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Hi teacher friend . This is Lori from Melissa

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and Lori Love Literacy . Today

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I'm going to answer the question why shouldn't

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we level students and what should we do

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instead ? So why

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shouldn't we level students ? We'll

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keep this response short and sweet

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. Professor and researcher Kristin

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Conradie-Smith from Episode 143

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says we lack research

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for differentiation by text levels . There's

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simply no support for it . This

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topic came up in our top episode of

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2023 , number 143

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, maximizing Small Group Reading Instruction

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. The authors of an article

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about how to maximize small group instructional

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time explain that teaching with a leveled

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reading , sometimes also known

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as a guided reading approach

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, isn't the most effective way

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to teach or learn to read . There's

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an abundance of evidence that supports this

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idea and there are lots of links in the

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show notes for you to explore . In

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a presentation titled Science of

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Reading Levels , also linked to the show notes

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, tim Shanahan explains that

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no studies have found

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instructional level placements to be beneficial

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in grades 2 through 9 . Older

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students preferred more challenging texts

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, though they do need more help

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with these . Studies

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either found no benefits to instructional

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level placement or that instructional

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level placement hindered learning . So

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what can we do ? We

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can support students access to complex

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texts through scaffold and

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building knowledge using language comprehension

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, for example . Familiarize

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students with print and genre features

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, teach complex syntax and vocabulary

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and teach text organization . Use

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students prior knowledge and match

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that knowledge to text topic demands . That's

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a great way to connect . We

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can also do this through the use of text sets

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a group of texts about a

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topic to build students knowledge and

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vocabulary , practice

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and model oral reading , fluency

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, rereading and

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using comprehension strategies . These

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are helpful tools as well . Hopefully

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this helped to shed some light and

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insight on what to do instead of

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leveling students . Remember

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for more information , check out all

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of the notes and resources in our show notes

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. We can't wait to keep learning with

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you . Thanks

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for listening . Literacy Lovers , to

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stay connected with us , sign up for our

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email list at literacypodcastcom

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. Just a quick reminder that

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the views and opinions expressed by the hosts

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and guests of the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy

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Podcast are not necessarily the

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opinions of Great Minds PBC

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or its employees . We appreciate

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you so much and we're so glad you're

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here to learn with us .