Suellen Piercey, a K–6 literacy coach who serves schools across St. Lawrence and Lewis counties in upstate New York, joins Rose Else-Mitchell to talk about how the reading experiences with her daughter changed the way she understood reading instruction. After more than 35 years working with students with reading challenges across a range of educational settings, Suellen had long considered herself a reading specialist. But when her daughter struggled to learn to read, she began looking for answers that challenged her day to day work and her career.

In an effort to get to the bottom of her daughter’s challenge, she was fortunate to meet Dr. Sally Shaywitz—renowned dyslexia researcher, author and expert at Yale University—who helped her understand the role of phonemic awareness and explicit reading instruction. Suellen talks candidly about the practices she once used and advocated, including memorizing sight words and looking for visual cues, and why being willing to examine what we once believed has to be part of our learning.

Suellen and Rose explore the challenges of changing reading instruction within schools and what can make that change "stick." Suellen talks about working alongside teachers, listening to what they know about their students, and creating a culture where they feel safe enough to learn and try something new. For Suellen, the goal is to build a system that can withstand changes in leadership, staffing, fads, and circumstances—to keep supporting students long after the coach has left the building.

References and Resources:

• Overcoming Dyslexia by Dr. Sally Shaywitz
• Yale School of Medicine Child Study Center
• Haskins Laboratories: The Science of the Spoken and Written Word
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Suellen Piercey, K–6 Literacy Coach, St. Lawrence & Lewis County BOCES, NY
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

*****

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

*****

The research is clear. Now comes the work of putting it into practice.

On October 14th, you're invited to the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit: The Next Chapter in Evidence-Based Literacy—hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz and EdTrust-New York—to explore what comes next in evidence-based literacy.

Learn more and register here.

*****

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

Virginia Quinn-Mooney, a first grade teacher based in Connecticut, joins Rose Else-Mitchell to explore why teacher voice matters in the science of reading movement, what teachers need from school and district leaders, and why teachers shouldn't have to learn how to translate research into classroom practice on their own.

Virginia shares how a simple question from her sister-in-law sent her down a path of digging into reading research, changing her instruction, and eventually cultivating a community of teachers. Growing from that community, her work with Teachers Teach Teachers opens the classroom door through video of real instruction to give teachers something professional development often misses: a chance to actually see what the research looks like in practice.

References and Resources:

• Sold a Story, the podcast by Emily Hanford that Virginia describes as a turning point in her learning about reading instruction
• Science of Reading — What I Should Have Learned in College, the Facebook group founded by Donna Hejtmanek and moderated by Virginia
• Teachers Teach Teachers from the Goyen Foundation, a professional learning program built around watching and discussing real classroom instruction
• Goyen Foundation, which supports the Goyen Literacy Fellowship and Teachers Teach Teachers
• Lori Josephson, whose work includes research on how children's brains learn to read and spell
• Lindsay Kemeny, an elementary-school teacher and author
• Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes
• Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, which Virginia recently read
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Virginia Quinn Mooney, First Grade Teacher and Goyen Literacy Fellow, based in Connecticut
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

***

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

***

On Wednesday, October 14, you're invited to the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit: The Next Chapter in Evidence-Based Literacy, hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz and EdTrust-New York.

The event will bring together educators, literacy leaders, administrators, researchers, and community partners from across New York for a day of learning, collaboration, and meaningful conversation. Together, we’ll explore what comes next in evidence-based literacy—focusing on

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

Rachel Manandhar, a high school literacy interventionist/education specialist and co-founder of the Project for Adolescent Literacy (PAL), joins Rose Else-Mitchell to talk about her realization that 20 years in special education had not given her the knowledge she needed to identify and support the reading skill development her struggling students were missing. After years of working with students across grade levels and being trained in a range of intervention programs, Rachel decided she needed to really understand where reading was breaking down.

Rose and Rachel explore the pain of older readers who don't outgrow their need for reading instruction just because they are in middle or high school. Rachel shares how learning about foundational reading skills changed what she could do to help, and how she built a literacy center in her school for high school students. They discuss how routines for word recognition, morphology, vocabulary, and comprehension can support students across content areas—and why listening to students read and hearing their voices matters so much in reaching adolescents who struggle to read.

References and Resources:

• Project for Adolescent Literacy (PAL)
• EdWeek: What Teachers Say They Need Most to Help Struggling Teen Readers
• The 74: Many Older Students Struggle to Push Beyond the Reading Threshold
• EdWeek: 4 Ways Teachers Identify and Support Struggling Older Readers
• Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Sarah Ortega, Kierstan Barbee, and Aida Allen-Rotell
• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
• Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Rachel Manandhar, High School Literacy Interventionist/Education Specialist and Co-Founder of the Project for Adolescent Literacy, based in Northern CA
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

***

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

***

On Wednesday, October 14, join educators from across New York and beyond for the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit, hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz.

Save the date and stay tuned for more details.

***

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

Aaron Grossman, who finished the 2025–26 school year as a fifth grade teacher and begins the 2026–27 school year as a third grade teacher in Reno, Nevada, joins Rose Else-Mitchell to talk about how being curious about ended up changing his approach to reading instruction. After years as a classroom teacher, literacy coordinator, curriculum leader, and standards expert, Aaron returned to the classroom armed with new knowledge to reach more students.

Rose and Aaron explore the importance of learning from other teachers. Aaron talks about his “teacher Rolodex” of colleagues to call when he was trying something new and it didn’t work. He reminds us that the hard thing is to focus on a few practices that we absolutely know work, rather than chasing the next new thing. New insights are important, but getting better at managing background knowledge building for new texts is a really important capability for reaching all readers.

