Episode 1: Literacy Geeks' Founders Share Their Journey Into Revolutionizing Literacy Instruction

Jonathan LeMaster: Welcome to Literacy Geeks Podcast. We are your host, Jonathan LeMaster and my best friend here, Lee Ramsey. We are the co-founders of Literacy Geeks. The goal of our Literacy Geeks podcast is to inspire educators and spark great conversations and innovation around reading and writing instruction and assessments. Join us as we geek out about our journey to revolutionize literacy instruction. All right, Lee, in today's episode, it is our job. It is our honor. To talk about Literacy Geeks, how it came to be, what Literacy Geeks is all about, our journey to this point, and so really excited to have this conversation with you today.

Lee Ramsey: Yeah, me too. I can't believe, looking back. I think it was 14 years that we came up with original idea driving back from Vegas, thinking different ideas and it was like, Hey, do you wanna start a business with me? And you're like, okay. It was as simple as it was .

I mean, it was just kind of wild.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah, and it was an interesting time, right? I mean it was 2010 Common Core had just come out and I had published a book about critical reading strategies that were designed to support students that were transitioning from high school to college. And so we have this idea that, all right, well students need explicit instruction in skills.

And the common core is saying we need to be teaching skills in all content areas. And you are, you know, a tech oz, if you will. And so it was just kind of a really interesting moment in time where we thought, all right, there's a need. Kids are needing that explicit instruction, right? And common Core is asking schools across the country to start teaching these reading, writing, speaking skills.

And so it was just a really good, good time and, and I think a great partnership.

Lee Ramsey: Yeah. Yeah.

I know we put our heads together. How do we Leverage what we're both good at. And I had my degree in computer science and in business. And so I'd been building web applications and e-store and different custom apps for some other businesses. So we were launching different ideas and bringing the software and making products out of 'em.

We landed on an ebook. Can we take some of those strategies and take it to the next level? Like the book can come out, like we could have videos and images and, and it can be interactive. It's just a, I think there's a great vision.

And there we go. We have a LiteracyTA. The name of the original company was born and we were out and running and I believe it took May or June. I remember we received our first order for $30

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah.

Lee Ramsey: LiteracyTA's toolkit, and we're like, oh my gosh, someone bought. And I think I taped it up on the wall and I would look at that every morning and I was like, okay, okay.

You know, it's hard. You don't know, you're trying to bring something or some idea and just get a little validation. Was nice to know that someone would find it, go through the process and enjoy it, you know, so.

Jonathan LeMaster: Right. And we get a lot of questions about LiteracyTA when we first started, and even today, I had someone ask just this week, like, what does the TA stand for? Which is so interesting, right? So when we started, we were really trying to, at, at the, at the heart of it, the spirit of we're trying to support teachers, right?

And there was this, this model already in place in some high schools and, and definitely at the colleges where they have teacher assistants. And so we were like, how cool would it be? To do a literacy teacher assistant, but that gets a little long, right? And so we were like, all right, well LiteracyTA. And it was kind of interesting how what we thought was gonna be very clear, like, oh, LiteracyTA, everyone's gonna understand what that is. Ended up. Not being very clear to lots of people. And we had to explain what that TA stood for. But I think what was really cool about it is the essence of, of helping the classroom teacher, right? With those instructional strategies. And we were doing something, we really started doing something that had, had never been done before, which is we, we weren't going to give content to teachers.

We were gonna give them the how, the, the methodology of how to teach their content. And so a teacher could teach all the things that they love 'cause they're so passionate about what they teach. So we wanted them to continue teaching what they love, but then we were gonna give them those routines give them the materials, the, the ready, classroom ready handouts that they can use to teach those things that they love. And, and that that's kind of where, where we started. But that's not necessarily where. Our, our friendship started. So I, I actually met you Lee in eighth grade. My parents had this grand idea that they should move us to a small town in, in Southern California called Big Bear. And little did I know that you were there waiting for me, I guess. And so we, you know, I ne I had never been on slopes before, never skied or snowboarded before. I was in a small town with the, the town of the Big Bear Bears. Our middle school's, big Bear, middle School, and, and high school is Bear High School. And yeah, so we met in middle school and we met on the slopes at snow Summit.

And we just, we just kind of clicked. I mean, we were both passionate. We love sports. But I think at, in the heart of who we are as people, we both really care deeply about individuals and we want. We want to better this world, and we want to leave our mark by showing you know, showing kindness and care and, and compassion for other people.

And, you know, we, we, we just kind of hit it off as friends and so we stayed connected through San Diego State and, and then that's, you know, we finally got together. You, you had done some amazing work in the, in the tech world. And in the education space I was always pushing the envelope, trying, you know, trying to get things done in, in education in the classroom. And then, yeah, we, we, it's just been amazing that we not only been in business for so long, but we've been friends for even longer,

Lee Ramsey: I know it goes back so far and I feel like the first class we met in was eighth grade English, which is so funny.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Ramsey: I remember she sniffed around the room for bubble guM..

Jonathan LeMaster: Yes, I was telling someone this story. Yeah. She would sniff to see who had bubble gum.

Lee Ramsey: She's like, what's going on? I smell it.

Jonathan LeMaster: She would sniff around and see if we were chewing gum. And

I think some people messed with her and would take it out and put it in someone's backpack and

Lee Ramsey: Just, just to kind of, yeah. So, but it was, it's funny, you know, it's like the English class, you know? And I, I never dreamed, I mean that, yeah, that I

Jonathan LeMaster: Well, what's interesting too, yeah, is like in school, you and I, even though we had different paths, I feel like we both had similar experiences in our, our education, right? I think we both would've benefited from more explicit instruction, helping us understand how to break down text, understand how to position an argument, and really. Defend it and support it with strong evidence like I and, and me personally when I was younger. And, and I think you've got a, a story or two that you can share in just a minute. So think about that. But for me, when I was younger, I really, really struggled with reading. I don't, I don't, I maybe started school too early. But what happened with me was I, I got so nervous about reading out loud in class that I almost created this anxiety about reading. And the more anxiety I had, the more the words on the page kind of bounced around, which caused me even more anxiety. And you know, I don't think there was any intended harm at all that was being done to me, but there was harm.

I think we all have. Certain trauma in education and, and there's a, a phrase in education called unintended trauma. And, and what that means is, is that something has been done to someone unintentionally, but that, that what has been done carries with them through different environments and situations. And for me, when I was reading, I, I was so scared that I would mess up a word or, or mispronounce a word. And, you know, kids would laugh at you and they're just, it just, it really put me in a bad place. And, and the school that I was at, this was before I moved to Big Bear, the school that I was at ended up putting me in a really low level reading class because they thought that there was something. For a lack of a better phrase, wrong with me. And instead of investigating it, they, they just kind of put me in like a beginner reader class. And I was in third grade and I shouldn't have been in this class that was reading like kindergarten. And that kind of stuck with me, made me a very shy reader, a conscientious reader as I went through school. And then as, as texts become more and more important to learning where you have to, you have to really learn and understand in order to apply and, and use that what you're reading, to use that to argue or to or have conversations in class. I struggled. I struggled mightily, and I think that experience has contributed to why I care so much and why I'm so passionate about reading instruction and writing instruction. Because I remember being a kid. Struggling myself and a, and now as an adult looking back, I can reflect and ask why, what was missing? What could have helped me as a child? What sorts of things did, did I little, Jonathan, if you will need when I was in school? And, and I think that is really a, a driving force for me, and it keeps me grounded and connected to the classroom. My 21 years of teaching obviously keeps me connected to the classroom. But it's that childhood where I grew up kind of afraid of reading and, and that's just, you know, some people get afraid of math or they, they're afraid of science and I just wanna make sure we change that trajectory for kids and make sure that they have great experiences.

