Special episode: Scaffolding complex texts, with Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D.

What does it take to help every student in grades 5–8 access complex texts—without ever lowering the rigor? That’s the question at the heart of this special Science of Reading: The Podcast episode, with author and education consultant Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D. Mitchell joins host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., to discuss his new book, Scaffolding Complex Texts: How to Plan and Teach for Deeper Comprehension in Grades 5–8. Together, Mitchell and Susan also discuss the misconceptions about comprehension that keep students stuck at the surface level; why scaffolds should be deployed at the hardest—not the easiest—parts of a text; and why teachers need to become expert listeners to guide deeper comprehension.

Show notes:

• Read Scaffolding Complex Texts: How to Plan and Teach for Deeper Comprehension in Grades 5–8. 
• Listen to Mitchell’s first Science of Reading: The Podcast episode, Leading with the head and the heart: Enacting lasting literacy change.
• Listen to Mitchell’s Beyond My Years’ episode, Cultivating critical thinkers in your classroom. 
• Subscribe to Susan’s new Science of Reading Substack.
• Check out our Comprehension Insights from Season 10 Youtube Playlist. 
• Join our Science of Reading community Facebook group.

Quotes:
“Comprehension to me is not the who, what, when, where. It’s not the gist. It’s insight.” —Mitchell Brookins

“When you give students more, they do more.” —Mitchell Brookins

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction: Scaffolding complex texts, with Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D.
2:00 Mitchell’s background and journey
5:00 How Scaffolding Complex Texts came to be
10:00 Misconceptions about comprehension instruction
14:00 What educators need to understand about how students comprehend complex texts
19:00 What needs to change in classrooms
27:00 Making deep comprehension instruction consistent
34:00 Unintended consequences and cognitive flexibility
38:00 Closing thoughts: How writing the book transformed Mitchell
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute