Spotlight 4 Success | "What If Student Choice Is the Missing Link in Literacy Growth" | NCRA 2026

4/8/2026

Reading growth doesn’t always come from a brand-new curriculum. Sometimes it comes from one small shift: letting students have real choice in what they read. From the floor of the NCRA conference in North Carolina, we sit down with Emmie and Shantale, ECU ambassadors and graduate students focused on reading and literacy instruction, to talk about what’s working right now with real learners. Website: spotlight4success.com

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Spotlight 4 Success | "The Water Walkers" | NCRA 2026

4/8/2026

Water is the quiet thing we all depend on, until someone treats it like it’s sacred and suddenly you can’t stop paying attention. From the floor of the NCRA conference in Winston-Salem, we talk with author and educator Carol Tremboth about the Native Water Walkers and why their prayerful, relentless miles around the Great Lakes belong in every conversation about clean water, environmental stewardship, and Indigenous activism. Carol shares how her books bring readers to the shoreline, where sacred words, tobacco offerings, and community connection turn “water protection” into something you can feel. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Phonics You Can Hold" | NCRA 2026

4/7/2026

A lot of reading struggles aren’t about effort, they’re about abstraction. When phonics rules live only on a worksheet or a whiteboard, many kids never get a concrete “click” moment. From the NCRA conference in North Carolina, we sit down with Meagan Beam, founder of Otter Reading, to talk about a hands-on reading tool she built for the exact problems she kept seeing in her own classroom. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Turning Letters into Friends with Letterland" | NCRA 2026

4/7/2026

Letters can be surprisingly hard for young kids. They’re just shapes until a child can link each squiggle to a sound, then blend those sounds into real words. From the NCRA conference in North Carolina, we sit down with Vicki Norris, a trainer at Letterland International, to talk about a character-based approach to phonics that helps children make that leap with less struggle and more joy. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Why Kids Need Stories About Depression" | NCRA 2026

4/6/2026

Stories can change a kid’s life when they finally feel recognized on the page. From the NCRA conference in North Carolina, we sit down with middle grade author Bobbie Pyron to talk about why fiction isn’t “extra” in literacy work, it’s a direct path to empathy, compassion, and deeper reading engagement for young people. If you care about children’s literature, school libraries, or helping students connect with books again, this conversation lands right where the work gets real. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "An Authentic 1950 Charlotte Story" | NCRA 2026

4/6/2026

A blue-and-white teacup doesn’t sound like a doorway into history, until you hear what it unlocks in Half Truths. Recording live from the NCRA conference in North Carolina, we sit down with author Carol Baldwin to talk about her debut young adult historical novel set in Charlotte in 1950, a city shaped by segregation and the unspoken rules of the Jim Crow South. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "A Ghost Town Mystery and a Robot Tutor" | NCRA 2026

4/2/2026

AI is everywhere in students’ lives, but what if we used it to push them outside instead of pulling them deeper into screens? From the floor of NCRA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we sit down with author Jo Watson Hackl to talk about a surprisingly grounded approach to AI in education: using technology responsibly to strengthen student engagement, spark curiosity, and support reading and writing through real-world observation of nature. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Literacy for a Reimagined World" | NCRA 2026

4/2/2026

Literacy is getting rewritten in real time and educators don’t have the option to sit it out. From NCRA in Winston-Salem, we sit down with Hiller Spires, Professor at NC State University and NCRA president-elect, to talk about what comes next for literacy instruction as technology accelerates and classrooms adapt on the fly. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Dandelion Magic and The Power of Words" | NCRA 2026

4/1/2026

A dandelion wish sounds small until it spins into a full-blown adventure. From the NCRA floor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we sit down with children’s author Darren Farrell to hear how Dandelion Magic turns a simple idea into a story kids want to follow all the way home. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "A Twitter Pitch Turns Into A Book Deal" | NCASA 2026

4/1/2026

A children’s picture book can start in a surprising place: a string quartet performing a concert for plants. From the NCRA conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, we sit down with Tonnye Fletcher, a veteran educator who spent 17 years in second grade before making a big career shift into the K to 2 music room, and that pivot becomes the spark for a deeper conversation about creative risk and staying open to change. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "I Bought $1,800 In Books and Panicked" | NCRA 2026

3/31/2026

Recording live from NCRA in North Carolina, we talk with Gina Mays, the owner of Gigi’s bookstore, about what happens when a lifelong educator decides she’s not done serving schools, she’s just changing tools. After 32 years as a teacher and administrator, Gina retires, buys $1,800 worth of books, drives to a conference stressed out of her mind, and discovers a real need for an independent bookseller who understands teachers, students, and school ordering. Spotlight 4 Success: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Fifth Grade Lightbulbs" | NCRA 2026

3/30/2026

A single “oh!” from a student can change everything, and it’s the feeling that keeps many of us teaching. From the NCRA Conference in North Carolina, we sit down with Grace, a fifth grade teacher who traces her path back to one vivid moment helping a child finally understand. She shares why she thought she’d teach younger students, how internships surprised her, and what makes fifth grade the perfect mix of joy, curiosity, and just enough sass to keep learning fun and honest. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Every Child Can Read" | NCRA 2026

3/24/2026

“Every child can read.” Mary from Hoke County Schools says it plainly, and then she shows the work behind making it real. We’re recording live from the NCRA conference, where she explains how a district literacy committee approaches professional learning like a mission: attend strategically, take excellent notes, then debrief as a team so the best ideas don’t stay in a notebook they show up in classrooms. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | When Kids Can Read but Still Don’t Get It | NCRA 2026

3/23/2026

Fluency isn’t the finish line. If you’ve ever watched a student read smoothly and still walk away confused, this conversation puts words to the problem and points toward practical next steps. We are joined by two educators from JT Barber Elementary School in the Craven School District: Deja Moore and Michaela Shy. They share their paths into teaching, why they love working with kids, and what it looks like to keep growing as professionals when the needs in reading feel urgent and school-wide. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Teaching Under Pressure, Learning With Purpose" | LACUE 2025

2/17/2026

Step onto the LACUE 2025 floor in New Orleans with us and feel the shift from hype to help. We sit down with educator and board member Tisha Whittington to unpack what actually lightens the load for teachers under pressure: clear standards alignment, reliable practice, and tools that let you teach instead of triage. The buzz around AI is real, but the big win is clarity—using tech and tightly mapped content to cut noise, focus instruction, and lift LEAP scores without burning out your team. Website: spotlight4success.com

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