And I know that you've had some, so we've talked about it before. So if you could share like, an experience you've had growing up what, what, it doesn't matter grade level, but what, what you went through.

Lee Ramsey: Yeah, I think that's interesting. My strong suit wasn't English. It was definitely math and science. And it just came very easily to me. So the, you just, math, just all the different skills. I think it, it was really skill-based, and I couldn't, didn't understand that back then, but it was just really easy for me to.

Go from one skill to the next skill, addition, subtraction, multiplication, right? And all the different skills all the way up. And it just was simple and easy. Reading. I think it was my vocabulary that made me struggle probably with reading the most. I didn't read a lot, so I didn't understand the words and through a lot of our conversations, I can see that probably was where the bigger struggle

I did vocabulary was on the weaker side. But I, I could read I was slow. I still am today. I feel like I'm a really slow reader. I think I've finally read some things or heard some other people talk about being slow and felt a little more accepting. I. With, with reading Slow.

I think that's just who I am and I'm okay with that. I don't have to fly through a book. I just enjoy reading or, not skimming, but really understanding what they're saying. So but that's just what I ran into. But the other story I think is kind of high school English for me.

I, was straight into a literature class, so I did well in some reading comprehension tests in eighth grade, and so I was recommended to be in honors English, and that was a super struggle for me. And I don't think my skills were met for that. And I. I struggled in those classes and writing was probably the hardest thing that I had to struggle through.

Jonathan LeMaster: Hmm.

Lee Ramsey: Reading was a little easier writing, just writing a paper. It just, I don't know what it is, the words, the, and maybe it's just 'cause I didn't read enough to understand the different ways writing is set up. Still struggles today. I even think part of it has to do with my computer science background and writing code all day.

And we mix up words and do things backwards, and I can't even have a, an honest conversation or a, like a coherent conversation after I've coded all day. It's just wild. So I think some of it is your environment in a way, but it just didn't come naturally. It's still a pretty big struggle for me.

But the main thing in high school was it was a literature class. So I had a few things going against me. One, writing wasn't coming naturally at all. And the second thing, it was a literature class. And to this day, I am not into fiction. It doesn't do it for me, you know? And so I wasn't interested, so I'm not interested in the content that's being taught and looking into these characters.

It just wasn't. Any, it wasn't of interest. So when the Common Core came out and some of those new standards were about nonfiction and then they were about reading and writing skills,

Jonathan LeMaster: Mm-Hmm.

Lee Ramsey: it made so much sense to me. I'm like, oh, I could read, you know, a nonfiction article and today I read, I read tons, I read all the time.

I'm reading all day,

Jonathan LeMaster: Mm-Hmm

Lee Ramsey: right. Being able to think of it like math, so like addition, subtraction, and multiplication, right? The, those are the skills you're getting. And, and thinking about reading in terms of that, and instead of knowing some facts and those were two huge shifts I would've loved to have had, if I was going through school today, you.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah, I mean, common Core, definitely, especially in secondary right push has a shift to more nonfiction because it's just really what we're gonna be reading for academic purposes as we go through middle school and high school and into college. And obviously in the world of work, unless you have an MFA or you're an English teacher, you're probably not gonna be reading too much fiction. So it is interesting how that shift has happened. And I think we're, we're doing a great job addressing that shift. 'cause I think there, there is so much about fiction 'cause that's really what the English classroom was for so long.

And, and now it's really about fiction and nonfiction and, and having a, a more bal, you know, not even balanced.

I mean, in middle school I think it's 60 40, right? We should be nonfiction. And then, and, and secondary, it's getting more like 70 30, you should be in 70% nonfiction. So it's interesting, and I remember in the conversations that we've had with you growing up. You know, and I think I can say I had a similar experience.

You didn't really talk that much. I, I talked a lot in school, but it was not about school. And so I, I was getting in my reps and talking. But you, you know, you have shared with me some classes that you just really either were never talked to or were never asked to talk to other people. I if that also had an impact too.

