Season 10, Episode 11

Learning to read vs. reading to learn, with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., distinguished professor emeritus from the University of Illinois at Chicago, joins Susan Lambert to distinguish between reading comprehension, learning from a text, and the process of learning to read. He compares learning to read with athletic training, explaining that just as athletes need to vary their workout intensities to maximize their strength, students need to vary their text difficulty to maximize their comprehension, reading skills, and overall learning. Together, Timothy and Susan also discuss why reading comprehension is an ethical act and the power of simply rereading to increase comprehension.

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Transcripts and additional resources:

Submit your questions on comprehension
Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page
Connect with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
Learn more about Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
Read the blog post “Don’t confuse reading comprehension and learning to read (and to reread)”
Listen to Leveled reading, leveled lives, with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
Listen to Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D., on Beyond My Years
Join our community Facebook group
Connect with Susan Lambert
Read the transcript

Meet Our Guest(s):

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Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to this work, he served as director of reading for Chicago Public Schools and was a visiting professor at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has written and edited more than 300 publications, including his book Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It. He is also a former president of the International Literacy Association and served on the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007 and is a former first-grade teacher.

Meet our host, Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert is chief academic officer of literacy at Amplify and host of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating high-quality learning environments using evidence-based practices. Lambert is a mom of four, a grandma of four, a world traveler, and a collector of stories.

As the host of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Lambert explores the increasing body of scientific research around how reading is best taught. A former classroom teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer, she’s dedicated to turning theory into best practices that educators can put right to use in the classroom, and to showcasing national models of reading instruction excellence.

Person with short blonde hair, glasses, and earrings, wearing an orange jacket, smiling in front of a plain gray background—committed to literacy education and fostering background knowledge for all learners.

Quotes

“ We're trying to teach kids to read, and a text that is immediately comprehensible leaves you very little to learn.”

—Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

“You can increase the learning for most people if you increase the difficulty, because people have to think about it more. They have to work.”

—Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

“Reading comprehension is not just a psychological or cognitive action—it's an ethical action.”

—Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

“We should be teaching kids with more challenging texts than we have been.”

—Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

“Athletes don't do all of their training at peak levels of difficulty; they work up to those.”

—Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.