Inspiring Lifelong Readers with Jennifer McCarty Plucker
The Be Podcast Network, an organization of more than four dozen engaging shows dedicated to education, and Reading Is Fundamental are partnering during National Literacy Month to share high-impact conversations about literacy with more than 40 unique episodes featuring conversations about the state of children’s literacy nationwide, best practices for reading instruction and engagement, strategies to foster the joy of reading in school and at home, and much more.
In this episode, listen to the conversation with Jennifer McCarty Plucker, who has spent more than 20 years in public education as an English teacher, reading specialist, speech coach, teaching and learning specialist, and district administrator. Her doctoral research focused on student engagement and motivation in literacy.
Jennifer’s book, Inspiring Lifelong Readers: Using Inquiry to Engage Learners in Grades 6–12, was a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award winner.
They discuss:
- Setting the goal to create competent, confident, engaged readers
- The factors for engagement
- How the inquiry approach works
- How building a community of readers, writers, thinkers, and collaborators benefits student learning and achievement
- Arguing for the inclusion of rich, diverse texts and challenging the idea of assigned reading
- Physical and social-emotional environments that create ideal conditions for literacy engagement
- One technique schools should try more