Lee Ramsey: Yeah, I really have a lack of confidence. And so, I never had any brothers or sisters, didn't have you know critique. Didn't handle critique well which is, which is a challenge, right? So like, so you, you say something, you're opening yourself up to critique. And so from a kid standpoint it was better when I didn't say anything.

You know, because you could maybe say it wrong and then they make fun of you. And then I, you know, I just didn't have the thick skin in school and I was able, I think I, I went all way through college. I didn't I didn't say a word. I learned real quickly how to do it. I was in 5th grade Mr. Parks' class, and he really wanted people to speak well and I loved it.

it. It was a, it was a goal. And so every week there was a project and then he would have you come up in front of the class and talk. And he didn't keep that good of records. So I was dodge it. I didn't, I think I had to go up

Jonathan LeMaster: Your computer science brain, you're like, wait a minute. I

Lee Ramsey: Yeah.

Jonathan LeMaster: bet.

Lee Ramsey: Sit here or I.

Yeah, you really have to create a safe space for me, where I

right to be able to open up and speak. And I love when you talk about the classroom and what you're able to create in that classroom. And I think it all stems from that safe place. You know, they are, you will share.

And I will keep you safe while you're sharing and it is just beautiful. Every time I hear you talk about that, I love that so much. It's just such a, so, but you have to do that. They both need to happen right? To expect the shy person myself to share. Right.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah, creating that safe classroom is so critical in order for all kids to feel comfortable, give access to all students. Right.

And that doesn't necessarily always come from just assigning, assigning, assigning. It's, it's really about building community relationships. And then once students feel that trust, but it, it's gotta start right away.

Or kids are talking immediately even about silly things. One of the, I get mo most enjoyable kind of icebreaker conversations. I have my students sit in a circle and we talk about the best way to eat an Oreo. And I, I, they, they say the funniest things, you know, and they're so invested in like how to eat an Oreo and what that looks like. And, and you know, people will kind of like, oh, you know, you, you hear one way of doing like, aha, could you do that? Or, you know, and then what kind of Oreos they eat. It's, it's like a thing, right? But just even having kids. Feel safe to talk about things that are, that are low risk, right? They talk a lot about low risk, high reward, and, and these are low risk, high reward because it, it creates that community.

We're talking about things that we feel safe talking about. You get experience of hearing your voice in a public space. But then, you know, when the harder work comes up, you feel more comfortable sharing ideas, which I think is, is interesting. And I, you know, there's so many different kids and some people say, well, you know, computers have allowed the shy kids to talk.

Well, that's true. Like it does give them access to talk a little bit. But the problem is, is that they still need to have those like interactions, right? They still need to be social, they still need to find those, those opportunities in a classroom. So I think it's kind of interesting. So how do you think your, your experience. In education. And your relationship with me or, or a combination of both has kind of driven you to this place where you have, you have launched Literacy Geeks. Well let me, let me fill a gap here. So we started as LiteracyTA, right? And then we have recently rebranded as Literacy Geeks. And we did that because we expanded our products, our programs. And now Literacy Geeks is our umbrella and we have these programs underneath.

So what is it about you, you've told me before, so I'm gonna steal a few things from you. You've told me before that you love waking up every day, helping kids read. That was something so simple and so beautiful that you, you've told me over and over. So what is it that you are, are, are like, I don't know, what's driving you to be a literacy geek and, and what makes you excited about that work and what, what's influenced that in your past?

Lee Ramsey: Yeah, it's a good question. I think it's evolved over time, I received my business degree and we'd started this business. It was really focused on getting new customers. It was really the mission in it. And over time through all of our amazing chats and conversations there was a.

And there was a realization that, hey, if I can help one kid, through some of the struggles that I went through, or just to help a kid through, some of these, by helping with reading skills and writing skills. Oh man, does that feel good? And I had never had that.

