This is Jennifer Gonzales welcoming you to episode 107 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.

In this episode I interviewed Jen Saravalo about the best ways to use leveled texts in the classroom. A few weeks ago, a few weeks ago a teacher named Isabel O'Kane sent me a direct message on

Twitter. She had been reading a debate that was raging all over social media and

she wondered if it was something I might want to write about.

The debate took place in response to a single tweet sent out by reading experts, Fountas and

Pinnell.

Their tweet read as follows. The classroom library should not be organized

according to level, but according to categories such as topic, author, illustrator,

genre, and award-winning books.

Teachers responded to the tweet from all directions.

Some shouted Hallelujah because it supported what they were already doing.

Other people agreed, but argued that their hands were support of what they were already doing.

Other people agreed, but argued that their hands were tied

because administration required leveled libraries.

Quite a few insisted that the best approach was to do both. Yes, students should be able to seek

out books based on interest, but without levels how would they ever find

appropriate books on their own? And some threw up their hands entirely, wondering if a single clear answer was ever going to present itself.

Because my training and classroom work has all been with students in grade six and above,

I don't have a lot of experience or knowledge on this

topic, but it definitely seemed like something teachers needed help with.

So it was pretty serendipitous when literacy expert Jen Saravalo contacted me right around that time

about her new book understanding texts and readers responsive comprehension

...