Literacy
How knowledge, vocabulary and language drive understanding, and how to teach a whole text well. I've gathered videos, podcasts and reading on teaching comprehension through knowledge, vocabulary and whole texts, including close reading and where comprehension strategies fit.
Practices in this area:Building background knowledgeText selectionClose readingQuestioning the authorComprehension strategies in their place
Lesson footage
Anita Archer (explicitinstruction.org) · 11 videos · Primary · USA
Eleven classroom videos in which Anita Archer models explicit instruction with American kindergarten to third grade classes, covering decoding, vocabulary, read-alouds, dictation and summary writing.
FreeOpens at explicitinstruction.org
Lesson footage
Research Schools Network · Years 3-6 · UK
Teaching reading comprehension strategies explicitly in upper primary.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Lesson with commentary
Teach Like a Champion (Doug Lemov) · Primary · 2023 · UK
A clip from Rivers Primary Academy in Walsall showing three questioning techniques working together during a class novel, with commentary on why each one helps.
FreeOpens at teachlikeachampion.org
Lesson footage
Research Schools Network · Primary · UK
A teacher models reading line by line to support comprehension.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Lesson footage
Anita Archer (explicitinstruction.org) · Primary · USA
Anita Archer models how to introduce a comprehension strategy.
FreeOpens at explicitinstruction.org
Lesson with commentary
Teach Like a Champion (Doug Lemov) · Primary · 2024 · UK
Classroom footage from Goldsmith Primary Academy in Walsall of a teacher checking what students have understood during reading, with notes on the details that make it work.
FreeOpens at teachlikeachampion.org
Lesson footage
Research Schools Network · UK
A check, link, connect framework for supporting comprehension during reading.
FreeOpens at researchschool.org.uk
Webinar
Think Forward Educators, with Jillian Robinson · About 45 minutes · 2025 · Australia
Jillian Robinson introduces four Teach Like a Champion tools for building background knowledge to support comprehension, including embedded non-fiction and knowledge organisers, with classroom footage.
FreeOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Webinar
Think Forward Educators, with Tanya Serry · About 70 minutes · 2026 · Australia
Professor Tanya Serry uses Nancy Hennessey's assembly line metaphor to explain the language foundations of reading comprehension, from word identification and vocabulary to syntax and background knowledge.
FreeOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Webinar
Think Forward Educators, with Natalie Wexler · 30 to 60 minutes · 2024 · USA
Natalie Wexler argues that explicit writing instruction embedded in subject content can deepen knowledge, strengthen reading comprehension and build analytical thinking.
Free account neededOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
Talk
researchED, with Reid Smith · About 35 minutes · 2023 · Australia
Reid Smith's talk from researchED Ballarat 2023, asking whether knowing is enough. A prompt for teams thinking about the place of knowledge in the curriculum.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Talk
Read Ballarat, with Stephanie Le Lievre · About 65 minutes · Australia
Stephanie Le Lievre presents a knowledge-based model of reading comprehension in a session for Read Ballarat. Useful for teachers rethinking how comprehension is taught.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Explainer
Daniel Willingham · About 10 minutes · USA
Daniel Willingham's ten-minute video making the case that teaching content is teaching reading. Short enough to show in a staff meeting.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Interview
Melissa and Lori Love Literacy, with Hugh Catts · About 56 minutes · USA
Hugh Catts joins the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy podcast to talk about rethinking reading comprehension. This is the video of episode 118, and it pairs with his American Educator article.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Webinar
Five from Five, with Jennifer Throndsen · 1 hour 11 minutes · 2026 · USA
Practical strategies and tools for scaffolding challenging texts, so every student can work with grade-level content even when the reading is hard for them.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Webinar
Think Forward Educators, with Tanya Serry · 30 to 60 minutes · 2026 · Australia
Professor Tanya Serry's second session on the language foundations of reading comprehension, turning to what they mean for teaching reading and writing.
FreeOpens at youtube.com
Teaching reading through whole texts
Education Research Reading Room · with Doug Lemov
Doug Lemov discusses The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, including book choice, book-driven objectives and the place of writing.
FreeOpens at ollielovell.com
Reading success in 3 to 6
The Structured Literacy Podcast · with Jocelyn Seamer
Jocelyn Seamer shares five evidence-informed moves for reading in Years 3 to 6, including language-rich talk, explicit code knowledge, partner reading and careful text selection.
FreeOpens at buzzsprout.com
Structured literacy in 3 to 6
Knowledge for Teachers · with Jocelyn Seamer
Jocelyn Seamer discusses effective literacy instruction in upper primary and how to move beyond levelled texts and strategy-heavy comprehension lessons.