And, I remember there was a trip we went on, it was in New Jersey I think it might Woodbury, New Jersey, and was one the first times I was able to get into the classroom.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah.

Lee Ramsey: And, it was just beautiful what these teachers do every day. And it's been a while since I had actually been in school.

From my outside , I was really an outsider in this and I was able to go along with you and observed some classrooms and that just hit me. I think from that point on there was a big shift. That. Wow. I can write some software and I can help in some way.

And if you're helping kids, wow. We built a reading lesson a kid, you know, we have , a million reading lessons and I mean, oh my gosh, how much We helped with some skills, which will help them so much in life. And that feels so good. Just a huge connection.

That I was able to get and because from your stories were always so beautiful. You love the classroom, and I see it now, you haven't been in the classroom in a few years and that's, that's tough. I mean, you, if you could, you'd be back there, right? I mean, you're just, you miss being in front of those kids.

Jonathan LeMaster: Well, we are, we're just in a different way, right? That's, we're, we're in the classroom, in our own, in our own way. Like bringing our, our, our curriculum to them and bringing our strategies, which is really cool. And it's been hard for me to make that transition to more of like, I can reach more students this way than if just in my individual classroom. And, and you inspire me when you say things like, Hey, someone, you know, see that lesson right there that you built? Yeah. 18,000 kids took that. It's like, what? What like 18,000 students like that? That is so, that's so crazy to think about. Like that's the kind of reach, you know, 23,000 lessons went out the other day.

It's like, oh, that's incredible. Right. And I remember when we went into business. When we started literacy today, now, now literacy geeks. I, I had said, I, you know, I don't like these online programs. Remember you were like, you were like, just give it a chance. I'm like, I don't like it. Like, you gotta the teacher. The teacher is what matters. And it's true. The teacher is what matters. But you had said like, I, I know how to do this. So tell me what it looks like. Just, just tell me what good instruction looks like and we will automate. Parts of it. We will bring in your pedagogy and I will bring in my ed tech mind and we will make this beautiful symphony.

And I'm going like. It's not, you know, it is not possible. It's not possible. And you're like, it is. You just have, and so you would like, you would tell me, you're pulling outta me. I'm pulling outta me. And amazing about the synergy that you and I have is you're very patient and you ask the right questions to pull outta my brain what that pedagogy is, what that methodology is that kids really need to succeed all the way down to how do we get them to feel comfortable and capable in an online space. How do we build skills? How do we engage kids in academic conversations all through online platforms that yes, engage the teacher, but go directly to kids. And you know, I at one point, I, I said, if, you know, if it's gonna look like this, I'm not doing it. Like, I'm not doing it. You're like, it won't, it's not gonna look like that.

Just tell me. And your brain's like, oh, this is gonna hurt. And in the beginning I didn't know what my limits were, right? So I was like, I want this and this, and this, and this. And you're like, all right, you need to like chill out. And we're gonna do this one step at a time. And, and what's one of the most amazing things that we created with Quindew, which is one of our, our reading programs, online reading programs, is we eliminated multiple choice.

And it was such a, such a crazy moment for us. And, and it came so authentically because we, we already kind of knew that multiple choice. You and I growing up in school, we were gamifying, we were trying to get around the questions and just get to the answers as often as possible. But when we launched Quindew, which is the middle level of our reading program, we started with multiple choice.

And there was a student remember, who was really struggling, and one day I'm in class, he's my student, and he, he just explodes with excitement. I got one right. I got one right on Quindew, and I was like, oh my gosh. W what, you know, what did you do? What happened? And he's like, well, I don't know what you I, I just background real quickly.

I, I teach English language learners. I, I teach all students, but one of the, my specialties is English language learners. And, and he says, you know, I dunno what you call it in here, in this country, but I did like 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2. And I chose two. I chose B and it was right. And I was like, oh my gosh.

