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Using Whole Texts to Foster Student Agency and Critical Thinking

• Fishtank Learning

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0:00 | 59:14

This edWeb podcast is sponsored by Fishtank Learning.

The edLeader Panel recording can be accessed here.

In a world of short clips, excerpts, and isolated passages, the ability to engage with a complete, complex text is a superpower. While passages have their place in assessment, research shows that immersion in whole books is what truly transforms students into critical readers, writers, thinkers, and global citizens.

In this edWeb podcast, Emily Wojtusik from Fishtank Learning is joined by Katie Gribben, District Instructional Lead for ELA/Literacy at Cambridge Public Schools, and Rebecca Israel, Director of Literacy Achievement for KIPP New Jersey, two leaders with frontline experience building reading culture across entire school systems. Together, they explore how centering ELA instruction around whole texts serves as an act of equity: what it looks like to implement at scale, how it shifts teaching practice, and why they believe every student deserves access to the full power of a book.

Listen to this session to discover:

  • The Equity of Excellence: Why providing every student, regardless of their starting point, access to complete, high-quality books is essential for closing opportunity gaps.
  • Cultivating “Change Agents”: How whole texts build the background knowledge and empathy students need to solve critical problems in their communities.
  • Moving from Compliance to Integrity: Strategies for using high-quality curriculum materials to plan deep, text-based discussions that shift the cognitive heavy lifting from the teacher to the student.
  • Intentional Support & Scaffolding: How to navigate complex whole texts with diverse learners while maintaining the “joy of reading” and instructional rigor.

This edWeb podcast is of interest to K-12 school leaders and district leaders.

Fishtank Learning
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