Reading Realities

About Reading Realities

Changing how we teach reading isn’t simple. It’s complex, ongoing, and often overwhelming—and no one should have to figure it out alone. Reading Realities is a podcast about what it really takes to change how we teach reading. Host Rose Else-Mitchell of the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz talks honestly with educators about the instructional shifts they're making, what they've learned about how humans learn to read, and what it takes to teach it. Guests discuss what they've tried, what worked (and what didn’t), and what they are learning to do differently now — making change durable, practical, and compassionate for anyone on this journey teaching reading. New episodes air every other week on Wednesdays. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Publisher

Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 May 2026

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

9 of 14 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Progress Over Perfection feat. Suellen Piercey

   Literacy coach Suellen Piercey shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how her daughter's reading journey reshaped her understanding of effective reading instruction.

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   You Can’t Love to Read if You Can’t Read feat. Virginia Quinn-Mooney

   First-grade teacher Virginia Quinn-Mooney discusses with host Rose Else-Mitchell how teacher voice is crucial for the science of reading movement and what educators need from leadership.

3. 

   16 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   I Didn't Know What I Didn't Know feat. Rachel Manandhar

   Literacy interventionist Rachel Manandhar shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how 20 years in special education revealed critical gaps in her understanding of adolescent reading development.

4. 

   2 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   The Teacher Rolodex feat. Aaron Grossman

   Fifth and third-grade teacher Aaron Grossman shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how curiosity transformed his reading instruction methods for students.

5. 

   19 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   When You Listen to Your Students Read feat. Erin Hanrahan

   Middle school teacher Erin Hanrahan shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how listening to students read aloud reveals struggles older readers face, offering insights into improving fluency.

6. 

   29 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Official Trailer: Reading Realities

   Host Rose Else-Mitchell interviews educators about evidence-based reading instruction, offering insights for teachers navigating instructional shifts.

7. 

   1 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT

   I Can't Differentiate My Way Out of This feat. Faith Howard

   Literacy specialist Faith Howard shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how she moved beyond text differentiation to effectively teach reading skills to older students.

8. 

   24 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   A Random Pamphlet Changed My Instruction feat. Anjanette McNeely

   Kindergarten teacher Anjanette McNeely shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how a simple pamphlet ignited her passion for evidence-based literacy instruction.

9. 

   17 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Everyone Sees Themselves as a Reader in My Class feat. Danielle Honsberger

   Grade one teacher Danielle Honsberger shares with host Rose Else-Mitchell how she reexamines assessment data to see every student as a reader.

10. 

    10 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

    Centering Text with Middle School Readers feat. Sara Quinn

    Middle school reading interventionist Sara Quinn shares her evidence-based strategies for connecting adolescent readers with meaningful texts with host Rose Else-Mitchell.

11. 

    27 May 2026

    More Structure, More Freedom: Rebuilding First Grade Literacy feat. Holly Price

    What do you do when the way you’ve been teaching reading for years just isn’t working? In this episode of Reading Realities, host Rose Else-Mitchell speaks with Holly Price, a veteran first grade teacher with more than 25 years in the classroom, about how she rethought her long-held beliefs about what teaching reading looked like. Holly shares her journey from enthusiastic trips to New York to learn about the workshop model to the gradual and uncomfortable realization that what she had learne...

12. 

    20 May 2026

    Messy Work for Meaningful Change feat. Cherie Kent

    What happens when educators realize the way they were taught to teach reading may not have served their students well? In this episode of Reading Realities, Cherie Kent, a literacy coach and consultant based in Auburn, Massachusetts, discusses her realization about the instructional and emotional shifts involved in adopting evidence-based instructional practices. She reflects on her own ah-ha moments from whole language instruction, grief and growth that came with learning more how to teach r...

13. 

    13 May 2026

    Nobody Looks Silly in My Class: Teaching Literacy in Middle School feat. Kyair Butts

    What happens when students are expected to “read to learn” — but haven’t yet fully learned to read? Kyair Butts, a middle school literacy teacher and instructional leader in Baltimore, Maryland, joins host Rose Else-Mitchell, to explore what it means to teach reading to middle school students — and why this work is so urgent. Kyair's journey into teaching via coaching debate shaped his approach to literacy instruction and continues to influence his work. He loves supporting middle schoolers w...

14. 

    5 May 2026

    Teaching is a Verb: Rethinking Kindergarten Reading Instruction feat. Caitlin Lucas

    In this first episode of Reading Realities, host Rose Else-Mitchell talks with Caitlin Lucas, a kindergarten teacher and literacy specialist in Pittsburgh, PA, to unpack her journey from familiar routines to research-aligned reading instruction. Through the disruption of the pandemic, Caitlin began rethinking everything—what mattered, what didn’t, and how to better support young learners. She shares how shifting toward explicit instruction, phonemic awareness, and intentional language modelin...

Inside a recent episode

Progress Over Perfection feat. Suellen Piercey

Published 14 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] Yeah, it's so connected, isn't it? I mean, how you feel about your teacher, whether you feel safe at school, how you feel about your identity as a learner or as a reader, I mean... that is as significant. We have less research around that because research is often so siloed. And I think that's one of the areas where I feel that science of reading as it's defined as an interdisciplinary body of work is so important because that includes psychoanalysis, it includes, you know, social, emotional, and it includes the linguistic, the cognitive, the non-cognitive, all of those aspects that are present in students as we try and teach them how to read. […]

Who has been a guest on Reading Realities

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Suellen Piercey
• Virginia Quinn-Mooney
• Rachel Manandhar
• Aaron Grossman
• Erin Hanrahan

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

26 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

2 ratings

Contact Reading Realities

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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