E35 - Elevating Fluency: Connecting Decoding, Language, and Meaning

What does it take to move students beyond accurate decoding toward fluent, meaningful reading? In this episode, we welcome Kelly Maxwell and Deiysi Paredes-Monjaras, co-creators of Elevating Fluency, to explore why foundational literacy skills and language comprehension must develop together. Drawing on their experiences as a struggling reader and a multilingual learner, Kelly and Deiysi discuss the importance of connecting phonics to vocabulary, using visuals without promoting guessing, and recognizing how home language knowledge shapes reading development. They also examine the difference between decoding difficulties and cross-linguistic transfer, the unique demands of Spanish literacy instruction, and how intentional instructional shifts can help multilingual learners become confident, capable readers. Kelly Maxwell and Deiysi Paredes-Monjaras are reading interventionists and co-creators of Elevating Fluency, a K–5 structured literacy supplemental program designed to connect word recognition with language comprehension. Kelly currently serves as a literacy coach and reading interventionist at a dual language elementary school. Deiysi taught first-grade Spanish in a dual language classroom for 13 years and now serves as a Spanish literacy interventionist, biliteracy coach, and dual language specialist. Together, they bring decades of practical expertise to helping students become confident, skilled readers. **Key Takeaways:** 1. Fluency goes beyond decoding. Connecting phonics, vocabulary, oral language, and meaning helps students become confident, skilled readers. 2. Home languages are literacy assets. Recognizing cross-linguistic connections helps teachers build on students' strengths and distinguish language differences from reading difficulties. 3. Intentional instruction connects reading and language. Strategic visuals, explicit modeling, and meaningful oral language practice strengthen foundational skills and comprehension. **Timestamps:** (00:00) Welcome to Literacy Across Languages! (01:31) Meet Kelly Maxwell and Deiysi Paredes-Monjaras (07:41) Connecting Sounds, Print, and Language (09:34) Building Meaning into Phonics Instruction (11:51) Using Visuals Without Promoting Guessing (13:10) Looking Beyond Reading Scores (15:40) Language Differences or Decoding Difficulties? (20:19) Leveraging Home Language Connections (24:18) Designing Fluency Instruction for Spanish (29:40) Small Shifts That Strengthen Language and Literacy (31:39) Learning from Our Students (34:06) Until Next Time! **Episode Resources:** 1. Explore Elevating Fluency to connect foundational literacy skills with language comprehension. 2. Discover Elevating Fluency Español for Spanish literacy and fluency instruction. **Stay Connected:** Visit us at ⁠literacyacrosslanguages.com⁠, follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠, or connect with ⁠⁠Mary⁠⁠ and ⁠Katherine⁠⁠ on LinkedIn. **Enjoying the podcast?** Follow, leave a review, and share your favorite episodes with fellow educators to keep the learning going. **Keywords:** reading fluency, multilingual learners, structured literacy, science of reading, science of language acquisition, language comprehension, word recognition, decoding, phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, oral language development, vocabulary development, cross-linguistic transfer, home language assets, biliteracy, Spanish literacy, dual language education, cognates, articulatory gestures, visual scaffolds, foundational literacy skills, reading intervention, language acquisition, decoding difficulties, explicit instruction, reading comprehension, Elevating Fluency, Elevating Fluency Español, asset-based instruction, multilingual literacy