Introducing Season 2: Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension

Season 2 of the Knowledge Matters Podcast is coming soon! Teachers and reading experts David and Meredith Liben host “Know Better, Do Better: Comprehension,” a six-part podcast series based on their book of the same name.

With their signature charm and straight talk, David and Meredith take on an urgent problem in American schools today—kids not understanding what they read—and how reading comprehension can be taught more effectively. 

Over six digestible episodes, David and Meredith explore how comprehension works in the mind of the reader, the roles of building knowledge and vocabulary, the importance of reading language-rich, grade-level texts, and how text-centered classroom instruction is the key to students’ confidence and reading comprehension. The series features a range of teachers and expert voices, like Margaret McKeown and Lily Wong Fillmore, as well as practical ideas for classroom implementation.

Episodes 1 and 2 drop October 15, 2024!

For more information, visit the episode webpage on the Knowledge Matters Podcast website.

This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork. You can learn more about our work at www.knowledgematterscampaign.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Search #knowledgematters and join this important conversation. If you'd like to get in touch with David and Meredith, you can contact them through their website, readingdoneright.org.

Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea. Narration recorded at Bamboo Recording Studios.

Transcript

David Liben
No kid goes home and talks to their parents about: main idea, key details, or standard three, the interaction standard. But they might go home and talk to their parents about things like the speed of light is actually a speed limit in the universe. Or that the insect world is in fact full of zombies. 

Meredith Liben 
And that kind of curiosity and access to why you actually read in the first place - to learn about yourself or the world - is the point of reading. And we need that to be centered and that kind of common sense approach to come back to classrooms.

David Liben
Welcome to the story of how reading comprehension works in the mind of the reader. 

Meredith Liben 
And how we - as educators - can do better to help kids learn to read deeply and with understanding.  

Margaret McKeown
You know, it's often said that well, good readers are strategic. And that's true. But focusing on strategies really tends to take the reader's attention away from the text, because it's more thinking about okay, how do I construct a main idea or a summary? Okay, it's got to be who, what, why, where? No, we don't want them doing that. We want them in the text all the time, thinking about the text, and what they have to do to make sense of that text. That's, that's really the heart of it.

David Liben
I’m David Liben.
 
Meredith Liben
And I’m Meredith Liben.

David Liben
And if you have trouble recognizing who’s David and who’s Meredith, I’m the one who sounds like Bernie Sanders. 

Meredith Liben
Between us, we’ve been teachers for over 50 years - in all grade levels and all kinds of settings. 
 
David Liben
We’re your hosts for this second season of the Knowledge Matters Podcast, called “Know Better, Do Better: Reading Comprehension,” based on our second book. 

Meredith Liben
This podcast is a conversation between experts, other educators, and you - right from our living room. 

David Liben 
We talked to lots of teachers about their journeys, rethinking how they approach comprehension instruction.

Kyaire Butts
One big benefit that I've really seen is students build more confidence with multiple at bats. So the first time we read and maybe we try to organize what's going on, students might be a little unsure as far as building a literal understanding of what's happening. But a second and a third read, not only do they know more, because they're building their knowledge of the topic, but they're really more confident with it. So I'll sort of hit a knowledge homerun, if you will.

Rachel Stack 
For me it was a breakthrough because it showed me that for those kids that was going to be a life practice. They were just out of the classroom, they were in drama, they were given a text, they were asked questions about it. And they just went right into close reading. And it was a natural state for them. 

Staci McDougall 
By the end of the year, those kids are confident that they will figure it out, and they can read that text. And so, I would say, it created a bigger love of reading for kids. When they're grappling with challenging books about challenging topics, and they know something that the adults in their life don't know, and they have something valuable to say, they're ready to go. They don't mind at all working hard for it. 

David Liben
So, you’ve taught your students to read the words on the page. That’s huge! 

Meredith Liben
But…do they understand what the words mean? Throughout this series, you’ll learn about all things comprehension - from the vital importance of centering the text, to instructional techniques to use in your classroom, no matter what your students’ current reading level is. 

David Liben
Subscribe now to the Knowledge Matters Podcast. And join us for Season 2: Know Better, Do Better: Reading Comprehension.

[OUTTAKE]

David Liben
What's our music? Are we doing the Grateful Dead this time?

Meredith Liben
Too expensive. [laughter] David!