morning. Starting with Episode 2, I’m joined by leading literacy experts who help translate the science of reading into clear, practical guidance for parents and educators.

If you’ve ever felt unsure about your child’s reading, you’re in the right place.

🎙 Episode: Making Words Stick and Read-Alouds for All Learners (with Dr. Molly Ness)

In this episode of The Reading Symphony Podcast, Katie Megrian sits down with Dr. Molly Ness, former classroom teacher, reading researcher, teacher educator, and author of six books (with a seventh on the way). Molly is known for translating research into practical, usable moves for teachers and families, and this conversation is packed with exactly that.

Together, Katie and Molly dig into two big questions families ask all the time:

1. How do we help words actually “stick” so kids become fluent readers?
2. What can we do at home to build language and comprehension in ways that feel doable?

You’ll learn why memorizing word lists often fails, what “orthographic mapping” really means in plain language, and how read-alouds can be one of the highest-leverage tools for building vocabulary, knowledge, and comprehension at any age.

In this episode, we cover:

• Molly’s path from Teach For America to reading research and why she’s passionate about closing the research-to-classroom gap
• The concept of orthographic mapping and why it matters for fluency and comprehension
• Why flashcards and rote memorization often don’t lead to lasting word learning
• The difference between sight words, high-frequency words, and heart words, and how to think about them at home
• Why spelling is one of the best windows into a child’s literacy development
• A parent-friendly way to support tricky patterns, including r-controlled vowels
• How to talk to teachers with curiosity, not conflict, when homework or instruction doesn’t feel aligned
• Molly’s best read-aloud advice for families, including:
  • The “decline at nine” and why you should keep reading aloud well past third grade
  • Why reading informational text matters more than most people realize
  • How to use think-alouds (instead of constant questions) to model comprehension
• Why kids benefit when we expand beyond the books we loved growing up and how to find high-quality diverse book recommendations
• Molly’s simple framework for getting kids to read more: ARC (Access, Relevance, Choice)

Book and author shout-outs from the conversation:

• Making Words Stick (Molly Ness & Katie Pace Miles)
• Read Alouds for All Learners (Molly Ness)
• Authors mentioned: Matt de la Peña, Chris Van Dusen, Jarrett Lerner

Connect with Dr. Molly Ness:

Molly’s website: mollyness.com (resources, videos, and contact info)

Want more support from Katie?

📩 Subscribe to Katie’s free weekly Substack: katiemegrian.substack.com
📱 Follow on Instagram: @thereadingsymphony

If this episode helped you, it would mean a lot if you would follow the show, leave a quick 5-star rating or review, and share it with a parent, teacher, or caregiver who cares deeply about helping kids become joyful, confident readers.

In this episode of the Reading Symphony Podcast, host Katie Megrian interviews Dr. Julia B. Lindsey, a literacy expert and author of 'Reading Above The Fray.' They discuss how reading develops, the importance of evidence-based practices in literacy instruction, the role of phonics and comprehension, and the use of small group instruction. Dr. Lindsey shares her insights on the prerequisites for reading comprehension, ongoing professional development for teachers, and the integration of technology in reading instruction. She also emphasizes the significance of making reading instruction practical and actionable for educators and families. Throughout the conversation, the importance of clarity, explicitness, and coherence in teaching literacy is highlighted, with Dr. Lindsey providing practical tips for parents and educators. The episode concludes with recommendations on resources and ways to support children's reading development at home.

https://www.juliablindsey.com/

https://www.beyonddecodables.com/

email: hello@juliablindsey.com

https://www.instagram.com/juliablindsey/

00:00 Introduction to the Reading Symphony Podcast

00:26 Meet Dr. Julia B. Lindsey: Literacy Expert

03:22 The Journey from Classroom to PhD

04:42 Writing 'Reading Above the Fray'

07:51 Understanding How Children Learn to Read

13:46 A Day in the Life of an Early Elementary Classroom

22:08 Red Flags in Reading Instruction

30:04 Improving Teacher Training and Professional Development

33:23 Effective Small Group Instruction

37:00 The Role of Technology in Reading Education

39:38 Looking Forward: The Future of Reading Education

43:31 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The Reading Symphony Podcast helps families and caregivers understand how reading develops and what truly supports reading success, with clarity, compassion, and evidence-based guidance. Host Katie Megrian (educator, parent, and literacy advocate) interviews experts who translate research into practical next steps for home and school.

