Our EKC Global Chats series is a space for sharing, asking for support, and brainstorming together.

Each month, we will tackle a different hot topic in literacy with an expert in the field, and then join in some global camaraderie and discussion. It's free to join!

Chat: January 18 | 7:00-8:00am EST

Planning for Structured Literacy in Inquiry-Based Schools

Let’s face it: around every corner, we’re seeing this question pop up over and over—how does explicit literacy instruction live inside inquiry? At this point, it’s not an if but a when. Which leads to a more compelling wondering: how might structured literacy actually amplify inquiry rather than constrain it?

Join EKC Senior Strategist and Bespoke Resource & Curriculum Coordinator, Molly Ball, for a conversation that explores emerging trends, practical entry points, and the conditions schools need to honor both the science of reading and inquiry-driven learning. Together, we’ll unpack what it looks like to measure the impact of these shifts, keep the work deeply student-centered, and plan with core texts in ways that strengthen both knowledge building and classroom agency.

Afterward, you’ll collaborate in grade-band groups to choose a complex text and begin designing one lesson that honors both the demands of the text and the needs of your learners, guided by literacy and learning research.

Facilitators

Molly Ball

Molly Ball has worked as an IB PYP classroom teacher, curriculum developer, and literacy coach in the United States, Korea, and Singapore. She has led teachers in curriculum development with a specific focus on unpacking standards and benchmarks to create tailored reading and writing units that align with and/or enhance units of inquiry. Molly is passionate about emergent and foundational literacy and the many ways we can amplify student choice and agency through play and inquiry, as well as, transfer learning to support reading, writing and other subject areas. She has extensive experience in Reading and Writing workshop, Word Study, Student-Centered Coaching and in supporting multilingual learners. Molly is always eager to learn about each school's unique context, needs and demographic of learners and loves to collaborate with educators around the world. Currently, Molly is a Literacy Coach at Stamford American International School in Singapore.

Hannah Fernweh

Hannah Fernweh is a lifelong learner specializing in best practices for multilingual students, translanguaging, culturally relevant pedagogy, and students with exceptionalities. She has worked in public and international schools as a teacher, coach, and department head and has a particular passion for meeting the literacy needs of linguistically, culturally, and neurologically diverse learners. Currently, she is delving into how different writing systems can impact literacy development within the brain and how exceptionalities can influence how one acquires languages and literacies. When supporting schools, Hannah guides educators to understand how the brain learns to speak and read in order to develop clear, practical plans to support diverse learners.