S01E17 – Christopher Such on the Art and Science of Teaching Reading Fluency

In this episode, I chat with Christopher Such. He is the author of, “The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading” and an experienced teacher, school leader and educational consultant. In our conversation, Chris touches on teacher workload, professional development and he goes through the thought behind his book and how his thinking has developed since its release. We then take a deep dive into teaching reading fluency and look at what it is, common misconceptions that teachers have and what it looks like across different year levels. After that, we somehow manage to fit in an overview of comprehension! This episode is not to be missed!

Resources mentioned:

• Kathy Rastle:
  • https://www.rastlelab.com/
  • EPS mid-career prize lecture 2017: Writing systems, reading, and language
• Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348
• Chris’ free curriculum resources: https://primarycolour.home.blog/category/free-resources/
• Debbie Hepplewhite’s Phonics International: https://phonicsinternational.com/
• Lynn Stone
• Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the Reading Wars: Reading Acquisition From Novice to Expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618772271
• MultiLit: https://multilit.com/
• The Science of Reading: A Handbook, 2nd Edition
• John Walker – Sounds-write

You can connect with Chris:

Twitter: @Suchmo83

Website: https://primarycolour.home.blog/

You can connect with Brendan:

Twitter: @learnwithmrlee

Facebook: @learningwithmrleeWebsite: learnwithlee.net

About Christopher Such

Christopher Such is the author of The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. He is an experienced teacher, school leader and reading consultant, who has delivered professional development for schools, trusts and ITT providers on the subject of evidence-informed reading, mathematics teaching and curriculum development.