In this episode, Katie is joined by Kate Winn, an Ontario educator, literacy advocate, and co-author of Reading Assessment Done Right: Tools and Techniques for Data-Driven Instruction. With 25+ years of experience across K–8, Kate breaks down what structured literacy looks like in real classrooms and how families can spot strong instruction.

They cover the essentials of evidence-based reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing), green flags parents can look for (explicit phonics, decodable texts, letter-sound practice, rich read-alouds), and red flags to avoid (predictable/leveled readers that encourage guessing, and level-based assessment language). Kate also explains a clear K–3 assessment system—universal screening, diagnostic assessment, and progress monitoring—and offers time-efficient ways families can support reading at home, including oral language, read-alouds, and short practice routines.

Books mentioned: Zoe and Sassafras series; Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley
Find Kate: Instagram @katethismomloves; Reading Road Trip podcast (IDA Ontario)
More from Katie: Substack katiemegrian.substack.com; Instagram @thereadingsymphony

Episode Summary

In this episode, Katie talks with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg about what helps kids learn to read and why so many teachers were never given the tools to fix word-reading problems. Dr. Ginsberg shares the story that launched her career: sixth-grade students reading years below grade level and a breakthrough approach that helped them make dramatic gains in a single spring.

Together they unpack the research-to-practice gap (and why effective interventions still “sit on a shelf”), and then get very practical: Marnie explains how Reading Simplified teaches phonics without over-relying on rules, using the brain’s pattern detection (statistical learning) plus carefully designed contrast (sit/sat, mat/map/mop) to accelerate decoding.

You’ll also hear a clear explanation of phonemic awareness vs. phonics, why separating them often creates inefficiency, and how Marnie integrates them through simple routines like Build It and Switch It—activities that feel like games but powerfully build the alphabetic principle.

Finally, Marnie and Katie talk state curriculum lists, why implementation details matter, and what parents can advocate for during literacy reform—plus Marnie’s direct call to limit screens and protect attention.

Key Takeaways

• Many struggling readers don’t need “more exposure”—they need explicit instruction that helps them attend to the inside parts of words.
• The research-to-practice gap isn’t only about evidence. It’s also about incentives, funding streams, and the skillset of dissemination.
• “Good phonics” doesn’t have to mean a heavy diet of rules. Pattern-based learning can be explicit and still leverage kids’ natural ability to detect patterns.
• Keeping kids in “short-vowel land” too long can starve them of the data they need to reach reading “escape velocity.”
• Integrating phonemic awareness and phonics—rather than teaching them in separate lanes—can unlock the alphabetic principle faster.
• Parents should push for early identification and support (including dyslexia screening and services) and for true expertise in curriculum decision-making.
• Reading grows in a home environment that protects attention: limit screens, read aloud longer than you think, and listen to kids read longer than you think.

Topics We Cover

• Marnie’s path from sixth-grade teacher → tutor → researcher → founder of Reading Simplified
• Why whole language/balanced literacy didn’t solve decoding struggles
• What TRI is and how it connects to Reading Simplified
• The “17-year research-to-practice gap” and why it persists
• Linguistic phonics / speech-to-print and organizing the code by sound
• Statistical learning, contrast, and “set for variability” (without turning into guessing)
• Why context is part of reading—but print must be primary for beginners
• Phonemic awareness vs phonics: what they are, why both matter

Try This at Home / In the Classroom

Switch It (5 minutes, feels like a game):
Use letter tiles/cards to build a simple word (mop). Then “switch” one sound at a time to make a new word (mop → map → sap → sip). The magic is in the contrast and the attention to each sound position.

Free resources and demo videos: readingsimplified.com/switch-it

Connect with Dr. Marnie Ginsberg

Website: ReadingSimplified.com
 Free Switch It resources: ReadingSimplified.com/switch-it
 Instagram: @readingsimplified

Connect with Katie / The Reading Symphony

Substack: katiemegrian.substack.com
 Instagram: @thereadingsymphony

Rosy Hely Reed. Rosy is a Director, Academics at TNTP - a non-profit organization that brings research, policy, and consulting together to reimagine America's K-12 public education system. She has been at TNTP since 2016, and currently leads the execution of academic reviews in schools and districts across the country, providing data and insights on students' and teachers' access to the resources that matter most. Prior to TNTP, Rosy was a literacy teacher and instructional coach in New York City and Washington, D.C., public schools, and then oversaw district-wide teacher-leader and instructional-coaching programs for Pittsburgh Public Schools. She loves driving change-making work within (usually messy) school systems at all levels. 