Lee Ramsey: Oh yeah. I remember you came back and you we're our next meeting. You're telling me this and it was like, oh. We, you know, because we're, we're really trying to. What skill a student has, what reading ability they have, right? And if you're measuring the ability to guess.

Jonathan LeMaster: All

Lee Ramsey: We don't know their skill level.

And that just was mind blowing. And it really was shocking when you think back about, well, wait a minute, that's what we're currently doing in education and is there another way. And so I think we started brainstorming that and if you can have enough options, like 10 or more.

There's a point where the brain now has to, instead of trying to play guessing games, it now has to do the hard work. It needs to go in and try and answer the question, and that was a huge shift. So then all of our questions became how do we get them so that the brain doesn't try and guess?

Jonathan LeMaster: Right.

Lee Ramsey: It's helped us so much really understand where the, whether the student really does have this reading skill or not, and they can just guess their way through the system. Right.

Jonathan LeMaster: Right. And when you teach, if a teacher's teaching close reading, we, so teachers are already grading writing and if you're teaching close reading, you're going home with stacks of papers that have been highlighted, underlined, marked.

And you're kind of looking through

all these notations trying to figure out does the kid get it? Is the kid understanding?

And so you said, let's just digitize that process.

Let, let's, let's automate, let's auto grade close reading. And I was like, excuse me, what? Because my schema was never you, we don't have that in the industry, in the education space. This doesn't exist until now, and I'm going. So you're telling me that the same kind of activity I want kids' brains doing in my class that I normally would do on a piece of paper you can do on a screen, and then we can grade that and give immediate feedback that's personal to the student. In real time and you're like, Uhhuh. And so I was like, I'm in. I am so in, you have no idea because teachers now aren't going home and taking these stacks of papers home.

The the computer is telling them what skills, they're understanding what they're not. They're getting quality reading reps, right? That the kids identifying text evidence and being able to identify that. I was like, this is the, this is what my, this is what my teaching has been missing,

and I've never felt that way about an online program until now. And of course I'm biased. I get it. But. I built it because I didn't want anything unless I would use it myself. And now it's an enhancement to my instruction.

The kids, what they're doing online transfers directly to the kinds of skills they need to know and the standards that they have to learn and with Common Core. And I'm like, this is amazing because now I, I, you know, my, my students are reading what, 45, 60 extra articles a, a, a year

like. I don't have time to teach 60 articles.

Like, and going back to your reading this, this dovetails perfectly back into your story. didn't read as often

and and you were saying that maybe that started to hurt you because you weren't as exposed to as many words, right? You, you, you just didn't have access.

Well, we're all about increasing that access to those words.

We're about increasing the exposure. To all of that reading that that needs to happen. Right. But then not doing the multiple choice, which I think is so, so cool.

It's so awesome.

Lee Ramsey: It just forces you and I think about today, I know we recently upgraded our vocabulary tool to just go dictionary lookup to in context vocabulary. And I'm, and I think about, wow, if I was going through that reading, I. And I was like, I don't know this, or I don't even know this phrase, or, and all of a sudden it tells me it's like the teaching moments that, that, that are now available just in the first read of the article.

Right. it's just mind blowing. And then to be able to have more reps on that because that's what I was able to get out of math, right? I would be able to do a hundred math problems, right? And that's really hard to do in the English classroom.

But with computers you can get a little closer. So we're really trying to leverage, I see like all the software just as a giant toolbox. And so we wanna use the right tools to build something. That doesn't take away from the classroom, right? It doesn't take away from teaching, but it automates what teachers don't need to be doing, right?

We can of those things and it also, provide that instant feedback to a student while they're going through that learning and really making the most of those learning moments. And in certain ways we can use technology and get. We can even get the kid to grow even more.

Right? Like, so, you know, like one of the things is we actually turn on a lot of the lessons and a lot of opportunities after they've gotten something wrong.

And because we know, the brain wants to know why they got that wrong and it's turned on and they're lit up and they're on fire and now they wanna know.