References and Resources:

• ELA Knowledge Map from Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University
• “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros
• How to Know a Person by David Brooks
• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• Just Two Teachers: Aaron’s resource site for fellow teachers
• Room360: Aaron’s class website with resources
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Aaron Grossman, 3rd Grade Teacher and Goyen Literacy Fellow based in Reno, NV
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

***

Topics: science of reading, reading instruction, elementary literacy, fifth grade reading, literacy instruction, evidence-based reading instruction, research-based instruction, Common Core State Standards, knowledge building, background knowledge, knowledge retention, retrieval practice, forgetting, complex text, grade-level text, close reading, text complexity, reading fluency, repeated reading, prosody, readers' theater, oral reading, systematic phonics, syllabication, morphology, word study, vocabulary, memory, teacher learning, teacher collaboration, instructional coaching, professional learning, teacher community, evidence-based education, literacy research, classroom practice, reading comprehension

***

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

***

On Wednesday, October 14, join educators from across New York and beyond for the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit, hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz.

Save the date and stay tuned for more details.

***

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

Erin Hanrahan, a middle school English and journalism teacher based in Woodstock, Vermont, joins host Rose Else-Mitchell to explore what fluency can mean for older readers. Erin shares how hearing her students read aloud woke her up to the issues of striving older readers. She understood patterns she hadn't previously recognized: students guessing at multisyllabic words, reading slowly, choppily, and struggling with phrasing even while they could discuss some of the ideas in a text.

Rose and Erin discuss why oral reading practice belongs in every secondary classroom, not just in intervention rooms, and how Erin now builds daily opportunities for students to read complex text aloud, with explicit support for multisyllabic words and word structure. They also dig into the harder questions around vocabulary: which words do students need to truly own, which simply need to be decoded or defined in context, and how can teachers build the background knowledge students need to understand a complex text without spending the entire class period on vocabulary?

References and Resources:

• The Stern Center for Language and Learning
• The Goyen Foundation's Teachers Teach Teachers program
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
• Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
• The Extinction Trilogy by Lydia Millet
• Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Erin Hanrahan, Middle School English & Journalism Teacher, based in Woodstock, VT
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

***

Keywords: science of reading, adolescent literacy, secondary literacy, middle school reading, reading fluency, fluency instruction, reading comprehension, word recognition, oral reading, oral reading practice, multisyllabic word reading, multisyllabic words, decoding, syllabication, morphology, word structure, phrasing, prosody, vocabulary instruction, vocabulary depth, vocabulary prioritization, background knowledge, knowledge building, complex texts, grade level text, secondary English, middle school English, English language arts, reading intervention, structured literacy, explicit instruction, general education, struggling readers, reading confidence, student engagement, reader identity, literacy instruction, evidence-based reading instruction

***

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

***

On Wednesday, October 14, join educators from across New York and beyond for the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit, hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz.

Save the date and stay tuned for more details.

***

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

* New episodes air every other week on Wednesdays *

What does it take to change how you teach reading?

Reading Realities is a podcast for teachers who are somewhere in the middle of that shift, trying new strategies, reading the evidence, rethinking old habits, and figuring out what actually works in your classroom.

Each episode, host Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, talks with an educator about the evidence-based, instructional, and mindset shifts they're making.

Because the truth is, changing reading instruction is not simple. It's complex, it's ongoing, and some days it can feel really overwhelming. But you don't have to figure it out alone.

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.

Anjanette McNeely, a kindergarten teacher and former literacy coach in Kaysville, Utah, joins host Rose Else-Mitchell to discuss her professional journey from a whole-language teacher preparation program to becoming an advocate for evidence-based literacy instruction.

Anjanette shares how an unexpected pamphlet summarizing the National Reading Panel Report sparked a decades-long pursuit of learning more about effective reading instruction. She also reflects on the role her husband—a former striving reader himself—played in encouraging her to keep searching for better ways to support children in becoming readers.

Rose and Anjanette discuss the importance of connecting meaning to foundational skills, the role of vocabulary and oral language in kindergarten classrooms, and how Anjanette gradually reimagined her literacy block to weave reading, writing, and language instruction throughout the day. They also explore coaching, teacher learning, and why following student data (and not any single expert) has guided Anjanette's instructional decisions over time.

References and Resources:

• Word Chaining: An Efficient and Effective Alternative to Oral Phonemic Awareness by Anjanette McNeely
• How to Build a Reading Block: Two Teachers Share Their Approaches by Sarah Schwartz for EdWeek, feat. Anjanette McNeely
• How Do We Learn? by Héctor Ruiz Martín
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series by Beth Brower
• Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Credits:

• Guest: Anjanette McNeely, Kindergarten Teacher, Former Literacy Coach, and Goyen Literacy Fellow based in Kaysville, UT
• Host: Rose Else-Mitchell, Executive Director of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz
• Produced by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz, Rose Else-Mitchell, and Onalee Smith
• Original music and audio editing by Ross Gentry

***

Keywords: science of reading, kindergarten, early literacy, structured literacy, dyslexia, vocabulary instruction, oral language, phonics, writing instruction, literacy coaching, reading rope, kindergarten reading instruction, foundational skills, teacher learning, professional development

***

Are you seeking high-quality professional learning that’s affordable and actually fits your schedule? Enroll in the SUNY Science of Reading Center’s Science of Reading Fundamentals microcredential and join a community of educators strengthening their literacy instruction.

On Wednesday, October 14, join educators from across New York and beyond for the 2026 Leading Literacy Summit, hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz.

Save the date and stay tuned for more details.

Get in Touch:

Interested in being on a future episode of Reading Realities? Or have a question or topic you’d like us to cover? Contact us at scienceofreading@newpaltz.edu.

If this episode resonated with you, please:

• Follow Reading Realities
• Leave a rating and review
• Share with a colleague or educator in your network

Visit our website to learn more.