About This Episode

In this conversation, Katie sits down with one of her closest friends and longtime education thought partner, Rosy Reed, a Director of Academics at TNTP. We trace our shared beginnings as brand-new teachers in the South Bronx and explore how those early classroom experiences shaped our understanding of curriculum, instruction, and equity.

Rosie shares what she has learned through her work at TNTP about the conditions that most powerfully drive student achievement, drawing on insights from The Opportunity Myth and the Opportunity Makers research. We also talk candidly about dyslexia, advocacy, and how parents can partner with schools to build coherent, research-aligned reading instruction.

This episode is both a deep dive into literacy and a personal conversation about teaching, friendship, and the long arc of learning.

In This Episode We Discuss

TNTP’s research: What actually drives student achievement

Rosy explains the findings from TNTP’s landmark research, based on 4,000+ students across diverse schools and districts.

Four key resources that dramatically impact achievement:

1. Grade-appropriate assignments
2. Strong instruction
3. Deep student engagement
4. High teacher expectations

We also discuss:

Three core practices of “trajectory-changing” schools:

• A strong culture of belonging
• Consistent access to grade-level instruction
• A coherent instructional program

We explore:

• Alignment across grades, classrooms, and interventions
• The importance of knowledge-building curriculum
• Why teacher planning time and professional learning matter
• How schools can better align instruction between general education and intervention

In this episode of the Reading Symphony Podcast, host Katie Megrian engages in a comprehensive conversation with Gaby Diller, founder of Lotus Advocacy. Launched in 2020, Lotus Advocacy aims to support special education departments, families, and students by centering families as essential members of the special education team. Gaby shares insights on her personal journey with learning challenges and her extensive experience as a special education teacher and administrator. She offers practical advice on creating effective IEPs, the importance of specific and strength-based goals, the necessity of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and the benefits and limitations of private evaluations. Gaby also emphasizes the role of collaboration and transparency in advocating for students' needs. This episode provides valuable insights for families, educators, and advocates striving to support children with special needs in their reading and overall educational journey.

00:00 Introduction to the Reading Symphony Podcast

00:27 Meet Gaby Diller: Founder of Lotus Advocacy

01:23 Gaby's Personal Journey and Professional Path

04:21 Understanding and Supporting Students with IEPs

07:53 Navigating Evaluations and School Responsibilities

12:57 Effective IEP Goals and Interventions

18:01 Creative Collaboration and Advocacy Strategies

22:41 Closing Thoughts and Resources

Where to find Gaby?

https://www.lotusadvocacy.com/
https://www.instagram.com/lotusadvocacy/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriela-diller-8b056230/

Where to find Alyssa? 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learn_with_alyssa/?hl=en

Website: https://www.learnwithalyssa.net/

Handwriting Resources: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Write-to-Read-Verbal-Cue-Handwriting-Cards-13558681

In this episode of the Reading Symphony Podcast, Katie Megrian hosts Whitney Whealdon, a career educator and learning architect. They discuss the critical role of background knowledge in reading comprehension, the development of Louisiana's ELA guidebooks, and the importance of coherent and aligned literacy curricula. Whitney shares insights from her career journey, innovation in curriculum development, and the Wonderwood app, designed to help children build knowledge. They also explore practical ways parents can support their children's literacy development at home. Key takeaways include cultivating curiosity, leveraging interconnected knowledge, and advocating for robust science and social studies instruction.

00:00 Welcome to the Reading Symphony Podcast

00:30 Introducing Whitney Whealdon

01:33 Whitney's Journey in Education

03:23 The Importance of Background Knowledge

08:58 Curriculum Transformation in Louisiana

32:43 Building Knowledge at Home with Wonderwood

43:09 Final Thoughts and Resources

Where to find Whitney:

• Secret Life of Learning Substack: https://whitneywhealdon.substack.com/ 
• Knowledge Builders Club for Families: https://www.facebook.com/groups/knowledgebuildersclub/
• Wonderwood: https://wonderwood.me/en-us/

Additional Resources

• Latent Semantic Analysis
• How book-rich, knowledge-rich curriculum is fueling the Southern Surge  by Karen Vaites
• The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler