Teaching Literacy Podcast

Jake Downs

teachingliteracypodcast@gmail.com

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Booking Overview

This is an education interview show focused on translating literacy research into classroom practice, with external guests typically consisting of university researchers and education research teams. Credible pitches include reading scientists, literacy researchers, curriculum and instruction specialists, and school-improvement experts with published research or evidence-based implementation experience; booking difficulty is medium because guests generally need strong subject-matter credentials but are accessible professional experts rather than major public figures.

Metrics

Episodes: 91

Frequency: Irregular

Rating: 4.9/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1k-10k

Gender skew: Neutral

Location: USA

Contact Information

teachingliteracypodcast@gmail.com

For verified host and producer emails, sign up to view.

Host

Jake Downs - Host focused on bridging literacy research and classroom practice.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

medium
Typical Credentials:  
Researchers, university faculty, and education professionals with published literacy or reading research, evidence-based instructional expertise, or documented work in curriculum and school improvement.
Required Achievements:  
Published peer-reviewed research, Authorship of education research briefs or studies, Research or implementation experience with literacy instruction and reading comprehension

Recent Guest Discussions

John Strong - Vocabulary, Multisyllabic Word Reading, Decoding, Morphology, And Upper-elementary Literacy Instruction.

Laura Tortorelli - Vocabulary, Multisyllabic Word Reading, Decoding, Morphology, And Upper-elementary Literacy Instruction.

Amanda Shimizu - Early Childhood Stories, Preschool Read-alouds, Video Design, And Instructional Quality On Youtube.

Sara Rutherford-Quach - High-quality Instructional Materials, Robust Reading Comprehension, Classroom Observation Findings, And Instructional Practices.

Anna Jennerjohn - High-quality Instructional Materials, Robust Reading Comprehension, Classroom Observation Findings, And Instructional Practices.

Recent Topics

Literacy, Reading, Education, Comprehension, Phonics

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on
Teaching Literacy Podcast
:

Recap from the Society from the Scientific Study of Reading Conference 2026 with Lori Sappington and Dr. Blythe Anderson

August 10, 2026

It’s a special roundtable on the Teaching Literacy Podcast! Host Dr. Jake Downs, Lori Southington, and Blythe Anderson record live from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) conference in Rotterdam to bridge the gap between emerging research and classroom practice. The trio unpacks key studies on interactive read-alouds and morphology instruction, highlighting how teachers can move past superficial vocabulary “mentioning” to foster deep, active meaning-makin...

E76| How Vocabulary Supports Multisyllabic Word Reading in Upper Elementary with Dr. Laura Tortorelli and Dr. John Strong

July 22, 2026

In this episode of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, host Jake Downs sits down with Dr. Laura Tortorelli and Dr. John Strong to unpack how vocabulary and advanced decoding interact to help upper elementary students navigate complex academic texts. Discussing their recent study on multisyllabic decoding achievement, the researchers explain why treating vocabulary and word recognition as isolated instructional buckets is a critical mistake. They dive into the mechanics of the fourth-grade slump an...

E75|Quality of Preschool Read Alouds on YouTube with Dr. Amanda Shimizu

June 22, 2026

In this episode, Jake sits down with Dr. Amanda Shimizu to discuss her research paper, A Multimodal Content Analysis of Popular Early Childhood Stories and Read-Alouds on YouTube, co-authored with Dr. Margaret Quinn. Together they analyzed the 50 most popular preschool read-aloud videos on YouTube over a one-year period, examining both video design and instructional quality.Reference: Shimizu, A. Y., & Quinn, M. F. (2026). A multimodal content analysis of popular early childhood storie...

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