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Hi Teacher Friends!
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy™ is a podcast for teachers. Melissa & Lori are your classroom-next-door teacher friends turned podcasters learning with you. Episodes feature top literacy experts and teachers who are putting the science of reading into practice. Melissa & Lori bridge the gap between the latest research and your day-to-day teaching.
We can't wait to keep learning with you!
Meet the Hosts Our Story
Monthly Roadmap & Listening Guide
Each month, we'll focus on a specific literacy topic, such as writing, academic conversations, or vocabulary. On the podcast, you’ll hear experts discuss research related to that topic, and teachers share how they’re bringing that research into practice in their classrooms!
The monthly roadmap and listening guide will help you deepen your learning—perfect for a quick chat with a teacher friend or guiding planning as a coach!🎙️
Latest Episodes
A Book to Answer Your Most Pressing Literacy Questions!
The Literacy 50—A Q&A Handbook for Teachers by Melissa & Lori has research-backed answers to your top literacy questions, classroom tips, and resources to support you! The book is available for order today.
The BEST Guest Lineup
"Truth be told, I adore Melissa & Lori! They truly have a heart for helping teachers through this podcast outlet. Week after week, I'm so impressed with the quality of guests they have on the show... the researchers, the real experts, and trusted voices in the Science of Reading community. Kudos to making the evidence accessible with this fabulous podcast!"
MSullivan Literacy in COLORGreat interviews
"I have been listening to this podcast for a while and continue to be impressed by the various perspectives of the guests who are interviewed. This podcast is a great intro to structured literacy and also beneficial/ worthwhile for people who already know a fair amount about the topic. I love to keep learning and Melissa & Lori do a great job interviewing their guests, often asking the same questions I am asking while I listen!"
lookingforournextdogKeeps me learning more!
"As a literacy specialist, I am always looking to learn more about how our brain learns to read. This podcast keeps me up to date on the latest research, especially when I don't have time to sit down and do a lot of reading! I love to listen to it and from work for inspiration! The information is quick, digestible, and rooted in research!"
listener WJMy go-to podcast
"Every episode is a professional learning goldmine. And I love how the hosts always bring it back to practical application for educators."
mhilton003
Podcast Playlists
We’ve grouped your favorite episodes by topic to make listening and learning easier. Whether you're a primary teacher wanting to learn more about early literacy or an upper elementary teacher focusing on fluency and reading comprehension, there's a playlist just for you!
Listen to a playlist and head to the classroom next door to chat with your best teacher friend, or take this to a PLC to complement a book study.
Melissa Loftus
Melissa is a National Board-Certified teacher who taught middle and high school ELA for nearly 15 years in New Orleans and Baltimore. She holds a BA in Education and English from Bucknell University and an MEd with Reading Specialist certification from Johns Hopkins University. She is currently a curriculum developer with Great Minds and lives with her son in Pennsylvania, where they spend their free time in their beautiful garden.
Lori Sappington
Lori is an energetic former elementary and high school teacher who taught for more than a decade in Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a BA in Elementary Education and English, an MEd with Reading Specialist certification, and an Advanced Leadership Certificate from Towson University. She currently executes the vision and alignment of multimedia content with Great Minds and lives in Maryland with her daughter and husband. They spend their free time playing sports of all kinds.
In 2018, we were both teaching in Baltimore when our district rolled out a new curriculum, Wit & Wisdom®. As we dove into it, we quickly found ourselves excited—and a little overwhelmed—by all the new research-backed strategies for teaching reading and writing. It was like every day brought a new "aha!" moment, and we realized how much we still had to learn.
In 2019, Lori had the idea to start a podcast—something to help us process all the questions we had and share what we were discovering with other teachers who might be facing the same challenges. We wanted to create a space where educators could feel supported as they navigated the complexities of literacy instruction.
So, in April 2019, we recorded our very first episode of Melissa & Lori Love Literacy in Melissa’s basement (very high-tech!). Since then, we've had the chance to talk with nearly 200 literacy experts, teachers, and leaders, who’ve helped us make sense of the research and offer practical, classroom-friendly advice. It's been an amazing journey of learning alongside each other, and we're so grateful to be able to share it with you!
Stay connected with Melissa and Lori!
