by Storyshares
The Adolescent Literacy Podcast brings together educators, researchers, and literacy leaders to explore what it really takes to transform reading outcomes for older students — diving into the evidence, the practice, and the people driving change. Want to connect? Reach out to melanie@storyshares.org
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/15/2026
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August 12, 2026
<p>This week, we sit down with three former students of Storyshares CEO Louise Baigelman and Chief Academic Officer Shira Engel — young people who came to them as older students with gaps in their literacy skills and who, with the right support and the right books, transformed into readers.</p><p>Three moments from this episode you won't forget:</p><ul><li><strong>Ruth</strong> arrived in fifth grade from Haiti reading at a second grade level. Today she's a mom who reads to her sixteen-month-old every single night.</li><li><strong>Zaire</strong> spent years joking his way out of being called on to read. The first book he ever finished on his own — The Crossover by Kwame Alexander — made him cry. He's now pursuing social work because he wants to make the impact on others that his teacher made on him.</li><li><strong>Lenn Darla</strong> went from fifth grade reading intervention to AP Literature to registered nurse — and uses the comprehension skills she learned in fifth grade to advocate for her patients every single day.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Three students. Two teachers. One through-line: it is never too late.</p><p><br></p><p>To learn more about our work transforming adolescent literacy, visit storyshares.org or reach out to melanie@storyshares.org</p>
August 5, 2026
<p>Malcolm Mitchell won a Super Bowl. But he'll tell you that learning to read was the harder — and more important — victory.</p><p>This week, Malcolm joins us to talk about growing up running away from books, feeling bamboozled by a system that never told him the whole truth about what literacy makes possible, and the moment in a college English class that changed everything. Three things you won't forget:</p><ul><li>He was more nervous reading aloud in class than playing in the Super Bowl</li><li>He credits reading — not athletics — with getting drafted by the Patriots</li><li>"I wish someone would've told me the truth. Not the 'pass your class, get an A' motivation — just the hardcore facts."</li></ul><p><br></p><p>🔗 <strong>Share the Magic Foundation:</strong> <a href="http://sharethemagicfoundation.org">sharethemagicfoundation.org</a><br></p>
July 29, 2026
<p>This week, <strong>Lynni Nordheim, District Dyslexia Specialist and Director of Adolescent Literacy for The Reading League Colorado</strong>, joins us to talk about the social emotional experience of adolescent readers — how shame and avoidance show up in intervention work, what schools unintentionally communicate about who is and isn't a reader, and what it actually takes to build the safety and trust that makes learning possible.</p><p>*Plus* practical strategies you can bring back to your classroom literally tomorrow.</p><p>Because these students deserve educators who believe it's not too late — it isn't.</p>
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The Adolescent Literacy Podcast brings together educators, researchers, and literacy leaders to explore what it really takes to transform reading outcomes for older students — diving into the evidence, the practice, and the people driving change.
Want to connect? Reach out to melanie@storyshares.org
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