Right? And, and they're willing to do a lot more in that case. And so, and part of the engagement part of Quindew, which has been so beautiful.

Jonathan LeMaster: It's like when I put furniture together, I, I, I try it myself without the, the instructions and then I get it wrong and then I'm like, what is it? And I'm,

Lee Ramsey: Yeah.

Jonathan LeMaster: I.

Lee Ramsey: Right. Right. Now you're.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah. What? Yeah. This part shouldn't be out. This should be somewhere Yeah. And you know, talking about the vocabulary, it was so fascinating to me because when I was learning vocabulary, and I, and I actually really enjoyed my English teachers in high school, but they assigned vocabulary and I would look up the definition and I always looked up the word that was the shortest. If I look up a word in the dictionary, it's gonna be, there's usually one, you know, one to five to seven definitions of a word. And I would just choose the shortest one,

like how am I engaged in the vocabulary? But, but when they're reading with us, we give them that context of not only what does this word mean, the correct definition as it's used, but then we talk about why the author used it in this moment. How cool is that to not only understand what a word is, but how it functions? Like what is the purpose of this word and why might an author use it right now is mind blowing and you kinda laugh. You, you like chuckled at me when you first showed me our, our next iteration of our. Our, our vocabulary or what I like to call language dictionary now. And you're just like, giggling. 'cause I was like, are you kidding me? Like be, I can't do this. Like, it's impossible as a, as a teacher to do this. And so you've got 35 kids looking up their own words and they're contextualizing every single word for every single kid. And I'm going this. Education.

Like this is the type of learning that we really need. And, and it's just, and it's amazing. And, and I think we talk about, we were kind of saddened a little bit when Common Core came out, right? Because there was like, there was this explosion of excitement in the beginning and then there was kind of like, oh, there might be some, there might be some rough waters ahead with Common Core.

It's hard to change. And you know what I can say that excites me is. The common core really is about skills, right? And, and when you read them it, it tells you kind of like what kids need or what they should be able to do, but it doesn't tell you how to do it. And that's been what we've achieved, is that the standards that the kids need to know how to do, they can learn how to do that through our reading and writing programs.

And that as an educator, going back to my.

Time in the classroom and being pulled outta the classroom. Like now. Now I am working with thousands and tens of thousands of students helping them with the standards. And it's like you said, it's just such a great feeling

to know I helped that one kid. Or the five kids or the a hundred thousand kids.

Like how cool is that? Right,

Lee Ramsey: Right. Yeah. Which is the coolest thing about technology, right? If we can write an amazing lesson we could, million kids could go through that lesson, right? That's so amazing. Yeah. Which is awesome for us. Yeah. That's,

Jonathan LeMaster: Well, so here, here's what we're doing. This is gonna be our new podcast. We're going to launch new episodes on Tuesdays. Our podcasts are gonna focus on the great things going on with reading and writing. We're gonna geek out like we did today. We're gonna bring our passion. We have lots of passion.

We have lots of ideas. We're very innovative and we hope that. As you listen to this podcast, you too start thinking about your own reading and writing instruction. We start pushing you in places where you start to innovate. You start to ask questions about your practices. You take some things from us because we're all in it together, and we really hope that you continue to geek out with us. This is our first podcast, introducing Literacy Geeks to you guys. And again, woo.

Lee Ramsey: Thing about our name is you. We really love this name because we built, we feel like we could have a community. And so we just invite everyone out there to come, geek out with us, join us in this mission to continue to teach reading, writing, and speaking skills to students. And we're just so pumped.

Jonathan LeMaster: Yeah, so pumped and passionate.

Lee Ramsey: yeah. Love for everyone to join the ride with us, right? And geek out with us.

Jonathan LeMaster: All right. Well thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. And look forward to new episodes and please feel free to follow us on all the social network channels and we'll be here for you. Just innovating and geeking out. Take it easy guys.

Lee Ramsey: Awesome. Thank you guys.