The weekly Lunch & Lit aims to bridge the research to practice divide by bringing scientists and practitioners. To view recordings and resources from previous seasons, visit the Lunch & Lit 2023-24 and 2024-25 archives. Past presenters include:
Lunch & Lit sessions are on Fridays, beginning at 1:00 pm ET/ 12:00 CT/ 10:00 PT. They run for 60 minutes, including a presentation (recorded and posted to this page) and discussion (for Lunch & Lit participants only). If you are interested in participating in the Lunch & Lit, send us an email (see the About Us page).
December 19, 2025
Phil Capin
What We See and What Students Need: Insights from Observation Studies of Reading Comprehension Instruction
Session Recording
Recommended Resources:
Philip Capin, Katlynn Dahl-Leonard, Colby Hall, Na Young Yoon, Eunsoo Cho, Eleni Chatzoglou, Sarah Reiley, Melodee Walker, Emma Shanahan, Tim Andress & Sharon Vaughn (2025) Reading Comprehension Instruction: Evaluating Our Progress Since Durkin’s Seminal Study, Scientific Studies of Reading, 29:1, 85-114, DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2024.2418582.
December 12, 2025
Dan Reynolds, Sara Rutherford-Quach & Anna Jennerjohn
Beyond the Surface: Leveraging HQIM for Robust Reading Comprehension
Session Recording
Recommended Resources:
December 5, 2025
Mindy Bridges
Using Think-Alouds to Observe Adolescent Reading Strategy Use and Its Relationship to Reading Comprehension
Session Recording
Presentation:
Recommended Resources:
Carolyn A. Denton, Christopher A. Wolters, Mary J. York, Elizabeth Swanson, Paulina A. Kulesz, David J. Francis, Adolescents’ use of reading comprehension strategies: Differences related to reading proficiency, grade level, and gender, Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 37, 2015, Pages 81-95, ISSN 1041-6080, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.11.016.
November 21, 2025
Andrea Setmeyer, Jill Pentimonti, Vivek Ramakrishnan & David Chalk
Developers Discuss Literacy-Focused AI Products and Their Potential Applications
Session Recording
Recommended Resources:
The Algorithmic Turn: The Emerging Evidence on AI Tutoring That’s Hard to Ignore by Carl Hendrick (The Learning Dispatch Substack Entry dated 11.8.25)
Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research from UNESCO (2023). [As a reference only. Please note the rubrics to assist in co-designing uses of Generative AI to support teaching and learning beginning on page 31].
November 14, 2025
Andrea Setmeyer, Jill Fain Lehman & Adam Kronk
Generative AI: What it is, what it’s not, and what it means for K-12 education
Session Recording
Recommended Resources:
Watch: Generative AI: A recorded presentation by Jill Fain Lehman on language, meaning, and the human experience as it relates to interacting with AI. [The entire presentation is great, but I’d suggest watching at least the 25 minute section from 8:47 – 33:33.]
Read: Are We Living in a Golden Age of Stupidity: An article by Sophie McBain published on October 18, 2025 in The Guardian. [Pre-print research article: Kosmyna et al., 2025]
October 24, 2025
Barbara Hammond, Liz Woody-Remington, Kim Garcia & Leslie Connelly
Indian River County’s “Moonshot Moment”
Session Recording
Presentation:
Recommended Resources:
Children’s Literacy Project recently produced a series of videos to share the work and the learning. Link to the Moonshot Series
October 17, 2025
Stephanie Stollar
MTSS for Reading Improvement
Session Recording
Recommended Resources:
Sarah Brown and Stephanie Stollar on Anna’ Geiger’s Triple R Teaching podcast.
MTSS Playlist on the Reading Science Academy YouTube channel.
October 3, 2025
Noel Gunther, Tami Mount & Carla Sanford
An Introduction to Reading Universe
Session Recording
Presentation:
Recommended Resources:
Short videos: Teaching the Digraph ’th’ – Introductory lesson with third-graders
Writing stronger sentences: Which conjunction works best? – Lesson on conjunctions
Reading: Two-page introduction to Reading Universe
Website: Reading Universe
September 19, 2025
Elfrieda (Freddy) Hiebert
When Students Don’t Read Enough: Examining Scientific Evidence on Text and Volume
Session Recording
Presentation:
Recommended Resources:
Article: Hiebert, E. H. (2025). Unpacking automaticity: Scaffolded texts and comprehension. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 68(4), 369-379.
Blog: Why Every Minute of Reading Matters:
Website: www.textproject.org (specifically free texts and/or: Teaching Toolkit on reading stamina in silent reading)
Short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEaBksn_7JY&list=PLwIychIT3IChz_e0oM8LYzucp9yJFvAbg (Take the Seven Minute Challenge)
September 12, 2025
Cherish Sarmiento & Adrea Truckenmiller
Using long words as a metric for vocabulary knowledge
Session Recording
Presentation:
Recommended Resources:
Sarmiento, C. M., Truckenmiller, A. J., Cho, E., & Wang, H. (2025). Academic language use in middle school informational writing. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 384-404. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12724 .