FreeOpens at knowledgeforteachers.podbean.com
Text complexity and text selection
The Structured Literacy Podcast · with Jocelyn Seamer
Jocelyn Seamer introduces four dimensions of text demand to help teachers choose rich texts that challenge students without overwhelming them, moving beyond levelling systems.
FreeOpens at buzzsprout.com
Comprehension through questioning
Education Research Reading Room · with Margaret McKeown
Margaret McKeown outlines the Questioning the Author approach to reading comprehension, then gives feedback on a lesson plan Ollie Lovell built from its strategies.
FreeOpens at ollielovell.com
Comprehension
Evidence into Action
An EEF panel including Kate Cain discusses the reading comprehension house from the guidance report Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2 and how it supports teaching.
FreeOpens at evidenceintoaction.podbean.com
Comprehension strategies
The Structured Literacy Podcast · with Jocelyn Seamer
Jocelyn Seamer explores where comprehension strategies fit within overall reading instruction. A Summer Series replay of a listener favourite.
FreeOpens at buzzsprout.com
Close reading
Knowledge for Teachers · with Christopher Such
Christopher Such discusses his book Primary Reading Simplified and what close reading looks like in a primary classroom.
FreeOpens at knowledgeforteachers.podbean.com
Education Research Reading Room · with Natalie Wexler
Journalist Natalie Wexler discusses The Knowledge Gap and her argument that building knowledge is central to reading comprehension in American schools.
FreeOpens at ollielovell.com
Moving on from guided reading
The Structured Literacy Podcast · with Jocelyn Seamer
Jocelyn Seamer talks through the shifts in thinking needed when moving away from small-group guided reading. A Summer Series replay of a listener favourite.
FreeOpens at buzzsprout.com
Doug Lemov (Doug Lemov's Field Notes) · Substack · 2026 · USA
In an excerpt from his guide to the science of reading, Lemov explains why the hope of teaching transferable comprehension skills is a chimera, and why inference and understanding depend on knowledge.
FreeOpens at douglemov.substack.com
Natalie Wexler (Minding the Gap) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Wexler reports a study isolating complex syntax as a factor in comprehension, and describes how teachers can spot sentence-level difficulties and use sentence-level writing activities to teach them.
FreeOpens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Rebecca Birch (On Education) · Substack · 2023 · Australia
Through a reading passage that leaves most readers lost, Birch shows how background knowledge shapes comprehension, and argues an ambitious curriculum is how schools give every student access to powerful knowledge.
FreeOpens at rebeccabirch.substack.com
Teach Like a Champion · Substack · 2026 · USA
Argues that vocabulary grows through planned explicit teaching, rich texts and repeated encounters rather than guessing from context clues, with practical moves for literacy lessons.
FreeOpens at teachlikeachamp.substack.com
Mary Myatt (Curriculum 101) · Substack · 2026 · UK
Makes the case that reading demanding texts aloud in every subject builds vocabulary, background knowledge and access to complex language for all pupils, including those who cannot yet read them alone.
FreeOpens at marymyatt.substack.com
Five from Five · Guide · Australia
Five from Five's teacher guide to reading comprehension, drawing together language, background knowledge and comprehension strategies.
FreeOpens at fivefromfive.com.au
Natalie Wexler (Minding the Gap) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Using one widely adopted US program as a case study, Wexler explains how a curriculum can look knowledge-building but lack depth and coherence, and why ratings can mislead schools.
FreeOpens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Doug Lemov (Doug Lemov's Field Notes) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Lemov shares highlights from a Year 3 teacher's unit on the novel Stone Fox, showing how shared reading, fluency, vocabulary and writing prompts are planned into lessons built around a whole text.
FreeOpens at douglemov.substack.com
Education Endowment Foundation · Guidance report · UK
Opens at educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk
Daniel Willingham, American Educator · Article · 2006 · USA
Daniel Willingham explains why knowledge is more than grist for the mill, and how what students already know speeds and strengthens their reading comprehension, learning and thinking.
FreeOpens at aft.org
Hugh Catts, American Educator · Article · USA
Hugh Catts argues that reading comprehension is not a single skill that can be taught and tested on its own, because it depends on the reader's knowledge, the text and the purpose for reading.
FreeOpens at aft.org
Carl Hendrick (The Learning Dispatch) · Substack · 2026 · UK
Drawing on new research and his own teaching, Hendrick argues that comprehension depends far more on knowing word meanings than on generic strategies, and makes the case for rich vocabulary teaching as an equity lever.
FreeOpens at carlhendrick.substack.com
Natalie Wexler (Minding the Gap) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Wexler examines complaints that knowledge-building literacy curricula lack whole books, separating fair criticism from misunderstanding and noting what teachers report about students' stamina with longer texts.
