In this episode, Jacob Chastain sits down with Jennifer Serravallo to discuss Whole Book Comprehension and why knowledge building, sustained reading, and deep comprehension deserve a renewed place in today's classrooms.
Together, they explore how literacy instruction has shifted over the past decade, why whole-book reading has become less common, and whether today's emphasis on knowledge-rich instruction is something new—or a return to what we've always known works.
Jennifer also shares practical strategies for making whole-book teaching fit into real classrooms, how it connects with shorter texts and excerpts, and ways teachers and PLCs can begin strengthening comprehension instruction this school year.
Whether you're a classroom teacher, coach, or school leader, this conversation will challenge the way you think about reading—and give you practical ideas you can use right away.
**\*\*Announced in this episode is the new podcast from Jacob Chastain, The Golden Table. Click here to listen now.**
Jennifer Serravallo is the author of*The New York Times*' bestselling The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and The Writing Strategies Book*.* These and some of her other titles have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese. Her popular books and resources help teachers make goal-directed, responsive, explicit strategy instruction doable in every classroom. Her newest titles are The Reading Strategies Book 2.0; Teaching Writing in Small Groups; A Teacher's Guide to Reading Conferences, and the assessment and teaching resource Complete Comprehension for Fiction and Nonfiction.