Pam Kastner

“Due to the fact that there are many ways a child can fall through the cracks,this makes the first 3 years of school the most important in the child’s life. It also means the K, 1st& 2nd grade teachers are the most important teachers in the entire system.”Mc Guinness,1997, p.211.

What an honor to present at the upcoming International Dyslexia Association national conference with the one and only Sue Hegland! @DyslexiaIDA

In this incredible, Meet the Expert, Reading Rockets video Dr. Louisa Cook Moats shares that,
"Spelling is a visible record of language processing. It is language written down. If we know how to look at a child’s spelling, we can tell what a child understands about speech sounds, about how we use letters to represent those and, as it turns out, anything that is going to cause trouble with a child’s reading will show up even more dramatically in the child’s spelling and writing." (You can watch the video here: youtube.com/watch?v=SoX21V…

Language written down! I love that statement! Spelling, whether a correct, or incorrect spelling, is a linguistic window offering us the opportunity to engage in effective, efficient, informed instruction and intervention.

Which is why I am so honored to spend an entire year with Michigan educators focused on spelling!

Today we finished our third session, and I could not be more grateful for the commitment, dedication, and enthusiasm the Michigan educators joining me for this year-long series have embraced this series!!

A big thank you to Dr. Kim St. Martin and the MiMTSS team for this honor! @MiMTSSTACenter

Thank you @SamanthaBrauns2 ! It was an honor to learn with @@margaretmckeow2 and @smorrisey !

Launching today: the inaugural podcast/webcast of Research Meets Reality!
In every episode of Research Meets Reality, Dr. Stephanie Stollar and Dr. Pam Kastner bring a leading researcher or national literacy expert directly into conversation with a classroom teacher or other educator who has done the hard, real work of applying that research with actual students and gotten results.

Not theory. Not a pilot program. Real kids. Real classrooms. Real Monday mornings.

You’re going to hear both the science and the story, both the “why” and the “how.”

And you’re going to leave every episode knowing exactly what to try next!

We are starting with a question that is fundamental to literacy. How do students develop rich knowledge of words?

Joining us for this robust conversation is Dr. Moddy McKeown, vocabulary researcher and co-author of Bringing Words to Life, and Sean Morrissey, Former School Psychologist, Fifth Grade Teacher and Creator of the Word Mapping Project!

Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=zyesP8… be sure to download the listening guide and additional resources, here: stephaniestollarconsulting.com/podcast1

When research and practice align, readers rise! @sstollar6 @margaretmckeow2 @smorrisey