It was an incredible privilege to engage in a beautiful conversation with Melissa Hostetter about her Chapter, The Journey of my TEDx Talk. Melissa generously and clearly articulates her passion for teaching and social justice, the reason she applied to participate in a TEDx Talk, the deep preparation it entailed, her actual experience of delivering the message, the final outcome, feedback, and much more. Melissa's TEDx Talk, Can We Afford to Ignore the Science of Reading can be viewed on this link https://youtu.be/9WJcgxyuATU. During this conversation, we discussed multiple points, some of which include the current literacy crisis, the larger picture of how reading competency impacts multiple parts of life when transitioning from childhood to adulthood. One of the points that deeply resonated with me was - "Speak up for whatever it is you feel passionate about. If you speak up, it may offer someone else the courage to also speak up".
An enormous thanks to Melissa Hostetter for taking the time to have this important conversation. A huge thanks to everyone that will engage with this Chapter on Facebook, YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHHGTKdu20FYJAPogJjDog), and Podcast.
