The Six Shifts Podcast Episode 2: Reconsidering How Knowledge Impacts Comprehension, Grades 3-5
Posted on: March 15, 2024
In this podcast, Katie Egan Cunningham, Jan Burkins, and Kari Yates, the authors of Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This much-awaited sequel to the first Shifting the Balance book introduces six more shifts for elementary teachers. In this episode, the authors discuss the first new shift: building knowledge. They explore the role that knowledge plays in reading comprehension and why content area instruction is so important. They challenge educators to give knowledge building the instructional time it deserves as an essential component of reading comprehension. Learn more about all twelve shifts at TheSixShifts.com.
Meet the Authors
Jan Burkins
Dr. Jan Burkins was an elementary classroom teacher for seven years and a literacy coach for seven years. She has worked as a part-time assistant professor, a district literacy leader, and is currently a fulltime writer and consultant. Jan’s current work includes speaking engagements, presentations at conferences, and professional learning support for school districts.
Kari Yates
Kari Yates is an author, speaker, consultant and staff developer with a passion for helping busy literacy educators thrive. Kari has a passion for helping teachers, coaches, and administrators find the inspiration, courage, and resources to nurture joyful, and authentic literacy learning, one next-step at a time.
Katie Egan Cunningham
Katie Egan Cunningham has twenty years of experience as an educator in many different roles to support students and teachers including classroom teacher, literacy specialist, literacy consultant, and teacher educator. Katie is an Associate Professor of Literacy and English Education at Manhattanville College and her research and teaching focus on student and teacher happiness, literacy methods, new technologies, critical literacies, and children’s literature.