FreeOpens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Daisy Christodoulou (No More Marking) · Substack · 2025 · UK
Christodoulou describes how many students fail to spot even obvious hoaxes online, and argues that background knowledge matters more than generic media literacy for judging what is true.
FreeOpens at substack.nomoremarking.com
Doug Lemov (Doug Lemov's Field Notes) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Lemov explains the idea of re-centring the text, reading together in class from the same book, and why it builds attention, fluency and shared meaning when technology competes for students' focus.
FreeOpens at douglemov.substack.com
Olivia Mullins (The Curriculum Insight Project) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Olivia Mullins responds to a meta-analysis questioning content-rich teaching for comprehension, explaining why its design does not overturn evidence that knowledge supports reading comprehension.
FreeOpens at curriculuminsightproject.substack.com
Karen Vaites (The Curriculum Insight Project) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Discusses a study in which struggling Year 3 readers did better with challenging, content-rich texts plus explicit teaching of multisyllabic words than with lower-level texts.
FreeOpens at curriculuminsightproject.substack.com
The Curriculum Insight Project · Substack · 2024 · USA
Weighs the debate over independent reading time, siding with Christopher Such's view that reading volume matters but works best inside a structured, knowledge-building curriculum.
FreeOpens at curriculuminsightproject.substack.com
Daniel Willingham · Substack · 2025 · USA
Willingham highlights Tim Shanahan's case against levelled reading, explaining why matching children to texts by reading level is inefficient and holds back weaker readers.
FreeOpens at dtwuva.substack.com
Natalie Wexler (Minding the Gap) · Substack · 2024 · USA
Wexler explains why many older students still struggle to read, why upper-grade teachers need different training from early-years teachers, and which approaches look promising.
FreeOpens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Doug Lemov (Doug Lemov's Field Notes) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Through video of a middle school teacher, Lemov explains formative writing, where students write to discover what they think, and shows how to make it a regular routine in response to rich texts.
FreeOpens at douglemov.substack.com
Rebecca Birch (On Education) · Substack · 2024 · Australia
Birch reflects on co-creating a reading spine, a planned sequence of whole texts across the years, and on why schools should ensure every student has a copy of the books they study.
FreeOpens at rebeccabirch.substack.com
Teach Like a Champion · Substack · 2026 · USA
Explains how teacher-led oral reading, planned and supported well, builds fluency without the anxiety of popcorn reading, including ways to support struggling readers in short bursts of text.
FreeOpens at teachlikeachamp.substack.com
Mary Myatt (Curriculum 101) · Substack · 2026 · UK
A short account of a whole-class reading lesson where pupils with additional needs worked alongside peers on the same rich text, and what made that possible.
FreeOpens at marymyatt.substack.com
Five from Five · Blog post · 2023 · Australia
A short argument that, as schools get decoding and fluency right, well-taught comprehension strategies still have a place alongside knowledge building.
FreeOpens at fivefromfive.com.au
Natalie Wexler (Minding the Gap) · Substack · 2025 · USA
Wexler untangles competing claims that schools teach too little or too much comprehension, tracing the debate back to Durkin and arguing that literacy and content teaching must work together.
FreeOpens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Doug Lemov (Doug Lemov's Field Notes) · Substack · 2026 · USA
Lemov shows how shared oral reading of a whole book frees students' working memory for discussion, using classroom video to illustrate how reading together leads to richer conversation.
FreeOpens at douglemov.substack.com
Core Knowledge Foundation, on Recht and Leslie (1988) · 2017 · Account of a 1988 study
FoundationalOpens at coreknowledge.org
Ofsted · 2022 · Research review
Opens at gov.uk
What Works Clearinghouse · Practice guide · USA
A What Works Clearinghouse practice guide on reading interventions for students in the upper primary and lower secondary years. One for leaders planning support for older struggling readers.
FreeOpens at ies.ed.gov
Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry and Lorraine Hammond · 2021 · Open access · Reading Psychology
An open-access critical review of the research on the part background knowledge plays in reading comprehension, published in Reading Psychology in 2021.
Opens at doi.org
Blog · Australia
Opens at eminamclean.com
Substack and podcast · Australia
Opens at nathanielswain.substack.com
Blog and Substack · UK
Opens at learningspy.co.uk
Substack · USA
Opens at nataliewexler.substack.com
Blog · USA
Opens at shanahanonliteracy.com
Reviews · UK
Opens at gov.uk
Reading passages and text sets · K-12 (USA)
Free account neededOpens at readworks.org
Think Forward Educators · English: Reading comprehension units · Australia
Volunteer-written Australian units for teaching reading comprehension explicitly within a knowledge-rich curriculum, with slides, workbooks, readings and assessments. Trial units open from a shared Google Drive folder.
FreeOpens at thinkforwardeducators.org
