Interview w/ Maria Murray & Jorene Cook

02/02/21 • 64 min

Teaching, Reading, and Learning: The Reading League Podcast

Prior to founding The Reading League, Dr. Maria Murray was an associate professor at the State University of New York at Oswego, where she taught courses related to literacy assessment and intervention. She received her Ph.D. in Reading Education from Syracuse University, where she served as project coordinator for Dr. Benita Blachman’s numerous federally-funded early reading intervention grants. Maria is passionate regarding the prevention and remediation of reading difficulty, and consistently strives to increase educator knowledge and the connections between research and practice. On a personal note, Maria is happily married to Danny and has two children, Katie and Mark, and is also mom to her dogs Lady and Tikani.

Dr. Jorene Cook is an Early Literacy Coach in the Syracuse City School District and part-time Instructor at Utica College. She has worked in the public school system for 23 years, her earlier years working as an elementary school teacher. She is also a national LETRS trainer. Her doctoral research investigated how schools and school systems in Central New York support students with dyslexia and their families. Her interest in advocacy, systems thinking, and policy work led her to become a Partner in Policymaking in 2015. Jorene is the president of the Board of The Reading League. On a personal note, Dr. Cook is happily married to her best friend. They have two teens-Evan (16) and Brody (14).

This podcast is brought to you by Great Minds. We encourage you to take a moment and view their website at https://gm.greatminds.org/trl2021podcast

Further Reading and Exploration

Maria’s and Jorene’s Picks

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Letter to My Son by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Make it Stick; The Science of Successful Learning by Henry Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel, and Peter C. Brown
The Plant Paradox by Steven R. Gundry
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta L. Hammond

This podcast is brought to you by Great Minds. We encourage you to take a moment and view their website at https://gm.greatminds.org/trl2021podcast

Further Reading and Exploration

Maria’s and Jorene’s Picks

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Letter to My Son by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Make it Stick; The Science of Successful Learning by Henry Roediger III, Mark A. McDaniel, and Peter C. Brown
The Plant Paradox by Steven R. Gundry
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta L. Hammond

Previous Episode

Interview w/ Tim Shanahan

Timothy Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was Founding Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. Previously, he was director of reading for the Chicago Public Schools. He is author/editor of more than 200 publications on literacy education. His research emphasizes the connections between reading and writing, literacy in the disciplines, and improvement of reading achievement.

Tim is past president of the International Literacy Association. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and he helped lead the National Reading Panel, convened at the request of Congress to evaluate research on the teaching reading, a major influence on reading education. He chaired two other federal research review panels: The National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, and the National Early Literacy Panel, and helped write the Common Core State Standards. He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007, and is a former first-grade teacher.

In this conversation, Tim talks about his early influences as a teacher, his work in Chicago Public Schools and in the development of the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Literacy, the groundbreaking impact of the National Reading Panel, and what he sees as work left to do in our profession.

This podcast is brought to you by Great Minds. We encourage you to take a moment and view their website at https://gm.greatminds.org/trl2021podcast

Further Reading and Exploration

Shanahan on Literacy (includes a full listing of relevant resources and publications, Tim’s blog, and presentations)
National Reading Panel Report (full text)
National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers
National Early Literacy Panel Report
National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth (executive summary)
What Constitutes a Science of Reading Instruction? (Reading Research Quarterly; September, 2020)
The Science of Reading: Making Sense of Research (Reading Teacher; September/October, 2020)

Tim’s Picks

Biographies of Abraham Lincoln
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman

Next Episode

Interview w/ Jessica Pasik

Jessica Pasik is a licensed New York state reading specialist in the Fulton City School District. She received her Masters of Science in Literacy Education from SUNY Oswego and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Literacy there. She previously received her Bachelor of Science degree in Childhood Education from the SUNY Geneseo and is certified in elementary and special education grades K-6. She formerly taught special education at Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES and the Fulton City School District. She is also a private tutor and is a passionate advocate for evidence-based practices in reading instruction. Jessica is currently a TRL Board Member at Large.

This podcast is brought to you by Mount St. Joseph University. Mount St. Joseph University offers a number of programs for educators interested in graduate or doctoral work focused on the Science of Reading. To learn more visit msj.edu/reading-science

Further Reading and Exploration

Jessica’s Picks