Stellar Teacher Podcast with Sara Marye

Reciprocal teaching isn’t just another comprehension strategy—it’s a powerful, interactive routine that fosters student-led discussions and enhances metacognitive awareness. Research has consistently shown that students who engage in reciprocal teaching make significant gains in comprehension. And the best part? It’s easy to implement with any text and across all subject areas. In this episode, I’ll break down how to introduce reciprocal teaching in your classroom, step by step, so your students can start benefiting from it right away.

Joining me today is Dr. Molly Ness, a researcher, author, and expert on read-alouds. With a wealth of knowledge and a passion for literacy, Dr. Ness shares fascinating insights into the academic, linguistic, and even physiological benefits of read-alouds. Together, we’ll discuss how read-alouds go beyond enjoyment to support vocabulary acquisition, background knowledge, and critical thinking skills.

Teaching reading comprehension can be one of the most challenging parts of literacy instruction, but it’s also incredibly rewarding when you see your students grow as confident, capable readers. In today’s episode, we’re diving into three powerful routines that can help you strengthen your students’ reading comprehension and transform how they engage with texts.

Wondering how to teach comprehension effectively? You’re not alone. In this month's Dear Stellar Teacher segment, Emily joins me to answer a listener question about whether to teach comprehension strategies, like finding the main idea, before diving into a text. This question opens the door to an insightful conversation about shifting from traditional methods to evidence-based practices that truly help students comprehend what they read.